- A former cybercriminal who once worked with – and betrayed – the Secret Service warns about bad actors online.
- Brett Shannon Johnson says he worries that cybercriminals have access to more sophisticated tools than ever.
- Johnson was once an informant for the Secret Service but continued committing identity theft on their dime.
A former cybercriminal who once worked with – and betrayed – the Secret Service warned that internet hackers have access to more sophisticated tools than ever, and he thinks they’re more motivated to steal as the economic picture gets worse.
Brett Shannon Johnson is now the chief criminal officer at Arkose Labs, a fraud prevention company. He told Insider he worries that shady corners of the web, like bot marketplace The Genesis Market, have made it easier for inexperienced criminals to commit complicated financial crimes.
“You’ve got sophisticated tools that 98% of cybercriminals simply don’t use, and what scares me right now is we’re seeing that change [to more use],” Johnson said.
Johnson says these bot marketplaces can deliver everything a low-level hacker would need to commit complicated financial crimes.
