So yesterday afternoon, Twitter exploded as word spread that Marcus Hutchins, aka @MalwareTechBlog, had been arrested as he attempted to board a flight back to the U.K. Hutchins, who became an “accidental hero” in stopping the spread of WannaCry, was accused of creating and conspiring with another unnamed defendant in the matter of the Kronos…
Category: Malware
Researcher Who Stopped WannaCry Ransomware Detained in US After Def Con
Update 1: This indictment may help explain things. Then again, it might not, as the more I read it, the more puzzled I am by the charges. Original Post: Joseph Cox reports: On Wednesday, US authorities detained a researcher who goes by the handle MalwareTech, best known for stopping the spread of the WannaCry ransomware…
Hackers have cashed out on $143,000 of bitcoin from the massive WannaCry ransomware attack
Ryan Browne reports: Hackers have cashed out on more than $143,000 worth of bitcoin relating to ransoms paid from the massive WannaCry cyber-attack earlier this year. Bitcoin payments made by victims of the WannaCry ransomware attack – which totaled 52.2 BTC (around $143,000) – were withdrawn from online wallets overnight. This was confirmed by Elliptic,…
Northwest Rheumatology of Tucson Notifies Patients of Potential Data Security Incident
Sometimes you think your PHI have escaped a ransomware attack…. but they may not have as this notification from Northwest Rheumatology reminds us. On April 10, 2017, Northwest Rheumatology (“NW Rheumatology”) experienced a ransomware incident which left a limited portion of its computer system encrypted and inaccessible. NW Rheumatology immediately contacted its computer security vendor…
Hackers Target the Bottom Line: Business Operations and Earnings
Derek Borchardt and Craig A. Newman of Patterson Belknap write: Over the past several years, we have witnessed a fundamental shift in orchestrated cyber-attacks from hacking credit card data and healthcare information to targeting businesses, their operations and bottom lines. Last month, companies across the globe were hit by the so-called “Petya” ransomware attack, as…
DDoS Extortionist Who Posed as Anonymous Hacker Arrested in the US
Catalin Cimpanu reports: On Friday, US authorities arrested a man on charges of launching DDoS attacks and making death and bomb threats against several targets including Leagle.com, the Sydney Morning Herald, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), Metro News Canada, the official website of the Canadian government, and others. The man’s name is Kamyar Jahanrakhshan, a…