Therefore, it’s crucial for parents to stay informed about the latest cybersecurity threats targeting kids to better protect them from potential harm. In this post, my colleague, Anna Larkina, and I explore some of the key cybersecurity trends that parents should be aware of and provide tips on how to safeguard their children’s online activities.

AI threats

AI is continuing to revolutionize various industries, and its daily use ranges from chatbots and AI wearables to personalized online shopping recommendations — among many other common uses. And of course, such global trends pique the interest and curiosity of children, who can use AI tools to do their homework or simply chat with AI-enabled chatbots. According to a UN study, about 80 percent of youths that took part in its survey claimed that they interact with AI multiple times a day. However, AI applications can pose numerous risks to young users involving data privacy loss, cyberthreats, and inappropriate content.

With the development of AI, numerous little-known applications have emerged with seemingly harmless features such as uploading a photo to receive a modified version — whether it be an anime-style image or simple retouching. However, when adults, let alone children, upload their images to such applications, they never know in which databases their photos will ultimately remain, or whether they’ll be used further. Even if your child decides to play with such an application, it’s essential to use them extremely cautiously and ensure there’s no personal information that may identify the child’s identity — such as names, combined with addresses, or similar sensitive data — in the background of the photo, or consider avoiding using such applications altogether.

Moreover, AI apps – chatbots in particular – can easily provide age-inappropriate content when prompted. This poses a heightened risk as teenagers might feel more comfortable sharing personal information with the chatbot than with their real-life acquaintances, as evidenced by instances where the chatbot gave advice on masking the smell of alcohol and pot to a user claiming to be 15. On an even more inappropriate level, there are a multitude of AI chatbots that are specifically designed to provide an “erotic” experience. Although some require a form of age verification, this is a dangerous trend as some children might opt to lie about their age, while checks of real age are lacking.

It is estimated that on Facebook Messenger alone, there are over 300,000 chatbots in operation. However, not all of them are safe, and may carry various risks, like the ones mentioned earlier. Therefore, it is extremely important to discuss with children the importance of privacy and the dangers of oversharing, as well as talking to them about their online experiences regularly. It also reiterates the significance of establishing trusting relationships with one’s children. This will ensure that they feel comfortable asking their parents for advice rather than turning to a chatbot for guidance.

Young gamers under attack

According to statistics, 91 percent of children in the UK aged 3-15 play digital games on devices. The vast world of gaming is open to them — also making them vulnerable to cybercriminals’ attacks. For instance, in 2022, our security solutions detected more than seven million attacks relating to popular children’s games, resulting in a 57 percent increase in attempted attacks compared to the previous year. The top children’s games by the number of users targeted even included games for the youngest children — Poppy Playtime and Toca Life World — which are designed for children 3-8-years old.

What raises even more concerns is that sometimes children prefer to communicate with strangers on gaming platforms rather than on social media. In some games, unmoderated voice and text chats form a significant part of the experience. As more young people come online, criminals can build trust virtually, in the same way as they would entice someone in person — by offering gifts or promises of friendship. Once they lure a young victim by gaining their trust, cybercriminals can obtain their personal information, suggesting they click on a phishing link, download a malicious file onto their device disguised as a game mod for Minecraft or Fortnite, or even groom them for more nefarious purposes. This can be seen in the documentary series “hacker:HUNTER“, co-produced by Kaspersky, as one of the episodes revealed how cybercriminals identify skilled children through online games and then groom them to carry out hacking tasks.

The number of ways to interact within the gaming world is increasing, and now includes voice chats as well as AR and VR games. Both cybersecurity and social-related threats remain particular problems in children’s gaming. Parents must remain vigilant regarding their children’s behavior and maintain open communication to address any potential threats. Identifying a threat involves observing changes, such as sudden shifts in gaming habits that may indicate a cause for concern. To keep your child safe by stopping them downloading malicious files during their gaming experience, we advise installing a trusted security solution on all their devices.

Fintech for kids: the phantom menace

An increasing number of banks are providing specialized products and services designed for children — including bank cards for kids as young as 12. This gives parents helpful things like the ability to monitor their child’s expenditures, establish daily spending limits, or remotely transfer funds for the child’s pocket money.

Yet, by introducing banking cards for children, the latter can become susceptible to financially motivated threat actors and vulnerable to conventional scams, such as promises of a free PlayStation 5 and other similar valuable devices after entering card details on a phishing site. Using social engineering techniques, cybercriminals might exploit children’s trust by posing as their peers and requesting card details or money transfers to their accounts.

As the fintech industry for children continues to evolve, it’s crucial to educate children not only about financial literacy but also the basics of cybersecurity. To achieve this, you can read Kaspersky Cybersecurity Alphabet together with your child. It’s specifically designed to explain key online safety rules in a language easily comprehensible for children.

To avoid concerns about a child losing their card or sharing banking details, we recommend installing a digital NFC card on their phone instead of giving them a physical plastic card. Establish transaction confirmation with the parent if the bank allows it. And, of course, the use of any technical solutions must be accompanied by an explanation of how to use them safely.

Smart home threats for kids

In our interconnected world, an increasing number of devices — even everyday items like pet feeders — are becoming “smart” by connecting to the internet. However, as these devices become more sophisticated, they also become more susceptible to cyberattacks. This year, our researchers conducted a vulnerability study on a popular model of smart pet feeder. The findings revealed a number of serious security issues that could allow attackers to gain unauthorized access to the device and steal sensitive information such as video footage — potentially turning the feeder into a surveillance tool.

Despite the increasing number of threats, manufacturers are not rushing to create cyber-immune devices that preemptively prevent potential exploits of vulnerabilities. Meanwhile, the variety of different IoT devices purchased in households continues to grow. These devices are becoming the norm for children, which also means that children can become tools for cybercriminals in an attack. For instance, if a smart device becomes a fully functional surveillance tool and a child is home alone, cybercriminals could contact them through the device and request sensitive information such as their name, address, or even their parents’ credit card number and times when their parents are not at home. In a scenario such as this one, beyond just hacking the device, there is a risk of financial data loss or even a physical attack.

As we cannot restrict children from using smart home devices, our responsibility as parents is to maximize the security of these devices. This includes at least adjusting default security settings, setting new passwords, and explaining basic cybersecurity rules to children who use IoT devices.

I need my space!

As kids mature, they develop greater self-awareness, encompassing an understanding of their personal space, privacy, and sensitive data, both offline and in their online activities. The increasing accessibility of the internet means more children are prone to becoming aware of this. Consequently, when a parent firmly communicates the intent to install a parenting digital app on their child’s devices, not all children will take it calmly.

This is why parents now require the skill to discuss their child’s online experience and the importance of parenting digital apps for online safety while respecting the child’s personal space. This involves establishing clear boundaries and expectations, discussing the reasons for using the app with the child. Regular check-ins are also vital, and adjustments to the restrictions should be made as the child matures and develops a sense of responsibility. Learn more in our guide on kids’ first gadgets, where, together with experienced child psychologist Saliha Afridi, our privacy experts analyze a series of important milestones to understand how to introduce such apps into a child’s life properly and establish a meaningful dialogue about cybersecurity online.

