usa
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 […]
Conti ransomware gang member sentenced to 4 years in prison
A Ukrainian national has been sentenced to four years in prison for his role in Conti ransomware attacks between 2021 and 2022. 44-year-old Oleksii Oleksiyovych Lytvynenko was arrested by the Irish national police (An Garda Síochána) in July 2023 at the request of the United States and was extradited last year. Lytvynenko and his Conti […]
Man gets 15 years for extorting women with AI-generated porn videos
An Ohio man was sentenced to 15 years in prison for multiple cybercrimes, including sextortion and cyberstalking of numerous victims via phone calls, voicemails, text messages, and online posts. When he was arrested on federal charges on June 23, 2025, 37-year-old James Strahler II was also charged with anonymous telecommunications harassment and child pornography production and distribution. […]
US charges Russian for infecting 80,000 freelancers with malware
A California federal grand jury has indicted a Russian national for his role in a phishing campaign that infected thousands of freelancers with TVRAT and DarkVNC malware. 40-year-old Searzhudin Tamirlanovich Aktulaev was extradited to the United States after being arrested in Cyprus at Larnaca Airport in May 2025. According to court documents filed in June 2021 and […]
Five Venezuelans plead guilty to ATM jackpotting attacks in US
Five Venezuelan nationals pleaded guilty to attempting to empty automated teller machines (ATMs) using malware in a series of ATM jackpotting attacks. 27-year-old Luis Alberto Velasquez-Artigas, 29-year-oldRoyder Adrian Figuera-Perez, 27-year-old Javier Mejia, Jr, 33-year-old Gabriel Alexjandro Corales-Garcia, 33, and 26-year-old Italo Lizandro Corrales-Carrillo have all pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank […]
Nigerians extradited to US for sextortion, deaths of two teens
Two Nigerian men extradited to the U.S. on Thursday have been charged with involvement in sextortion schemes that resulted in the deaths of two minor victims in Mississippi and North Carolina. Sextortion is a form of online blackmail in which cybercriminals threaten victims with leaking nude images and videos they stole (through hacking) or obtained (through […]
Carhartt data breach exposes information of 12.9 million accounts
The ShinyHunters extortion group has published sensitive data from nearly 13 million accounts stolen from clothing retailer giant Carhartt earlier this month, according to data breach notification service Have I Been Pwned. Founded in 1889, Carhartt is an American apparel company with workwear and streetwear manufacturing facilities in Kentucky and Tennessee and more than 3,000 […]