Hackers for hire
Some extraordinary tales about the lengths attackers are prepared to go in order to secure access to their targets. In one case, a Russian is accused of flying to the US to offer a $1 million bribe to an employee at Tesla's Gigafactory to infect its network with malicious software. Prosecutors allege the man was the key player in a plot to steal data and extort millions of dollars in return for not disrupting Tesla's operations. He was arrested after the employee apparently got cold feet (though only after a blow-out visit to Lake Tahoe). Meanwhile, Bitdefender has details of an attack that targeted a luxury real-estate broker in the US. A specially-designed plugin for Autodesk 3ds Max was used to infiltrate the company and steal a range of information. Bitdefender warns cyber criminal groups are becoming more like mercenaries and will continue to sell their services to the highest bidder.