Author Archives: Jeff Stone

Decline in early cyber investments continues alongside coronavirus concerns

Posted on by

Fewer face-to-face meetings between security startups and potential investors contributed to a steep decline in the number of venture capital deals since COVID-19 spread throughout the world. Investments in early stage cybersecurity companies fell by 37.7% during the second fiscal quarter of 2020, compared to the same time period in 2019, according to a financially-focused paper published Tuesday by venture firm DataTribe. It’s a downward trend that began at the end of last year and continued into the first months of 2020 as global economies reacted to the coronavirus pandemic. Early stage investments in the overall technology sector are down by roughly 45% over the first two quarters of this year, according to DataTribe co-founder Mike Janke. Other external factors — such as uncertainty about U.S. politics, shifting monetary policy and increasingly high investment levels — also are fueling the decline in investing. Venture deals typically close 90 days after […]

The post Decline in early cyber investments continues alongside coronavirus concerns appeared first on CyberScoop.

Continue reading Decline in early cyber investments continues alongside coronavirus concerns→

US accuses two Chinese hackers of targeting coronavirus vaccine research

Posted on by

Two men conspired with Chinese intelligence agencies to steal data from a range of U.S. targets in the medical and defense sectors, including an effort to beach firms working on a potential vaccine for the coronavirus, U.S. Department of Justice officials said Tuesday. The suspects, Li Xiaoyu and Dong Jiazhi, stole terabytes of information from computers around the world while based in China, according to an indictment unsealed Tuesday. The espionage campaign predates the COVID-19 pandemic, officials said. For more than a decade, the pair allegedly targeted health care firms, pharmaceutical companies, U.S. universities, maritime engineering firms, biotechnology innovation centers and a range of other targets. The suspects worked with the Chinese Ministry of State Security, said Assistant Attorney General John Demers, though they also hacked for personal profit. Attackers also targeted Chinese dissidents and human rights activists in the U.S., according to the indictment. The scheme began no later than September 2009 and continued […]

The post US accuses two Chinese hackers of targeting coronavirus vaccine research appeared first on CyberScoop.

Continue reading US accuses two Chinese hackers of targeting coronavirus vaccine research→

Accused Cypriot scammer threatened to publish stolen data if victims didn’t pay huge extortion fees

Posted on by

The government of Cyprus has extradited a 21-year-old accused cybercriminal to the United States after he was accused of breaching a number of U.S. companies as part of a years-long extortion effort. Joshua Epifaniou, a Cypriot national, arrived in New York City on Friday, more than two years after he was initially arrested in connection with a corporate hacking spree. Epifaniou is charged with stealing personal information from at least four sites, then demanding a payment in exchange for not publishing that data, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Epifaniou also hacked Ripoff Report, a business accountability site, and charged his clients between $3,000 and $5,000 to delete relevant complaints, prosecutors contend. Epifaniou also allegedly worked with a search engine optimization firm to research companies disparaged on Ripoff Report that would be most likely to pay for his services. The Justice Department announced Saturday that Epifaniou was the first […]

The post Accused Cypriot scammer threatened to publish stolen data if victims didn’t pay huge extortion fees appeared first on CyberScoop.

Continue reading Accused Cypriot scammer threatened to publish stolen data if victims didn’t pay huge extortion fees→

Around 130 Twitter accounts targeted in bitcoin scam hack, company says

Posted on by

Hackers who breached Twitter accounts belonging to Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, rapper Kanye West and other high profile users had targeted roughly 130 accounts, only taking over a small number, the company said. Attackers gained access to “a small subset” of the 130 accounts on which they initially focused, gaining control and sending tweets in their name, Twitter said in an update Thursday. By impersonating influential users like former president Barack Obama, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, the hackers urged millions of followers to send bitcoin to the same address as part of a scam that netted more than $110,000. While Twitter has since removed all of the tweets, the incident marked a major breach for the social media site, resulting in questions about its ability to safeguard accounts belonging to influential newsmakers. It’s also led to suggestions that the attackers would have had access to […]

The post Around 130 Twitter accounts targeted in bitcoin scam hack, company says appeared first on CyberScoop.

Continue reading Around 130 Twitter accounts targeted in bitcoin scam hack, company says→

Private equity firm to acquire Forescout for $1.4 billion after awkward start

Posted on by

A scheduled private equity acquisition of a major cybersecurity vendor is back on after a lawsuit and questions about the strength of its business during the coronavirus pandemic. San Jose, California-based Forescout announced Wednesday it would drop litigation against Advent International, a private equity firm, as part of a revised acquisition agreement. Advent will purchase outstanding Forescout shares for $29 per share, down from the $33 per share it initially said it would pay when the two companies announced a proposed agreement in February. The final deal values Forescout at $1.43 billion, down from the initial price of $1.9 billion. Forescout said its board of directors unanimously approved the deal, which is expected to close in the third fiscal quarter. The resolution comes after Boston-based Advent said in May it would hold up the acquisition over a “material adverse effect” that it had not anticipated when the two sides first […]

The post Private equity firm to acquire Forescout for $1.4 billion after awkward start appeared first on CyberScoop.

