Category Archives: Department of Justice

DOJ examines controversial new ‘hack back’ bill

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Washington is waiting and watching for the Department of Justice to weigh in on the newly introduced Active Cyber Defence Certainty (ACDC) Act, a controversial proposal to legalize companies’ ability to “hack back” after being targeted in cyberattacks. Speaking at CyberTalks in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, DOJ special counsel Leonard Bailey said the department is still looking at the House bill, and he commended co-sponsors Tom Graves, R-Ga. and Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz. for taking a years-long discussion “and actually producing legislative text.” “We look forward to thinking about that and figuring out what that balance looks like,” Bailey said. The DOJ’s position on ACDC is crucial because the bill would amend the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) as well as requiring law enforcement oversight and reports to the government by “entities that use active-defense techniques,” Graves explained last week when the newest version of the bill was introduced. NSA Director Adm. Mike Rogers warned Congress in May […]

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Russian cybercrime suspect’s extradition to be decided by Greek government

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The battle between the United States and Russia over Russian cybercrime suspect Alexander Vinnik’s extradition from Greece was complicated on Wednesday when a Greek court ruled in favor of the Russian effort to extradite Vinnik over the U.S. effort. Russian media outlet RIA Novosti reports that Vinnik will face charges of fraud in Russia on the scale of around $11,000. This week’s ruling follows another ruling by a separate panel of Greek judges that agreed to send Vinnik to the U.S., which seeks to extradite him on charges that he ran the cryptocurrency exchange BTC-e and engaged in money laundering to the tune of $4 billion. Vinnik’s fate will fall to Greece’s Supreme Court where a hearing will take place within the next three weeks. Greece’s justice minister Nikos Paraskevopoulos has the final say in where Vinnik ends up. Vinnik, 37, pleaded not guilty all charges. He has repeatedly fought for extradition to Russia where he faces far less serious […]

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U.S., Russia fighting to extradite suspected Russian cybercriminal who ran $4 billion bitcoin exchange

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The case against the Russian cybercrime suspect Alexander Vinnik opened in a Greek courtroom on Friday with two world powers sparring over who will extradite the Russian citizen. Vinnik, 37, pleaded not guilty to charges from the United States that he ran the cryptocurrency exchange BTC-e and engaged in money laundering at the scale of $4 billion. His lawyer is fighting extradition to California where federal charges were filed against him. He was arrested on those charges while he vacationed in Greece over the summer. A decision on the U.S. request is set to be made by Oct. 4. Vinnik, a Russian national, also faces charges in Russia in a separate fraud case that will reach a Greek court next week. Vinnik’s lawyer said he won’t fight that extradition request, indicating a preference of Moscow over the United States. The U.S. Justice Department describes Vinnik as the man behind BTC-e, […]

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Jeff Sessions made investors want to throw money at dark net intelligence firms

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When U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions stepped in front of cameras and told the world about the international law enforcement operation that resulted in the bust of at least two multimillion-dollar dark net markets, investors’ ears perked up. OWL Cybersecurity is a two-year old Denver-based dark net intelligence firm currently closing a funding round. In the one week since Sessions and other federal law enforcement officials announced the AlphaBay dark net bust, OWL vice president Andrew Lewman says he has received a mountain of phone calls from potential investors. “Regardless of your politics, when Jeff Sessions stands up and says ‘the dark net is a concern, that gets a lot of attention,” Lewman said. “In the past two weeks, we’ve had all these people we’ve talked to in the past saying they didn’t understand it, didn’t know what it was come at us and say, ‘About that investment, are you still taking offers?’” […]

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Iranian hackers heisted U.S. defense software for clients blocked by sanctions, indictment says

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A group of Iranian hackers broke into multiple U.S. defense contractors between 2007 and 2013 in order to steal intellectual property, software and other proprietary information that they then sold to foreign enterprises and governments, including the Iranian government, according to a newly unsealed indictment by the Department of Justice. The indictment, published Monday, effectively shows how the Iranian government may have been able to circumvent previous export sanctions tied to the sale and purchase of U.S. defense technology by employing a group of contracted freelance hackers who would steal software products through a network of compromised computers based in the United States. The hackers allegedly stole software from Vermont-based engineering consulting and software design company Arrow Tech Associates and sold it to Iranian clients. The product, PRODAS, is a software platform designed for aerodynamics analysis and design for projectiles. It sells for $40,000 to $800,000, and customers receive a dongle to download a software license from […]

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News in brief: Uber faces criminal probe; Cassini dives through Saturn’s rings; police fined for data breach

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Your daily round-up of some of the other stories in the news Continue reading News in brief: Uber faces criminal probe; Cassini dives through Saturn’s rings; police fined for data breach→

DOJ moves to topple Kelihos, one of the world’s largest botnets

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The Department of Justice announced Monday an effort to take down a global network of over 100,000 enslaved computers under the control of Peter Yuryevich Levashov. Levashov, also known as Peter Severa, was known as one of the world’s most prolific and long-reigning kings of spam. A citizen of Russia, he was arrested in Spain earlier this week. The network, known as the Kelihos botnet, has been in operation since 2010, targeting Microsoft Windows machines for infection.  The results was millions of spam emails, pump-and-dump schemes to illegally profit illegally off stocks, mass password theft and the spreading of malware, according to the DOJ. Roughly five to ten percent of Kelihos victims reside in the United States, according to the Justice Department. “The ability of botnets like Kelihos to be weaponized quickly for vast and varied types of harms is a dangerous and deep threat to all Americans, driving at the core of how we communicate, […]

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FSB Officers, Criminal Hackers Indicted in Yahoo Breach

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The Department of Justice indicted four individuals, including two Russian FSB officers, for their roles in the Yahoo breach. Continue reading FSB Officers, Criminal Hackers Indicted in Yahoo Breach→