Department of Justice
TikTok reaches $400M settlement with US over COPPA violations
The U.S. Department of Justice announced a $400 million settlement with TikTok, ByteDance, and affiliated companies over allegations that they violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). The TikTok social media platform, owned by the Chinese technology company ByteDance, allows users to create, watch, and share short-form videos. In 2024, the U.S. Department of […]
US charges Iranian hackers over $3.4 billion intellectual property theft
The U.S. has charged 17 Iranians, alleged members of a hacking-for-hire company called Mabna Institute, involved in years-long operations that stole data from American organizations. Nine of the defendants were previously charged in a March 2018 indictment for hacking more than 300 universities and private companies. The U.S. Justice Department (DoJ) has also announced rewards of up […]
DOJ seizes CFAKE, SOCFAKE deepfake nude sites under TAKE IT DOWN Act
The U.S. Department of Justice announced Friday that it has seized the CFAKE.com and SOCFAKE.com websites, which allegedly hosted nonconsensual AI-generated nude images and videos of women, in what appears to be the first publicly announced domain seizure under the TAKE IT DOWN Act. According to the DOJ, the sites shared sexually explicit digital images, […]
Ukrainian national pleads guilty to role in Conti ransomware operation
A Ukrainian national extradited from Ireland to the United States last year has pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges tied to the Conti ransomware operation. The U.S. Department of Justice announced Thursday that 44-year-old Oleksii Oleksiyovych Lytvynenko pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud for his role in Conti ransomware attacks conducted between 2021 and […]
FBI seizes domain storing bank credentials stolen from U.S. victims
The U.S. government has seized the ‘web3adspanels.org’ domain and the associated database used by cybercriminals to host bank login credentials stolen in account takeover attacks. Cybercriminals collected the credentials in phishing campaigns targeting American citizens through fraudulent ads on Google and Bing search services that led to fake banking portals. The confirmed financial loss from […]
Five plead guilty to helping North Koreans infiltrate US firms
The U.S. Department of Justice announced that five individuals pleaded guilty to aiding North Korea’s illicit revenue generation schemes, including remote IT worker fraud and cryptocurrency theft. As part of this, the U.S. authorities announced actions seeking the forfeiture of $15 million in cryptocurrency from heists carried out by the APT38 threat group, which is […]
“Rapper Bot” malware seized, alleged developer identified and charged
The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) announced charges against the alleged developer and administrator of the “Rapper Bot” DDoS-for-hire botnet. Ethan Foltz, 22, of Eugene, Oregon, allegedly rented the botnet to cybercriminals eho targeted various organizations. The botnet operation itself was seized as part of ‘Operation PowerOff ‘on August 6, during a raid at Foltz’s residence in Oregon. […]
U.S. Judiciary confirms breach of court electronic records service
The U.S. Federal Judiciary confirms that it suffered a cyberattack on its electronic case management systems hosting confidential court documents and is strengthening cybersecurity measures. The organization stated that, while most documents in the system are public, certain sealed filings contain sensitive information that is now protected with stricter access controls aimed at blocking hackers. […]
Hacker extradited to US for stealing $3.3 million from taxpayers
Nigerian national Chukwuemeka Victor Amachukwu has been extradited from France to the U.S. to face charges of hacking, fraud, and identity theft for suspected spearphishing attacks on U.S. tax preparation businesses. The attack were designed to steal personal data and file fraudulent tax and loan applications, allowing threat actors to steal over $3 million in total. […]
U.S. Army soldier pleads guilty to extorting 10 tech, telecom firms
A 21-year old former U.S. Army soldier pleaded guilty to charges of hacking and extorting at least ten telecommunications and technology companies in the country. Cameron John Wagenius was arrested in Texas on December 20, 2024 and indicted in the Western District of Washington on two counts of unlawful transfer of confidential phone records. In February […]