Aug 5, 2019

Hacker group focusing on Venezuelan military

Joe Uchill

A hacker espionage group is engaged in a flurry of activity in South America, largely focused on Venezuelan targets, especially the military, reports cybersecurity firm ESET.

The big picture: The group, known as Machete, isn't new, but the amount of new activity is noteworthy. ESET attribues the group to at least 50 attacks between March and May, stealing "gigabytes of information each week."

Machete has been active for at least 10 years. Its current campaign uses malware-laced documents in highly targeted phishing attacks.

The victims: Machete, as in the past, is targeting Latin America.

  • 75% of victims observed by ESET are in Venezuela, with other victims in Ecuador, Colombia and Nicaragua.
  • "More than half" of the targets are Venezuelan military groups.

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Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

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