Collaborate Disseminate
World Leaks is a cyber extortion operation that steals sensitive data from organizations and threatens to leak it via the dark web if a ransom is not paid.
Read more in my article on the Fortra blog. Continue reading World Leaks data extortion: What you need to know
A disgruntled data analyst decides that the best response to losing his contract is to steal the entire company payroll database and demand $2.5 million in Bitcoin – signing his extortion emails from a company called “Loot.”
Meanwhile, two people driv… Continue reading Smashing Security podcast #460: Never knock on the door of a nuclear submarine base and ask for a selfie
A man has pleaded guilty to defrauding online music streaming platforms out of more than US $8 million, after creating hundreds of thousands of songs with AI, and then using bots to play them billions of times.
Read more in my article on the Hot for S… Continue reading How one man used 10,000 bots to steal $8,000,000 from music artists
Pedestrians crossing a street in Denver, Colorado, got rather more than they bargained for last weekend, when the audio signals at two crosswalks began broadcasting a political message alongside their usual walking instructions.
Read more in my articl… Continue reading Denver’s crosswalks hacked to broadcast anti-Trump messages
A ransomware gang that claims to be a group of “investigative journalists”? Meet LeakNet – the group using fake CAPTCHA pages to trick employees into hacking themselves.
Read more in my article on the Fortra blog. Continue reading LeakNet ransomware: what you need to know
In episode 459 of Smashing Security, we dive into a chillingly clever account takeover attempt targeting WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg – involving MFA fatigue, real Apple alerts, a convincing support call, and a phishing page that oh-so-nearly wo… Continue reading Smashing Security podcast #459: This clever scam nearly hijacked a tech CEO’s Apple ID
Drivers in the Russian city of Perm have been enjoying an unexpected bonus this week: free parking.
Not because the city council suddenly decided to embrace generosity – but rather because hackers succeeded in knocking the city’s payment system offlin… Continue reading Free parking in Russia after Distributed Denial-of-Service attack knocks city’s parking system offline
If you’re in the middle of applying for a planning or zoning permit, there is some unwelcome news: cyber-criminals have found a way to exploit the bureaucratic tedium of the process against you.
Read more in my article on the Fortra blog. Continue reading Fraudsters are using public planning records to target permit applicants
Signal, the encrypted messaging app trusted by security-savvy users around the world, has confirmed that hackers have managed to takeover accounts – with government officials and journalists among those being targeted.
Read more in my article on the H… Continue reading Your Signal account is safe – unless you fall for this trick
A Wikipedia security engineer accidentally wakes a dormant JavaScript worm that hadn’t stirred since 2024 – and within minutes, giant woodpecker images are plastered across the internet’s favourite encyclopaedia.
Meanwhile, a crypto contractor hired t… Continue reading Smashing Security podcast #458: How not to steal $46 million from the US government