Forbidden fruit can be… malicious

If an app is unavailable in one’s home region, a child may start looking for an alternative, but this alternative is often only a malicious copy. Even if they turn to official app stores like Google Play, they still run the risk of falling prey to cybercriminals. From 2020 to 2022, our researchers found more than 190 apps infected with the Harly Trojan on Google Play, which signed users up for paid services without their knowledge. A conservative estimate of the number of downloads of these apps is 4.8 million, while the actual figure of victims may be even higher.

Children are not the only ones following this trend; adults are as well, which was highlighted in our latest consumer cyberthreats predictions report as a part of the annual Kaspersky Security Bulletin. That’s why it’s crucial for kids and their parents to understand the fundamentals of cybersecurity. For instance, it’s important to pay attention to the permissions that an app requests when installing it: a simple calculator, for instance, shouldn’t need access to your location or contact list.

How to keep kids safe?

As we can see, many of the trends that are playing out in society today are also affecting children, making them potential targets for attackers. This includes both the development and popularity of AI and smart homes, as well as the expansion of the world of gaming and the fintech industry. Our experts are convinced that protecting children from cybersecurity threats in 2024 requires proactive measures from parents:

• By staying informed about the latest threats and actively monitoring their children’s online activities, parents can create a safer online environment for their kids.
• It’s crucial for parents to have open communication with their children about the potential risks they may encounter online and to enforce strict guidelines to ensure their safety.
• With the right tools such as Kaspersky Safe Kids, parents can effectively safeguard their children against cyberthreats in the digital age.
• To help parents introduce their children to cybersecurity amid the evolving threat landscape, our experts have developed the above-mentioned Kaspersky Cybersecurity Alphabet, with key concepts from the cybersecurity industry. In this book, your child can get to know about new technologies, learn the main cyber hygiene rules, find out how to avoid online threats, and recognize fraudsters’ tricks. After reading this book together, you’ll be sure that your offspring knows how to distinguish a phishing website, how VPN and QR-codes work, and even what encryption and honeypots are and what role they play in modern cybersecurity. You can download the pdf version of the book and also the Kaspersky Cybersecurity Alphabet poster for free.

Once a niche pastime, the gaming industry (approaching its 50^th anniversary) is now bigger than both Hollywood and the music industry — combined! To put this into perspective, so far this year more than 7000 titles have been released, eagerly awaited by around three billion gamers worldwide.

You might spend only a couple of hours per week gaming and do it just for fun, but if you’re serious about winning and want to invest time, money and effort, there are some well-established avenues to quickly improving your… game. If you want to learn from others, take a look at some insights we’ve collected while working with more than 10,000 global gamers to get their thoughts on everything from the performance of their computers to the ethics of winning and losing.

Our research revealed pro gamers are like professional sports stars. Key to a winning performance is obviously computer power. And gamers prefer to build their own desktop PCs rather than heading to a big box store.

What impressed us is the attention to detail as everyone carefully specifies hardware for the games they play to improve performance, with 66% purchasing a graphics card, memory, SSD, whole PC, or monitor that specifically meets their needs. Two of the most important hardware considerations are processing power (49%) and bandwidth (40%) as they offer advantages over rivals with slower data connections. Almost three-in-four are also very specific about the right accessories. The priorities go in this order: keyboards (38%), mice (37%), headsets or microphones (37%), and chairs (32%).

For people participating in e-sports tournaments or even friendly competitions, maintaining good mental health is essential to help you react under pressure, so 76% of active gamers work on this aspect too. Obviously, practice is very important, but, surprisingly, only 41% put it as a winning factor.

The vast majority of serious gamers are ready to use every possible method or trick to win — 85% said that they’d use inside knowledge to beat an opponent. The global community agrees on one thing — using dishonest methods to achieve your goal only highlights a lack of skill.

We talked to gamers from Europe to South America and Asia-Pacific, and they all said the same — their biggest beef with game makers is that their accounts have been hacked at some point in the last two years. And while the industry invests millions into graphics and game development, it’s a long way to go in terms of user account security — 63% of respondents agree their accounts are not properly protected.

So, how do all these factors rank at the end of the day?

We can contribute to a substantial improvement of game security, so here’s some advice for gamers wanting to maintain a high-level of performance and security:

• It’s safer to buy games only from official sites/stores and wait for sales on those sites. Sales happen quite often and it’s a much safer way to save money than buying from illegal stores or downloading pirated software. The probability of account loss and direct financial theft is much higher with pirated software as it’s regularly used by cybercrooks to find new victims.
• Beware of phishing campaigns that might take the form of fake notification emails from gaming services or direct messages from unfamiliar gamers. Criminals use these tactics to lure you to fake websites and steal your Steam, Discord or other credentials. They might also distribute malware disguised as a game mod or other attractive items. So, triple check the website’s address and avoid unfamiliar sites, and remember that offers that sound too good to be true — aren’t.
• Make sure your computer is always protected by cybersecurity software. There is exactly zero need to “disable your antivirus/internet security/firewall” to play. Modern security solutions, like Kaspersky Plus, have a special “gaming mode”, which allows you to play without FPS reduction or any distractions. If any game mod or utility requires you to disable your security, it’s a huge red flag.

Kurt Baumgartner, principal security researcher

The first thing that’s piqued my attention coming up in Black Hat 2022 is Kim Zetter’s keynote “Pre-Stuxnet, Post-Stuxnet: Everything Has Changed, Nothing Has Changed.” Of course, Stuxnet changed things, but her perspective on ongoing security issues in light of past events and consequences should be fantastic.

The vast majority of talks this year are on offensive operations. There are also more than a handful of talks on “cyber-physical systems,” including Siemens’ devices, automotive remote keyless entry, secure radio communications and more. Some of the technical wizardry and its implications have become more alarming, and since Stuxnet – more understandable to the general audience.

A couple of other talks look particularly interesting due to the use of novel exploitation techniques and implications for large scale authentication schemes from well-known offensive researchers: “I Am Whoever I Say I Am: Infiltrating Identity Providers Using a 0Click Exploit” and “Elevating Kerberos to the Next Level.”

I would’ve expected to see more offensive talks on attacking various machine-learning technologies and offensive cryptocurrency research.

Giampaolo Dedola, senior security researcher

I’m glad that many Black Hat briefings reflect what Kaspersky experts foresaw in their APT predictions for 2022, confirming our insights on the current state of cybersecurity.

Several talks deserve special attention – related to and covering this year’s disruptive attacks and the geopolitical crisis in Ukraine. Since such topics are an essential part of the agenda, it confirms a strict interrelation between the digital and real world, and that cybersecurity is becoming even more relevant for ensuring physical safety.

This trend will expand in the future, as cyberattacks are already reaching targets beyond our planet, such as the attacks against ViaSat satellites and Starlink.

Finally, Black Hat will touch upon a growing issue: the ethics of how a government could exploit cyber operations to fabricate evidence to frame and incarcerate vulnerable opponents.

Jornt van der Wiel, senior security researcher

Black Hat’s interesting schedule covers a variety of topics related to exploitation of devices, systems, and certain equipment that’s not easily updated. As for research, it will be useful to learn about new methods of mobile GPU exploitation on Android. Another interesting issue is the novel vulnerabilities and exploitation techniques that reliably bypass Linux syscall tracing. I’m also looking forward to “Breaking Firmware Trust From Pre-EFI: Exploiting Early Boot Phases,” as it should elaborate on UEFI firmware, a recent hot theme due to its allowing malware to run even after the system is reinstalled.

