Ukrainian Sailors Are Using Telegram to Avoid Being Tricked Into Smuggling Oil for Russia

Contract seafarers in Ukraine are turning to online whisper networks to keep themselves from being hired into Russia’s sanctions-busting shadow fleet...

How Did Authorities Identify the Alleged Lockbit Boss?

Last week, the United States joined the U.K. and Australia in sanctioning and charging a Russian man named Dmitry Yuryevich Khoroshev as the leader of the infamous LockBit ransomware group. LockBits leader "LockBitSupp" claims the feds named the wrong guy, saying the charges dont explain how they...

Russian Hacker Dmitry Khoroshev Unmasked as LockBit Ransomware Administrator

The U.K. National Crime Agency NCA has unmasked the administrator and developer of the LockBit ransomware operation, revealing it to be a 31-year-old Russian national named Dmitry Yuryevich Khoroshev. In addition, Khoroshev has been sanctioned by the U.K. Foreign, Commonwealth and Development...

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...

North Koreans Secretly Animated Amazon and Max Shows, Researchers Say

Thousands of exposed files on a misconfigured North Korean server hint at one way the reclusive country may evade international sanctions...

U.S. Treasury Hamas Spokesperson for Cyber Influence Operations

The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control OFAC on Friday announced sanctions against an official associated with Hamas for his involvement in cyber influence operations. Hudhayfa Samir 'Abdallah al-Kahlut, 39, also known as Abu Ubaida, has served as the public spokesperson o...

Finland Blames Chinese Hacking Group APT31 for Parliament Cyber Attack

The Police of Finland aka Poliisi has formally accused a Chinese nation-state actor tracked as APT31 for orchestrating a cyber attack targeting the country's Parliament in 2020. The intrusion, per the authorities, is said to have occurred between fall 2020 and early 2021. The agency described the...

U.S. Charges 7 Chinese Nationals in Major 14-Year Cyber Espionage Operation

The U.S. Department of Justice DoJ on Monday unsealed indictments against seven Chinese nationals for their involvement in a hacking group that targeted U.S. and foreign critics, journalists, businesses, and political officials for about 14 years. The defendants include Ni Gaobin 倪高彬, Weng Ming 翁...

U.S. Sanctions 3 Cryptocurrency Exchanges for Helping Russia Evade Sanctions

The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control OFAC sanctioned three cryptocurrency exchanges for offering services used to evade economic restrictions imposed on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine in early 2022. This includes Bitpapa IC FZC LLC, Crypto Explorer DMCC...

Chinese Hackers Charged in Decade-Long Global Spying Rampage

US and UK officials hit Chinese hacking group APT31 with sanctions and criminal charges after they targeted thousands of businesses, politicians, and critics of China...

U.S. Sanctions Russians Behind 'Doppelganger' Cyber Influence Campaign

The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control OFAC on Wednesday announced sanctions against two 46-year-old Russian nationals and the respective companies they own for engaging in cyber influence operations. Ilya Andreevich Gambashidze Gambashidze, the founder of the Moscow-base...

Predator spyware vendor banned in US

The US Treasury Department has sanctioned Predator spyware vendor Intellexa Consortium, and banned the company from doing business in the US. Predator can turn infected smartphones into surveillance devices. Intellexa is based in Greece but the Treasury Department imposed the sanctions because of...

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...

LockBit Ransomware Operation Shut Down; Criminals Arrested; Decryption Keys Released

The U.K. National Crime Agency NCA on Tuesday confirmed that it obtained LockBit's source code as well as a wealth of intelligence pertaining to its activities and their affiliates as part of a dedicated task force called Operation Cronos. "Some of the data on LockBit's systems belonged to victim...

U.S. Sanctions 6 Iranian Officials for Critical Infrastructure Cyber Attacks

The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control OFAC announced sanctions against six officials associated with the Iranian intelligence agency for attacking critical infrastructure entities in the U.S. and other countries. The officials include Hamid Reza Lashgarian, Mahdi...

U.S. Treasury Imposes Sanctions on Alleged ISIS Cybersecurity Experts

By Waqas The US Treasury Department announced sanctions against two Egyptian nationals, Mu'min Al-Mawji Mahmud Salim and Sarah Jamal Muhammad Al-Sayyid, for running the Electronic Horizons Foundation EHF, a platform allegedly providing cyber tools and training to ISIS supporters. This is a post...

Who is Alleged Medibank Hacker Aleksandr Ermakov?

Authorities in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States this week levied financial sanctions against a Russian man accused of stealing data on nearly 10 million customers of the Australian health insurance giant Medibank. 33-year-old Aleksandr Ermakov allegedly stole and leaked the...

Russian TrickBot Mastermind Gets 5-Year Prison Sentence for Cybercrime Spree

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 comput...

U.S., U.K., Australia Sanction Russian REvil Hacker Behind Medibank Breach

Governments from Australia, the U.K., and the U.S. have imposed financial sanctions on a Russian national for his alleged role in the 2022 ransomware attack against health insurance provider Medibank. Alexander Ermakov aka bladerunner, GistaveDore, GustaveDore, or JimJones, 33, has been tied to t...

‘Stablecoins’ Enabled $40 Billion in Crypto Crime Since 2022

A new report from Chainalysis finds that stablecoins like Tether, tied to the value of the US dollar, were used in the vast majority of crypto-based scam transactions and sanctions evasion in 2023...