03 Dec, 2024

US charges five linked to Scattered Spider cybercrime gang

The U.S. Justice Department has charged five suspects believed to be part of the financially motivated Scattered Spider cybercrime gang with conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Between September 2021 and April 2023, they were able to steal millions from cryptocurrency wallets using victims’ credentials stolen in SMS phishing attacks targeting dozens of targets, including both individuals […]

4 mins read

US charges Phobos ransomware admin after South Korea extradition

Evgenii Ptitsyn, a Russian national and suspected administrator of the Phobos ransomware operation, was extradited from South Korea and is facing cybercrime charges in the United States. Phobos is a long-running ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) operation (derived from the Crysis ransomware family) widely distributed through many affiliates. Between May 2024 and November 2024, it accounted for roughly 11% of all […]

2 mins read

FBI, CISA, and NSA reveal most exploited vulnerabilities of 2023

​The FBI, the NSA, and cybersecurity authorities of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance have released today a list of the top 15 routinely exploited vulnerabilities throughout last year. A joint advisory published on Tuesday calls for organizations worldwide to immediately patch these security flaws and deploy patch management systems to minimize their networks’ exposure to potential […]

2 mins read

HIBP notifies 57 million people of Hot Topic data breach

Have I Been Pwned warns that an alleged data breach exposed the personal information of 56,904,909 accounts for Hot Topic, Box Lunch, and Torrid customers. Hot Topic is an American retail chain specializing in counterculture-related clothing, accessories, and licensed music merchandise. The company operates over 640 stores across the United States and Canada, primarily located […]

2 mins read

Washington courts’ systems offline following weekend cyberattack

​​Court systems across Washington state have been down since Sunday when officials said “unauthorized activity” was detected on their networks. This ongoing data system outage affects all state courts’ judicial information systems, websites, and associated services. According to statements from affected state courts, the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) acted quickly after discovering the […]

2 mins read

Fidelity Investments says data breach affects over 77,000 people

Fidelity Investments, a Boston-based multinational financial services company, disclosed that the personal information of over 77,000 customers was exposed after its systems were breached in August. As one of the largest asset managers in the world, with $14.1 trillion in assets under administration and $5.5 trillion under management, Fidelity employs over 75,000 associates across 11 countries in […]

2 mins read

American Water shuts down online services after cyberattack

American Water, the largest publicly traded U.S. water and wastewater utility company, was forced to shut down some of its systems after a Thursday cyberattack. In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), American Water said it has already hired third-party cybersecurity experts to help contain and assess the incident’s impact. It […]

2 mins read

Iranian hackers charged for ‘hack-and-leak’ plot to influence election

The U.S. Department of Justice unsealed an indictment charging three Iranian hackers with a “hack-and-leak” campaign that aimed to influence the 2024 U.S. presidential election. Iranian nationals Masoud Jalili, Seyyed Ali Aghamiri, and Yaser Balaghi worked for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to hack the accounts of current and former U.S. officials, individuals linked […]

3 mins read

US cracks down on spyware vendor Intellexa with more sanctions

Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury has sanctioned five executives and one entity linked to the Intellexa Consortium for developing and distributing Predator commercial spyware. Intellexa Consortium is a network of decentralized companies that developed and sold highly intrusive spyware products marketed under the “Predator” brand. Predator spyware has allowed Intellexa customers worldwide — mostly […]

3 mins read

CISA warns of Windows flaw used in infostealer malware attacks

​CISA has ordered U.S. federal agencies to secure their systems against a recently patched Windows MSHTML spoofing zero-day bug exploited by the Void Banshee APT hacking group. The vulnerability (CVE-2024-43461) was disclosed during this month’s Patch Tuesday, and Microsoft initially classified it as not exploited in attacks. However, Microsoft updated the advisory on Friday to confirm that it […]

3 mins read