Author Archives: Ryan Johnston

FBI arrests researcher that stopped ‘WannaCry’ for allegedly creating Kronos banking trojan

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A cybersecurity researcher known for helping stop the global spread of ‘WannaCry’ ransomware was arrested and charged by the FBI on Wednesday for “his role in creating and distributing the Kronos banking trojan,” according to a spokesperson from the U.S. Department of Justice. Marcus Hutchins, 23, is currently in custody at the Las Vegas FBI Field Office, according to sources close to him. Hutchins created and distributed the malware, according to the indictment, first obtained by CNN Money. The charges, brought by a grand jury in the Eastern District of Wisconsin, relate to alleged conduct between July 2014 and July 2015. According to the indictment, Hutchins allegedly created and updated the Kronos trojan while another unidentified person sold the malicious software online. Kronos was sold on the dark web marketplace AlphaBay and other cybercrime forums. Variants of Kronos have sold for as much as $7,000. The malware is still in use. When it […]

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CareFirst customers granted right to sue over 2014 cyberattack

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The second-most-powerful court in America has ruled that customers of Health Insurance provider CareFirst can sue the company for a breach that revealed personal identifiable information in 2014. A three-judge panel on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals found on Tuesday that CareFirst, which serves over a million people in the D.C, Maryland and Virginia area, placed its customers at an increased risk of identity theft in 2014 when personally identifiable information was stolen from the company by cybercriminals.  This decision reversed a district court decision from August 2016 that had dismissed a class action suit against CareFirst on the grounds that “merely having one’s personal information stolen in a data breach is insufficient to establish standing to sue the entity from whom the information was taken,” and declaring that the customers “have not made the required showing, the Court lacks subject matter jurisdiction over the case and will grant CareFirst’s […]

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Hacker claims to have stolen unreleased Game of Thrones episodes: report

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HBO may have become the latest Hollywood victim of cybercrime, according to a new report. On Monday, HBO chairman and CEO Richard Plepler sent an email out to HBO employees alerting and assuring them that the Time Warner-owned company is “working round the clock to protect our collective interests” with law enforcement and outside cybersecurity-focused organizations. Pepler’s notice comes after an email from an anonymous source was sent to multiple reporters on Sunday claiming “the greatest leak of cyber space era is happening.” The email continued, “What’s its name? Oh I forget to tell. Its HBO and Game of Thrones……!!!!!! You are lucky to be the first pioneers to witness and download the leak. Enjoy it & spread the words. Whoever spreads well, we will have an interview with him. HBO is falling.” It’s not uncommon for hackers to attempt to communicate with reporters in an effort to build up attention for […]

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FinCEN fines BTC-e $110 million for violating anti-money laundering laws

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One of the largest digital currency traders in the world has been assessed a $110 million dollar civil money penalty by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Northern District of California. BTC-e, or Canton Business Corporation (BTC-e), was the target of the Treasury’s first action against a foreign-located money services business for knowingly violating U.S. anti-money laundering (AML) laws, and was hit with a $110,003,314 penalty. The company was also complicit in their facilitation of digital transactions involving “ransomware, computer hacking, identity theft, tax refund fraud schemes, public corruption, and drug trafficking,” according to an official statement. BTC-e is an online, foreign-based money transmitter that takes fiat currency and virtually all popular cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Litecoin, Namecoin, Novacoin, Peercoin, Ethereum, and Dash. The company processed over $300,000 in bitcoin stolen from Mt. Gox, one of the world’s largest bitcoin exchanges, from 2011 to […]

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U.K. to establish new innovation center for cybersecurity technology development

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The United Kingdom will invest up to $19 million over the next three years in an innovation center aimed at building up the country’s cybersecurity personnel and technology. According to the U.K. government, the new center in London will provide opportunities for collaboration between large firms and startups in cybersecurity technology development. The center will also offer technical mentoring, business support and advice for companies advancing the U.K. cybersecurity sector, which is estimated to be worth about $29 billion annually. “As a government, we want to support entrepreneurs and innovators every step of the way from the initial first idea to setting up a company to developing the prototype and the product and becoming a leading player in cyber across the world,” U.K. Minister of Digital Matt Hancock said in a video accompanying the government’s statement. The center will be developed and designed by the winner of a competition sponsored by the […]

