united states
Alleged dev of Ploutus ATM malware appears in US court after arrest
The U.S. Department of Justice has announced the arrest of the alleged developer of Ploutus malware, used to steal millions of dollars in ATM jackpotting attacks across the United States. Also known as “Prometheus” and “The Engineer,” 50-year-old Anibal Alexander Canelon Aguirre was the first cybercriminal added to the FBI’s “Top 10 Most Wanted Fugitives” […]
US sanctions Tren de Aragua gang members in ATM hacks crackdown
The U.S. Treasury Department has sanctioned eight members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua (TdA) for their role in the theft of millions of dollars in ATM jackpotting attacks across the United States. In jackpotting attacks, criminals deploy malware (e.g., ATMii, ATMitch, GreenDispenser, Alice, RIPPER, Skimer, SUCEFUL, and Ploutus) on bank and credit union […]
Autonomous AI agents tried to hack US, Canadian government websites
Autonomous AI agents using aggressive strategies attempted to hack U.S. and Canadian government websites to find school and divorce statistics. The failed breach attempts targeted a website under the U.S. Department of Education and Library and Archives Canada. However, the collected data shows no evidence of access to non-public information. Nonprofit research lab Transluce says […]
Hackers stole Pentagon personnel records of over 3 million people
The Pentagon’s Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC) is notifying millions of military service members that hackers stole their data after breaching the Pentagon’s human resources management system in October 2025. In data breach notification letters shared online by affected individuals, the DMDC told affected military personnel that “a small number of unauthorized users” had access […]
Former US Air Force members sent to prison over BEC attacks
Two former members of the United States Air Force were sentenced to a combined 189 months in federal prison for their roles in a multi-year series of business email compromise (BEC) scams and phishing campaigns. According to court documents, 25-year-old Chijioke Timothy Odimegwu and 26-year-old Harafat Mogaji carried out these attacks while stationed at Dover […]
Vietnamese man charged in $16 million ‘pig butchering’ crypto scam
A Vietnamese national was charged with money laundering for his role in a massive “pig butchering” scam, which defrauded a victim out of $16 million worth of cryptocurrency. 37-year-old Trung Nguyen Van entered the United States through the San Ysidro, California / Mexico pedestrian border entry point on September 22 and was arrested before boarding […]
US soldier gets 70 months in prison for extorting 10 tech, telecom firms
A former U.S. Army soldier has been sentenced to 70 months in prison for hacking and extorting at least 10 U.S. technology and telecommunications companies between April 2023 and December 2024. 21-year-old Cameron John Wagenius (also known online as ‘kiberphant0m’ and ‘cyb3rph4nt0m’ ) was arrested in Texas in December 2024. He pleaded guilty in February 2025 to […]
Ryuk ransomware member sentenced to 24 months in prison
An Armenian man was sentenced to 24 months in prison and 3 years of supervised release for hacking U.S. companies and encrypting their systems in Ryuk ransomware attacks. 35-year-old Karen Serobovich Vardanyan (also known online as “Maneeken” or “Karl Lagerfeld”), who specialized in gaining initial access to corporate networks, pleaded guilty in July after being […]
US takes down NightmareStresser DDoS-for-hire platform
On Tuesday, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) seized the domains used by NightmareStresser, one of the world’s longest-running distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) platforms. “Booter services” like NightmareStresser are DDoS-for-hire services that let anyone rent large botnets of compromised routers and a wide range of IoT devices to launch massive DDoS attacks targeting online platforms […]
Suspected Black Axe gang leaders face cybercrime charges in the US
Five alleged leaders of the Black Axe cybercrime syndicate, known for its involvement in global-scale cyber-enabled financial fraud, have been extradited to the United States to face wire fraud and money laundering charges. Defendants Perry Osagiede, Franklyn Osagiede, Osariemen Clement, Collins Otughwor, and Musa Mudashiru have been indicted for coordinating a large-scale internet fraud campaign […]