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Masked Actors
True crime meets cybercrime. Discover the people behind the keyboard.
From Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) gangs to global financial crime syndicates, the rise of sophisticated cyber threats is reshaping the world. These aren’t lone hackers — they’re organized groups running multi-million dollar operations in the shadows.
In the Masked Actors podcast, cyber threat expert and former soldier turned hacker Gary Ruddell joins forces with Nick Palmer, a seasoned financial crime fighter, to investigate the top 10 most dangerous cybercriminal groups of 2025 — drawn from Group-IB’s High-Tech Crime Trends Report.
Each episode explores the tactics, motivations, and impact of major cybercrime groups, uncovering their role in the latest cybercrime, RaaS, and financial crime trends. You’ll learn how these actors exploit vulnerabilities, fuel geopolitical tension, and affect businesses and consumers alike.
Tune in to Masked Actors — and stay one step ahead of cybercrime.
Masked Actors
GoldFactory: Rethinking Digital Identity in the Age of Biometric Theft
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For years, stronger authentication was seen as the answer to online fraud. As passwords became easier to steal, organisations turned to stronger forms of verification, from facial recognition and voice authentication to digital identity checks.
But cybercriminals are now weaponising those too.
This episode revisits GoldFactory, the threat actor behind some of the first large-scale campaigns designed to harvest biometric data for financial fraud. As cyber criminals increasingly target the systems used to verify identity, the group raises a much bigger question: how do we establish trust in a world where identity itself can be manipulated and exploited?
Hosts Gary Ruddell and former INTERPOL Cybercrime Director Craig Jones are joined by an author, advisor and one of the world’s leading experts on digital financial services and digital identity - David Birch. Together they examine the implications of biometric theft, the future of digital identity in an AI driven world, and how we can rebuild trust where proving who we are online is becoming increasingly complex.
By understanding who these actors are and how they operate, you can better anticipate threats and protect yourself in an increasingly hostile digital world.
Subscribe to learn more about Group-IB's top 10 Masked Actors - and stay one step ahead in the fight against cybercrime.
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