Category Archives: Office of Foreign Assets Control

Takedown of 92 Iran-owned domains includes 4 used for disinformation in US, feds say

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The U.S. government says it seized 92 internet domains used “to spread pro-Iranian disinformation around the globe,” including four that directly targeted U.S. audiences. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps operated the domains in violation of U.S. sanctions, according to a Justice Department announcement Wednesday. The department said the operation was based on intelligence provide by Google, and was a collaborative effort between the FBI and Google, Facebook and Twitter. The other 88 domains “targeted audiences in Western Europe, the Middle East, and South East Asia and masqueraded as genuine news outlets,” the department said. The feds claimed jurisdiction over all 92 domains because the government of Iran and the IRGC ran them through “website and domain services in the United States without a license from OFAC,” the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control. The announcement is the latest in a steady stream of news about attempts by U.S. agencies or Silicon Valley giants to monitor […]

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Ransomware Victims That Pay Up Could Incur Steep Fines from Uncle Sam

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Companies victimized by ransomware and firms that facilitate negotiations with ransomware extortionists could face steep fines from the U.S. federal government if the crooks who profit from the attack are already under economic sanctions, the Treasury Department warned today. Continue reading Ransomware Victims That Pay Up Could Incur Steep Fines from Uncle Sam→

US Treasury targets North Korean hacking groups

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The US has formally sanctioned the Lazarus Group and offshoots Bluenoroff and Andariel, which are allegedly acting on behalf of the DPRK. Continue reading US Treasury targets North Korean hacking groups→

Cloudflare may have provided service to terrorists, drug traffickers in violation of U.S. sanctions

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Internet services and cybersecurity provider Cloudflare has acknowledged it may have violated U.S. sanctions by doing business with terrorist groups and international drug traffickers, an admission that comes as the San Francisco company prepares to go public as soon as this week. Cloudflare voluntarily disclosed the possible economic and trade sanction violations to the U.S. Department of Treasury in its S-1 filing, amended to stipulate that Cloudflare technology was “used by, or for the benefit of, certain individuals or entities” named on the Office of Foreign Assets Control’s list of Specially Designated Nationals, as the Wall Street Journal first reported. The filing does not name specific parties, saying only that the group includes “entities identified in OFAC’s counter-terrorism and counter-narcotics trafficking sanctions programs, or affiliated with governments currently subject to comprehensive U.S. sanctions.” A small number of those entities also made payments to Cloudflare. The updated regulatory filing also notes […]

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