VENTURES  AFRICA – Banks operating within Africa’s emerging financial hub, Morocco, were recently hit by cyber-attacks. A cyber espionage group, Equation, which has hit about 30 countries in the last two years was responsible for this attack.

“The Equation is the most sophisticated cyber attackers in the world, and the most advanced threat actor we have seen,”  a report from Kaspersky said.

According to Kaspersky, the hacker group have been engaged in multiple operations since 2001 targeting companies that develop cryptographic technologies. They also attack countries’ telecommunication systems, embassies, governments, the military and research institutions.

Reports indicate that the group has managed to steal more than $1 billion in two years from hundreds of financial institutions around the world by using very advanced techniques. These techniques are similar to the NSA’s described in top-secret documents leaked in 2013 by Edward Snowden.

“Unlike other hackers, the equation group isn’t interested in destroying computers or wiping them clean like the North Koreans did to Sony Last year, they are interested in long term intelligence gathering,” Costin Raiu, Kaspersky Research Director told FOX6Now.com.

Elsewhere on Ventures

Triangle arrow