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14-Year Gambling Scam Hides Nation-State Hackers
3 Dec
Summary
- A 14-year gambling fraud infrastructure is suspected of being a dual nation-state operation.
- The sophisticated network targets government and private industries in the US and Europe.
- It costs millions annually to maintain, far exceeding typical financially motivated scams.
A massive cyber infrastructure, operating as a fraudulent gambling website operation for 14 years, is now believed to be a dual operation run by a nation-state-sponsored group. Researchers indicate this complex network targets government and private-industry organizations in the United States and Europe, extending beyond mere financial motives.
The operation's longevity, scale, and sophistication suggest it's an advanced persistent threat. With 328,000 domains and nearly 1,500 hijacked subdomains from legitimate organizations, the infrastructure is estimated to cost between $725,000 and $17 million annually.
This advanced tradecraft includes widespread exploitation of WordPress and PHP, large-scale subdomain hijacking, and stealthy use of government domain names for reverse proxies. Researchers suggest gambling serves as both a revenue stream and a cover for covert cyber operations.
