Meta Takes Down 900 Chinese Accounts Over Hacking Issues

Meta, a social media giant, removed a network of approximately 900 fake Instagram & Facebook accounts operated from China by an unknown entity.

Meta has also shut down 40 accounts owned by CyberRoot Risk Advisory in India, which was allegedly involved with hacking-for-hire services.

Also Read: Top 7 Recent Cyber Attacks In India

These accounts were focused on collecting data of people in Myanmar, India, Taiwan, the US and China, including military personnel, pro-democracy activists, government employees, politicians and journalists, according to the company’s Threat Report on the Surveillance-for-Hire Industry released on December 15.

CyberRoot Risk Advisory Private, an Indian company, had more than 40 accounts removed from Facebook and Instagram. The report stated that this group was not directly sharing malware on the apps. 

Instead, they used social engineering and Phishing to trick people into giving their credentials to different online accounts.

Also Read: Top 5 Most Popular & Successful Hackers In India

Meta claims that CyberRoot created fake personas to gain trust from the people they targeted. To appear more credible and trustworthy, these personas impersonated journalists and business executives.

CyberRoot created accounts in some cases that were identical to accounts linked to their targets, such as their family members and friends. The usernames were only slightly altered, which was likely to fool people into engaging.

Meta claimed CyberRoot was targeting people in different industries around the globe, such as cosmetic surgery and law firms, in Australia, Russian real estate and investment firms, private equity and pharmaceutical firms in the US, Angolan environmental and anti-corruption activists, gambling entities, and New Zealand mining companies.

According to the report, “They were focused upon business executives, lawyers and doctors, as well as journalists, activists, journalists, and members of clergy in countries such Kazakhstan, Djibouti and Saudi Arabia,”

Meta stated that it continues to investigate and take actions against spyware vendors all over the globe, including in China and Russia, Israel and India. These vendors targeted individuals in around 200 countries and territories.

Also Read: Chinese hackers snoop into India’s intelligence unit near Ladakh

The social media firm in its research has found that the global surveillance-for-hire industry continues to grow and indiscriminately target people? 

Journalists, activists, litigants, and members of the political opposition are all included. to gather intelligence, manipulate, and compromise their accounts and devices across the internet.