Megacorp.
“Megacorp.” is a corporate conglomerate inspired by its equally powerful counterparts in science fiction. The artwork is based on a collection of fake websites scraped from internet by the artist duo KairUs. These companies exist only virtually and are used by cyber criminals for phishing attacks or to support scam stories. The “Megacorp.” exists therefore as an umbrella company for subsidiary companies that are 100% dummy cooperations. “Megacorp.” operates on a global scale and is constantly growing with firms represented in almost every branch of industry. The strategic objectives according to the “Megacorp.” Mission statement is to: “offer complete services from one source which can serve the entire market”. Accordingly the subsidiary companies cover domestic and international export, real estate agents, insurance companies, law firms, security companies, banks, educational institutions, hospitals, online commerce, economic communities and ministries.The functions of “Megacorp.” are presented in the form of an interim report and company visuals. The archieved websites are locally available in the gallery allowing visitors to explore the current fake website repository. By examining the fake websites the artwork reflects both the imaginary and the real world ‘megacorps’, questioning centralization of power.
All information and screenshots from the websites can be found on the company website: megacorp.kairus.org
Download the first Megacorp. interim report
Company showreel:
Passive reconnaissance observations were done in various cities like Accra (Ghana), New York City (US), London (UK), Glasgow (UK), Paris (F), Hamburg (Ger) or Vancouver (Canada).
passive reconnaissance: (pas´iv ri-kon´&-zents) (n.) The process of collecting information about an intended target without the target knowing what is occurring. Typical passive reconnaissance can include physical observation of an enterprise’s building, sorting through discarded computer equipment in an attempt to find equipment that contains data or discarded paper with usernamesand passwords, eavesdropping on employee conversations, researching the target through common Internet tools such as Whois, impersonating an employee in an attempt to collect information, and packet sniffing.
We also conducted reconnaissance walking tours in NYC and London.
London Central London walk:
Exhibitions and presentations:
2016: Mozfest, London/UK.
2016: V&A Digital Design Week, London/UK.
2016: xCoAx conference, Bergamo/Italy.
2016: New Media Caucus, Washington D.C./USA.
2015: Steirischer Herbst, Graz/Austria.
2015: Net-activism conference, Rome/Italy.
2015: 32C3 Chaos Communication Congress, Hamburg/Germany.
A presentation with the title “Trust us and our business expands! How Net-activists take down fake business websites” was presented at the 32C3 – Chaos Communication Congress in Hamurg/Germany in Dec 2015.
