Category Archives: secret service

Secret Service merging electronic and financial crime task forces to combat cybercrime

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The Secret Service is combining its Electronic Crimes Task Forces (ECTFs) and Financial Crimes Task Forces (FCTFs) into one unified network, the agency announced Thursday. The new merged network of task forces, to be known as Cyber Fraud Task Forces (CFTFs), will detect, prevent and root out cyber-enabled financial crimes, such as business email compromise and ransomware scams, “with the ultimate goal of arresting and convicting the most harmful perpetrators,” the Secret Service said in a press release. The agency hopes the reorganization integrates the resources and know-how in the previous task forces. “Through the creation of the CFTFs, the Secret Service aims to improve the coordination, sharing of expertise and resources, and dissemination of best practices for all its core investigations of financially-motivated cybercrime,” the Secret Service said. The decision to merge task forces comes months after the Secret Service launched an effort to modernize its investigations into financially-motivated […]

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Riding the State Unemployment Fraud ‘Wave’

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When a reliable method of scamming money out of people, companies or governments becomes widely known, underground forums and chat networks tend to light up with activity as more fraudsters pile on to claim their share. And that’s exactly what appears to be going on right now as multiple U.S. states struggle to combat a tsunami of phony Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) claims. Meanwhile, a number of U.S. states are possibly making it easier for crooks by leaking their citizens’ personal data from the very websites the unemployment scammers are using to file bogus claims. Continue reading Riding the State Unemployment Fraud ‘Wave’→

Secret Service to launch private-sector cybercrime council

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The Secret Service has recently hand-picked a small group of private-sector cybersecurity experts to advise the agency’s investigations team on how it can better take down cybercriminals, CyberScoop has learned. The council, which will be known as the “Cyber Investigations Advisory Board” (CIAB), will aim to “provide Secret Service’s Office of Investigations with outside strategic input for the agency’s investigative mission, including insights on the latest trends in cybercrime, financial crime, technology, and investigative techniques,” according to an internal Secret Service Electronic Crimes Task Force Bulletin. The 16-member federal advisory committee (FAC) will be the first one ever for the investigative unit, which focuses on financial crimes such as counterfeiting, card-skimming and other forms of fraud. Previous FACs all have been established for the Secret Service’s more widely known protection mission, which provides security for U.S. presidents and other dignitaries. Invitations for the FAC were sent earlier this month. Jonah Hill, a senior cyber policy advisor […]

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Hacked government contractor shares breach details as investigation continues

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The president of a hacked U.S. government contractor says a recent breach has cost his company $500,000 to $1 million in what he deemed a “learning experience” that should be shared with other organizations to raise their network defenses. “It could happen to anyone,” Sandesh Sharda, president of Arlington, Virginia-based Miracle Systems, told CyberScoop. “We keep hearing about all these hacks all the time, whether it’s Baltimore, whether it’s Texas, whether it’s Capital One, commercial or government. This is not going to go away…How we prepare our industry for these kinds of hacks is [what’s] most important.” It’s been a month since Miracle Systems, which provides IT, engineering and other services to more than 20 federal agencies, learned that its internal server had been breached. On at least one cybercriminal forum, a hacker or hackers has advertised access to internal company data, as journalist Brian Krebs reported. Sharda downplayed the breach, […]

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U.S. busts Romanian cybercrime ring that phished Americans, laundered millions of dollars

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U.S. authorities on Thursday announced the indictment of 20 people and the extradition of a dozen in a big bust of an organized cybercrime ring in Romania. The defendants are accused of being part of an online auction scheme that defrauded Americans of millions of dollars. The racket involved advertising nonexistent cars and other purportedly valuable items on Craigslist and eBay and tricking victims into paying for them, often using stolen identities. The fraudsters then allegedly laundered their ill-gotten gains via cryptocurrency, the Department of Justice said in a statement. In a separate, cyber-focused indictment unsealed Thursday, one of the defendants, Adrian Mitan, is accused of phishing for customers’ credit and debit card information, breaching U.S. companies, and then doing a brute-force attack on point-of-sale systems to extract more card data. The 24-year-old Romanian allegedly told American money launderers to set up credit and debit card accounts with the stolen […]

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