Category Archives: Indictment

Chinese national indicted for 2015 Anthem breach

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A federal grand jury has indicted a Chinese national for being part of an “extremely sophisticated hacking group” that breached U.S. businesses, including the seminal 2015 hack of health insurer Anthem that exposed personal information on nearly 79 million people. The indictment unsealed Thursday alleges that 32-year-old Fujie Wang breached Anthem and three other unnamed U.S. businesses, scoping out personally identifiable information (PII) and confidential business data. Another person identified only as John Doe was also indicted. The two defendants were charged with conspiracy to commit fraud and “related activity in relation to computers and identity theft,” along with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and “two substantive counts of intentional damage to a protected computer,” the Department of Justice announced. The Anthem breach compromised sensitive personal data, including Social Security numbers, and prompted a record $16 million settlement with the U.S. government over potential Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act […]

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SamSam outbreak led to FBI restructuring, top official says

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The notorious SamSam ransomware — which extracted $6 million in payments from more than 200 victim organizations — forced the FBI to adjust its model for handling cyberattack investigations, a senior bureau official said Thursday. Nearly all 56 of the FBI’s field offices responded to SamSam incidents — an inefficient way of keeping up with the malware, said Tonya Ugoretz, deputy assistant director of the FBI’s Cyber Division. And so, in an example of how the FBI is trying to adapt to an era of unceasing cyberthreats to U.S. businesses, the bureau changed its investigative structure. “We developed a model whereby when there is a certain type of malicious strain or certain type of threat actor, we have one office that’s in charge, we have other offices running supporting investigations that are feeding up into that,” Ugoretz said at the Cybersecurity Leadership Forum presented by Forcepoint and produced by CyberScoop and […]

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Two hackers charged for DDoS attacks, threats to LAX

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Two men were charged with conducting cyberattacks on various organizations and threatening physical violence on Southern California school districts and the Los Angeles International Airport, among other targets, according to an indictment that was unsealed by U.S. prosecutors on Tuesday. The men, an American and a Briton, sent false reports of violent attacks on schools via email and carried out distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks on websites, according to the indictment announced by the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Central District of California. The defendants –a 19-year-old British national named George Duke-Cohan and a 20-year-old North Carolina man named Timothy Dalton Vaughn – are accused of being part of a hacking collective known as Apophis Squad. Duke-Cohan is already serving a prison sentence in Britain for threatening violence on an airliner, U.S. officials said. Vaughn’s online moniker, “WantedbyFeds,” turned prophetic Tuesday morning when he was arrested by U.S. authorities. Their alleged criminal […]

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Huawei Indicted, China Claims Foul

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There’s no doubt Huawei is in crisis management mode, as the company continues to get pummeled by the United States and others. In January, we have seen two of Huawei’s subsidiaries charged with industrial espionage against U.S.-based T-Mobile and thr… Continue reading Huawei Indicted, China Claims Foul→

Two charged with hacking company filings out of SEC’s EDGAR system

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They’re charged with phishing and inflicting malware to get into the EDGAR filing system, stealing thousands of filings, and selling access. Continue reading Two charged with hacking company filings out of SEC’s EDGAR system→

U.S. indicts China-linked group over wide-ranging hacking operations

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The Justice Department on Thursday unsealed charges against two hackers linked with China’s civilian intelligence agency for a lengthy campaign to break into global technology service providers in efforts to steal intellectual property. The campaign targeted more than 45 companies in a dozen countries, including sectors ranging from aviation to pharmaceuticals, along with U.S. Navy, a Department of Energy laboratory, and NASA, prosecutors alleged. The defendants also stole the Social Security numbers and other personal information of over 100,000 Navy personnel, U.S. officials said. “The list of victim companies reads like a who’s who of the global economy,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said while announcing the charges. Other companies targeted included those in manufacturing, oil and gas, and maritime technology, U.S officials said. The pair of hackers – Zhu Hua and Zhang Shilong – are accused of being part of a Chinese hacking group known as APT10 or Cloudhopper. Industry […]

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U.S. indicts two over SamSam ransomware attacks that hit Atlanta, other cities

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The Department of Justice unsealed indictments Wednesday against two Iranian men for conducting ransomware attacks against more than 200 organizations inside the United States, including municipalities, government agencies and hospitals. Prosecutors say that Faramarz Shahi Savandi, 34, and Mohammad Mehdi Shah Mansouri, 27, used SamSam ransomware to lock the victims’ systems and demand bitcoin in order to decrypt their data. Savandi and Masouri racked up more than $6 million in ransom payments and caused more than $30 million in damages, according to the indictment issued by a grand jury in New Jersey. SamSam’s damage has been a public ordeal. The indictment includes notable cases like the attacks on the city of Atlanta, the city of Newark, the Port of San Diego, the Colorado Department of Transportation, and others. Six of the victims were health care-related organizations, prosecutors said. “Many of the victims were public agencies with missions that involve saving lives and performing other critical […]

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