Catalin Cimpanu reports: Yesterday, a Russian national accused of helping develop the Citadel banking trojan was arraigned in front of a US judge for the first time, after being extradited from Fredrikstad, Norway. The man’s name is Mark Vartanyan, 28, known online as Kolypto. According to US authorities, Vartanyan allegedly developed, improved and maintained the…
Category: Malware
Court blocks American from suing Ethiopia for infecting his computer
John Ribeiro reports: An appeals court has barred an Ethiopian-born U.S. citizen from filing a civil suit against the African country, which allegedly infected his computer with spyware and monitored his communications. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled Tuesday that foreign states are immune from suit in a U.S. court unless…
City erases, re-installs server after ransomware attack
Scott Liles reports: A cyber attack on the server of the Mountain Home Water Department led to the city refusing to pay a ransom and wiping the machine, Water Department Director Alma Clark said. The server was re-installed from a backup created the night before and no information was lost or stolen, Baxter County Computer Services…
Veridian Credit Union sues Eddie Bauer for failing to prevent data breach
Matt Day reports that another retailer has been sued by financial institutions hoping to recover their costs of a breach. Veridian Credit Union filed suit, seeking class-action status, in Seattle federal court this week. The complaint alleges negligence on the retailer’s part and seeks to compensate financial institutions for costs related to reissuing stolen credit and…
Home Depot to Pay Banks $25 Million in Data Breach Settlement
Jeff John Roberts reports: Home Depot has taken another step to move on from its colossal 2014 data breach, which involved hackers stealing email or credit card information from more than 50 million customers by infiltrating self check-out terminals. In a new settlement with dozens of banks, the retailer has agreed to pay $25 million for damages they incurred…
Hackers attack Pa. Senate Democrats’ computer system with Ransomware
Jan Murphy reports: A cyberattack forced the Pennsylvania Senate Democratic Caucus to shutdown its computer system on Friday, according to a statement from the caucus’ leader Sen. Jay Costa. The Ransomware attack, discovered early Friday morning, delivered malware to computers throughout the network, making its systems and data inaccessible to caucus members and employees throughout…