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Cowboy Hat

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Senior Director of Strategic Alliances
LexisNexis Risk Solutions - Government

If you watch the news and keep up with technology, you know what a hacker is, but not everyone realizes that hackers fall into different categories known as Black Hat, White Hat, and Gray Hat. The terms derive from the color-coding scheme found in 1950s westerns, where the bad guys wore black hats, and the good guys wore white. As comedian Tom Segura said “If you’re going to wear a cowboy hat, you’re going to have to go all the way” And Black Hat Hackers go all the way. Black Hat hackers are criminals who break into computer networks with malicious intent. But not necessarily for financial gain. These were cyber intelligent group of vigilantes looking to harm anyone who they didn’t agree with.  And in today’s world, where the drive to get even far outweighs the choice to make ethical decisions, anyone spurned could sometimes use technology to retaliate. Like SiegedSec, the self-described group of Black Hat hackers, who took to the cyber world to strike back. 

Because of new state law legislations, SiegedSec targeted Texas, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, and South Carolina in a cyber-attack that breached the agencies databases. The leader of SiegedSec said that the group’s overall mission was to “have fun and cause chaos.” So much fun.  But…“sometimes we participate in a hacktivist operation though, with different goals. Our small, tight-knit group is made up of members with a wide variety of skill sets,” Vio said in a message on the encrypted chat app Signal. “I’ve seen countless people doubt that aspect of our group.” No doubt, ever, when it comes to cyber-attacks.

Some news outlets raised concerns that the group’s actions could expose random people to harm, not just the targeted governments. In response, Sieged Sec said that while the group tries to avoid affecting members of LGBTQ+ communities, it defined itself as “black hat,” rather than as a “hacktivist group”. Meaning it does not hack for activist purposes. It’s not their fault that similarly identified people might be in the way. Either way, fraudsters do what they want to do. Regardless of how they impact others.

Today’s Fraud of The Day is based on article “Gay Furry Hackers Are Targeting US States For Passing Anti-trans Legislation” published by Insider on July 14, 2023

SiegedSec, a self-described group of gay furry hackers, took its skills to state governments in late June, breaching agencies across five states and releasing a wealth of data. The states targeted on June 27 were Texas, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, and South Carolina. Though the other states’ targeting was not specifically explained, a 180 gigabyte leak from the previous week on the government in Fort Worth, Texas, was apparently over the state’s move to ban gender-affirming care.”Furries” are a small community of people interested in or identifying with anthropomorphic or animated animals.

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