Category Archives: vladimir putin

Accused scammer Burkov to plead guilty to ‘some’ charges after extradition dispute

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A Russian man who has spent months at the center of an international political dispute is slated to plead guilty to hacking-related charges this week in Virginia. Aleksei Burkov faces criminal counts including access device fraud and conspiracy to commit identity theft in connection with allegedly operating two cybercriminal forums where visitors bought and sold stolen information worth $20 million. The 29-year-old initially pleaded not guilty during his first appearance in the Eastern District Court of Virginia, though a change-of-plea hearing now is scheduled for Jan. 23. “He will be pleading [guilty] to some, but not all of the original charges,” said Gregory Stambuagh, Burkov’s defense attorney. He declined further comment. Burkov was arrested in Israel in 2015, then extradited to the U.S. in November 2019 after exhausting his appeals. The  St. Petersburg native operated two hacking forums, Cardplanet.cc and Direct Connection, according to court documents filed last week. Through Cardplanet, Burkov […]

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Alleged Russian scammer appears in U.S. court after extradition battle

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A Russian man accused of hacking-related crimes made his first public appearance in federal court Tuesday since being extradited from Israel. Aleksei Burkov, 29, was in the Eastern District Court of Virginia to face allegations including the sale of stolen credit card information, identity theft and money laundering. His presence in court represented a victory for U.S. officials who convinced Israeli judges to send Burkov to the U.S. rather than to Russia. Burkov allegedly operated a website caled “Cardplanet” where scammers could buy and sell information on more than 150,000 credit cards. Damages to American victims totaled roughly $20 million, U.S. officials said in the extradition request. To join Cardplanet, potential members needed three existing members to vouch for their trustworthiness and to provide a cash payment, typically $5,000, the Justice Department said. Burkov faces 80 years in prison if convicted on all counts. “They were heavy, heavy into cybercrime,” […]

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Fake ransomware named after Donald Trump tries to trick victims out of a buck

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Donald Trump can add ransomware to the list of things named after him, thanks to scammers who again have demonstrated how current events create opportunities to steal data. Security researchers from Cisco’s Talos threat intelligence team on Tuesday published findings explaining how hackers are using the likeness of the president, his predecessor and other political figures to dupe victims into paying up. Numerous ransomware attacks, screenlockers and remote access trojans are named after Trump, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Vladimir Putin. It’s the latest evidence that digital miscreants will use any trending topics to woo potential victims. “One of the unexpected aspects of the investigation was the presence of lures that dropped malware associated with multiple nation-state attacks in the past, showing how even advanced, sophisticated adversaries will use any means to achieve their nefarious goals,” researchers wrote. The scammers’ emails mention the world leaders to catch victims’ attention, or […]

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Trump’s executive order designed to ‘counter the visuals of Helsinki’

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A top State Department official says President Donald Trump’s new executive order to combat foreign election-meddling is an inter-agency check on the optics of the Helsinki Summit in July, where Trump questioned whether the Russian government interfered in the 2016 U.S. election. “The president can always decide ‘no,’” – meaning sanctions won’t be imposed — “but [the executive order] is designed to have these assessments come up from the bottom and be presented with the notion that there should in fact be a consequence to bad behavior,” Michele Markoff, the State Department’s deputy coordinator for cyber issues, said Wednesday at an Atlantic Council panel discussion in Washington, D.C. The executive order, signed by Trump Wednesday, allows for “automatic sanctions” to kick in when U.S. officials find evidence of foreign interference in the electoral process. That automaticity “was designed to counter the visuals of Helsinki,” Markoff said. “All policy is going […]

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Smashing Security #087: How Russia hacked the US election

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Regardless of whether Donald Trump believes Russia hacked the Democrats in the run-up to the US Presidential election or not, we explain how they did it. And Carole explores some of the creepier things being done in the name of surveillance.
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McCaul: U.S. should go on the cyber offensive if Russia hacks midterms

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The United States should respond with offensive cyber operations if the Russian government tries to meddle in the 2018 U.S. midterm elections like it did in the 2016 presidential election, according to an influential Republican lawmaker. “Personally, if [the Russians] attempt to do that again in the 2018 midterms, I think there should be an offensive response to it,” Texas Rep. Michael McCaul, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, told reporters Wednesday. In January 2017, the U.S. intelligence community concluded that Russian government-linked hackers meddled in the 2016 presidential election as part of a broad Kremlin-backed effort to help elect U.S. President Donald Trump. Over the last several months, senior U.S. intelligence officials have repeatedly warned of the possibility of renewed Russian information operations ahead of midterm elections this fall. While nothing on the scale of the 2016 meddling has been detected yet for the 2018 cycle, a public […]

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Monday, July 16: Dtex, Insider Threat News: Privileged User Dents Apple Self-Driving Car Program; DOJ Says Russia Hacked Clinton Campaign, Issues Indictments Against Spies

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Last week, Apple found out it had an insider threat active in its ranks. It was the type of insider that Dtex and the industry commonly refers to as a “leaver.” In this case, the leaver also happened to be a privileged user. A leaver is someone w… Continue reading Monday, July 16: Dtex, Insider Threat News: Privileged User Dents Apple Self-Driving Car Program; DOJ Says Russia Hacked Clinton Campaign, Issues Indictments Against Spies→

Trump’s refusal to call out Russian hacking provokes swift, sharp backlash

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President Donald Trump drew sharp criticism Monday from former intelligence officials and lawmakers after refusing to acknowledge or condemn Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election while standing alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin. Following a closed-door tête-à-tête in Helsinki, Finland, the two leaders held a joint 45-minute press conference. During the wide-ranging session, among other things, the sitting U.S. president publicly declined to back the unanimous findings of his own U.S. intelligence community – that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election, through a series of cyberattacks and carefully orchestrated information campaigns. “They said they think it’s Russia; I have asked President Putin, he just said ‘It’s not Russia,” Trump said. “I have great confidence in my intelligence people, but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today.” Within an hour, former intelligence chiefs were panning Trump and his statements at the press […]

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