Exercise 1: Speaking Cyber
Mark: 25%
In 2016, a group of hackers known as the Hacking Team got hacked by a self-described black hat hacker. The
hacker subsequently dumped their findings and also explained how the hack happened. It was alleged that
“Hacking Team was a company that helped governments hack and spy on journalists, activists, political
opposition, and other threats to their power”. Read about ‘How Hacking Team got hacked’ and address the
following:
A. Briefly summarise what happened. Find out what you can on the actors, including the attacker and the
target(s), and possible motivations.
B. Identify and explain at least three cybersecurity terminologies from (A) above. Where the term was used,
define the term, describe in what context it was used, and give some details. E.g., if “attack vector” is
mentioned, then what is ‘attack vector’, what was the attack vector used and what did it achieve?
It is expected that you will use published materials like online articles, books, journals, conference papers,
news articles etc. and these should be properly referenced. You may want to start from here and here.
Note: You can use any format of your choice. For example, you may address (A) and (B) separately, in
separate sections, or together. So, whether you choose to cover both parts together or separately, the most
important thing is that the report shows your understanding of what happened, the actors, possible
motivations and terminology identification and explanation.