Four Secrets of Safe Communication for Hackers

I hope the readers of my course are not cybercriminals and this material will be considered solely for broadening their horizons. It will discuss several methods used by hackers when communicating online to evade just retribution.

Secret Greeting

For members of active hacker groups, every day on the loose can become the last, but the most unpleasant thing is that any day a representative of law enforcement may come into contact instead of a partner.

This is an old and favored trick, where the arrested hacker's equipment is seized or they are coerced into writing to their accomplices to obtain some valuable information for the investigation.

The goal is not always the accomplices; sometimes the main task is to gather compromising material on the detained individual, who has cleaned up their correspondence and "forgotten" about their involvement in the crimes. This is where the accomplices can remind the operational staff about the arrested person's activities, providing details that will then form the basis of the criminal case.

But hackers have a method for protection against such threats – confirmation through greetings and a secret alarm signal. Humanity has invented many different greetings: buen día, buon giorno, o zi buna, and others. Hackers choose three unusual ones and start greeting each other only with them.

For example, one might greet a partner with "Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite!" and they respond with "Ave, Caesar!". But that’s not the main point; the greetings must change in a specific order: one day one, another day another, so that a person from the outside, not understanding, greets incorrectly.

In case a partner encounters problems, there should be a special greeting, for example, "Salute, buddy!". This would mean "I have serious problems; whatever I write next, it’s either not me or I’m writing under duress. Act as if nothing is happening, and take care of yourself."

Constantly Changing Accounts

When this article was being written, the media reported a leak of personal data of German politicians, including their passport details and bank card information. The attack was carried out by a hacker calling himself Orbit.

Literally within a few days, the hacker was identified and detained. He used Telegram registered to his personal number – I find it hard to explain such carelessness. Old-school hackers not only did not provide any of their data during registration but also regularly changed accounts.