#StateSponsored hacking is much more sinister than #CyberCrime.
Criminals generally have one objective - get paid. Whereas a nation state’s motives may be unclear and often far more invasive.
A criminal won’t take long before making themselves known, whereas a nation state will want to remain undetected for as long as possible.
Cyber criminals are usually opportunistic, it doesn’t really matter who they hack. Nation states are extremely deliberate.
Nation state capabilities are far superior than cyber criminals. As an individual, it’s relatively easy to protect yourself against cyber criminals (especially the kind that go after individuals). But if you’re the target of a nation state, protecting yourself is a significant challenge. This challenge is exponentially harder if you live in the nation that’s targeting you.
Francesco Cancellato who was one of the targets in the recent #Paragon #WhatsApp hacks put it well in his interview with @TechCrunch saying:
“You ask yourself, why me? This is the thing, I mean, what did they want from me? That’s the first question, the second question is what did they take from me? Where did they go? What did they do to me? Once they got into my phone, where there is basically my whole life, my vacations, my friendships, my family, my bank passwords, there is everything — my work stuff…”
#cyber #hacking #espionage #cybersecurity #techcrunch #nationstate #malware #mercenarymalware