Twitter temporarily disables 'Tweeting via SMS' after CEO gets hacked

Twitter today finally decided to temporarily disable a feature, called 'Tweeting via SMS,' after it was abused by a hacking group to compromise Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey last week and sent a series of racist and offensive tweets to Dorsey's followers. Dorsey's Twitter account was compromised last...

TrickBot Targets Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint Users to Siphon PINs

The TrickBot malware, known previously for targeting U.S. banks, is now setting a bullseye on users of U.S.-based mobile carriers, including Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile and Sprint, to launch SIM swapping attacks. Researchers with Dell’s Secureworks research team warned that they have observed the...

Who Owns Your Wireless Service? Crooks Do.

Incessantly annoying and fraudulent robocalls. Corrupt wireless company employees taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to unlock and hijack mobile phone service. Wireless providers selling real-time customer location data, despite repeated promises to the contrary. A noticeable uptic...

Threat Source newsletter (May 23)

Newsletter compiled by Jonathan Munshaw. Welcome to this week’s Threat Source newsletter — the perfect place to get caught up on all things Talos from the past week. Election security is a touchy — and oftentimes depressing — topic of conversation. So why not let Beer with Talos bring some levity...

A week in security (May 13 – 19)

Last week, Malwarebytes Labs reviewed active and unique exploit kits targeting consumers and businesses alike, reported about a flaw in WhatsApp used to target a human rights lawyer, and wrote about an important Microsoft patch that aimed to prevent a "WannaCry level" attack. We also profiled the...

Account Hijacking Forum OGusers Hacked

Ogusers.com -- a forum popular among people involved in hijacking online accounts and conducting SIM swapping attacks to seize control over victims' phone numbers -- has itself been hacked, exposing the email addresses, hashed passwords, IP addresses and private messages for nearly 113,000 forum...

Sim swapping hackers charged with stealing $2.5m worth of crypto

By Uzair Amir These hackers are part of the group called "The Community." According to an announcement made by the U.S. Department of Justice DoJ, six men have been charged for SIM swapping fraud that resulted in the theft of nearly $2.5 million $2,416,352 worth of cryptocurrency. The six men are...

U.S. Charges 9 'SIM Swapping' Attackers For Stealing $2.5 Million

The U.S. Department of Justice today announced charges against nine individuals, 6 of which are members of a hacking group called "The Community" and other 3 are former employees of mobile phone providers who allegedly helped them steal roughly $2.5 million worth of the cryptocurrency using a...

U.S. Charges 9 'SIM Swapping' Attackers For Stealing $2.5 Million

The U.S. Department of Justice today announced charges against nine individuals, 6 of which are members of a hacking group called "The Community" and other 3 are former employees of mobile phone providers who allegedly helped them steal roughly $2.5 million worth of the cryptocurrency using a...

Nine Charged in Alleged SIM Swapping Ring

Eight Americans and an Irishman have been charged with wire fraud this week for allegedly hijacking mobile phones through SIM-swapping, a form of fraud in which scammers bribe or trick employees at mobile phone stores into seizing control of the target's phone number and diverting all texts and...

Why Phone Numbers Stink As Identity Proof

Phone numbers stink for security and authentication. They stink because most of us have so much invested in these digits that they've become de facto identities. At the same time, when you lose control over a phone number -- maybe it's hijacked by fraudsters, you got separated or divorced, or you...

More Alleged SIM Swappers Face Justice

Prosecutors in Northern California have charged two men with using unauthorized SIM swaps to steal and extort money from victims. One of the individuals charged allegedly used a hacker nickname belonging to a key figure in the underground who's built a solid reputation hijacking mobile phone...

First Hacker Convicted of 'SIM Swapping' Attack Gets 10 Years in Prison

A 20-year-old college student who stole cryptocurrency worth more than $5 million by hijacking victims' phone numbers has pleaded guilty and accepted a sentence of 10 years in prison. Ortiz was arrested last year on charges of siphoning millions of dollars in cryptocurrency from around 40 victims...

First Hacker Convicted of 'SIM Swapping' Attack Gets 10 Years in Prison

A 20-year-old college student who stole cryptocurrency worth more than $5 million by hijacking victims' phone numbers has pleaded guilty and accepted a sentence of 10 years in prison. Ortiz was arrested last year on charges of siphoning millions of dollars in cryptocurrency from around 40 victims...

Man arrested for stealing $1m from Silicon Valley Exec via SIM-swapping

By ghostadmin A 21-year old Manhattan resident has been accused of SIM-swapping the mobile number of Robert Ross, a Silicon Valley executive, and managed to steal $1 million. The accused, Nicholas Truglia, not only targeted Ross’s phone number with SIM-swapping attacks but many others too includi...

Sim Swapping Crypto Stealing Hackers Arrested by Turkish Police

By Waqas Eleven Turkish individuals have been arrested by Turkish police department for stealing cryptocurrency worth approx. $80,000 via Sim Swapping. Reportedly, the suspects tricked the phone providers into revealing the phone numbers of the victims and used the SIMs for performing 2FA...

Busting SIM Swappers and SIM Swap Myths

KrebsOnSecurity recently had a chance to interview members of the REACT Task Force, a team of law enforcement officers and prosecutors based in Santa Clara, Calif. that has been tracking down individuals engaged in unauthorized "SIM swaps" -- a complex form of mobile phone fraud that is often use...

Alleged SIM Swapper Arrested in California

Authorities in Santa Clara, Calif. have arrested and charged a 19-year-old area man on suspicion hijacking mobile phone numbers as part of a scheme to steal large sums of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. The arrest is the third known law enforcement action this month targeting "SIM swappers,"...