We expect that some of these vulnerabilities and exploits that are “harder to patch on all devices” will be abused by cybercriminals and appear in the wild soon.

Boris Larin, lead security researcher

I expect in-the-wild zero-days and microarchitectural/firmware threats to be the key topics of the conference. In the last few years, with the help of our technologies, we’ve discovered more than a dozen actively exploited zero-day exploits used by different APTs (MysterySnail, PuzzleMaker, WizardOpium), and a number of novel UEFI rootkits (CosmicStrand, MoonBounce, FinSpy, MosaicRegressor).

Our findings show that these threats are becoming more relevant than ever. Attacks using such sophisticated techniques are becoming more common and widespread. Personally, I’m really looking forward to a number of presentations dedicated to these topics, such as: “Monitoring Surveillance Vendors: A Deep Dive into In-the-Wild Android Full Chains in 2021,” “Architecturally Leaking Data from the Microarchitecture” and “Do Not Trust the ASA, Trojans!”

If you’re also attending Black Hat this year, let us know what topics and talks you’re most looking forward to. You can find more insights and reports from our experts on Securelist.

— Just curious: in our corporate email you’re listed as Valter Generoso, but in our company database, you’re down as Valter Silva. What gives?!

— Well, my full name is Valter Generoso Silva. Silva is my surname, but it’s a common one here in Brazil, so, when possible, I tend to present myself using my first name plus second name: Valter Generoso, since my second name is a very uncommon one. Besides, Generoso means — can you guess?! — generous, so it’s a good way to start a conversation.

— Where do you live in Brazil?

— My family wasn’t much into traveling, so the first time I left my home town, Ribeirão Preto, I was already 15. And last year, in order to work at Kaspersky, I moved to a town in the same state, called Jundiaí, 50km from our office in São Paulo. The traffic in São Paulo is jammed most of the time, so it’s faster for me to get to the office than for someone who actually lives in São Paulo!

— I thought the support teams worked remotely, from home. Or do you have to do some offline support, too?

— Here in Brazil we work based on a hybrid system, and yes, I work from home most weekdays. I’m a part of the MSA LatAm team, where MSA stands for Kaspersky’s Maintenance Service Agreement. We take care of clients who have Premium Support contracts — in other words, high-priority support. On top of typical activities like remote sessions and follow-up on support cases, I really like to take care of the most complex of problems, like when a client is unhappy with something and I need to change their perspective.

— Is some technical education required for such a job?

— Sure. I have a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and MBA in Information Security.

— Did you get it from university? I’m asking because most of my colleagues my age don’t have degrees in infosec; in the 1990s, there were no infosec classes in universities at all!

— Interesting! Yes, I studied at the UNISEB university in my hometown. But I was a late student: I was 27 when I graduated in Computer Science. And my Information Security MBA was obtained much later, in 2022.

— So what did you do before uni?

— I started work when I was 16. A lot of retail jobs. Here in Brazil everyone has a labor book in which you log all your jobs — and mine is full. Working at a bar, selling shoes, telemarketing… Perhaps my most unusual job was being a card dealer in poker tournaments.

— Wow, great experience! And after all that, you got interested in computers?

— All of my friends started coding, and they were doing well. So one day I left everything, took a test for a scholarship, and went to work in customer support for telemarketing for a telecoms company here at Brazil. It was the only place where they didn’t ask for experience and I could make a career change.

I tried to be a developer, but it wasn’t for me. However, my first work experience in an IT company helped me learn about IT infrastructure. So I thought, “I’m almost 10 years behind everyone else my age, so I need to be a fast-paced learner”. And ever since I never stopped studying as hard as I can.

— How about infosec? Why did you pick up this specialization? Is it a serious problem in Brazil?

— It’s a really serious problem, and what makes it even bigger is that there’s very little security awareness — even among IT people here.

Take me, for example. I was working for an IT company for three years, then I started working for a car dealer, and they used Kaspersky in their IT infrastructure, and this is where I learned about antivirus for the first time. But other basic concepts of information security — like firewalls and network protection — I learned only when I started work for a company that was selling these solutions. In a similar way, I found out about advanced security trends (like red teaming), only when I started working for a company that provided these services.

In short, some businesses in Brazil take information security seriously and they buy security solutions. But around 80% of SMB companies don’t even know about the risks — or don’t have the budget for solutions to deal with them.

— Can you describe in one word the main quality needed to work successfully in the support service for a cybersecurity company?

— Empathy. Be in the shoes of those who are facing the problem.

— Does it always work for you? I bet you have some funny stories to tell involving misunderstandings!

— Well, there was the time I was in a remote session talking about a serious issue. Since I provide support in different Latin America countries, I’m usually speaking Portuguese or Spanish. This particular discussion was in Spanish, but I tried to use a Portuguese popular proverb. Unfortunately the Spanish translation didn’t make any sense. I was trying very hard to explain the proverb, but it just kept getting worse. So eventually I started laughing and thankfully everyone else did too. After this experience I promised myself I’d never go for proverb translations again!

— Is there anybody in Brazil who can call your support service and speak some indigenous language?

— Unfortunately, no. Indigenous languages here are dead. Historically, we didn’t take sufficient care of indigenous culture and languages. And Brazil is the only country in South America that was colonized by Portugal, so we speak Portuguese mostly.

— As you talk to people from other Latin American countries, do you see any differences in their attitudes towards cybersecurity?

— Well, Costa Rica is now facing a tough phase from a cybersecurity point of view. There’s an official state of emergency there now because of attacks against several government sectors. The sense of urgency there is way higher than in other countries.

— So you can actually help in some global analysis! I wonder if our analysts ever used data from support services, to see a global picture of threats…

— I think they might use some data about the support cases, but from a macro point of view. At least from my side I never directly helped in this kind of analysis.

— Do people in Brazil care about the fact that Kaspersky has Russian roots?

— No. Here in Brazil, at least as I see, people don’t care that much about the origins of the company I work for. I know that people at the enterprise level may get real problems because of it. But from my family or friends or on social media I’ve never been asked about anything connected with Kaspersky’s Russian roots.

— Well, in Europe some people got very nervous about it, because of the Ukrainian conflict.

— Yeah, I know. But it’s like with any other foreign news: for the first two weeks people were talking about Ukraine a lot; now it’s just 20 seconds on the news. Besides, here in Brazil, it’s an election year. So people now are more crazy about the cost of a wedding reception thrown by one of the candidates.

— And finally, some words about your personal life. What do you prefer to do when you’re not at work? Brazilians are supposed to love football, no?

— Don’t tell anyone, but I am not a football (soccer) fan! I like to take my family to the park, or to go to the movie theater with my older daughter. We both love superhero movies. I also go to the gym from time to time. And I like to walk my two dogs.

Another thing about me is that I like to give life some… comic relief. So every time I can, I like to make the people around me feel more positive in tough situations.

— How about visiting Russia?

— It’s a dream! When I was 14 years old, I was in an MSN chat room practicing my English, and I started chatting with a Russian girl there. After a few days we exchanged ICQ numbers, and she shared some pictures of Russia and told me what it was like living there. It was the first time I saw Red Square.

I dream of one day… playing chess with a Russian elder in a square in Moscow — and being crushed in eight moves!

— You live in Kuala Lumpur, but your name sounds Spanish. What’s the secret?

