Adi Bleih reports: The Akira ransomware group has been active since March 2023, targeting diverse industries across North America, the UK, and Australia. Operating as a Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) model, Akira employs a double-extortion strategy by stealing sensitive data before encrypting it. According to their leak site, the group claims to have compromised over 350 organizations….
Author: Dissent
Phobos Ransomware Administrator Extradited from South Korea to Face Cybercrime Charges
Russian National Alleged to Have Coordinated Sale, Distribution, and Operation of Phobos Ransomware as Part of International Hacking and Extortion Conspiracy The Justice Department unsealed criminal charges today against Evgenii Ptitsyn, 42, a Russian national, for allegedly administering the sale, distribution, and operation of Phobos ransomware. Ptitsyn made his initial appearance in the U.S. District Court for…
T-Mobile Hack Linked To Chinese State Sponsored Hackers
Lars Daniel reports: T-Mobile is the latest telecommunications company to report being impacted by a large-scale cyber-espionage campaign linked to Chinese state-sponsored hackers. While T-Mobile has stated that customer data and critical systems have not been significantly affected, the breach is part of a broader attack on major telecom providers, raising concerns about the security…
Bipartisan effort to clean up cyber regulations gets a boost in House, but calendar is tight
Martin Matishak reports: A House Republican late last week introduced legislation to untangle the country’s jumble of cybersecurity regulations, keeping the bipartisan proposal alive as Congress finishes its work for 2024. The measure from Rep. Clay Higgins of Louisiana, a member of both the House Homeland Security and Oversight committees, is a companion bill to bipartisan…
Thames Water’s IT ‘falling apart’ and is hit by cyber-attacks, sources claim
Anna Isaac reports: “The software we use is older than me, and some of the hardware is older than my dad,” says Siddharth*. He is one of a team fighting a daily battle to sustain ancient IT infrastructure at Thames Water. Sometimes the defences are breached. Thames, the UK’s largest water and waste treatment company,…
CISA Director Jen Easterly to depart on Inauguration Day
This was predictable, but it’s also a damned shame. Alexandra Kelley and David DiMolfetta report: Jen Easterly, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s stalwart champion and a figurehead among cybersecurity and intelligence community practitioners, will leave her post Jan. 20 next year when President-elect Donald Trump is inaugurated back into the White House, people familiar…