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In Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, the Cyber Police and State Police investigators, under the direction of the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office, have identified a trio of hackers, with ages between 20 and 40, involved in the theft of email and Instagram accounts from internet users.
Law enforcement conducted seven raids across Kyiv, Odesa, Vinnytsia, Ivano-Frankivsk, and the regions of Kyiv, Donetsk, and Kirovohrad, seizing more than 70 pieces of computer equipment, 14 smartphones, bank cards, and cash.
Operational data suggest that the obtained accounts were sold on the dark web.
Brute Force Attack
A brute force attack involves exhausting all potential character combinations in an attempt to breach passwords or encryption keys. This usually is operating under a trial-and-error strategy until the accurate combination is discovered, essentially relying on the process of elimination to find the correct match.
Employing a brute force approach, the criminals compiled a database containing the details of over 100 million global internet users. The suspects have been charged under specific sections of the Ukrainian Criminal Code, facing potential sentences of up to 15 years in prison.
Ukrainian authorities are also examining a possible link between the attackers and foreign entities, given that some of the compromised accounts were reportedly used for operations that benefited the Russian Federation.
Steps To Protect Your Account From Unauthorized Access
- Change simple passwords with complex character combiantions, and use password managers to store them
- Set alerts for possible new logins or failed login attempts
- If passwordless is an option, opt for that, and use an authenticator app to ensure further security
- Opt for two-factor authentication. I’ve already discussed that even this can pose security risks, but nevertheless is a strong option to avoid being easily hijacked.
News source: CyberPolice.gov.ua