Continue reading Private equity firm to acquire Forescout for $1.4 billion after awkward start→

UK ‘almost certain’ that 2019 election was target of Russian disinformation operation

Posted on by

British officials expressed confidence that Russian operatives tried to interfere in the U.K.’s most recent general election by using social media to promote documents that were stolen and leaked from the government. Dominic Raab, the U.K.’s Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, said in a statement Thursday that “it is almost certain that Russian actors” aimed to intervene in the 2019 election in which Boris Johnson defeated Jeremy Corbyn in the race for prime minister. The campaign utilized “illicitly acquired” government documents about the U.K.-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, which were posted on Reddit and promoted elsewhere in an apparent attempt to influence potential voters’ opinions. “There is an ongoing criminal investigation and it would be inappropriate for us to say anything further at this point,” Raab said in a statement. “The Government reserves the right to respond with appropriate measures in the future.” The attribution is a reference to Operation Secondary Infektion, […]

The post UK ‘almost certain’ that 2019 election was target of Russian disinformation operation appeared first on CyberScoop.

Continue reading UK ‘almost certain’ that 2019 election was target of Russian disinformation operation→

After Assange indictment, DDoSecrets publishes old WikiLeaks chats, strategy sessions

Posted on by

Every anti-secrecy group operates in the long shadow of WikiLeaks. But that doesn’t mean WikiLeaks is off limits. Distributed Denial of Secrets, a semi-anonymous group of transparency activists, on Tuesday released the AssangeLeaks. It’s a collection of files that DDoSecrets says is meant to “illustrate how WikiLeaks operates behind closed doors” at a time when WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is facing criminal charges in the U.S. in connection with a series of disclosures that contained information stolen from the U.S. military and other sources. DDoSecrets on June 19 published an unrelated database called #BlueLeaks, a collection of files including police training materials, police safety guidelines, covert data collection techniques and protest containment strategies. Upon that release, scholars who have followed the past generation of information activism, in which groups like Anonymous and WikiLeaks publish hacked information, suggested that DDoSecrets had emerged as a leading group of digital demonstrators. Tuesday, DDoSecrets went […]

The post After Assange indictment, DDoSecrets publishes old WikiLeaks chats, strategy sessions appeared first on CyberScoop.

Continue reading After Assange indictment, DDoSecrets publishes old WikiLeaks chats, strategy sessions→

Russian hacker Yevgeniy Nikulin found guilty on most serious charges after years of legal wrangling

Posted on by

A U.S. jury has found an accused Russian hacker guilty on charges that he hacked LinkedIn and Formspring in a pair of 2012 data breaches in which he stole credentials belinging to more than 100 million Americans. Yevgeniy Nikulin was found guilty after just hours of deliberation, roughly eight years after he first infiltrated the U.S. social media companies in a successful attempt to steal data about American web users. He also was found guilty of trafficking Formspring data, and damaging a computer belonging to a Formspring employee in excess of $5,000. The jury found Nikulin not guilty on a charge that he committed the crime for financial gain. “Nikulin’s conviction is a direct threat to would-be hackers, wherever they may be,” U.S. Attorney David Anderson said in a statement. “Computer hacking is not just a crime, it is a direct threat to the security and privacy of Americans. American […]

The post Russian hacker Yevgeniy Nikulin found guilty on most serious charges after years of legal wrangling appeared first on CyberScoop.

Continue reading Russian hacker Yevgeniy Nikulin found guilty on most serious charges after years of legal wrangling→

Facebook boots Roger Stone for relying on fake accounts to amplify WikiLeaks

Posted on by

Facebook says it’s removing the personal account and the Instagram page belonging to Roger Stone, the longtime associate of  President Donald Trump recently convicted of seven felonies, amid ongoing scrutiny over the company’s failure to enforce its own rules. In an announcement Wednesday, Facebook said it will remove the accounts as part of a larger action against the Proud Boys, a far right organization that the Southern Poverty Law Center has designated as a hate group. The network was most active between 2015 and 2017, Facebook said, and promoted WikiLeaks’ disclosure of the emails hacked from the Democratic National Committee in 2016. In one case in June 2016, one of the accounts advertised a link to an Infowars article about the release of the Democratic National Committee’s plan to combat Donald Trump’s candidacy. The effort consisted of 54 Facebook accounts, 50 pages and four Instagram accounts, including a number of […]

The post Facebook boots Roger Stone for relying on fake accounts to amplify WikiLeaks appeared first on CyberScoop.

Continue reading Facebook boots Roger Stone for relying on fake accounts to amplify WikiLeaks→

Judge in trial of alleged LinkedIn hacker admits doubt in evidence

Posted on by

Just when U.S. attorneys may have thought they were free of obstacles in their case against an alleged Russian hacker, a new one has emerged: the judge presiding over the trial. Judge William Alsup openly criticized U.S. Attorney Michelle Kane on Tuesday, as the trial of Yevgeniy Nikulin resumed amid the coronavirus pandemic. Nikulin is charged with an array of hacking-related crimes in connection with 2012 breaches at LinkedIn, Formspring and Dropbox, in which he allegedly stole 117 million usernames and passwords, then tried to sell them to others. Through the trial, Alsup has questioned the government’s evidence against Nikulin. In March, after prosecutors questioned a witness about how Nikulin allegedly accessed stolen usernames and passwords to infiltrate the Formspring site, Alsup told prosecutors they risked boring the jury with “excruciating detail that seems irrelevant.” He went on to wonder whether the Department of Justice “had some magic witness” who […]

The post Judge in trial of alleged LinkedIn hacker admits doubt in evidence appeared first on CyberScoop.

Continue reading Judge in trial of alleged LinkedIn hacker admits doubt in evidence→