U.S. Treasury Imposes Sanctions on Alleged ISIS Cybersecurity Experts

By Waqas
The US Treasury Department announced sanctions against two Egyptian nationals, Mu’min Al-Mawji Mahmud Salim and Sarah Jamal Muhammad Al-Sayyid, for running the Electronic Horizons Foundation (EHF), a platform allegedly providing cyber tools an… Continue reading U.S. Treasury Imposes Sanctions on Alleged ISIS Cybersecurity Experts

Exposing a Currently Active List of Cyber Jihad Themed Twitter Accounts – An OSINT Analysis

Dear blog readers,This is the second list of cyber jihad themed Twitter accounts that I wanted to share with everyone which I obtained using a recent Technical Collection campaign where I intend to assist U.S Law Enforcement and the U.S Intelligence Co… Continue reading Exposing a Currently Active List of Cyber Jihad Themed Twitter Accounts – An OSINT Analysis

FBI Arrests Alleged Owner of Deer.io, a Top Broker of Stolen Accounts

FBI officials last week arrested a Russian computer security researcher on suspicion of operating deer.io, a vast marketplace for buying and selling stolen account credentials for thousands of popular online services and stores.

Kirill V. Firsov was arrested Mar. 7 after arriving at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport, according to court documents unsealed Monday. Prosecutors with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California allege Firsov was the administrator of deer.io, an online platform that hosted more than 24,000 shops for selling stolen and/or hacked usernames and passwords for a variety of top online destinations. Continue reading FBI Arrests Alleged Owner of Deer.io, a Top Broker of Stolen Accounts

Top Secret documents show Cyber Command’s growing pains in its mission against ISIS

U.S. government documents made public Tuesday show that while a U.S. Cyber Command operation that disrupted ISIS computer networks was largely successful, there were significant shortcomings, including operators having trouble collecting data, interagency deconfliction issues, difficulty vetting targets, and, in at least one case, a close call with the operation being discovered by the adversary. The documents, shared with CyberScoop via George Washington University’s National Security Archive, show how the command has faced significant internal hurdles as Pentagon leadership has pushed Cyber Command to grow into a well-respected force since its creation in 2009. They include briefings on how Cyber Command measured the effectiveness of Operation Glowing Symphony, a mission carried out in 2016 that was meant to isolate and destroy ISIS networks used to spread the terrorist group’s propaganda. The documents show the gaps needed for the U.S. government to scale and expand its offensive cyber missions beyond ISIS to […]

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How the Marine Corps thinks about beating adversaries in cyberspace

There are a whole host of products on the market purporting to be the best way to run defense against nation-state adversaries’ email spearphishing attempts — but there’s one part of defending against spearphishing in particular the U.S. Marine Corps Forces Cyberspace Command’s Chief Technology Officer endorses: context. For Renata Spinks, the goal is not to just make sure employees understand they should avoid clicking on what appear to be malicious links, but to make sure they understand the bigger picture of what they’re protecting, she said Tuesday. “Instead of just [test] phishing attempts, teach your employees why phishing attempts are so important and make it relatable,” Spinks said at the Fortinet Security Summit, produced by FedScoop and StateScoop. “Data is your most critical commodity, but people [are] the best asset you can have.” Spearphishing emails often seek to pilfer off passwords and credentials from victims who click on links or attachments that purport […]

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20-year-old Chicago man charged with writing code to spread ISIS propaganda

U.S. authorities have arrested a 20-year-old Chicago man for allegedly writing computer code to help the Islamic State terrorist group spread propaganda. Thomas Osadzinski, a student at DePaul University, is accused of writing a computer script to make ISIS propaganda more accessible to social media users. U.S. prosecutors charged Osadzinski with one count of attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist group. A criminal complaint alleges Osadzinski shared the script and instructions on using it earlier this year with people he thought were ISIS supporters. Osadizinski told undercover FBI agents that he was in the process of creating a custom Gentoo Linux system that was solely to be used by ISIS members, according to the complaint. Osadzinski made a brief appearance in court Tuesday and was ordered to be held without bond. His detention hearing is set for Friday. Steve Greenberg, Osadzinski’s attorney, denied that his client had broken any laws. “This is […]

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U.S. cyber-offensive against ISIS continues, and eyes are now on Afghanistan, general says

As loyalties among Afghanistan’s Islamic extremists continue to shift, the U.S. military may be poised to rely more heavily on offensive cyber capabilities to target one group in particular — the dispersed but still active membership of ISIS, according to one military cyber commander. Joint Task Force ARES, the outfit charged with running joint and coalition cyber-operations against ISIS, is working to uncover information about how the terrorist group continues to operate in Afghanistan, the deputy commander said Monday. “JTF-ARES is in or around where ISIS is operating,” Brig. Gen. Len Anderson said during a question and answer at an Atlantic Council event Monday. “We are trying to illuminate the network, trying to figure out how they’re communicating, what they’re using, where the money might be flowing, is there money.” Although the Islamic State’s physical caliphate has been crushed in Iraq and Syria, reporting from the Defense Intelligence Agency this year says the group still has a […]

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