The Com operations spurred by internet notoriety

CyberScoop reports that operations of global threat collective The Com were noted by Unit 221B Chief Research Officer Allison Nixon to be underpinned by teens and young adults looking to gain infamy on the internet.

Ongoing economic challenges have increased the appeal of The Com to youths, with the twelve-fold increase in Bitcoin value in 2017 prompting the collective's members to exploit hacking techniques to earn money, noted Nixon during a presentation at the Sleuthcon cybersecurity conference. However, The Com was observed to have shifted to more vigilante-like activity, which has prompted intensified law enforcement operations. "There's really not a lot of them. You can throw them in jail. I'm seeing the crackdowns. I think they're very effective. I look at the reactions from the groups, and they calm down after they understand that there's consequences to behavior," said Nixon, who added that providing a career path for youths would go a long way in averting The Com's growth.