— Ha-ha! That’s because I’m from the Philippines. We’re called the “Mexicans of Asia” as we were a colony of Spain for 333 years.

— In my country, people from the Philippines are mostly known as massage therapists or babysitters. And they’re always women! I’ve just realized I’ve never met a man from the Philippines!

— That’s totally understandable. It’s Philippine women who usually go abroad to earn for their family. And you’re right: Filipinas abroad are usually helpers, babysitters or nurses!

Filipino men are fond of basketball and… beer. That’s how I’d best describe them; however, I’m actually not so familiar with Filipinos — my husband is from India.

— Did you meet him in Malaysia?

— No. I “met” him through Instagram while I was in the Philippines. We’re currently in a long-distance marriage. He comes to visit me from time to time, and I go to India.

— What are the main differences between the Philippines and Malaysia?

— Well, the climate is almost the same: both the Philippines and Malaysia are tropical countries. But because Malaysia is not part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, it doesn’t get the powerful typhoons or earthquakes like in the Philippines. I always get shocked reactions from my Malaysian colleagues when I say that Filipinos are used to naturally-caused catastrophes such as these.

The language is also different. My mother tongue is Filipino (Tagalog) and our second language in the Philippines is English. Here in Malaysia, people speak Malay (Bahasa), Chinese, and English. The surprising thing I learned is that there are some Filipino words borrowed from Malay. To name a couple, both languages have the same word for five (lima) and child (anak).

In terms of habits, Filipinos are admittedly… noisier! It’s normal for us to chit-chat loudly — even in busy public places. And it’s considered normal to comment on people’s weight, social status, salary, or any personal matters! I’m not sure if it’s because I’m a foreigner here, but I think Malaysians are more polite and reserved compared to Filipinos.

— So, you’re not feeling homesick?

— Oh, I am! No country can replace your motherland. I mean, there are lots of things about the Philippines that break my heart, but my family is there, the food I grew up eating is there, and my fondest memories are there too. So there’s still a part of me that aches for home.

— Why did you move to Malaysia?

— I moved back in 2019 to take on my new role at Kaspersky. It was a huge career milestone for me, though it was the scariest thing I’ve ever done as it was my first time outside my motherland.

— Back in the Philippines, had you any experience of cybersecurity, hackers and things like that?

— Oh, not really. The first time I read about cybersecurity was when researching an article I was writing — about a mobile Trojan — for Kaspersky. That was in February 2015 — seven years ago. You see, before I took my current position with the company I was a writer for a PR agency that worked for Kaspersky in the Philippines. My main task was to write media announcements and news articles.

— Wow, learning about Trojans only in 2015! Does that mean computer life in the Philippines is calm and peaceful?

— Possibly. It’s probably more that we’re quite oblivious to the threats. Or perhaps it’s because we were quite late in terms of cybersecurity, IT technologies in general, and awareness as compared to Western countries. In fact, even now, when mobile wallets are becoming more and more popular in the Philippines and in Southeast Asia in general, we’re still doing proactive campaigns to urge people to use security solutions to protect their smartphones — because not many folks install AV or internet security tools on their phones.

News about hacking and malware has reached our shores and we can see that awareness is much improved now. But when it comes to action, there still remains a gap that needs to be addressed.

— So you were a PR writer, and now you’re a Corporate Communications Manager for SEA. What’s your current job about?

— It was a huge shift to make! Before this, I only wrote PR articles for Philippines-based media and readers. Now my main tasks include developing and implementing regional media relations activities, communications plans, and local content campaigns. The end goal is to maximize positive publicity for Kaspersky and to maintain a healthy level of coverage and exposure for us here.

So now I’m in the driver’s seat, deciding and making strategies for the content campaigns and events that need to be relevant for the six key countries here — Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Southeast Asia is incredibly diverse, so our communication strategy here is not one-size-fits-all. Each country is at a different stage of technological advancement and cybersecurity maturity so we adapt and strategize as we go along.

Writing articles, though, remains one of the most fulfilling parts of the job for me.

— You know the Philippines and Malaysia well. But how do you manage campaigns and events for Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam? Do you visit these countries often? Or do you rely on local colleagues?

— Before the pandemic, I used to visit these countries a lot. But when the lockdowns started, I had to rethink our PR strategies amid the new reality. That’s when remote collaboration became a thing.

As soon as I took on this role back in 2019, I started making regular calls with our local and regional sales teams to keep track of their business goals and priorities. This proved to be essential during the pandemic. Because we’ve built that internal rapport, our collaboration of PR, marketing and sales in SEA is highly integrated — both at the local and regional levels.

— What do you think of Singapore? It’s promoted as a “new information era city”, but what does it mean for our corporate strategies?

— Singapore is indeed one of the most advanced places in Southeast Asia in terms of technological advancement and IT security posture. Topics of media inquiries here are at more advanced levels: the Internet of Things, implementation of regulations and policies related to cybersecurity, telehealth, 5G, cryptocurrency, and more. Some of the media here are also proficient in technical things like coding and reverse engineering.

Factoring all this in, our content for Singapore can be technical — like “a deep dive into APTs”, or advanced — like “securing smart cities”. For instance, in 2020, we had a case study about how Kaspersky ICS secured a Smart Floating Fish Farm in Singapore. As of now, it’s the only case study in SEA that involved industrial control systems.

— How was your job affected by the Ukrainian conflict? Your colleagues in Europe saw a lot of negative comments in the news and social media, and in some countries our products are banned…

— Yes, we’re also following the conflict here in SEA, monitoring each news item and update, addressing concerns coming from all directions, ensuring that all of our speakers and stakeholders are informed and prepared to face questions and requests from partners, customers, and the media.

But we’re also aware that our colleagues in Europe are the most impacted. I keep talking to Anne, my friend and colleague from Germany, during these challenging times. I think it’s important to know how we’re all doing in the company, because to some extent we’re all in the same boat in this storm.

Interestingly, the consensus I’ve observed with my colleagues from here and in other parts of the world is that the impact of this war on us — personally and professionally — is nothing compared to the Ukrainians and Russians whose families are being directly affected by this.

— Have you visited Russia? If so, what were your main impressions?

— Oh, yes! I visited with a colleague, Erin, who used to handle PR for Australia and New Zealand. That was August 2019. The funniest thing was that we’re both tropical girls — Filipino and Malaysian — and before flying, we needed to check Google for the season in Russia: we learned that it was summer! Still, when we arrived, both of us were shocked by the 9˚C temperatures of a morning. You see, when we say summer, it means 40˚C and above, while the coldest temperature in the Philippines is generally around 19˚ degrees — no lower. So 9˚ for us seemed positively arctic! Thankfully, our colleague Marina gave us really thick jackets so we survived.

It was also my first time in the European region and I was amazed by the architecture — both classic and modern. It was a delight to see Pushkin Square, too, because I love poetry, and Alexander Pushkin is considered by many as the greatest Russian poet. I bought a book of his as a memento. Our colleagues were very chilled but also friendly, too. Nastya and Anya kindly gave us a tour around Moscow and it was really a memorable occasion.

— If some newbie wants to work in international corporate communication, what would be your three main pieces of advice for them?

