Hacking groups start targeting rivals

The cyber crooks are turning on each other.

Security researchers at Kaspersky Lab recently noticed some “rare and unusual” cyberattacks.

The digital hits were being lobbed back and forth between two rival Asia-Pacific hacking groups, Naikon and Hellsing.

{mosads}The groups are notorious for targeting high-level government and military officials throughout Southeast Asia and the U.S.

“Kaspersky Lab believes that this could mark the emergence of a new trend in criminal cyber activity,” the firm said.

Historically, teams of cyber crooks have left each other alone. In fact, hackers often swap and purchase malware from each other through online black markets.

But Naikon and Hellsing have suddenly broken out in an unprecedented cyber war.

In February 2014, Naikon launched a round of spear phishing emails — fake emails trying to lure specific targets into clicking a malicious link. Hellsing was apparently one of the group’s targets.

The cyber savvy Hellsing members didn’t fall for the ruse. Instead, they worked to verify the email’s legitimacy. Their findings likely caused a retaliatory attack.

“The targeting of the Naikon group by Hellsing, in some sort of a vengeful vampire-hunting-‘Empire Strikes Back’ style, is fascinating,” said Costin Raiu, director of global research and analyst team at Kaspersky, in a statement.

Kaspersky had only previously seen cyber crime gangs “accidentally hitting each other while stealing address books from victims and then mass-mailing everyone on each of these lists,” he said.

But this is different, Raiu added. It “seems more likely” the groups are launching “deliberate” attacks at each other.