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The FBI officers have arrested a 20-year-old Tennessee man and charged with federal computer hacking for allegedly conspiring to launch cyber attacks on five organizations in 2013, including two universities and three companies in the US and Canada, federal law enforcement officials announced today. The accused named Timothy Justin French , who go online by the name " Orbit ," is a key member of the collective "NullCrew" hacking group , that claimed responsibility for dozens of high-profile computer attacks against corporations, educational institutions, and government agencies. NullCrew is a hacktivist group that came into light in 2012 after a successful cyber attack against the World Health Organization (WHO) and Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in 2012, which resulted in plain-text username and passwords being posted online on Pastebin. The group, represent itself as a part of Anonymous hacking collective, has since 2012 carried out a number of similar high profi

The United States government today announced charges against 5 alleged members of a Chinese state-sponsored hacking group and 2 Malaysian hackers that are responsible for hacking more than 100 companies throughout the world. Named as APT41 and also known as 'Barium,' 'Winnti, 'Wicked Panda,' and 'Wicked Spider,' the cyber-espionage group has been operating since at least 2012 and is not just involved in strategic intelligence collection from valuable targets in many sectors, but also behind financially motivated attacks against online gaming industry. According to a press release published by the U.S. Justice Department, two of the five Chinese hackers—Zhang Haoran (张浩然) and Tan Dailin (谭戴林)—were charged back in August 2019, and the other three of them—Jiang Lizhi (蒋立志), Qian Chuan (钱川) and Fu Qiang (付强)—and two Malaysian co-conspirators were in separate indictments in August 2020. The later indicted three Chinese hackers are associated with a netw

The introduction of Open AI's ChatGPT was a defining moment for the software industry, touching off a GenAI race with its November 2022 release. SaaS vendors are now rushing to upgrade tools with enhanced productivity capabilities that are driven by generative AI. Among a wide range of uses, GenAI tools make it easier for developers to build software, assist sales teams in mundane email writing, help marketers produce unique content at low cost, and enable teams and creatives to brainstorm new ideas.  Recent significant GenAI product launches include Microsoft 365 Copilot, GitHub Copilot, and Salesforce Einstein GPT. Notably, these GenAI tools from leading SaaS providers are paid enhancements, a clear sign that no SaaS provider will want to miss out on cashing in on the GenAI transformation. Google will soon launch its SGE "Search Generative Experience" platform for premium AI-generated summaries rather than a list of websites.  At this pace, it's just a matter of a short time befo

A Russian national, who was arrested in South Korea last month and extradited to the U.S. on October 20, appeared in a federal court in the state of Ohio on Thursday to face charges for his alleged role as a member of the infamous TrickBot group. Court documents showed that Vladimir Dunaev , 38, along with other members of the transnational, cybercriminal organization, stole money and confidential information from unsuspecting victims, including individuals, financial institutions, school districts, utility companies, government entities, and private businesses. Starting its roots as a banking trojan in 2016, TrickBot has  evolved  into a modular, multi-stage Windows-based crimeware solution capable of pilfering valuable personal and financial information, and even dropping ransomware and post-exploitation toolkits on compromised devices. The malware is also  notorious  for its  resilience , having survived at least two takedowns spearheaded by Microsoft and the U.S. Cyber Command

The Department of Justice announced Wednesday charges against two Iranian nationals for their involvement in creating and deploying the notorious SamSam ransomware. The alleged hackers, Faramarz Shahi Savandi, 34, and Mohammad Mehdi Shah, 27, have been charged on several counts of computer hacking and fraud charges, the indictment unsealed today at New Jersey court revealed. The duo used SamSam ransomware to extort over $6 million in ransom payments since 2015, and also caused more than $30 million in damages to over 200 victims, including hospitals , municipalities, and public institutions. According to the indictment, Savandi and Mansouri have been charged with a total of six counts, including one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit fraud and related activity in connection with computers, two counts of intentional damage to a protected computer, and two counts of transmitting a demand in relation to damaging a protected computer. Si

