Risky Biz News reports: German and US authorities have seized a crypto-wallet service named Cryptonator on charges of money laundering and operating an unlicensed money service business. The service allowed individuals to set up crypto-wallet funds that could receive and send funds from and to any type of blockchain service, effectively operating as a “personal…
Author: Dissent
Personal Data of 3 Billion People Stolen in Hack, Suit Says
Cassandre Coyer reports: Jerico Pictures Inc., a background-check company doing business as National Public Data, exposed the personal information of nearly 3 billion individuals in an April data breach, a proposed class action says. On April 8, a cybercriminal group by the name of USDoD posted a database entitled “National Public Data” on a dark…
4.6 Million Voter and Election Documents Exposed Online by Technology Contractor
VpnMentor reports that researcher Jeremiah Fowler discovered 13 non-password-protected databases that contained 4.6 million documents, including voter records, ballots, multiple lists, and election-related records. Through his research, Fowler found that the data was owned by Platinum Technology Resource/Platinum Elections Services. Once I was reasonably sure who managed the database, I sent a responsible disclosure notice…
Ring, Ring, it’s the FCC Calling- TracFone to Pay $16M to Settle FCC Investigation
Liisa M. Thomas, Tracy Chau, and Kathryn Smith of SheppardMullin write: TracFone, the pre-paid phone company, recently settled with the FCC over allegations that the company failed to protect customer information during three different data incidents. According to the FCC, in each of the incidents, threat actors gained access to customer information, including names, addresses, and features…
Mandiant Uncovers Threat Group Behind Basta Ransomware
Akshaya Asokan reports: A newly identified financially motivated hacking group is deploying Basta ransomware as part of an ongoing extortion campaign that began early this year. Google Mandiant, which uncovered the campaign, tracks the group as UNC4393. Since Basta is not publically marketed and is available on invitation-only basis, Mandiant researchers believe UNC4393 is likely the “primary…
Release of Russian hackers believed to be first U.S. prisoner swap of international cybercriminals
There was some great news today that some American political prisoners held by Russia were being released as part of a multi-country prisoner swap. Kevin Collier reports: It’s rare for Russian criminal hackers to land in U.S. prisons and even rarer for them to get out early. But two of the eight Russians released in…