— Keep your mind open. It’s important to free yourself of prejudgments and misconceptions about your work, your colleagues, and the countries you’re going to manage or work in. I’ve learned during my work at Kaspersky that people, wherever they are from, are naturally good human beings. We all basically want the same things: to get our work done, live peacefully, do great, eat nice food, and so on. Our cultures, habits, and languages may be different, but it’s great to see our sameness beyond the differences.

Read. Read. Read. Or listen to podcasts if that’s your vibe. Basically, keep yourself informed. You really need to take in the news and the latest trends if you want to do great in international communications.

Be afraid, but do it anyway! International corporate communications is not for the faint-hearted. You’re working with people from different backgrounds, ethnicities, and walks-of-life, plus you have to also be aware of the latest global or regional news and trends, and you cannot discount the possibility of a crisis situation. It can be really daunting in many ways, and you’ll probably make some missteps along the way, but hey, do it anyway! Mistakes are always better than… missed takes.

– Ivan, looking at your name I couldn’t help but start with this question: do you have some Slavic roots?

– More or less. My name’s inherited from my grandfather on my dad’s side. The patronym “Kwiatkowski” comes from Poland, but, funnily enough, it wasn’t even his: he was an adopted child and his “real” name is unknown, as is his origin. So while there are indeed Slavic roots somewhere, their precise nature is lost forever.

– You explore malware and hacker groups. How could you get into such a profession? I doubt it was listed in university courses.

– Back in the day, there weren’t any cybersecurity curriculums, let alone classes about malware analysis and the like. Cybersecurity is a domain I fell into by accident.

Around 2008, while studying for my degree in computer science, I thought I’d work in the field of artificial intelligence. I was about to leave for Vancouver for an internship, and had to terminate my internet subscription because I didn’t want to keep paying while I was abroad. I got in touch with my ISP and explained the situation. They told me to send them a letter (this was around a month before my departure), and they’d take care of everything.

So I did, and only a few days later — I had no more internet access. Never in the history of ISPs had a customer request been handled so efficiently! But for a computer science student, spending a month without internet was unimaginable. Yet my ISP couldn’t restore access — or, more likely, they didn’t want to. So I started looking into Wi-Fi security to… temporarily hijack a neighbor’s internet access until my departure, naturally.

Back then, the encryption protocol everyone used — WEP — was very insecure. But having had my first taste of computer security (rather — the lack thereof), I immediately knew that I’d keep researching this field for years to come. And it felt more reasonable to make a career out of it rather than to be arrested for unsolicited research in the future.

I gave up on artificial intelligence almost immediately, and started learning cybersecurity on my own, in addition to my studies. And after I’d received my degree, I was able to apply for a job in the field — and have remained in it ever since!

– It’s funny you should say that, since the next question I had in my list was: is it possible to be a security researcher for someone who’s not a hacker in their soul?

– I’d say it’s a job that requires a lot of passion and dedication, which usually attracts very persistent people. A trait that’s very much part of the hacker spirit.

– How did you land in Kaspersky?

– I’d been working for small-size companies providing infosec-related services in Paris. It was interesting, but I felt like I had reached a point where I wanted my work to make a difference, and moving into threat intelligence felt like the right way to achieve this.

I chose Kaspersky in 2018, right after the very intense negative media campaign that the company had been enduring. My intuition told me that a cyber-defense team that had managed to make so many folks mad had to be doing something right. And being a part of this team now, I can confirm that I was right!

– FireEye folks once said that they use discretion when it comes to public disclosure of malware: they don’t rush to publicly report a malware if it’s made by a U.S. government agency. For an American company, it’s an understandable position. But what about GReAT? Your team is international, with some researchers from Russia, some from the West, some from Asian countries… from all over. How do you solve such questions, if you ever have them?

– I have no particular qualms about doing research on malware of possibly Russian, or American, or French origin. But even if I had, there are many others in the GReAT international team who would happily work on these threat actors. In that sense, there aren’t any limits on which attackers we can track.

To go a bit deeper, I think there should be a clear separation between offense and defense. Sometimes nation states have legitimate reasons to conduct cyberattacks (for example, in fighting terrorism), and sometimes not (intellectual property theft). None of us at GReAT is qualified to be the arbiter of what operations are legitimate. Being in this position would put us in a world of hurt and dilemmas.

I think that the right way to see this issue is to quote the 18th-century philosopher, Montesquieu: “power stops power”. States exert their power, and we as a cyberdefense company have the power to make their lives harder. Since we exist they have to think twice before launching offensive operations. Because we impose costs, their power is kept in check and cannot be misused — or at least not as much. This is a good enough reason for me to justify doing research on all cyber activities — no matter their origin.

I think Kaspersky’s existence in the threat intelligence market is crucial, and under no circumstances should the one and only non-aligned vendor be allowed to bite the dust. I hope that we’ll all get through this and keep working on all APTs — no matter where the attacks come from. We’re equal-opportunity researchers!

– The GReAT team held a webinar in March, with analysis of cyberattacks on Ukraine: HermeticWiper, WisperGate, Pandora… But at the same time, there was a wave of attacks targeting Russian organizations: wipers, DDoS, spear phishing. Yet we don’t see any special publications from GReAT about those attacks. Why?

– It’s mostly a question of volume. The cyberattacks against Ukraine have been massive in scale, and very visible due to the fact that they aimed for disruptive effects: data destruction, ransomware, etc. Many of our competitors also have good visibility in Ukraine; sometimes they even collaborate, which allows getting very precise data about what’s going on in the country. This leads to significant media coverage.

Some attacks are indeed targeting Russia, but they get less attention. We have covered some of them in our private reporting. And we are tracking a number of actors (chiefly Chinese-speaking) active in the region at the moment. But I’m not aware of any serious destructive activities.

– We’ve heard about Anonymous claiming to have defaced Russian websites, and some sites were indeed defaced. Do you believe these “Anonymous” actions relate to the 15-year-old movement?

– Oh, I think Anonymous ceased being a grassroots movement many years ago. While there may still be some genuine hacktivism using that brand, it’s unquestionable that APTs have also used this persona to undertake their own information-warfare operations on occasion.

As a rule, I believe researchers should never take self-attribution into account, and focus purely on technical elements when trying to figure out which group could be responsible for an attack.

– Some European governments tell their citizens to get rid of Kaspersky products. But it looks like France is trying to be as neutral as possible. Is this because of the election? Or do people in France really have some different attitudes about the Ukraine conflict?

– I think it’s less about the French people than about the country’s institutions. ANSSI, the regulatory body for cybersecurity, has always strived to keep a neutral position in most matters. Beyond this, I think France shares the same perception as the rest of Europe when it comes to the Ukrainian conflict. Believe me, election season means no politician wants to be perceived as being sympathetic toward Vladimir Putin.

– What about GReAT’s communication with the rest of the infosec word? Some organizations are cutting ties with Kaspersky. How will it affect your work?

– The main issue for us relates to US companies that used to provide some services to us. They’re considering cutting ties with us or have already limited our access to their tools. This affects our ability to conduct our daily research.

As for exchanges with industry peers, yes, some of them will no longer talk to us. Although for the most part the personal relationships we have with other researchers are unaffected.

Overall, it’s clear that less information exchange reduces the whole industry’s ability to fulfil its mission.

– How do GReAT experts communicate with each other? Do you have regular meetings in real life? Visiting Moscow for a beer with teammates?

