Two reports related to malware: Bill Toulas reports: A threat group tracked as ‘Worok’ hides malware within PNG images to infect victims’ machines with information-stealing malware without raising alarms. This has been confirmed by researchers at Avast, who built upon the findings of ESET, the first to spot and report on Worok’s activity in early…
Category: Commentaries and Analyses
Surprise: Daniel Kaye, operator of The Real Deal, pleads guilty to one count, is sentenced to time served, and is released.
It seems like only weeks ago that the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia was trumpeting the arraignment of Daniel Kaye, who had been indicted last year. Oh wait, it was only weeks ago. Kaye, also known as “Popopret,” “Bestbuy,” “TheRealDeal,” “Logger,” “David Cohen,” “Marc Chapon,” “UserL0ser,” “Spdrman,” “Dlinch Kravitz,” “Fora Ward,”…
Hong Kong regulator issues investigative report on 2021 Fotomax ransomware incident
The Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data (PCPD) in Hong Kong published an investigation report today concerning a ransomware attack on the database of Fotomax (F.E.) Limited. From the news release: The investigation arose from a data breach notification lodged by Fotomax with the PCPD on 1 November 2021, which reported that the…
UK: Hacked evidence and stolen data swamp English courts
Franz Wild, Ed Siddons, Simon Lock, Jonathan Calvert, and George Arbuthnott report: A multimillion-pound high court case between an authoritarian Gulf emirate and an Iranian-American businessman has revealed how hacked evidence is being used by leading law firms to advance their clients’ claims. It includes allegations that a former Metropolitan Police officer hired Indian hackers…
World Cup apps pose a data security and privacy nightmare
Jessica Lyons Hardcastle reports: With mandated spyware downloads to tens of thousands of surveillance cameras equipped with facial-recognition technology, the World Cup in Qatar next month is looking more like a data security and privacy nightmare than a celebration of the beautiful game. Football fans and others visiting Qatar must download two apps: Ehteraz, a Covid-19…
Ransomware gangs shift tactics, making crimes harder to track
Jack Gillum reports: Ransomware gangs increasingly use their own or stolen computer code, moving away from a leasing model that made their activities easier to monitor, new research shows. Numerous prominent hacking groups in recent years have functioned by leasing their malicious software and computing infrastructure to other bad actors, in what’s known as ransomware-as-a-service….