A lengthy investigation and organized operation resulted in the take down of a major underground platform know to cater to Russian criminals.
To provide some perspective on the size of operation, Chris Olson, CEO of The Media Trust, believes “The shutdown of Hydra is a small win for cybersecurity, but a win nonetheless. Attackers who target consumers for credit card details and other personally identifiable information (PII) can’t use it directly without risking discovery and arrest; therefore, they sell this information on darknet markets instead. Without them, the incidence of cybercrime would undoubtedly decrease. Unfortunately, Hydra represents a miniscule drop in the bucket of global cybercrime, which will cost organizations (and therefore consumers) about $10.5 trillion per year by 2025. Cyber actors have perfected the pipeline from Web and mobile-based phishing attacks to darknet markets which we will not name, and new ones are opening all the time. In truth – if past precedent is anything to go by – Hydra operators will likely take their digital assets and resurface in the near future under new identities and domains.”
