Security Response: Meet Cyclosa, the Gang Behind 2013’s Biggest Data Thefts
Last year, security reporter Brian Krebs discovered that a group of attackers managed to compromise multiple companies , steal sensitive customer data and sell the details through an online identity theft store known as SSNDOB. The attackers broke into the networks of a number of major consumer and business data aggregators as well as a software development firm. Krebs revealed that the attackers then put the stolen data for sale on SSNDOB, allowing their customers to buy personal details belonging to US and UK citizens. Symantec looked into the attacks conducted by the group behind SSNDOB, who we call the Cyclosa gang. During our investigations, we managed to identify one of the owners of the service who claims in online forums to be Armand Arturovich Ayakimyan, a 24-year-old man from Abkhazia. As we looked further into this case, we learned how he started as a visitor to a cybercrime forum looking for information on how to conduct attacks to operating a major identity the...