Will leaked information be sold to criminal groups? The target of a series of cyber attacks is "money"

Incidents of personal information being leaked due to unauthorized access targeting companies are occurring one after another. Why are these attacks occurring one after another, and what are the characteristics of the recent attacks? We spoke to Hiroaki Kuramochi, Director and CTO (Chief Technology Officer) of the information security company "Luck" (Tokyo).

--Personal information has been leaked one after another. Why?

"I am very surprised as there has never been a situation in the past where damage has been so publicly announced.At this point, we have not found any evidence that indicates that the attacks were caused by the same attacker or attack campaign.Unless the root cause is clarified, similar damage will likely continue in the future."

--What are the characteristics of attacks in recent cases?

"Until recently, most attacks on companies were ransomware attacks. These are methods that infiltrate a company's network through a VPN (virtual private network), encrypt files, and then demand a ransom from the company. Nowadays, the targets of attacks have shifted to stealing large amounts of personal information.In particular, companies that can efficiently obtain large amounts of personal information, such as consumer services and cloud-based services used by multiple businesses, are being targeted.

--Why did the target change?

"In the end, the attacker's goal is money. In the past, many companies had a policy of not paying ransoms for ransom attacks, and the fact that they no longer made money as a result is thought to be a factor in the change."

"There have been many incidents in the past where email addresses and passwords have been stolen. In addition to this, information on driver's licenses and passports has also been leaked. There may be a change in the means by which stolen information is turned into money, such as selling personal information that can be used for fraud to criminal groups."

AI in the background?

--What do you think about the possibility that AI (artificial intelligence) is being used in attacks?

“It shows that it was actually used…