Navigating Shadowlands

This month’s post is inspired by Kim Zetter’s profile of Allison Nixon, published on February 16 in the MIT Technology Review. Nixon is the Chief Research Officer at the cyber threat intelligence company Unit 221B, and has garnered increasing amounts of attention in recent times as a key figure investigating the Com, a loose network of largely young Western offenders engaged in a range of offending from ransomware to sextortion. While Zetter’s profile highlights many interesting aspects of the cat and mouse game being played out between Nixon and these offenders, the key element that drew my attention was the discussion of the personal threats Nixon has faced.

The article includes examples of public and graphic death threats made online against Nixon, as well as the sharing of AI generated nudes based on her likeness. In line with the Com’s reputation for nastiness, Zetter also makes mention of potential offline threats, including “bricking” (throwing a brick through a victim’s window)…