Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai reports: A 21-year-old from Virginia plead guilty on Friday to writing and selling custom spyware designed to monitor a victim’s keystrokes. Zachary Shames, from Great Falls, Virginia, wrote a keylogger, malware designed to record every keystroke on a computer, and sold it to more than 3,000 people who infected more than 16,000 victims…
Category: Malware
Siblings arrested over cyber espionage operation which tapped emails of ex-prime ministers and Vatican cardinals
Nick Squires reports: An Italian nuclear engineer and his sister have been arrested by police on charges of conducting a massive cyber-espionage operation that hacked into the emails of two former prime ministers, Vatican cardinals and Mario Draghi, the president of the European Central Bank. Giulio Occhionero, 45, and his sister Francesca Maria Occhionero, 48,…
Cosmetic surgery center discloses ransomware attack
The Susan M. Hughes Center is a cosmetic surgery and medical spa with locations in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. On December 27, they notified HHS of a ransomware incident affecting 11,400 patients. The following is their statement about the incident: The Susan M. Hughes Center is committed to maintaining the privacy and security of patient information we maintain. This…
Los Angeles Valley College Hit By Cyber Attack, Pays Ransom
I’ve been sitting on this one for a while because it wasn’t clear if any personal info was involved. CBS had reported that Los Angeles Valley College in Valley Glen was subject to a cyber attack over the winter break, but it was not known how large the breach was or its scope. Now Breitbart is reporting that…
Ca: Thousands of University of Alberta students, faculty put at risk in malware security breach
Juris Graney reports: Malware installed on more than 300 computers put over 3,000 University of Alberta students at risk late last year, but because of a police probe resulting in charges against a 19-year-old man, the breach wasn’t shared campus-wide until Thursday. In a statement posted to its website, Gordie Mah, the chief information security…
This Crazy Ransomware Restores Your Files If You Read About Ransomware
Lee Mathews writes: We’ve seen some pretty dastardly ransomware pop up over the past couple of years. Popcorn Time decrypts your files for free if you pass the infection on to your friends. Jigsaw deletes some of your files every hour until you pay up. The Koolova ransomware put a whole new spin on things. Like Popcorn…