Category Archives: Indictment

FBI hopes a more aggressive cyber strategy will disrupt foreign hackers

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Last week saw a flurry of U.S. indictments of alleged Chinese and Iranian hackers as part of a multi-agency crackdown on foreign intelligence services. The Department of Treasury issued sanctions, the Department of Homeland Security advised companies on how to fend off hackers and U.S. intelligence agencies likely kept a close eye on possible reactions from Beijing and Tehran. At the center of the coordinated crackdowns, though, were the FBI agents who tracked the computer infrastructure used by the suspects. The series of events was one of the first examples of the FBI’s new cybersecurity strategy in action. The goal of the effort, which officials revealed this month, is simple: impose harsher consequences on America’s digital adversaries by working more closely with intelligence agencies and data-rich private companies. For the FBI, that could mean trying to put a suspect in handcuffs, burning their identity through an indictment or opting to provide targeting […]

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US charges alleged Iranian hackers with stealing aerospace, satellite data

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The Department of Justice on Thursday unsealed an indictment charging three Iranian men in connection with a scheme to steal critical data from U.S. aerospace and satellite companies — the latest in a string of U.S. charges against suspected Iranian hackers. U.S. prosecutors accused the three men of “engaging in a coordinated campaign of identity theft and hacking” on behalf of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The scheme allegedly spanned more than three years, and a targeted list of over 1,8000 online accounts comprising aerospace and satellite companies and government organizations, from the U.S. to the United Kingdom to Israel. The charges followed sanctions from the U.S. Treasury Department on Thursday against dozens of Iranians, including alleged members of hacking group known as APT39, for allegedly targeting Iranian dissidents and journalists. It’s the latest update in an aggressive crackdown on Iranian hacking this week that has been a coordinated effort across multiple U.S. […]

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US indicts two hackers for retaliating for Soleimani’s killing; more Iran-related charges expected soon

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U.S. prosecutors have indicted two hackers, including an Iranian national, for allegedly defacing a slew of websites in retaliation for the U.S. killing of a top Iranian general in January. The indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Massachusetts accuses Behzad Mohammadzadeh, an Iranian thought to be 19, and Marwan Abusrour, a 25-year-old Palestinian, of attacking U.S. websites and planting messages such as “Down with America.” Mohammadzadeh is a “self-described spammer” who allegedly traffics in stolen credit cards, the Department of Justice said. Such defacement attacks do not require much skill, and are not the retaliatory cyberattacks that officials feared after the U.S. military killed Qassem Soleimani, Iran’s top general. The FBI had warned companies that Iranian hackers had stepped up their reconnaissance in the immediate aftermath of the Soleimani killing. The indictment unsealed Tuesday is one of multiple indictments that U.S. prosecutors are expected to announce this week related to Iranian hacking, according to two people familiar with the matter. It […]

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Notorious Hacker ‘Fxmsp’ Outed After Widespread Access-Dealing

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The Kazakh native made headlines last year for hacking McAfee, Symantec and Trend Micro; but the Feds say he’s also behind a widespread backdoor operation spanning six continents. Continue reading Notorious Hacker ‘Fxmsp’ Outed After Widespread Access-Dealing→

Julian Assange accused of conspiring with Anonymous and LulzSec in superseding US indictment

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The U.S. government has broadened its criminal case against Julian Assange in an indictment unsealed Wednesday that accuses the WikiLeaks founder of collaborating with hackers affiliated with the Anonymous and LulzSec hacking groups
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Michigan man accused in 2014 hack of medical center, sale of data on 65,000 people

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Federal agents have arrested a 29-year-old Michigan man for allegedly hacking into a medical center in 2014, stealing data on more than 65,000 people and then selling it on the dark web, the Department of Justice announced Thursday. A 43-count indictment charges Justin Sean Johnson with wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and conspiracy for the hack of a database at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pennsylvania’s largest health care system. Johnson’s sale of medical center employees’ Social Security numbers and addresses led other alleged criminals to claim hundreds of thousands of dollars in fake IRS tax refunds, prosecutors said. “The health care sector has become an attractive target of cyber criminals looking to update personal information for use in fraud,” Timothy Burke, special agent in charge for the U.S. Secret Service in Pittsburgh, said in a statement. The indictment also alleges that from 2014 to 2017 Johnson sold other personally identifiable information […]

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Ex-Inspector General indicted for stealing data on 250k govt colleagues

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Crime doesn’t pay, even if you have the audacity to try to sell your employer its own, free software and personal data on your own colleagues. Continue reading Ex-Inspector General indicted for stealing data on 250k govt colleagues→

Ex-DHS inspector general indicted for allegedly stealing government software

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Federal prosecutors on Friday announced charges against the former acting inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security for allegedly stealing proprietary software from the watchdog and trying to profit from it. Charles K. Edwards, who served as acting DHS inspector general from 2011 to 2013, and his former associate Murali Yamazula Venkata, are accused of aggravated identity theft, wire fraud, and conspiring to steal government property to defraud the United States. The alleged scheme took place from 2014 to 2017, after Edwards had already left DHS’s inspector general (IG) office. But the head-turning indictment accuses Edwards of coordinating with Venkata, who still worked at the IG’s office, to steal the IG’s software. Edwards and Venkata also allegedly took “sensitive government databases” containing the personal identifiably information of DHS and U.S. Postal Service employees. Edwards then allegedly used the stolen code to improve software made by his company, Delta Business Solutions, […]

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U.S. charges Huawei with conspiracy to steal trade secrets, racketeering

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Chinese telecommunication giant Huawei and a number of its subsidiaries were charged with conspiracy to steal trade secrets and racketeering in a federal indictment made public Thursday. The charges, filed by prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York, build on a prior indictment, announced a year ago, alleging that the Shenzhen-based company had engaged in a pattern of criminal behavior that included the theft of trade secrets from U.S. firms including T-Mobile. The superseding indictment unsealed Thursday comes amid a years-long argument from U.S. officials that Huawei, as a Chinese company, presents a national security threat. Now, Huawei, the world’s largest manufacturer of telecommunication equipment, also is accused of stealing source code and manuals from other vendors’ internet routers, robot-testing technology, and antenna technology, then using its subsidiaries to reinvest money made from this alleged racketeering activity. The charges also accuse the company of flouting U.S. sanctions by operating subsidiaries in North Korea and Iran. The government in Tehran […]

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Feds are lining up more indictments related to Chinese cyber-activity, officials say

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U.S. prosecutors are preparing to issue new charges against Chinese nationals related to alleged hacking and insider threats at U.S. organizations, senior Department of Justice officials said Thursday. “Chinese theft by hacking has been prominent,” Attorney General William Barr said in a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. “Those actions by China are continuing, and you should expect more indictments and prosecutions in the future.” It is unclear when prosecutors will issue the next indictment related to Chinese activity. Asked when that would happen, John Demers, the assistant attorney general for national security, would only say “soon.” “I think you’ll see more cyber-related indictments and you’ll see more of the insider indictments that, more recently, have actually … dominated the number of indictments we’ve brought,” Demers told reporters, referring to cases in which an employee of a U.S. company is coopted into stealing sensitive data. The Chinese […]

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