Extortion
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 […]
Qantas is being extorted in recent data-theft cyberattack
Qantas has confirmed that it is now being extorted by threat actors following a cyberattack that potentially exposed the data for 6 million customers. “A potential cyber criminal has made contact, and we are currently working to validate this,” Qantas shared in an updated statement. “As this is a criminal matter, we have engaged the Australian […]
Hunters International ransomware shuts down, releases free decryptors
The Hunters International Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) operation announced today that it has officially closed down its operations and will offer free decryptors to help victims recover their data without paying a ransom. “After careful consideration and in light of recent developments, we have decided to close the Hunters International project. This decision was not made lightly, […]
DOJ investigates ex-ransomware negotiator over extortion kickbacks
An ex-ransomware negotiator is under criminal investigation by the Department of Justice for allegedly working with ransomware gangs to profit from extortion payment deals. The suspect is a former employee of DigitalMint, a Chicago-based incident response and digital asset services company that specializes in ransomware negotiation and facilitating cryptocurrency payments to receive a decryptor or prevent […]
Scania confirms insurance claim data breach in extortion attempt
Automotive giant Scania confirmed it suffered a cybersecurity incident where threat actors used compromised credentials to breach its Financial Services systems and steal insurance claim documents. Scania told GeekFeed that the attackers emailed several Scania employees, threatening to leak the data online unless their demands were met. Scania is a major Swedish manufacturer of heavy […]
Anubis ransomware adds wiper to destroy files beyond recovery
The Anubis ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) operation has added to its file-encryptimg malware a wiper module that destroys targeted files, making recovery impossible even if the ransom is paid. Anubis (not to be confused with the same-name Android malware with a ransomware module) is a relatively new RaaS first observed in December 2024 but became more active at the beginning of the year. On February […]
ViLE gang members sentenced for extortion, police portal breach
Two members of a group of cybercriminals named ViLE were sentenced this week for hacking into a federal law enforcement web portal in an extortion scheme. According to court documents, ViLE specializes in obtaining personal information about targets to harass, threaten, or extort them, a practice known as “doxing.” To collect sensitive information on their victims, […]
FBI warns of Luna Moth extortion attacks targeting law firms
The FBI warned that an extortion gang known as the Silent Ransom Group has been targeting U.S. law firms over the last two years in callback phishing and social engineering attacks. Also known as Luna Moth, Chatty Spider, and UNC3753, this threat group has been active since 2022 and was also behind BazarCall campaigns that provided initial access to […]
Coinbase says recent data breach impacts 69,461 customers
Coinbase, a cryptocurrency exchange with over 100 million customers, revealed that a recent data breach in which cybercriminals stole customer and corporate data affected 69,461 individuals. In data breach notifications filed with the Office of Maine’s Attorney General, Coinbase said, “a small number of individuals, performing services for Coinbase at our overseas retail support locations, improperly accessed customer […]
PowerSchool hacker pleads guilty to student data extortion scheme
A 19-year-old college student from Worcester, Massachusetts, has agreed to plead guilty to a massive cyberattack on PowerSchool that extorted millions of dollars in exchange for not leaking the personal data of millions of students and teachers. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Matthew D. Lane pleaded guilty to four federal charges of one count […]