You create a throwaway account, RiskAnalyst2024, and send FinanceGhost a DM: > *"Saw your Blackridge org chart. Impressive find. I'm working on a similar project and could use more details. Specifically, the Amber Band override note caught my eye. How'd you get your hands on that? Willing to pay for verified info."* The message sends. You wait. Five minutes pass. Then: > **FinanceGhost**: *"Info isn't free. But I like your style. $500 for the full PRAP manual. $1K for the exposure band thresholds. $5K for a current employee contact."* Your stomach twists. In the old days of the Conti syndicate, dedicated teams vetted sellers like this to filter out scammers and police traps. Working for a fragmented cell, you have to do that vetting yourself. This is either a scammer or ripper, in which case the files are fake, or a real insider, in which case $5K is still a lot for a call-centre employee. The apartment is dark except for the laptop's glow. [[Cybercrime/The_Phisherman/Contact FinanceGhost|Review your options]] <details> <summary>🔎 Behind the curtain: initial access brokers</summary> <p>FinanceGhost is playing the role of an <b>initial access broker</b> (IAB): a criminal who specialises in getting a foothold into a target, stolen logins, insider contacts, internal documents, and then sells that access on to others, such as ransomware crews, rather than attacking themselves. It is a whole layer of the cybercrime economy, a supply chain where breaking in and cashing out are done by different people. The big, organised gangs really did run like businesses: when the Conti group's internal chats leaked in 2022, they exposed salaries, something like an HR function, and teams whose job was to vet suppliers and screen out scammers and stings. A lone operator in a fragmented cell, as the story notes, has to do that vetting alone, which is why the odds of being ripped off or set up are so high here.</p> <p><b>Defender's lesson:</b> by the time ransomware detonates, the intruder may have bought their way in weeks earlier. Hunting for already-sold access (leaked credentials, strange new accounts, odd third-party logins) can catch an attack before it starts.</p> </details>