Lone Nigerian Hacker Behind Attempted Hacks at 4,000 Organizations

[LASER_oneXM]

One lone hacker operating out of Lagos, Nigeria is behind attempts to hack into over 4,000 organizations across the globe using basic techniques and antiquated tools, according to an investigation by researchers at Check Point.
The attacker's modus operandi is laughably simple in the eyes of a trained security professional, but they have been successful in at least 14 cases confirmed by researchers.

Attacks are simple, yet effective
The attacks start with the hacker sending simple emails to a company's public or generic addresses. The attacker doesn't even try to stylize and craft professional looking email lures. He uses a generic subject line "Dear Sir/Ms.", asks for other contact information, and sends mass emails to all email addresses at the same time.

Security researcher MalwareHunter spoke to Bleeping Computer and said this lone hacker is just one of the many actors he sees on a daily basis. Check Point says that in the past four months, they've identified evidence of this hacker's attacks aimed at 4,000 organizations.

The company says that some of the hacker's biggest targets are a marine and energy solutions company in Croatia, a transportation company in Abu Dhabi, a mining company in Egypt, a construction company in Dubai, an oil & gas firm in Kuwait, and a construction organization in Germany.

In addition, the hacker also attacked organizations in the banking sector, manufacturing, and others. Researchers believe the attacker made thousands of dollars from his criminal activity.


Just like many fellow Nigerian hackers, the attacker was careless with his personal operation security. Experts say they tracked and identified his real life persona, a mid-20 man operating from a location near the capital of Nigeria, and have even discovered some of the attacker's social media profiles.