cybercrime

Student Downloads Pirated Software and Infects COVID-19 Research Institute A research student working at a European biomolecular research institute wanted to obtain copy of the software he used at the Institute for his personal use. The cost of a license proved too much for the students budget, so he asked on an online forum if there was a way he could get a cracked copy of the software. That is, one that has been modified by cybercriminals so that licensing is bypassed.

Fireeye Hit by Cyberattack

By Dave McKay in cybercrime

December 9, 2020

Major Cyber Security Firm Attacked One of the largest cyber security firms in the US has been hit by a successful cyberattack. Cyber security giant FireEye published a blog post describing the event. CEO Kevin Mandia said the hack most likely came from a nation-state attacker: “Based on my 25 years in cyber security and responding to incidents, I’ve concluded we are witnessing an attack by a nation with top-tier offensive capabilities,” Mandia said in his post.

Scammers Accidentally Ring Cybercrime Police

By Dave McKay in cybercrime

November 7, 2020

A Bad Case of Wrong Number A tech-support scammer making random phone calls in the hope of finding a victim to dupe accidentally rang the cybercrime squad of an Australian police force. Officers at the Financial and Cybercrime Investigation Branch (FCIB) used the opportunity—and a secure sand-boxed computer—to discover the mechanics behind the attack. “No one is safe from receiving scam robo-calls, not even the police,” the FCIB said.

FBI Warns US Hospitals About Ransomware

By Dave McKay in cybercrime

October 30, 2020

FBI: US healthcare system facing “increased and imminent” threat of attack The FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of Health and Human Services warned that they had “credible information of an increased and imminent cybercrime threat to US hospitals and healthcare providers”. The attacks are ransomware attacks using the Ryuk ransomware strain. They suspect Russian-speaking threat actors are behind the attacks, which are believed to be financially, not politically, motivated.

Russian Military Hackers Accused of Spreading Malware

By Dave McKay in cybercrime

October 21, 2020

Six Russian Military Officers Charged Over Malware Six officers in Unit 74455 of the Russian Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU), a military intelligence agency of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, have been charged by the US with spreading malware and meddling with elections. They are said to be part of the infamous Fancy Bear Advanced Persistent Threat group, APT28. “No country has weaponized its cyber capabilities as maliciously or irresponsibly as Russia, wantonly causing unprecedented damage to pursue small tactical advantages and to satisfy fits of spite,” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C.

Thirteen Year Old Arrested for Cybercrime

By Dave McKay in cybercrime

September 26, 2020

Unnamed 13-year Old Arrested for Cyberattacks in Indiana A 13-year-old boy was arrested and charged with hacking into an Indiana school district’s computer system. The defendant is a pupil at Benjamin Franklin Middle School, Valparaiso, the county seat of Porter County, Indiana. Police confirmed on September 18 that they had taken a boy into custody the day before, after school staff discovered he had illegally entered the Valparaiso Community School computer system.

Negligent Homicide in German Hospital Cyberattack

By Dave McKay in cybersecurity

September 24, 2020

German Police Probe ‘Negligent Homicide’ in Hospital Cyberattack A ransomware attack on a German hospital is under investigation as a cybercrime, obviously, but it is also being investigated from a potential homicide viewpoint. The ransomware attack delayed treatment for a female patient that led to her death, a state Justice Ministry has suggested. The patient was scheduled to undergo life-saving treatment at the Düsseldorf University Clinic but a ransomware attack against about 30 servers forced emergency services to redirect ambulances to a different hospital in Wuppertal, about 60 Km away.

Three Arrests Made Following Twitter Hack

By Dave McKay in cybercrime

August 1, 2020

It Was Those Pesky Kids Mason Sheppard, 19, of Bognor Regis has had felony charges filed against him, for his participation in the recent Twitter hack. Nima Fazeli, 22, from Florida and an unnamed juvenile (suspected to be 17-year-old teen Graham Clark of Tampa) were also charged this week with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and the intentional access of a protected computer. In its statement, Twitter also revealed that some of its employees were targeted using a spear-phishing attack via phone calls, which mislead “certain employees and exploited human vulnerabilities to gain access to our internal systems.

Twitter Hack Was the Result of Social Engineering

By Dave McKay in cybersecurity

July 31, 2020

Social Engineering Attack Vector Twitter have declared that the route taken by the threat actors who pulled off this month’s Twitter hack and Bitcoin scam was social engineering. They made convincing but bogus phone calls to Twitter employees and managed to convince them to reveal their credentials. According to Twitter, the social engineering attack gave the threat actors the credentials of a limited set of employees, making it possible for the bad guys to access Twitter’s internal network and support tools.

No More Ransom

By Dave McKay in cybercrime

July 28, 2020

Garmin Hit by WastedLocker Ransomware Garmin has been hit by a four day outage due to a ransomware attack. Today it was announced that Garmin have obtained the decryption key, although how has not been revealed. Perhaps they paid the ransom, although the US Treasury placed sanctions against the probable culprits, EvilCorp, making it illegal to pay them a ransom. Ransomware is a type of malware that infects victims’ computers and encrypts their data.

Pirated Software Leads to Ransomware Attack

Fireeye Hit by Cyberattack

Scammers Accidentally Ring Cybercrime Police

FBI Warns US Hospitals About Ransomware

Russian Military Hackers Accused of Spreading Malware

Thirteen Year Old Arrested for Cybercrime

Negligent Homicide in German Hospital Cyberattack

Three Arrests Made Following Twitter Hack

Twitter Hack Was the Result of Social Engineering

No More Ransom

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