A U.S. court on Thursday sentenced a 37-year-old Russian to 12 years in prison for perpetrating an international hacking campaign that resulted in the heist of a trove of personal information from several financial institutions, brokerage firms, financial news publishers, and other American companies. Andrei Tyurin was  charged  with computer intrusion, wire fraud, bank fraud, and illegal online gambling offenses, and for his role in one of the largest thefts of U.S. customer data from a single financial institution in history, which involved the personal information of more than 80 million J.P. Morgan Chase customers. Besides the investment bank, some of the other major targets of the hacks were E*Trade, Scottrade, and the Wall Street Journal. Tyurin, who carried out the extensive hacking from his home in Moscow between 2012 to mid-2015, is believed to have netted over $19 million in criminal proceeds as part of his intrusion schemes. In one such instance of security fraud, Tyu

European and U.S. law enforcement agencies have announced the dismantling of a bulletproof hosting service provider called  Lolek Hosted , which cybercriminals have used to launch cyber-attacks across the globe. "Five of its administrators were arrested, and all of its servers seized, rendering LolekHosted.net no longer available," Europol  said  in a statement. "The service facilitated the distribution of information-stealing malware, and also the launching of DDoS (distributed denial-of-service) attacks, fictitious online shops, botnet server management, and distribution of spam messages worldwide," it added. Polish authorities, who made the arrests,  said  three other detainees have been subjected to preventive measures in the form of police supervision, bail, and a ban on leaving the country. Alongside the arrests, hundreds of servers containing terabytes of data, computer equipment, and mobile phones have been confiscated. The seizure, carried out on Augu

A United States federal district court has finally sentenced a Russian hacker to nine years in federal prison after he pleaded guilty of running two illegal websites devoted to facilitating payment card fraud, computer hacking, and other crimes. Aleksei Yurievich Burkov , 30, pleaded guilty in January this year to two of the five charges against him for credit card fraud—one count of access device fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit access device fraud, identity theft, computer intrusions, wire fraud, and money laundering. Burkov admitted to operating a website named Cardplanet that was dedicated to buying and selling stolen credit card and debit card data for anywhere between $2.50 and $10 per payment card, depending on the card type, origin, and availability of card owner information. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Cardplanet hosted roughly 150,000 payment card details between 2009 and 2013, most of which belonged to U.S. citizens and used to make over $

Yes, you heard it right. If I tell you not to visit my website, but you still visit it knowing you are disapproved, you are committing a federal crime, and I have the authority to sue you. Wait! I haven't disapproved you yet. Rather I'm making you aware of a new court decision that may trouble you and could have big implications going forward. The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has taken a critical decision on the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA): Companies can seek civil and criminal penalties against people who access or visit their websites without their permission. Even Sharing Password is also a Federal Crime... Yes, a similar weird decision was taken last week when the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that sharing passwords can be a violation of the CFAA, making Millions of people who share their passwords "unwitting federal criminals." Now, you might be wondering how visiting a publically open website could be a crime. We

A Russian man accused of infecting tens of thousands of computer servers worldwide to generate millions in illicit profit has finally entered a guilty plea in the United States and is going to face sentencing in August. Maxim Senakh, 41, of Velikii Novgorod, Russia, pleaded guilty in a US federal court on Tuesday for his role in the development and maintenance of the infamous Linux botnet known as Ebury that siphoned millions of dollars from victims worldwide. Senakh, who was detained by Finland in August 2015 and extradition to the US in January 2016, admitted to installing Ebury malware on computer servers worldwide, including thousands in the United States. First spotted in 2011, Ebury is an SSH backdoor Trojan for Linux and Unix-style operating systems, like FreeBSD or Solaris, which infected more than 500,000 computers and 25,000 dedicated servers in a worldwide malware campaign called ' Operation Windigo .' Ebury backdoor gives attackers full shell control of

