Sanctions
US charges Chinese hackers linked to critical infrastructure breaches
The US Justice Department has charged Chinese state security officers along with APT27 and i-Soon hackers for network breaches and cyberattacks that have targeted victims globally since 2011. Their victim list includes US federal and state government agencies, foreign ministries of multiple governments in Asia, U.S.-based dissidents, as well as a prominent religious organization in […]
US sanctions LockBit ransomware’s bulletproof hosting provider
The United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom have sanctioned Zservers, a Russia-based bulletproof hosting (BPH) services provider, for supplying essential attack infrastructure for the LockBit ransomware gang. Two of its key administrators, Russian nationals Alexander Igorevich Mishin and Aleksandr Sergeyevich Bolshakov, were also designated for their roles in directing Lockbit virtual currency transactions and […]
EU sanctions Russian GRU hackers for cyberattacks against Estonia
The European Union sanctioned three hackers, part of Unit 29155 of Russia’s military intelligence service (GRU), for their involvement in cyberattacks targeting Estonia’s government agencies in 2020. Today, the Council of the EU says that GRU officers Nikolay Korchagin, Vitaly Shevchenko, and Yuriy Denisov stole thousands of sensitive documents containing classified information after breaching several Estonian ministries. […]
US sanctions Chinese firm, hacker behind telecom and Treasury hacks
The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has sanctioned Yin Kecheng, a Shanghai-based hacker for his role in the recent Treasury breach and a company associated with the Salt Typhoon threat group. “Yin Kecheng has been a cyber actor for over a decade and is affiliated with the People’s Republic […]
US cracks down on North Korean IT worker army with more sanctions
The U.S. Treasury Department has sanctioned a network of individuals and front companies linked to North Korea’s Ministry of National Defense that have generated revenue via illegal remote IT work schemes. “The DPRK continues to rely on its thousands of overseas IT workers to generate revenue for the regime, to finance its illegal weapons programs, […]
Biden signs executive order to bolster national cybersecurity
Days before leaving office, President Joe Biden signed an executive order to shore up the United States’ cybersecurity by making it easier to sanction hacking groups targeting federal agencies and the nation’s critical infrastructure. These also include ransomware gangs, which have been continuously targeting U.S. healthcare organizations in recent years, causing disruptions by encrypting systems […]
US sanctions Chinese company linked to Flax Typhoon hackers
The U.S. Treasury Department has sanctioned Beijing-based cybersecurity company Integrity Tech for its involvement in cyberattacks attributed to the Chinese state-sponsored Flax Typhoon hacking group. As the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said on Friday, the Chinese state-sponsored hackers used the company’s infrastructure to launch attacks targeting networks of victims in Europe and […]
Chinese hackers targeted sanctions office in Treasury attack
Chinese state-backed hackers have reportedly breached the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), a Treasury Department office that administers and enforces trade and economic sanctions programs. OFAC was created in December 1950, blocking all Chinese and North Korean assets under U.S. jurisdiction after China entered the Korean War. In a letter sent to Congress this […]
Recorded Future CEO applauds “undesirable” designation by Russia
Recorded Future, an American threat intelligence company, has become the first cybersecurity firm designated by the Russian government as an “undesirable” organization. The Russian authorities effectively banned all Recorded Future activity in the country by tagging the company “undesirable,” a label Russia introduced almost a decade ago to describe Western NGOs. Russia’s Prosecutor General’s Office said in a Wednesday […]
US sanctions Chinese firm for hacking firewalls in ransomware attacks
The U.S. Treasury Department has sanctioned Chinese cybersecurity company Sichuan Silence and one of its employees for their involvement in a series of Ragnarok ransomware attacks targeting U.S. critical infrastructure companies and many other victims worldwide in April 2020. According to the Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), Sichuan Silence is a Chengdu-based cybersecurity […]