U.S. Treasury Sanctions Iranian Firms and Individuals Tied to Cyber Attacks

The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control OFAC on Monday sanctioned two firms and four individuals for their involvement in malicious cyber activities on behalf of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Cyber Electronic Command IRGC-CEC from at least 2016 to April 202...

U.S. Cracks Down on Predatory Spyware Firm for Targeting Officials and Journalists

The U.S. Department of Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control OFAC sanctioned two individuals and five entities associated with the Intellexa Alliance for their role in "developing, operating, and distributing" commercial spyware designed to target government officials, journalists, and poli...

U.S. Treasury Sanctions Russian Money Launderer in Cybercrime Crackdown

The U.S. Department of the Treasury imposed sanctions against a 37-year-old Russian woman for taking part in the laundering of virtual currency for the country's elites and cybercriminal crews, including the Ryuk ransomware group. Ekaterina Zhdanova, per the department, is said to have facilitate...

OFAC sanctioned lender can frontrun nukeFromOrbit with a transfer of his funds

Lines of code Vulnerability details Impact In order to prevent a sanctioned lender for example by OFAC to poison an entire market, a function has been developed to block and transfer the sanctionned user's funds to an escrow contract. This escrow contract can be released if borrower decides so by...

Tornado Cash Founders Charged in Billion-Dollar Crypto Laundering Scandal

The U.S. Justice Department DoJ on Wednesday unsealed an indictment against two founders of the now-sanctioned Tornado Cash cryptocurrency mixer service, charging them with laundering more than $1 billion in criminal proceeds. Both the individuals, Roman Storm and Roman Semenov, have been charged...

Regulating DAOs

In August, the US Treasurys Office of Foreign Assets Control OFAC sanctioned the cryptocurrency platform Tornado Cash, a virtual currency "mixer" designed to make it harder to trace cryptocurrency transactions--and a worldwide favorite money-laundering platform. Americans are now forbidden from...

U.S. Charges 3 Iranian Hackers and Sanctions Several Others Over Ransomware Attacks

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...

Add to Blacklist function

Lines of code Vulnerability details L-2. Add to Blacklist function Description: Cryptocurrency mixing service, Tornado Cash, has been blacklisted in the OFAC. A lot of blockchain companies, token projects, NFT Projects have blacklisted all Ethereum addresses owned by Tornado Cash listed in the US...

Restricted Trades Vulnerable to Stolen Items Being Traded

Lines of code Vulnerability details Impact The current contract does not check for stolen items. Traditionally, Opensea has frozen items that are stolen based on its stolen item policy. It was possible to do so on Opensea at the UI level. However, with Seaport, anyone can list a restricted trade...

Lazarus Group Behind $540 Million Axie Infinity Crypto Hack and Attacks on Chemical Sector

The U.S. Treasury Department has implicated the North Korea-backed Lazarus Group aka Hidden Cobra in the theft of $540 million from video game Axie Infinity's Ronin Network last month. On Thursday, the Treasury tied the Ethereum wallet address that received the stolen digital currency to the thre...

Ethereum Developer Jailed 63 Months for Helping North Korea Evade Sanctions

A U.S. court has sentenced former Ethereum developer Virgil Griffith to five years and three months in prison and pay a $100,000 fine for conspiring with North Korea to help use cryptocurrencies to circumvent sanctions imposed on the country. "There is no question North Korea poses a national...

U.S. Treasury Department Sanctions Russia-based Hydra Darknet Marketplace

The U.S. Treasury Department on Tuesday sanctioned Hydra, the same day German law enforcement authorities disrupted the world's largest and longest-running dark web marketplace following a coordinated operation in partnership with U.S. officials. The sanctions are part of an "international effort...

Evil Corp Impersonates PayloadBin Group to Avoid Federal Sanctions

The criminal group Evil Corp is trying to mask its latest activity by using previously unknown ransomware called PayloadBin, according to researchers. The move is believed to be an attempt to confuse law enforcement and avoid sanctions imposed by the U.S. federal government against entities it...

Ransomware Payments and Sanctions - U.S. Treasury Advisory

On Oct. 1, the United States Treasury Department Office of Foreign Assets Control OFAC issued an advisory concerning ransomware payments and sanctions regulations. The advisory warned that paying ransoms to sanctioned persons and entities risks violating the law. It also notes that OFAC may impos...

Department of Treasury Releases Advisory on Potential Sanctions Risks for Facilitating Ransomware Payments

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control OFAC has released an Advisory on Potential Sanctions Risks for Facilitating Ransomware Payments. Financial institutions, cyber insurance firms, and companies that facilitate payments on behalf of victims may be violating OFAC...

Ransomware Victims That Pay Up Could Incur Steep Fines from Uncle Sam

Companies victimized by ransomware and firms that facilitate negotiations with ransomware extortionists could face steep fines from the U.S. federal government if the crooks who profit from the attack are already under economic sanctions, the Treasury Department warned today. Image: Shutterstock ...

U.S. sanctions against Russian cybersecurity companies

I never thought that I will write here about state sanctions. Usually I try to ignore political topics. But now it's necessary. Yesterday OFAC introduced sanctions against 5 Russian companies. I would like to mention 3 of them: Digital Security - one of the leading Russian Information Security...