Security News > 2020 > May > Researchers Uncover Brazilian Hacktivist's Identity Who Defaced Over 4800 Sites

In a report shared with The Hacker News, researchers from Check Point said they were able to map VandaTheGod's activity over the years, and eventually zero down the attacker's real identity to a Brazilian individual from the city of Uberlândia.

"Many of the messages left on the defaced websites implied that the attacks were motivated by anti-government sentiment, and were carried out to combat social injustices that the hacker believed were a direct result of government corruption," the researchers said.

"VandaTheGod didn't just go after government websites, but also launched attacks against public figures, universities, and even hospitals. In one case, the attacker claimed to have access to the medical records of 1 million patients from New Zealand, which were offered for sale for $200," the researchers said.

What ultimately gave away VandaTheGod's real identity were a couple of screenshots that were uploaded to Twitter, from which the researchers identified a Facebook profile belonging to the attacker as well as the person's real name - identified only by the initials M. R. Consequently, the researchers said they were able to identify a number of cross-posts between the Facebook profile tied to M. R. and that of Vanda De Assis, including photos of the individual's living room, proving that both the M.R. and VandaTheGod accounts were controlled by the same individual.

"Ultimately, we were able to connect the VandaTheGod identity with high certainty to a specific Brazilian individual from the city of Uberlândia, and relay our findings to law enforcement to enable them to take further action."

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