El Reg picks up on a Black Hat Europe presentation that detailed some of the ways used to mislead cyber-Investigators. Interestingly the presentation mentioned the malware Olympic Destroyer which was finally laid at the door of Russia. The investigation of this was the subject of a full Wired Article that is itself an interesting read.
What both these articles show is that hackers are fully aware that their activities will be investigated, and they now cover their trail with a plethora of false evidence.
So next time you read an authoritative statement saying ‘It was XYZ that did it’, step back and consider the first rule of investigation – Motive! Although Script Kiddies often have unfathomable motives, that is not the case with State Actors, who love to pin the blame on other State Actors.
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