Category Archives: social engineering attack

RNC, DNC bank on Duo authentication ahead 2020 election

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The Republican National Committee is relying on authentication tools and careful social media behavior in order to avoid a devastating data breach like the kind that derailed its Democratic counterparts in 2016. The RNC, which develops and promotes the party’s platform and currently supports President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign, is banking on Duo Security, which specializes in multi-factor authentication, to keep state-sponsored hackers out of party accounts, according to recent Federal Election Commission filings. Even if a user’s password credentials are stolen, an extra layer of authentication can ensure that only the legitimate account holder could access his or her communications. Since March of this year, the RNC has paid just over $1,000 per month to Duo, according to FEC filings. The RNC started using Duo in 2016, just days before the election. And it’s not just email account access the RNC is trying to protect — the RNC uses multiple layers of authentication to protect other […]

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Email scammers stole more than $150K from defense contractors and a university, FBI says

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Cybercriminals defrauded two defense contractors and a university out of more than $150,000 through email scams last year, the FBI has warned companies. Scammers obtained fraudulent lines of credit to buy expensive technical equipment in the organizations’ names, the FBI said last week in an industry advisory obtained by CyberScoop. The suspects spoofed email addresses of the target organizations, convincing suppliers to process payments with fake purchase orders and credit documents. The bureau did not name any organization victimized in the scams, which took place in the first half of 2018. In one case, someone impersonating an employee of a large university placed two orders for 150 digital multimeters, which are devices that measure electric current, from a U.S. Department of Defense supplier, leading to roughly $80,000 in losses, according to the FBI. Two other cases involved defense contractors getting swindled for a total of $90,000. The affected contractors were cleared to handle classified DOD information, but it was the companies’ […]

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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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