This summer, a major hacking scandal rocked the world. A hacker named “PhineasFisher” infiltrated the Italian private spyware company, Hacking Team, extracting around 400GB of data from its servers and then publishing it online via a torrent.
One of the biggest revelations from the leak was the FBI's purchase of a $775,000 tool. A large number of other customers, from criminal organizations to governments, were identified as having purchased spying tools.
However, the global hacking industry does not owe its growth solely to companies like Hacking Team, but rather to extremely talented individuals who use their skills within a culture that promotes creativity and innovation.
And when it comes to talented hackers, Argentina stands out. Decades of oppressive military rule and economic crisis in the country helped to foster a national culture where individuals were encouraged, if not forced, to find creative solutions.
Argentines refer to this culture with the phrase “atado con alambre” which means tied with a cable.
“Those of us who grew up under the military junta and were told what books to read, what movies to watch, and which God to pray to had to learn to get around the laws,” says Norma Morandini, a senator from the province of Cordoba. “Hacking became a way of life for us!”
So it's no wonder that some in Argentina have embraced hacking as a means to explore their curiosity about computers. Cesar Cerrudo, an Argentine security researcher who taught himself to hack as a teenager and who recently gained attention for his successful hacking of traffic light systems in U.S. cities, says that cheating the system is part of the Argentinean culture.
"If you're not rich, you grow up without computers and reading books. To gain access to new software, you have to hack it."
Computer enthusiasts in Argentina are very good at finding zero-day, a skill that has caught the attention of both private and public entities interested in either protecting themselves from attacks or curious to explore the usefulness of zero-day flaws.
Argentina clearly has a lot to offer the hacking world, although many argue that it won't stay at the top for much longer.
Sinan Eren, an executive at Avast Software, says there is new competition now. China is the one that is starting to stand out.
What is clear is that the hacking industry is becoming increasingly global. Fortunately, the proliferation of hacking tools creates opportunities for security professionals to learn from each other, collaborate on research, and together adapt to the changing threat landscape