40-year-old Russian national Vladimir Dunaev has been sentenced to five years and four months in prison for his role in creating and distributing the TrickBot malware, the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) said. The development comes nearly two months after  Dunaev pleaded guilty  to committing computer fraud and identity theft and conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud. "Hospitals, schools, and businesses were among the millions of TrickBot victims who suffered tens of millions of dollars in losses," DoJ  said . "While active, TrickBot malware, which acted as an initial intrusion vector into victim computer systems, was used to support various ransomware variants." Originating as a banking trojan in 2016, TrickBot evolved into a Swiss Army knife capable of delivering additional payloads, including ransomware. Following efforts to take down the botnet, it was absorbed into the Conti ransomware operation in 2022. The cybercrime crew's allegiance to

Researchers have uncovered a new social engineering trick that leads users to a malicious extension from Google Chrome impersonating to deliver Adobe's Flash Player in order to lure victims in a click fraud campaign. Security experts at TrendMicro believe that the malware is triggered by opening Facebook or Twitter via shortened links provided in any social networking websites. Once clicked, the links may lead victims to a site that automatically downloads the malicious browser extension . MALWARE INVOLVES DOWNLOADING MULTIPLE MALICIOUS FILES The process is quite complicated as the malware drops a downloader file which downloads multiple malicious files on the victim's computer. Moreover, the malicious program also has ability to bypass Google's recent security protection added to Chrome against installation of browser extensions that are not in Chrome Web Store. Researchers came across a baiting tweet that advertises " Facebook Secrets ", claiming to show videos

Top defense and intelligence officials reiterated their commitment to information-sharing at a Senate hearing Thursday, even as they outlined new safeguards to prevent a repeat of the WikiLeaks breach that has led to the release of thousands of classified military reports and diplomatic cables. The Defense Department, for example, is striving to proceed with needed protections "without reverting to pre-9/11 stovepipes," Chief Information Officer Teresa Takai told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. To stop unauthorized downloading of files to CDs, the department has disabled the "write" function on almost 90 percent of some 220,000 computers with access to the Secret Internet Protocol Router Network, or SIPRNet, she said. The Pentagon is also beefing up information security training while tightening log-in access to SIPRNet machines through the use of "smart cards" in place of unwieldy password systems. At the Office of t

The U.S. Justice Department unsealed 16-count indictment charges on Wednesday against a computer programmer from Ohio who is accused of creating and installing spyware on thousands of computers for more than 13 years. According to the indictment, 28-year-old Phillip R. Durachinsky is the alleged author of FruitFly malware that was found targeting Apple Mac users earlier last year worldwide, primarily in the United States. Interestingly, Durachinsky was just 14 years old when he programmed the first version of the FruitFly malware, and this full-fledged backdoor trojan went largely undetected for several years, despite using unsophisticated and antiquated code. The malware was initially discovered in January 2017 by Malwarebytes and then Patrick Wardle, an ex-NSA hacker, found around 400 Mac computers infected with the newer strain of FruitFly. However, Wardle believed the number of infected Macs would likely be much higher. The malware is capable of advanced surveillance

The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Wednesday announced sweeping sanctions against ten individuals and two entities backed by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) for their involvement in ransomware attacks at least since October 2020. The agency said the cyber activity mounted by the individuals is partially attributable to intrusion sets tracked under the names APT35, Charming Kitten, Nemesis Kitten, Phosphorus, and TunnelVision. "This group has launched extensive campaigns against organizations and officials across the globe, particularly targeting U.S. and Middle Eastern defense, diplomatic, and government personnel, as well as private industries including media, energy, business services, and telecommunications," the Treasury  said . The Nemesis Kitten actor, which is also known as  Cobalt Mirage ,  DEV-0270 , and  UNC2448 , has come under the scanner in recent months for its pattern of ransomware attacks for o

