Insider stories: Tales from Dubius Payment Ltd.

The hacker group “Black Shadow“...

Up until recently, the ’Black Shadow’ hacker group was known for credit card fraud, which they employed for their own financial gain. Now, the group published a manifesto called “Electronic money and its guardians“. The document illustrates how the CEOs of asset management companies control the world:

“They invest, analyse and advise large investors, finance ministries and central banks. ’Shadow banks’, which operate below the radar of national and international banking regulators, have long been holding significant stakes in important companies, such as Deutsche Bank “(Chapter 8 “Invisible government“).

Experts are now concerned about wide-scale hacker attacks on the global financial system. In their manifesto, the ’Black Shadow’ group reference “creative destruction“, a term borrowed from macroeconomics:

“Destruction is necessary to allow reorganisation to take place. It is not a system error“ (Chapter 23 “Act of Liberation“).

...and their victims from Dubius Payment Ltd.

Clyde Simmons is quite familiar with the criminal activities of Black Shadow. He fell victim to one of the biggest hacker attacks in history, in which a credit agency was targeted. His data, including his social security number, were exploited. By the time he was able to block his record, the fraudsters had taken out loans in his name to the amount of $92,391. While there is a realistic chance that he won’t be liable for the amount by filing a lawsuit, his wife Chasity still had to help him out with money from her son Philip’s savings.

Even though Philip is not his biological son, he is Clyde’s pride and joy, because he studies at one of the country’s most prestigious universities for information technology. Whether that will still be the case after the incident is a real cliffhanger - the tuition for the coming semester is due.

After all the media hype surrounding Black Shadow, Rachel Robert has a bad feeling. Unexplained charges showed up on her new and now fifth credit card – even though she had only used the card once before. Being a support representative, she naturally tries to find a solution to the problem herself and fears that her employer was the victim of a hacker attack: Since she had only used the card once to shop at a merchant of Dubius Payment Ltd., Rachel shares her suspicion with her work colleague and good friend, Rylan Hobbes.

Ryan is known as a humble, kind-hearted administrator who likes to spoil his colleagues with bagels once in a while. Nobody would suspect a member of Black Shadow behind such a pleasant persona. Which is why Rylan is particularly alarmed by Rachel’s suspicion. Neither he nor Black Shadow are responsible for this data leak, which is why another entity must have been involved. If it was true that Dubius Payment Ltd. fell victim to credit card theft, it would mean that not only his colleagues would be in the crosshairs of major international credit card companies, but also he... After a quick system analysis, he cannot believe what he sees: An employee of the company had intentionally stolen all stored credit card information.

Who is the thief? Can you find out by following the tracks in the practice lab?