One of the FBI’s most wanted hackers is trolling the U.S. government | TechCrunch::Russian hacker Mikhail Matveev is making T-shirts featuring his FBI most wanted poster, and asking his followers if they want to buy merch.
Making t-shirts of your own wanted poster is trolling? It’s definitely mocking them, but trolling is much more than that.
Not in 2023. In 2023 trolling is as simple as having another point of view.
I just think trolling requires some form of incitement leading to action by the victim. You post something inflammatory online, and get other people angrily posting back.
Making the t-shirt doesn’t troll them, it doesn’t get them to do anything. It’s just a response to them, they publicly said he’s a wanted alleged criminal and he publicly stuck his tongue out back at them. Now, if he made these t-shirts and then law enforcement tried to find him through his t-shirt supply chain, only to find that the t-shirts had been printed by the detective’s mum’s Etsy company, then that would be trolling.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Earlier this year, the U.S. government indicted Russian hacker Mikhail Matveev, also known by his online monikers “Wazawaka” and “Boriselcin,” accusing him of being “a prolific ransomware affiliate” who carried out “significant attacks” against companies and critical infrastructure in the U.S. and elsewhere.
The feds also accused him of being a “central figure” in the development and deployment of the notorious ransomware variants like Hive, LockBit, and Babuk.
After he agreed to do an interview, we asked Matveev a dozen questions about his life as a most wanted hacker, but he didn’t answer any of them.
“I don’t like this designation — hacker, we are a separate type of specialist, practical and using our knowledge and resources without water and writing articles,” he wrote in an X direct message.
“I was interested only in terms of financial motivation, roughly speaking, I was thinking about what to do, sell people or become.
Matveev’s online shenanigans, which include giving lengthy interviews to cybersecurity journalists, posting selfie videos of himself driving around while listening to Metallica, and writing about his hacking activities, show that he does not seem to care about being on the FBI’s most wanted list.
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