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Justice Department announces shut down of AlphaBay, Hansa dark markets

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The dark web’s largest network of illegally trafficked narcotics, weapons and other illicit materials has been taken down by an international team of law enforcement officials. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the shutdown of AlphaBay and Hansa in a Thursday press conference. AlphaBay abruptly went offline on July 5, while Hansa has been under the control of law enforcement since June 20. AlphaBay was primarily used by international criminals within what is known as the “Dark Web,”, websites only accessible to users who have masked their identity online through different tactics. AlphaBay and Hansa were among the prominent marketplaces on the dark web. “The dark net is not a place to hide,” Sessions said. The operation to take down the marketplaces involved collaboration from Thailand, The Netherlands, France, Germany, Lithuania, Canada, the UK and Europol, which officials touched on as a positive sign for the future of international cybercrime […]

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Senator calls for review of energy infrastructure cybersecurity policy

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The top Democrat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee is calling on two government agencies to review current policies that guide how America’s power grids and pipelines defend against cyberattacks. The request comes in the form of two letters demanding a review of U.S. energy infrastructure by the Government Accountability Office and Transportation Security Administration from Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., the ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. The GAO is the investigative office of Congress, and the TSA has oversight over pipelines in addition to its core transportation responsibilities. The requests come amid reports that Russian hackers have organized phishing email campaigns targeted at U.S. energy providers within the private sector, including at least one nuclear plant. “There have been multiple attacks on all of our grids,” said Ret. Brig. Gen. Stephen Cheney, who leads the nonpartisan American Security Project, during a committee hearing Tuesday. “And if we just put our heads in […]

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Trump Organization falls victim to supply chain hack

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The Trump organization has fallen victim to yet another leak of customer data tied to 14 of its properties around the world, including New York, Vancouver and Washington, D.C., among others. Through a data breach of Sabre Hospitality Solutions, the chain’s reservation management service provider, credit card thieves had access to up to 15 percent of daily reservation data at the 14 properties over a seven-month period from August 2016 to March 2017, according to separate letters posted on the Trump Organization and Sabre websites. An “unauthorized party was able to access payment card information for some hotel reservations … including cardholder name, payment card number, card expiration date, and potentially card security code,” the Trump Organization said in a statement. “In some cases, the unauthorized party also was able to access guest name, email, phone number, address, and other information.” Sabre Hospitality Solutions, who provide reservation services to multiple large […]

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Former federal CISO signs as president of Cyxtera federal division

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Brig. Gen. Greg Touhill, the first former federal chief information security officer, has signed on as president of the recently formed Cyxtera Federal Group (CFG), the federal contracting arm of secure infrastructure company Cyxtera Technologies. Touhill, who was not kept on as federal CISO once President Donald Trump assumed office, will oversee CFG’s work with federal agencies. Cyxtera Technologies launched CFG as a means to connect public sector agencies with technology already being used in the private sector. During his time in the White House, Touhill developed a five-step strategic plan for shoring up federal cybersecurity efforts. The CISO position he occupied was created by the Office of Management and Budget through the Cybersecurity National Action Plan, and left Touhill in charge of developing cyber practices across the federal government. Prior to his CISO nomination, he served as a deputy assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security. “The ways that […]

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Microsoft unveils specialized anti-ransomware tool for next update

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Microsoft announced a new feature dedicated to fending off ransomware via its Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 16232 on Wednesday. The newly revealed tool, known as Controlled Folder Access, is designed to assist the user in data protection from a variety of different computer viruses, especially ransomware, said Dona Sarkar, head of Microsoft’s Windows Insiders program. Ransomware is malware that is typically designed to lock up a computer’s files until a payment is sent to a specific source. In most cases, this payment comes in the form of the cryptocurrency bitcoin, and it is sent to a bitcoin wallet address. Current private sector estimates for total ransomware losses in 2016 alone exceeded $100 million. Once a user activates the Controlled Folder Access feature in the Windows Defender Security Center interface, an automated tool will begin monitoring files within certain protected folders. The user can manually whitelist trusted applications to edit these files autonomously. […]

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