An undercover Google analyst infiltrated a notorious hacking gang

Google's Threat Intelligence Group said it had a mole inside the inner circle of the hacking crew known as TeamPCP.

TeamPCP is notorious for supply-chain attacks — a technique in which intruders compromise not the ultimate victim directly, but the software vendors or service providers through which they can then reach many downstream targets.

According to Google, its analyst worked undercover and gained access to the group's inner workings. Such infiltration is unusual for the industry: security researchers normally watch criminal collectives from the outside, tracing their attacks and chatter on closed forums, rather than from within.

Google has been sparing with the operational details. Even so, the mere fact that a plant sat inside the tight circle of one of the more prominent gangs shows how deeply large technology companies are now willing to engage in the fight against organized cybercrime.

Source: Ars Technica