The U.S. government on Tuesday  announced  up to $10 million in rewards for information on six hackers associated with the Russian military intelligence service. "These individuals participated in malicious cyber activities on behalf of the Russian government against U.S. critical infrastructure in violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act," the State Department's Rewards for Justice Program  said . All the six Russian officers are members of an advanced persistent threat group called Sandworm (aka Voodoo Bear or Iron Viking), which is known to be operating since at least 2008 with a specific focus on targeting entities in Ukraine with the goal of establishing an illicit, long-term presence in order to mine highly sensitive data. The hackers, who are officers of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation ( GRU ), are as follows - Artem Valeryevich Ochichenko , who has been linked to technical reconnaissa

A Russian man accused of infecting tens of thousands of computer servers worldwide to generate millions in fraudulent payments has been imprisoned for 46 months (nearly four years) in a United States' federal prison. 41-year-old Maxim Senakh , of Velikii Novgorod, was arrested by Finnish police in August 2015 for his role in the development and maintenance of the infamous Linux botnet called Ebury that siphoned millions of dollars from victims worldwide. Senakh was extradited to the United States in February 2016 to face charges and pleaded guilty in late March this year after admitting of creating a massive Ebury botnet and personally being profited from the scheme. First spotted in 2011, Ebury is an SSH backdoor Trojan for Linux and Unix-style operating systems, such as FreeBSD or Solaris, which gives attackers full shell control of an infected machine remotely even if the password for affected user account is changed regularly. Senakh and his associates used the malw

A former Canadian government employee this week agreed to plead guilty in the U.S. to charges related to his involvement with the NetWalker ransomware syndicate. Sebastien Vachon-Desjardins , who was  extradited to the U.S.  on March 10, 2022, is accused of conspiracy to commit computer fraud and wire fraud, intentional damage to a protected computer, and transmitting a demand in relation to damaging a protected computer. The 34-year-old IT consultant from Gatineau, Quebec, was initially apprehended in January 2021 following a coordinated  law enforcement operation  to dismantle the dark web infrastructure used by the NetWalker ransomware cybercrime group to publish data siphoned from its victims. The takedown also brought its activities to a standstill. A search warrant executed at Vachon-Desjardins's home in Canada resulted in the seizure of 719 bitcoin, valued at approximately $28.1 million at the time, and $790,000 in Canadian currency. In February 2022, the Ontario Court o

Harvard researcher arrested on hacking charges A Harvard researcher  Aaron Swartz  has been arrested in Boston for broke into the computer networks at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to gain access to JSTOR, a non-profit online service for distributing scholarly articles, and downloaded 4.8 million articles and other documents - nearly the entire library Swartz was something of an internet folk hero as a teenager when he helped create RSS, a computer code that allows people to receive automatic feeds of online notices and news. He has emerged as a civil liberties activist who crusades for open access to data. In 2008, Mr Swartz released a '' Guerilla Open Access Manifesto '', calling for activists to '' fight back '' against the sequestering of scholarly papers behind pay walls. '' It's time to come into the light and, in the grand tradition of civil disobedience, declare our opposition to this private theft of public culture

Three teenagers who founded and operated one of the world's largest English-language internet crime forums, described in court as "Crimebook", have been sentenced to up to five years in custody. Police estimate that losses from the thousands of credit details traded over the site, Gh0stMarket.net, amount to £16.2m. The web forum, which had 8,000 members worldwide, has been linked to hundreds of thousands of pounds of registered losses on 65,000 bank accounts. Nicholas Webber, the site's owner and founder, was arrested in October 2009 with the site's administrator, Ryan Thomas, after trying to pay a £1,000 hotel bill using stolen card details. They were then 18 and 17. Webber was jailed for five years on Wednesday and Thomas for four years. After seizing Webber's laptop, police discovered details of 100,000 stolen credit cards and a trail back to the Gh0stMarket website. Webber and Thomas jumped bail that December, fleeing to Majorca, but were rearrested when