Category Archives: Ne’er-Do-Well News

U.S. Charges Russian Man as Boss of LockBit Ransomware Group

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The United States joined the United Kingdom and Australia today in sanctioning 31-year-old Russian national Dmitry Yuryevich Khoroshev as the alleged leader of the infamous ransomware group LockBit. The U.S. Department of Justice also indicted Khoroshev as the gang’s leader “LockbitSupp,” and charged him with using Lockbit to attack more than 2,000 victims and extort at least $100 million in ransomware payments. Continue reading U.S. Charges Russian Man as Boss of LockBit Ransomware Group→

Man Who Mass-Extorted Psychotherapy Patients Gets Six Years

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A 26-year-old Finnish man was sentenced to more than six years in prison today after being convicted of hacking into an online psychotherapy clinic, leaking tens of thousands of patient therapy records, and attempting to extort the clinic and patients. Continue reading Man Who Mass-Extorted Psychotherapy Patients Gets Six Years→

FCC Fines Major U.S. Wireless Carriers for Selling Customer Location Data

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The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) today levied fines totaling nearly $200 million against the four major carriers — including AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon — for illegally sharing access to customers’ location information without consent. Continue reading FCC Fines Major U.S. Wireless Carriers for Selling Customer Location Data→

Russian FSB Counterintelligence Chief Gets 9 Years in Cybercrime Bribery Scheme

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The head of counterintelligence for a division of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) was sentenced last week to nine years in a penal colony for accepting a USD $1.7 million bribe to ignore the activities of a prolific Russian cybercrime group that hacked thousands of e-commerce websites. The protection scheme was exposed in 2022 when Russian authorities arrested six members of the group, which sold millions of stolen payment cards at flashy online shops like Trump’s Dumps. Continue reading Russian FSB Counterintelligence Chief Gets 9 Years in Cybercrime Bribery Scheme→

Who Stole 3.6M Tax Records from South Carolina?

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For nearly a dozen years, residents of South Carolina have been kept in the dark by state and federal investigators over who was responsible for hacking into the state’s revenue department in 2012 and stealing tax and bank account information for 3.6 million people. The answer may no longer be a mystery: KrebsOnSecurity found compelling clues suggesting the intrusion was carried out by the same Russian hacking crew that stole of millions of payment card records from big box retailers like Home Depot and Target in the years that followed. Continue reading Who Stole 3.6M Tax Records from South Carolina?→

‘The Manipulaters’ Improve Phishing, Still Fail at Opsec

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Roughly nine years ago, KrebsOnSecurity profiled a Pakistan-based cybercrime group called “The Manipulaters,” a sprawling web hosting network of phishing and spam delivery platforms. In January 2024, The Manipulaters pleaded with this author to unpublish previous stories about their work, claiming the group had turned over a new leaf and gone legitimate. But new research suggests that while they have improved the quality of their products and services, these nitwits still fail spectacularly at hiding their illegal activities. Continue reading ‘The Manipulaters’ Improve Phishing, Still Fail at Opsec→

Thread Hijacking: Phishes That Prey on Your Curiosity

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Thread hijacking attacks. They happen when someone you know has their email account compromised, and you are suddenly dropped into an existing conversation between the sender and someone else. These missives draw on the recipient’s natural curiosity about being copied on a private discussion, which is modified to include a malicious link or attachment. Here’s the story of a recent thread hijacking attack in which a journalist was copied on a phishing email from the unwilling subject of a recent scoop. Continue reading Thread Hijacking: Phishes That Prey on Your Curiosity→

Mozilla Drops Onerep After CEO Admits to Running People-Search Networks

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The nonprofit organization that supports the Firefox web browser said today it is winding down its new partnership with Onerep, an identity protection service recently bundled with Firefox that offers to remove users from hundreds of people-search sites. The move comes just days after a report by KrebsOnSecurity forced Onerep’s CEO to admit that he has founded dozens of people-search networks over the years. Continue reading Mozilla Drops Onerep After CEO Admits to Running People-Search Networks→

Incognito Darknet Market Mass-Extorts Buyers, Sellers

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Borrowing from the playbook of ransomware purveyors, the darknet narcotics bazaar Incognito Market has begun extorting all of its vendors and buyers, threatening to publish cryptocurrency transaction and chat records of users who refuse to pay a fee ranging from $100 to $20,000. The bold mass extortion attempt comes just days after Incognito Market administrators reportedly pulled an “exit scam” that left users unable to withdraw millions of dollars worth of funds from the platform. Continue reading Incognito Darknet Market Mass-Extorts Buyers, Sellers→

FBI’s LockBit Takedown Postponed a Ticking Time Bomb in Fulton County, Ga.

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The FBI’s takedown of the LockBit ransomware group last week came as LockBit was preparing to release sensitive data stolen from government computer systems in Fulton County, Ga. But LockBit is now regrouping, and the gang says it will publish the stolen Fulton County data on March 2 unless paid a ransom. LockBit claims the cache includes documents tied to the county’s ongoing criminal prosecution of former President Trump, but court watchers say teaser documents published by the crime gang suggest a total leak of the Fulton County data could put lives at risk and jeopardize a number of other criminal trials. Continue reading FBI’s LockBit Takedown Postponed a Ticking Time Bomb in Fulton County, Ga.→