A mega-avazation of photos of Brazilians allegedly coming from police databases IS being offered free of charge in a forum on the Deep Web. There are more than 300 thousand images in the downloadable package identified on Monday night by the experts of Solo Iron ' cybersecurity unit of Solo Network, one of the largest Brazilian IT integrators.
“To access the forum, credits that can be purchased are required. With access to the forum, and using these credits, it is possible to download the photos for free”, explains Felipe Guimaraes, Head of the Solo Iron Cybersecurity Team. Some images supposedly may originate from the Civil Police of Espirito Santo & many appear to be from people allegedly authored. However, thousands of photos have the format of images used in Brazilian documents, enabling their use in criminal actions. It was not possible to confirm, so far, the origin of the images.
Photos can be used by criminals to attempt to create fake bank accounts and fraudulent credit requests, and can also facilitate advanced fraud with deepfake creation.
Companies on alert
Guimaraes explains that the leak can trigger a significant increase in financial fraud, since criminals have access to potential data that allows the creation of fake profiles with authentic appearance and creation of deepfakes. “Recommend companies 'mainly from the financial segment 'to increase their level of alert in the coming days because of the potential for fraud, and the fact that images are being distributed free of charge, further enhancing the possible volume of fraud attempts”, he says.
Consumers should also pay attention to suspicious communications from financial institutions (especially those that request confirmation of data, either by email or phone. “It is not difficult, using the search for images, to find preliminary data of the owner of the photograph, such as name, social network links, age, email, among others. Therefore, in case of any suspicious contact, the consumer should seek the financial institution, or consumer protection agencies”, says Guimaraes.
According to studies by Solo Iron, Brazil is a country of unique characteristics when it comes to cybercrime.Local groups ONE focused on financial fraud have at their disposal on the dark web a number of tools for fraud against individuals, from use of credit cards to PIX.These criminals have worked with global actors, conducting financial extortion against Brazilian companies, especially with the use of ransomware and data hijacking.