– Honestly, things have been rough for a while. We’re a fully remote team, and the various regions will have their own weekly meetings to coordinate work. When I first joined the company there was at least one big meet-up per year, as well as the Security Analyst Summit, which used to be in-person. But due to covid neither have taken place in a while.

I also used to go to Moscow on a regular basis to spend some time with the Russian members of the team, but it’s unclear whether this is still an option. I do hope we’ll find a way to see each other, because those were always amazing trips.

– Growing up in Venezuela, how was it? We often see news about the crisis in your home country…

– My childhood was good; I loved sports, and played football a lot with my friends. Both of my parents are petroleum engineers. They worked for the oil industry until the political situation started affecting us — both of them lost their jobs and we had it hard for a while. I had to keep getting excellent grades in school to get scholarship; it was quite tough.

After high school I decided to become an engineer like my parents, but I found that Materials Engineering was more interesting for me. Studying at a university isn’t easy during a bad economic situation. However, in 2018 I received my degree in Materials Engineering from Universidad Simón Bolívar, one of the most prestigious universities in the country.

– Near Moscow State University, where I often walk with my kids, there’s a memorial monument to Simón Bolívar. What should I tell my kids about him?

– Simón Bolívar is one of the main heroes in Latin America history. From 1500 to 1830, most countries in Latin America were part of the Spanish empire. Bolivar was the guy who liberated many countries, including Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, and of course Venezuela — after all he was Venezuelan!

– Why did you move to Spain?

– Well, in crisis times many people go to other countries, looking for a better life. In fact, my father is a son of Italian immigrants who moved to Venezuela after World War II. So I’m part European, and I decided to start afresh in Europe. I chose Spain because of the language, and besides, some of my friends also migrated to Spain.

– How different is your new country? What’s better, and what’s strange?

– Spain is beautiful. Here in Madrid I’m living my life, not just surviving. And Spanish girls are very nice, especially in the south! My girlfriend is from down there (Andalusia), we’ve been together for three years now and we’re going to get married!

As to strange feelings, yes, I don’t feel that it’s my culture. Spanish and Venezuelan people both speak Spanish, but there’s still a cultural barrier, and some words have different meanings. But it’s alright.

It’s great to have the feeling of developing a new life, but feeling alone throughout the process can be tricky. It’s hard to lose someone close — not being able to be with them in their last moments. I sadly lost my grandma when I was already living here. I didn’t say goodbye to her. And I miss being with my parents. I miss them every day.

– You said you had a degree in Materials Engineering. But it’s quite far from cybersecurity. What was your reason to go to Kaspersky?

– I’ve known about Kaspersky since I bought my first laptop back in 2014. It came in a bundle with a one-year subscription for Kaspersky Internet Security, and for exactly one year my laptop worked perfectly. Then the license expired. I changed antivirus: mistake! Sure enough my laptop got messed up. I should have known better back then!

While at university, I tried to study computer engineering first, for a few semesters, but I found it wasn’t for me. I was more interested in physics and chemistry at that time.

However, I’ve been always passionate about IT. So when I finished my first internship at a plastic parts factory, I started working for a cryptocurrency company. That’s when I realized that I liked the world of business and corporate sales. So I came to Spain to study for an MBA and to combine both of my passions — business and tech. I was lucky to be selected for the internship in Kaspersky while finishing my MBA degree.

– You started working at Kaspersky during lockdown in Spain. How did the restrictions influence your work?

– Yes, at the beginning it was a bit awkward when you’re not meeting every day with your colleagues in the office. It was comfortable in some ways, but also there was the fear that it would be difficult to collaborate and learn.

I started as Sales Intern for the SMB channel in Iberia. Basically, I had to be the main sales support for all the channel and territory managers, to manage a bunch of stuff related to our CRM, to be in touch with partners, customers and distributors, to do onboarding of new partners, and to solve problems that they might have with the partner portal.

Sure, covid restrictions made my work more difficult, but those restrictions also helped me develop a sense of responsibility, as well as communication skills and the ability to multitask. I learned a lot from my colleagues remotely. And when I finally met my coworkers during our event for partners in Barcelona, it was a bit funny to see them for the first time in person after working together almost a year!

– What are the most common questions that people ask about Kaspersky products when you present these products to them? Did their attitudes change after the Ukrainian conflict started?

– There’s a little bit of everything. There are lots of people who are interested in security technologies: they mostly have questions about product features. Many of them recognize Kaspersky as a market leader — this makes my work easier.

Their main concerns are mostly the same: what if the service stops working or they suffer from some attack, and they need access to support to solve their problems.

Unfortunately, now some people are just scared of the bad reputation that comes along due to the Ukrainian conflict. Some of them say they love our product but their bosses don’t want to be involved with any Russian company. It’s sad to hear because this kind of Russophobia makes no sense.

– Did you ever think your life would be happier if you chose a different company to work for — not a Russian one — for your career?

– Not once! I can say that my Russian colleagues are some of the nicest people I’ve worked with. Since starting work here I’ve felt understood. From the very beginning, they were always helping me learn quick so I could become more productive. It’s something about the organizational culture. There’s no toxic competition — only collaboration and team work. I’ve been welcomed not just to a company but to a warm family. Without a doubt it’s the best company I’ve worked for in my experience so far. And I hope I can stay here and develop my career for many years.

– Let’s start from the beginning. When you were a child, you weren’t even able to dream about working for a cybersecurity company, since there was no such thing back then. So what did you dream about?

– When I was a kid I wanted to be a Transformer! Like most kids, my mind was filled with fantasies and things that could take you outside what’s normal. A lot of the things that I liked were tied to the sci-fi world. As I got older, I wanted to work in something where I could write or be a teacher.

– Wow, I tried to be a writer myself. Did you get published?

– I’ve had some short stories and poetry published, but it never paid well so I looked for something in a different field. When it came to writing I wound up in sports public relations; I did really well there and turned down an offer of free higher education to become a university professor.

– How come you switched from sports to cybersecurity?

– I had the problem that occurs in many stories. Boy meets girl, they fall in love, blah, blah, blah. I met my then-wife while on a cruise ship and we had a long-distance relationship for a year. Then we decided it may work, so I quit and took a job in the e-commerce industry and moved to Boston.

After eight years with that company I was looking for something new. A friend worked at Kaspersky and we connected. To be honest, I thought it was a boring industry and would be something short term. Boy, was I wrong. On my third day we announced the discovery of Duqu 2.0.

– Aha, Duqu is a good example to explain what your job is about. What exactly you were doing when this research was revealed?

– The night before, we were called to an obligatory meeting at 6am the next morning. At the time, I was like “damn that sucks; what the hell is this?!” I will never forget the calm voices of my colleagues discussing what happened and what we would be doing regarding the press conference, release, etc. Then came the message from Serge (the Head of Social Media) to meet him at the office at 8am to discuss things and to make sure that all the information for the blog was ready to go.

Since this was only my third day, I had no clue what to expect. I was manning our social media accounts for the first time: every tweet, Facebook message or comment on blogs/news sites/reddit were coming to me. I did my best at the replies, but I had Serge with me in the States helping approve the messages. It was then that I knew this job was not going to be boring!

Fast forward to today — with over a dozen crisis moments and major APT announcements — and I’ve a whole different view on how things are handled. Now I am involved in the crafting of messaging, responses, and also what we should and shouldn’t say publicly and on social media. And it’s funny, but we use Duqu as an example of how we were forged as a strong team.

