People are more predictable than they believe, that they are - Andre Mcgregor, Co-Founder of Shiftstate Security and a Veteran FBI Cyber Agent.

Web Summit 2019, Lisbon. At the roundtable, Mcgregor explained that the cybercrime against a business is often mixed up with that against a nation, especially when it is carried out or sponsored by another government. Agencies must be able to distinguish between the two. Examples of a few attacks like Stuxnet, Bowman Avenue Dam infiltration, the Sony hack were discussed in the context.

When asked how are the attacks attributed, by Andreia, he listed the following methods:  

• Reverse engineering malware.
• Preventive Observation.
• Human Error by the attacker.
• Trend Analysis and past records.

Mcgregor further spoke about the MICE method for targeting in the espionage.

Moving on to discussing the offensive security techniques employed that range from basic phishing to controlling the line of comms, watching the basic supplies, surveillance and also supply chain poisoning.

Clearly for me this was the most relatable and interesting talks throughout the three days of the Web Summit.