Cyber mercenaries: Inside the shadowy world of the silent warriors

The activities of Cyber Mercenaries are becoming an increasing threat to peace and security in South Africa and the rest of the African Continent. They are willing to fight a Cyber War for anyone who is prepared to pay for their highly specialised services, including: Denial of Service Attacks, Surveillance, Espionage, Malware ‘kits’, Hacking, Social Engineering, Information Gathering, Spam/Scam Distribution, Social Media Bots, The Sale of Stolen Information; and the Generation of Deep-Fakes. BizNews gets taken into their world by Noelle Van der Waag-Cowling, the Cyber Programme Lead at the Security Institute for Governance and Leadership in Africa (SIGLA) at Stellenbosch University. She talks about their capabilities, their clients, their motives, their modus operandi - and shares details of some of the damage they have inflicted already. "Any type of cyber activity that you'd like to execute can be at your fingertips if your money is right,” she says. - Chris Steyn Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices