Massive Losses Define Epidemic of ‘Pig Butchering’

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Thu, 21 Jul 2022 16:35:28 +0000

U.S. state and federal investigators are being inundated with reports from people who’ve lost hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars in connection with a complex investment scam known as “pig butchering,” wherein people are lured by flirtatious strangers online into investing in cryptocurrency trading platforms that eventually seize any funds when victims try to cash out.

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Why 8kun Went Offline During the January 6 Hearings

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Fri, 15 Jul 2022 19:43:05 +0000

The latest Jan. 6 committee hearing on Tuesday examined the role of conspiracy theory communities like 8kun[.]top and TheDonald[.]win in helping to organize and galvanize supporters who responded to former President Trump’s invitation to “be wild” in Washington, D.C. on that chaotic day. At the same time the committee was hearing video testimony from 8kun founder Jim Watkins, 8kun and a slew of similar websites were suddenly yanked offline. Watkins suggested the outage was somehow related to the work of the committee, but the truth is KrebsOnSecurity was responsible and the timing was pure coincidence.

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Ransomware Group Debuts Searchable Victim Data

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Tue, 14 Jun 2022 19:53:12 +0000

Cybercrime groups that specialize in stealing corporate data and demanding a ransom not to publish it have tried countless approaches to shaming their victims into paying. The latest innovation in ratcheting up the heat comes from the ALPHV/BlackCat ransomware group, which has traditionally published any stolen victim data on the Dark Web. Today, however, the group began publishing individual victim websites on the public Internet, with the leaked data made available in an easily searchable form.

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Senators Urge FTC to Probe ID.me Over Selfie Data

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Wed, 18 May 2022 16:55:40 +0000

Some of more tech-savvy Democrats in the U.S. Senate are asking the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate identity-proofing company ID.me for “deceptive statements” the company and its founder allegedly made over how they handle facial recognition data collected on behalf of the Internal Revenue Service, which until recently required anyone seeking a new IRS account online to provide a live video selfie to ID.me.

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When Your Smart ID Card Reader Comes With Malware

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Wed, 18 May 2022 01:07:59 +0000

Millions of U.S. government employees and contractors have been issued a secure smart ID card that enables physical access to buildings and controlled spaces, and provides access to government computer networks and systems at the cardholder’s appropriate security level. But many government employees aren’t issued an approved card reader device that lets them use these cards at home or remotely, and so turn to low-cost readers they find online. What could go wrong? Here’s one example.

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DEA Investigating Breach of Law Enforcement Data Portal

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Thu, 12 May 2022 11:00:30 +0000

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) says it is investigating reports that hackers gained unauthorized access to an agency portal that taps into 16 different federal law enforcement databases. KrebsOnSecurity has learned the alleged compromise is tied to a cybercrime and online harassment community that routinely impersonates police and government officials to harvest personal information on their targets.

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Fighting Fake EDRs With ‘Credit Ratings’ for Police

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Wed, 27 Apr 2022 14:27:35 +0000

When KrebsOnSecurity last month explored how cybercriminals were using hacked email accounts at police departments worldwide to obtain warrantless Emergency Data Requests (EDRs) from social media and technology providers, many security experts called it a fundamentally unfixable problem. But don’t tell that to Matt Donahue, a former FBI agent who recently quit the agency to launch a startup that aims to help tech companies do a better job screening out phony law enforcement data requests — in part by assigning trustworthiness or “credit ratings” to law enforcement authorities worldwide.

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The Original APT: Advanced Persistent Teenagers

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Wed, 06 Apr 2022 17:55:38 +0000

Many organizations are already struggling to combat cybersecurity threats from ransomware purveyors and state-sponsored hacking groups, both of which tend to take days or weeks to pivot from an opportunistic malware infection to a full blown data breach. But few organizations have a playbook for responding to the kinds of virtual “smash and grab” attacks we’ve seen recently from LAPSUS$, a juvenile data extortion group whose short-lived, low-tech and remarkably effective tactics are putting some of the world’s biggest corporations on edge.

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Hackers Gaining Power of Subpoena Via Fake “Emergency Data Requests”

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Tue, 29 Mar 2022 14:07:27 +0000

There is a terrifying and highly effective “method” that criminal hackers are now using to harvest sensitive customer data from Internet service providers, phone companies and social media firms. It involves compromising email accounts and websites tied to police departments and government agencies, and then sending unauthorized demands for subscriber data while claiming the information being requested can’t wait for a court order because it relates to an urgent matter of life and death.

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Pro-Ukraine ‘Protestware’ Pushes Antiwar Ads, Geo-Targeted Malware

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Thu, 17 Mar 2022 22:33:21 +0000

Researchers are tracking a number of open-source “protestware” projects on GitHub that have recently altered their code to display “Stand with Ukraine” messages for users, or basic facts about the carnage in Ukraine. The group also is tracking several code packages that were recently modified to erase files on computers that appear to be coming from Russian or Belarusian Internet addresses.

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