– Working for a foreign company, what kind of new experiences does it bring?

– I had a bunch of questions at the outset that were playing off some stereotypes I had growing up during the Cold War in the U.S. I used to look at things through my narrow American lens. However, having worked here now for quite a long time managing a multinational team, I’ve learned a lot. A lot of the conceptions I had were really changed.

– Do you always understand your multinational colleagues? How often do they not understand what you are saying?

– Yes, I have to slow how I speak and make sure that things are uttered perfectly —especially for those who don’t have English as their first language. There are times when I still have to do a lot of retakes for how things are said. It still happens at least once a week now.

When it comes to understanding, I think that we have a lot of good people who make it work — no matter the language. That is not just on social media, but with our larger team as well.

I tried learning Russian and got to the level of maybe a preschool child, but had to stop due to lack of time. But even that taught me that the language barrier is real — you can understand how hard it is for others not speaking their mother tongue to communicate all day long, and that flips your perspective.

– What were your main surprises about the real Russia when you first visited, if any? For example, one of my big surprises about the U.S. were the constant smiles on people’s faces!

– The first thing that surprised me was that Russians are not as cold and hard as is often thought. Russian people are very warm: not something that’s portrayed in movies. But one thing that I did not expect was just how cold — and also how hot — it can get in Russia.

And the thing that I really have enjoyed with our colleagues is getting to learn more about how people were brought up, and the laughs that we can have regarding the political BS during the Cold War. Look at guys like me or you — we have a beer and we have a lot of things in common and we just want to lead good lives.

Yes, there are differences, but, for real — we’re all people. And this is one of my favorite things; learning the culture and also trying out things like foods that are a bit different to what we have in the U.S.

– Is it difficult to explain this view when you are back in the U.S.? How do Americans treat you when they learn you are working for Kaspersky?

– When I first took the role, there were a lot of jokes that played into the Rocky IV movie with Ivan Drago and stuff like that. And no, while it sounds commonplace, I have yet to see a bear driving a car.

From a family perspective, one of my nephews is convinced that I’m a spy and tells people that that is what I do. Hell, I had a really interesting parent teacher conference when one of my kids told their teacher that I was a spy and that’s why I travel so much for my job and why I go to Russia so much.

One of the most common questions I get about going to Russia is whether or not it’s safe, if folks are scary, and things like that. A lot of it is still Cold War BS that comes up.

When it comes to social media, you grow a thick skin. A lot of people make personal attacks. Nowadays it’s a lot of dealing with people who say that Kaspersky is part of the government — which is untrue.

How I look at things: if you can have an educated conversation, it’s great, but if you have someone who just wants to be an ignorant ass — well, they really aren’t your friend to begin with.

– Have you had a hard time over last two months coping with the social media storm against Kaspersky. What was the most difficult thing in this work?

– I think that the people of Ukraine have it a lot harder — as do my friends and colleagues in Russia where economic sanctions are bringing them hardships. This is the life part that matters — not someone posting on social media.

From a business standpoint, I look at a lot of the things that come at our company and at Eugene Kaspersky’s accounts. There are bots of course. Then there are social-signalers — people who reply to any account posting on particular topic or trend. In the current situation, these accounts are replying to any company or entity that hasn’t stopped serving the Russian market. And of course there’s no lack of random trolls who jump into any conversation.

When it comes to personal accounts, perhaps the most tricky breed of trolling comes from people whom you know really well.

The bigger issue has been talking to our employees and coaching them on how to reply to people and what can or cannot be said. This has been especially prominent with our EU colleagues. They are going to work and collecting pay and happen to work for a Russia-founded company. So they get questions. The problem is that many people are now tying working at a Russian company to being akin to working for the Russian government. Which is obviously not the case at all.

– Finally, let’s try to look into the future. In your opinion, how will the situation in cybersecurity change after this conflict? For example, some Western politicians tell folks not to use Kaspersky products just because they’re from a Russia-based company. Aren’t they opening their doors to hackers?

– This is a tricky question. From a future standpoint, the private and public sector need to work better together. Cybercrime is not going away and neither are state-sponsored attacks. One of the things that makes Kaspersky unique is that we frankly don’t care where a threat comes from. We report on them all and will work with any law enforcement body to stop cybercriminals. We have in the past helped out the U.S. and EU governments who now shun us publicly — but that is politics. It would do a disservice to everyone if countries will stop cooperating on cybersafety or split this cooperation by arbitrary bloc borders.

I really just hope that people will realize that we’re a global society and not just lines drawn on a map. Any company that is not looking to actively protect their customers against cybersecurity risks is really failing.

Don’t worry — we won’t be giving away any movie spoilers here. We’re more interested in exploring what a real-world space cyberthreat could involve. Fantasy authors grasped this long ago: in their work, someone often uses their home laptop to divert a missile or types in a single command that lets them hack a control center and wipe out an entire army of drones or at the last second they manage to crack the code for a docking airlock while shouting to their colleagues, “OK, now we just need to go through 600 billion combinations!” In another common story line, aliens in the form of radio signals penetrate the earthlings’ space research equipment and from there go on to hijack the Internet and the people connected to it. Pretty impressive, huh?

In reality, we aren’t yet seeing large-scale, successful cyberattacks on space technology. However, sometimes suspicions are raised. Some conspiracy theorists have blamed hackers for the latest failed launches of Russian probes to Mars. There is a certain logic to this: after all, way back in 1971, the Soviet spacecraft Mars-3 made the first soft landing on Mars, and even deployed the first Mars rover. So you’d think that things could only get better from there. But a quarter century later, in 1996, the Mars-96 spacecraft with four landers went up in flames shortly after launch. Another failure came in 2011, when Russia’s Phobos-Grunt, which was carrying Yinghuo-1, the first Chinese probe headed for Mars, launched unsuccessfully and then met its demise.

Of course, the official account of these accidents says nothing about hackers. But if you read this interview with the former Director General of Lavochkin Research and Production Association, it is clearly stated that there were major problems with security and that the hardware of the Mars spacecrafts could easily have been sabotaged before launch.

With stories like these in mind, a few years ago my colleagues and I held a space panel at a cybersecurity conference. On the whole, the presentations were interesting, but the space experts brought us back to Earth when it came to cyberattacks. They said that the traditional hacking schemes do not work with space control systems. In the classic approach, hackers buy a publicly available controller, download the firmware from the manufacturer, easily examine it on their own test bed and then attack the actual system by exploiting the vulnerabilities they find. But space technology is rather unique, so you need to spend years working on a given system before you know your way around it, and you won’t be able to find a second one just like it for tests.

That means that the main vulnerabilities are not “out there” but on Earth, the space system experts told us. They’re not the stuff that thrillers are made of — they’d be better suited to comedy. For example, suppose you receive secret data from a satellite and need to transfer it to a customer. How would you do that? Through the run-of-the-mill Internet with all its leaks. If you don’t want that, you can go old school: messengers carrying bulletproof briefcases.

Here’s another terrestrial story. In early September 2018, FBI agents evacuated the Sunspot Solar Observatory in New Mexico and shut it down for over a week. Were extraterrestrial beings behind this? After all, this is how Robert Charles Wilson’s fantasy novel “Blind Lake” and Ondřej Neff’s short story “White Cane 7.62” begin. But no, there was a simpler explanation: a janitor at the observatory was using the facility’s Wi-Fi to download child pornography.

