U.K. ICO Investigates TikTok, Reddit, and Imgur Over Children's Data Protection Practices

The U.K.'s Information Commissioner's Office ICO has opened an investigation into online platforms TikTok, Reddit, and Imgur to assess the steps they are taking to protect children between the ages of 13 and 17 in the country. To that end, the watchdog said it's probing how the ByteDance-owned...

Apple Drops iCloud's Advanced Data Protection in the U.K. Amid Encryption Backdoor Demands

Apple is removing its Advanced Data Protection ADP feature for iCloud from the United Kingdom with immediate effect following government demands for backdoor access to encrypted user data. The development was first reported by Bloomberg. ADP for iCloud is an optional setting that ensures that...

FBI Shuts Down Dispossessor Ransomware Group's Servers Across U.S., U.K., and Germany

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI on Monday announced the disruption of online infrastructure associated with a nascent ransomware group called Radar/Dispossessor. The effort saw the dismantling of three U.S. servers, three United Kingdom servers, 18 German servers, eight U.S.-based...

OneDrive Phishing Scam Tricks Users into Running Malicious PowerShell Script

Cybersecurity researchers are warning about a new phishing campaign that targets Microsoft OneDrive users with the aim of executing a malicious PowerShell script. "This campaign heavily relies on social engineering tactics to deceive users into executing a PowerShell script, thereby compromising...

New Medusa Android Trojan Targets Banking Users Across 7 Countries

Cybersecurity researchers have discovered an updated version of an Android banking trojan called Medusa that has been used to target users in Canada, France, Italy, Spain, Turkey, the U.K., and the U.S. The new fraud campaigns, observed in May 2024 and active since July 2023, manifested through...

WikiLeaks' Julian Assange Released from U.K. Prison, Heads to Australia

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been freed in the U.K. and has departed the country after serving more than five years in a maximum security prison at Belmarsh for what was described by the U.S. government as the "largest compromises of classified information" in its history. Capping off a...

New U.K. Law Bans Default Passwords on Smart Devices Starting April 2024

The U.K. National Cyber Security Centre NCSC is calling on manufacturers of smart devices to comply with new legislation that prohibits them from using default passwords, effective April 29, 2024. "The law, known as the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure act or PSTI act, will...

Google Postpones Third-Party Cookie Deprecation Amid U.K. Regulatory Scrutiny

Google has once again pushed its plans to deprecate third-party tracking cookies in its Chrome web browser as it works to address outstanding competition concerns from U.K. regulators over its Privacy Sandbox initiative. The tech giant said it's working closely with the U.K. Competition and Marke...

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...

LockBit Ransomware's Darknet Domains Seized in Global Law Enforcement Raid

Update: The U.K. National Crime Agency NCA has confirmed the takedown of LockBit infrastructure. Read here for more details. An international law enforcement operation has led to the seizure of multiple darknet domains operated by LockBit, one of the most prolific ransomware groups, marking the...

Russian COLDRIVER Hackers Expand Beyond Phishing with Custom Malware

The Russia-linked threat actor known as COLDRIVER has been observed evolving its tradecraft to go beyond credential harvesting to deliver its first-ever custom malware written in the Rust programming language. Google's Threat Analysis Group TAG, which shared details of the latest activity, said t...

Cyqur Launches A Game-Changing Data Encryption and Fragmentation Web Extension

By Owais Sultan The web extension, patented in the U.S. and U.K., is now available for pre-order in a limited, pre-sale event. This is a post from HackRead.com Read the original post: Cyqur Launches A Game-Changing Data Encryption and Fragmentation Web Extension...

Chameleon Android Banking Trojan Variant Bypasses Biometric Authentication

Cybersecurity researchers have discovered an updated version of an Android banking malware called Chameleon that has expanded its targeting to include users in the U.K. and Italy. "Representing a restructured and enhanced iteration of its predecessor, this evolved Chameleon variant excels in...

Vietnamese Hackers Target U.K., U.S., and India with DarkGate Malware

Attacks leveraging the DarkGate commodity malware targeting entities in the U.K., the U.S., and India have been linked to Vietnamese actors associated with the use of the infamous Ducktail stealer. "The overlap of tools and campaigns is very likely due to the effects of a cybercrime marketplace,"...

Apple Threatens to Pull iMessage and FaceTime from U.K. Amid Surveillance Demands

Apple has warned that it would rather stop offering iMessage and FaceTime services in the U.K. than bowing down to government pressure in response to new proposals that seek to expand digital surveillance powers available to state intelligence agencies. The development, first reported by BBC News...

Twitter Hacker Sentenced to 5 Years in Prison for $120,000 Crypto Scam

A U.K. citizen who took part in the massive July 2020 hack of Twitter has been sentenced to five years in prison in the U.S. Joseph James O'Connor aka PlugwalkJoe, 24, was awarded the sentence on Friday in the Southern District of New York, a little over a month after he pleaded guilty to the...

U.K. Fraudster Behind iSpoof Scam Receives 13-Year Jail Term for Cyber Crimes

A U.K. national responsible for his role as the administrator of the now-defunct iSpoof online phone number spoofing service has been sentenced to 13 years and 4 months in prison. Tejay Fletcher, 35, of Western Gateway, London, was awarded the sentence on May 18, 2023. He pleaded guilty last mont...

Hack-for-Hire Group Targets Travel and Financial Entities with New Janicab Malware Variant

Travel agencies have emerged as the target of a hack-for-hire group dubbed Evilnum as part of a broader campaign aimed at legal and financial investment institutions in the Middle East and Europe. The attacks, which took place during 2020 and 2021 and likely went as far back as 2015, involved a...

Vice Society Ransomware Attackers Targeted Dozens of Schools in 2022

The Vice Society cybercrime group has disproportionately targeted educational institutions, accounting for 33 victims in 2022 and surpassing other ransomware families like LockBit, BlackCat, BianLian, and Hive. Other prominent industry verticals targeted include healthcare, governments,...

U.S. Bans Chinese Telecom Equipment and Surveillance Cameras Over National Security Risk

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission FCC formally announced it will no longer authorize electronic equipment from Huawei, ZTE, Hytera, Hikvision, and Dahua, deeming them an "unacceptable" national security threat. All these Chinese telecom and video surveillance companies were previously...