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Undercover spy exposed in NYC was one of many

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Re: Undercover spy exposed in NYC was one of many

#2
> When mysterious operatives lured two cybersecurity researchers to meetings at luxury hotels over the past two months

How does one go about luring cybersecurity reaserchers?

Surely a cybersecurity researcher is not you’re average mark?

Luring is generally something an adversary does to an one who is unsuspecting.

I wouldn’t go so far as to say the us of the word is dishonest, but it sure seems to be leaning toward hyperbolic, or histrionic.

Maybe targeted would be a better word?

Re: Undercover spy exposed in NYC was one of many

#3

> When mysterious operatives lured two cybersecurity researchers to meetings at luxury hotels over the past two months How does one go about luring cybersecurity reaserchers? Surely a cybersecurity researcher is not you’re average mark? Luring is generally something an adversary does to an one who is unsuspecting. I wouldn’t go so far as to say the us of the word is dishonest, but it sure seems to be leaning toward h…

They got baited by the spies presenting themselves as investors, it fits imo. Furthermore I think people who are well-practiced in HUMINT and academics/researchers building up a legal case against a hacking group don't really overlap that much.

Re: Undercover spy exposed in NYC was one of many

#6

> When mysterious operatives lured two cybersecurity researchers to meetings at luxury hotels over the past two months How does one go about luring cybersecurity reaserchers? Surely a cybersecurity researcher is not you’re average mark? Luring is generally something an adversary does to an one who is unsuspecting. I wouldn’t go so far as to say the us of the word is dishonest, but it sure seems to be leaning toward h…

I recall reading a similar article regarding Citizen Lab where the researchers were also baited through interviews for new positions or capital/sponsorship in their relevant studies.

Edit, found the previous HN article (this is the same article but on a different site, the NY Times article is no longer accessible):

https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/citizen-lab-toronto-under...

HN discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19006477

Re: Undercover spy exposed in NYC was one of many

#7
> The targets told the AP that the covert agents tried to goad them into making racist and anti-Israel remarks or revealing sensitive information about their work in connection with the lawsuits.

Presumably they recorded the meeting with a hidden camera and planned on blackmailing the researchers into altering or stopping their research. It must be an effective tactic, because that's just so blatant and obvious.

> one man caught up in the litigation said he recognized Almog-Assouline because he’d been approached by the same operative under a different identity several years ago. “I recognized the individual, down to the accent and the anecdotes,” said the man, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.

Hmm, I wonder if they did manage to find something to blackmail him with and that's what he means by retaliation and hopefully not something more sinister...

Re: Undercover spy exposed in NYC was one of many

#9

> When mysterious operatives lured two cybersecurity researchers to meetings at luxury hotels over the past two months How does one go about luring cybersecurity reaserchers? Surely a cybersecurity researcher is not you’re average mark? Luring is generally something an adversary does to an one who is unsuspecting. I wouldn’t go so far as to say the us of the word is dishonest, but it sure seems to be leaning toward h…

Create a fake identity, fake company, then contact the researcher claiming you want to hire him/her. Get the researcher to come to a restaurant and secretly record the meeting while using leading questions to try to force the researcher into saying unpleasant things.

Re: Undercover spy exposed in NYC was one of many

#10

> When mysterious operatives lured two cybersecurity researchers to meetings at luxury hotels over the past two months How does one go about luring cybersecurity reaserchers? Surely a cybersecurity researcher is not you’re average mark? Luring is generally something an adversary does to an one who is unsuspecting. I wouldn’t go so far as to say the us of the word is dishonest, but it sure seems to be leaning toward h…

> luring cybersecurity reaserchers

In the same way you do it in Silicon Valley - pretend to be a member of a VC fund with a lot of money. Plenty of people have been duped into giving up secrets and product ideas to fake and real VC members.

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