Category Archives: Department of Justice

DOJ arrests three Ukrainians allegedly tied to FIN7 hacking gang

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Three Ukrainians accused of hacking vast quantities of financial data from U.S. businesses have been indicted, the Department of Justice announced on Wednesday. The individuals arrested are Dmytro Fedorov, 44, Fedir Hladyr, 33, and Andrii Kopakov, 30. The trio are allegedly part of a hacking group called “FIN7” by the government, but more widely known as Carbanak, a group that allegedly stole billions from worldwide banks and tens of millions of dollars from U.S. companies since the group’s inception in 2014. Carbanak boasts dozens of members and a complex organization which, prosecutors say, the three arrested men helped manage and control. “The three Ukrainian nationals indicted today allegedly were part of a prolific hacking group that targeted American companies and citizens by stealing valuable consumer data, including personal credit card information, that they then sold on the Darknet,” said Assistant Attorney General Brian Benczkowski. The three men are charged with 26 felony counts alleging […]

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DOJ drops massive report on its efforts to protect U.S. from cyberattacks

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The Justice Department has laid out its strategy to fight malicious foreign influence and cyberattacks against U.S. elections. The Department of Justice’s internal “Cyber-Digital Task Force” released a 156-page report Thursday night detailing its work regarding election interference, attacks against critical infrastructure, industry and government as well as the spread of propaganda on the internet. Just prior to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein announcing the new report, it was reported that the three top cyber officials at the FBI are leaving their posts, according to the Wall Street Journal. It’s a significant blow at a time when the FBI is playing a central role in the Justice Department’s cyber strategy. “The Russian effort to influence the 2016 presidential election is just one tree in a growing forest,” Rosenstein said in prepared remarks. “Russian intelligence officers did not stumble onto the ideas of hacking American computers and posting misleading messages because they had a free […]

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Twitter shutters accounts linked to US election hacking

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The move comes after special counsel Robert Mueller’s indictment of 12 Russians believed to have used the accounts as fronts in US election hacking. Continue reading Twitter shutters accounts linked to US election hacking→

DOJ regrets the error on OPM-linked fraud case

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The Department of Justice has apologized for confusion over its announcement last month that a fraudster used information stolen in the infamous 2015 Office of Personnel Management breach — an episode that confounded lawmakers and ran counter to publicly available information on the breach. The confusion began after DOJ announced on June 18 that a Maryland woman had pleaded guilty to using stolen OPM data to get car and personal loans. The public assumption had been – and still is – that Chinese hackers had stolen the data for espionage purposes. But DOJ now says that it hasn’t yet determined whether the woman and her accomplice got the data from the OPM breach or somewhere else. After an internal review, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia appended a statement to its press release saying that “numerous victims” of the fraud self-identified as victims of the OPM breach. “The government […]

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DOJ Cyber Task Force expected to release first-ever report in late July

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The Department of Justice’s internal “Cyber-Digital Task Force,” created by Attorney General Jeff Sessions in February, will release its first-ever public report later this month at the Aspen Institute’s annual Security Forum, a department spokesperson told CyberScoop. The report is expected to detail a series of security recommendations that the government should consider to protect future U.S. elections from a myriad of different threats, including foreign hacking attempts. A statement by the DOJ previously explained that the Task Force will “prioritize its study of efforts to interfere with our elections; efforts to interfere with our critical infrastructure; the use of the Internet to spread violent ideologies and to recruit followers; the mass theft of corporate, governmental, and private information; the use of technology to avoid or frustrate law enforcement; and the mass exploitation of computers and other digital devices to attack American citizens and businesses.” When Sessions launched the group earlier this year, […]

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Fake Bitcoin exchange traps drug dealers on the dark web

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As around 35 alleged drug vendors have found out to their cost, you never know who you’ll meet on the dark web.

In the case of the customers of one money laundering operation, it turned out to be agents working for the US Immigration and Customs Enf… Continue reading Fake Bitcoin exchange traps drug dealers on the dark web→

Marcus Hutchins faces new charges of developing malware and lying to FBI

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The British man charged in the U.S. with developing the “Kronos” banking malware has been indicted under a new set of criminal accusations that say he developed and sold the “UPAS Kit” spybot virus. The new indictment also charges the man, Marcus Hutchins, with lying to the FBI about knowing his code was a part of Kronos. Hutchins, who has repeatedly denied any illegal activity and is now living in California on bail, responded quickly on Twitter, saying “these [expletive]nuggets just won’t give up.” He quickly deleted that tweet. Hutchins’ defense team has been continuously battling federal prosecutors over evidence used in the case. While the court continues to consider the defense’s arguments about the original charges, prosecutors dropped a new indictment this week. The charges of lying come from an exchange that Hutchins’ defense team is disputing and hoping to see dismissed. It was an Aug. 2, 2017, discussion — while Hutchins was in federal custody — […]

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