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,”…
Category: Commentaries and Analyses
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….
Scammers Are Extorting Parents With Their Dead Children’s Nude Images, FBI Says
Thomas Brewster reports: Sextortion scammers have become increasingly ruthless, targeting families of teenage victims who took their own lives after sending nude images to highly organized cybercriminal gangs, the FBI has warned. The gangs have demanded that parents or siblings pay to ensure that the sexualized photos of their deceased relatives are not publicly released,…