Social media giant Meta has taken down over 40 accounts operated by an Indian firm CyberRoot Risk Advisory, allegedly involved in hacking-for-hire services, the online giant said in a report. Meta also took down a network of about 900 fake accounts on Instagram and Facebook operated from China by an unknown entity.
These accounts were focused on collecting
data of people in Myanmar, India, Taiwan, the US and China, including military
personnel, pro-democracy activists, government employees, politicians and
journalists, according to the company's Threat Report on the Surveillance-for-Hire
Industry released on December 15.
"We removed a network of more than 40
accounts on Facebook and Instagram operated by an Indian firm called CyberRoot
Risk Advisory Private. Rather than directly sharing malware on our apps, this
group's activity manifested primarily in social engineering and phishing, often
intended to trick people into giving up their credentials to various online
accounts across the internet," the report said.
According to Meta, CyberRoot used fake
accounts to create fictitious personas tailored to gain trust with the people
they targeted around the world and to appear more credible, these personas
impersonated journalists, business executives and media personalities.
In some cases, CyberRoot also created
accounts that were very identical to accounts connected to their targets like
their friends and family members, with only slightly changed usernames, likely
in an attempt to trick people into engaging, the report said.
Meta said it found CyberRoot targeted
people around the world involved in various industries, including cosmetic
surgery and law firms in Australia, real estate and investment companies in
Russia, private equity firms and pharmaceutical companies in the US,
environmental and anti-corruption activists in Angola, gambling entities in the
UK, and mining companies in New Zealand.
"They were focused on business
executives, lawyers, doctors, activists, journalists and members of the clergy
in countries like Kazakhstan, Djibouti, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and
Iceland," the report said.
Meta said it continues to investigate and
take action against spyware vendors around the world, including in China,
Russia, Israel, the US and India, who targeted people in about 200 countries
and territories.
The social media firm in its research has
found that the global surveillance-for-hire industry continues to grow and
indiscriminately target people - including journalists, activists, litigants
and political opposition - to collect intelligence, manipulate and compromise
their devices and accounts across the internet.
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