Josie Taylor and ABC Investigations’ Sarah Curnow report: Victorian child protection authorities misled the state’s privacy watchdog during an investigation of a data breach involving a sex offender and dozens of vulnerable children, telling the Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner it had contacted all affected children when it had not. The state’s commissioner for…
Category: Of Note
Department of Justice Seizes $2.3 Million in Cryptocurrency Paid to the Ransomware Extortionists Darkside
WASHINGTON – The Department of Justice today announced that it has seized 63.7 bitcoins currently valued at approximately $2.3 million. These funds allegedly represent the proceeds of a May 8, ransom payment to individuals in a group known as DarkSide, which had targeted Colonial Pipeline, resulting in critical infrastructure being taken out of operation. The…
UK: Police investigate ‘serious cyber attack’ at Brechin school
James Simpson reports: Police Scotland have launched an investigation after personal details of hundreds of Angus pupils were released during a cyber attack. Exam results and “pupils profiles” outlining learning difficulties and mental health issues of Brechin High School students were released in the breach. […] Documents containing emergency contact details for more than 1,800…
New Evil Corp ransomware mimics PayloadBin gang to evade US sanctions
Lawrence Abrams reports: The new PayloadBIN ransomware has been attributed to the Evil Corp cybercrime gang, rebranding to evade sanctions imposed by the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). The Evil Corp gang, also known as Indrik Spider and the Dridex gang, started as an affiliate for the ZeuS botnet. Over time,…
Ukraine’s security service claims to have thwarted mass cyberattack by Russian special forces
The following is a machine translation of a press release by Служба безпеки України, the Security Service of Ukraine: The SBU blocked a mass cyberattack by Russian special services on the computer networks of the Ukrainian authorities Cyber experts of the Security Service of Ukraine revealed the facts of purposeful distribution of malicious software by…
Van Buren is a Victory Against Overbroad Interpretations of the CFAA, and Protects Security Researchers
Aaron Mackey and Kurt Opsahl of EFF write: The Supreme Court’s Van Buren decision today overturned a dangerous precedent and clarified the notoriously ambiguous meaning of “exceeding authorized access” in the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, the federal computer crime law that’s been misused to prosecute beneficial and important online activity. The decision is a victory for all Internet…