2021 Cybersecurity Outlook: Attackers vs. Defenders

COVID-19, One Year Later 2020 was undoubtedly a defining year for cybersecurity – a year that ended with the SolarWinds breach, which infiltrated US government agencies and organizations at a scale not seen in recent history. For cybersecurity professionals, the nature of this attack – a...

National Surveillance Camera Rollout Roils Privacy Activists

While controversy over the potential overreach of neighborhood and law-enforcement video surveillance has focused mainly on Ring, an Atlanta-based startup has quietly rolled out its own network of smart surveillance cameras across the country that is again raising questions of privacy and the ire...

A Billion-Dollar Dark Web Crime Lord Calls It Quits

The “big hack” redux, riot planning on Facebook, and more of the week’s top security news...

Celeb SIM-Swap Crime Ring Stole $100M from U.S. Victims

A posse of alleged SIM-swapping cybercriminals has been rounded up across Europe by law-enforcement after the crooks finagled more than $100 million from U.S. celebrities and their families. Eight people in the U.K. were arrested in connection with the crime ring, in addition to individuals in...

Verify Your Valentine

This Valentine’s Day, before you go looking for love in all the wrong chat rooms, CISA reminds users to be wary of internet romance scams. At first, cyber criminals promise the reward of romance after adopting an alias to appear as a potential partner. Once your heart is hooked on hope, they turn...

European Authorities Disrupt Emotet — World's Most Dangerous Malware

Law enforcement agencies from as many as eight countries dismantled the infrastructure of Emotet, a notorious email-based Windows malware behind several botnet-driven spam campaigns and ransomware attacks over the past decade. The coordinated takedown of the botnet on Tuesday — dubbed "Operation...

21 WeLeakInfo customers arrested for buying breached data

By Deeba Ahmed The UK National Crime Agency NCA has arrested 21 individuals for buying breached data from now-defunct online service- WeLeakInfo dot com This is a post from HackRead.com Read the original post: 21 WeLeakInfo customers arrested for buying breached data...

FBI Warn Hackers are Using Hijacked Home Security Devices for 'Swatting'

Stolen email passwords are being used to hijack smart home security systems to “swat” unsuspecting users, the Federal Bureau of Investigation warned this week. The announcement comes after concerned device manufacturers alerted law enforcement about the issue. Swatting is a dangerous prank where...

The Edge of a Storm?

The SolarWinds element of this breach is likely just the tip of the iceberg as many more businesses leveraging their management tools are exposed to this compromise. Not necessarily from the nation state actor believed to have triggered it, but from the potential sell off of those points of acces...

Sextortionist Campaign Targets iOS, Android Users with New Spyware

New spyware is targeting iOS and Android frequenters of adult mobile sites by posing as a secure messaging application in yet another twist on sextortionist scams. The spyware, dubbed Goontact, targets users of escort-service sites and other sex-oriented services – particularly in Chinese-speakin...

Maze ransomware gang announces retirement

The threat actors behind Maze ransomware have announced their retirement. On November 1, they posted the retirement announcement on the website where they would normally name and shame their victims that were unwilling to pay the ransom. image courtesy of Graham Cluley "The Project is closed. Maz...

US Dept of Justice steps up legal action against crypto crime

By Uzair Amir Just last month, the department revealed it had arrested two Malaysian and sanctioned two Russians over two separate cases of crypto crime. This is a post from HackRead.com Read the original post: US Dept of Justice steps up legal action against crypto crime...

Industry-wide partnership on threat-informed defense improves security for all

MITRE Engenuity’s Center for Threat-Informed Defense has published a library of detailed plans for emulating the threat actor FIN6 which Microsoft tracks as TAAL, a collection of threat intelligence, MITRE ATT&CK data, supporting scripts, and utilities designed to enable red teams to emulate the...

Creepy ‘Geofence’ Finds Anyone Who Went Near a Crime Scene

Police increasingly ask Google and other tech firms for data about who was where, when. Two judges ruled the investigative tool invalid in a Chicago case...

A British AI Tool to Predict Violent Crime Is Too Flawed to Use

A government-funded system known as Most Serious Violence was built to predict first offenses but turned out to be wildly inaccurate...

Secret Service Creates Cyber Fraud Task Forces

The U.S. Secret Service has created the Cyber Fraud Task Forces CFTFs, aimed at preventing, detecting and mitigating complex cyber-enabled financial crime – including making arrests and convictions. The CFTF is the result of a formal merging of two of the Secret Service’s existing units into a...

Encryption-Busting EARN IT Act Advances in Senate

Plus: A massive crime bust in Europe, a warning from US Cyber Command, and more of the week's top security news...

E.U. Authorities Crack Encryption of Massive Criminal and Murder Network

European law-enforcement officials have shut down an encrypted Android-based communications platform used exclusively by criminals to plot murders, traffic illegal drugs, commit money laundering and plan other organized crimes. An international law-enforcement team from the France and the...

Police Arrested Hundreds of Criminals After Hacking Into Encrypted Chat Network

In a joint operation, European and British law enforcement agencies recently arrested hundreds of alleged drug dealers and other criminals after infiltrating into a global network of an encrypted chatting app that was used to plot drug deals, money laundering, extortions, and even murders. Dubbed...

Romanian Skimmer Gang in Mexico Outed by KrebsOnSecurity Stole $1.2 Billion

An exhaustive inquiry published today by a consortium of investigative journalists says a three-part series KrebsOnSecurity published in 2015 on a Romanian ATM skimming gang operating in Mexico's top tourist destinations disrupted their highly profitable business, which raked in an estimated $1.2...