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FOX STEED: Analysis of a Social Media Identity Laundering Campaign

13 Aug 2022

Comprehensive Talk

FOX STEED: Analysis of a Social Media Identity Laundering Campaign

Shea Nangle

Abstract

In February of 2022, I received a LinkedIn connection request from an unknown account that appeared to be illegitimate. Investigation of the account confirmed that it was a fraudulent account, and led to my discovery of several dozen other clearly illegitimate accounts using the same “account laundering” methodology. Following this initial exploration, I conducted an in-depth analysis on the group of accounts to determine commonalities of behavior and potential links among the accounts.


This presentation will explore the results of the analysis of these accounts, information leading to potential initial attribution for the creator(s) of the accounts, as well as potential analysis of other groups of accounts using similar methodologies. In this session, participants will learn how this group of accounts works, as well as learning the mistakes in tradecraft that led to the identification of this group of accounts as illegitimate. This knowledge will be useful in detection of fraudulent accounts (including some methods that can be used by less technical audiences), as well as for creation of more plausible sockpuppet accounts for OSINT purposes.

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