But this doesn’t mean that everything is fine with cybersecurity in space and that we should just relax and laugh at those silly space movies. In fact, a lot has changed in the last few years. In the new space systems, analog hardware with its one-of-a-kind technologies is giving way to increasingly standardized digital solutions by well-known manufacturers. This isn’t surprising — after all, it is IT giants who are purporting to be 21st-century space leaders.

Exhibit A is SpaceX, backed by none other than Elon Musk, a founder of PayPal. Another company that is building spacecraft — still suborbital for the time being — is Blue Origin, which is the brainchild of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Then there was SpaceShipOne, which was funded by Paul Allen, who cofounded Microsoft with Bill Gates. SpaceShipOne later became Richard Branson’s SpaceShipTwo. Google is also trying to keep up in the new space race through its Lunar XPRIZE moon rover competition. Lastly, Mark Zuckerberg, who needs no introduction, has teamed up with Yuri Milner — the founder of Mail.ru and the DST Global venture capital fund — to create the Breakthrough Starshot interstellar probe project. In the next decade, Starshot is slated for launch to the closest exoplanet to Earth, Proxima Centauri b.

Obviously, transferring today’s IT industry to space brings with it all of the IT industry’s problems, from that unbearable Agile cult to hacker wars.

This affects communication satellites first and foremost. For example, back in the aughts, the Brazilian mafia came up with the idea of using US military satellites. They figured out that to receive high-quality, free, anonymous communication all they had to do was assemble a relatively simple antenna.

There is another feature that is especially valuable for cybercriminals: the physical inaccessibility of the satellites. Imagine a hacker group that controls botnets. To foil an attack by them, law enforcement agencies normally need to trace the address of the C&C center and then go to the provider and seize the server in question. But how do you seize a server if it’s physically located somewhere deep in the jungle and its address is flying in space? You’re out of luck. This is why APT groups such as Turla successfully use hacked satellite links for their activities.

And it’s entirely possible that the launch of the new low-orbiting satellite constellations OneWeb, Starlink and Sfera are helping hackers. Security experts are already detecting in these space projects the very same problems that the terrestrial IT industry has long been aware of. Manufacturers try to cut costs as much as possible, so to assemble and maintain large satellite constellations they use cheap, widely available components. A lot of those components aren’t analyzed for vulnerabilities since that would mean spending more money. At the same time, attackers can easily find these components on Earth and identify the vulnerabilities that are necessary for attacks, or even deploy these vulnerabilities in advance. In addition, there are still no state standards on satellite cybersecurity.

I’d like to conclude by mentioning another scenario for people who usually say, “This has nothing to do with me. I don’t have millions of dollars someone can steal or any servers that can be hacked.” If you’re one of those people, I suggest you watch the Russian fantasy film Invasion, which depicts a very realistic attack on ordinary people. Artificial intelligence from space that has taken over telecommunications begins calling all the humans, impersonating the voices of their bosses and relatives, and asking them to do certain things. The people agree and turn into an army of obedient zombies.

Setting aside the alien origin of the hijacking, this attack has familiar components: modern methods used by phone scammers combined with a more detailed collection of personal data (yes, this already happens), voice simulation (this also already exists), and attacks on satellites to hack telecom systems, which are also far from impossible, as you have surely understood by now.

In short, don’t sit back and assume that space hackers won’t reach you. Finish your Galactic Crunch cereal and glass of Tang and then update your space antivirus.

Google Earth: The one and only

https://earth.google.com/

It’s scary to think that Google launched its Earth project 20 years ago. The map grew and changed, became popular, and then seemed to fall out of fashion — unjustly, it has to be said. The current version not only lets you scour any piece of land to find your home, but also now features 3D models of the planet’s top architectural monuments and geographical wonders. Anyone sick of gazing at the Sydney Opera House or the Eiffel Tower can take a computer-generated flight over the Alps or the Himalayas. The app includes virtual tours for those cooped up at home because of the pandemic, as well as handy tools for measuring distances and calculating areas.

LeoLabs: Everything in orbit

https://platform.leolabs.space/visualization

This globe will appeal to prophets of doom and fans of conspiracy and espionage theories: The map tracks all of the satellites (and what they are turning into, i.e., space debris) currently orbiting our planet. You can zoom in and hover your mouse cursor over any object to find out its name and type (satellite, debris, or something else). Detailed satellite information, sadly, is not provided, but you can do your own online search based on names.

Ventusky: Weather at your fingertips

https://www.ventusky.com/

Nothing to talk about? That’s what the weather’s for! This map provides real-time visualizations of meteorological data for any location on Earth. On the left-hand side, you can select temperature, cloud cover, pressure, precipitation, humidity, air quality — anything that goes on outside. On the right, you can change the units of measurement so as not to wrestle with inches versus centimeters or Fahrenheit versus Celsius. The timeline at the bottom offers a rudimentary weather forecast. Our favorite pastime at the moment is checking the temperature in Verkhoyansk, that well-known vacation spot and an excellent data point for anyone who complains “it’s a bit chilly today.”

Flightradar24: Everything about aircraft

https://www.flightradar24.com/

For those frustrated with the lack of detailed satellite data in LeoLabs’ visualisation, welcome to Flightradar24. Here you can find out about almost any aircraft currently in flight or about to take off, in real time. That includes information about the airline, place of departure and destination, model, altitude, speed, and route progress. Besides being incredibly interesting, the service has practical benefits for those who like to keep everything under control. Say you’re meeting someone at the airport: Just enter the flight number on the Flightradar24 to learn the plane’s precise landing time. Flight info on the airport website is for wimps.

Paid subscribers get to see a more comprehensive flight history, with aircraft serial number, vertical speed, outboard temperature, and a bunch of other stats for true aviation geeks. Incidentally, a similar map exists for seagoing vessels. And even though the Ever Given blockage has long been cleared, it’s still fascinating to watch the marine traffic through the Suez Canal.

TheTrueSize: Which is bigger, Greenland or India?

https://thetruesize.com/

The greatest ever illusionist is not David Blaine or your bank manager, but Gerardus Mercator. There are other ways to project a sphere onto a plane, but the world map familiar to everyone since childhood is his. Print out the map and try to stick it evenly onto a globe, however, and you’ll drift off course — and as you get closer to the poles, the size mismatch only increases. The trick is, with the Mercator projection, the horizontal dimensions in the extreme northern and southern latitudes have to be stretched, which causes Greenland and Africa to look roughly equal in size.

TheTrueSize lets you take any country — from that same Mercator projection — and drag it around the map to make objective comparisons. Just type a country’s name in the search bar, and when it’s highlighted on the map, drag it to a different part of the world to see, for example, Mexico’s real size relative to Europe, or the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s to Alaska. Not recommended for users from Greenland.

Earth 2050: Glimpse the future

https://2050.earth/

It’s our very own predictions of the future, all in one interactive globe. Choose a planning horizon (to 2030, 2040, or 2050) and find out which fruits of progress will ripen. Check out when the first underwater farms, transformer apartments, and Martian colonies — or even (don’t hold your breath) Half-Life 3 — will appear. Some predictions come from professional futurologists, others from users. So if you feel like the map is missing something, we encourage you to share your vision. Note that submissions are moderated, so please try to keep them within the laws of physics.