As computers play an ever-greater role in our lives and cybercrime becomes both more commonplace and more devastating, the need for robust criminal enforcement of effective computer crime laws will only become more important. As we’ve said in public remarks last year, we urgently need targeted updates to the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act that will help the department…
Category: Of Note
Cybercriminals are using social media to trick customers into handing over their online banking credentials. Danny Palmer
Danny Palmer reports: A phishing campaign is targeting customers of every major UK bank, with cybercriminals posing as customer support staff on Twitter in an attempt to steal users’ online banking credentials. […] In this instance, cybercriminals monitor Twitter for users approaching genuine support accounts for banks, and attempt to hijack the conversation with a…
Yesterday’s major outage was brought to you by hacked IoT devices
Yesterday, like many others throughout the country, I awoke to the unpleasant fact that I couldn’t connect to Twitter or other sites that I might normally check in the morning. Over the course of the day, we learned some facts about what had happened, and read some theories, but the bottom line was that one…
Yevgeniy Nikulin indicted for hacking LinkedIn, Dropbox, and Formspring
From the U.S.A.O. press release: OAKLAND – A federal grand jury in Oakland indicted Yevgeniy Aleksandrovich Nikulin yesterday for obtaining information from computers, causing damage to computers, trafficking in access devices, aggravated identity theft, and conspiracy, announced United States Attorney Brian J. Stretch and Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent in Charge John F. Bennett….
How Russia Pulled Off the Biggest Election Hack in U.S. History
Thomas Rid reports: On an April afternoon earlier this year, Russian president Vladimir Putin headlined a gathering of some four hundred journalists, bloggers, and media executives in St. Petersburg. Dressed in a sleek navy suit, Putin looked relaxed, even comfortable, as he took questions. About an hour into the forum, a young blogger in a…
How Hackers Broke Into John Podesta and Colin Powell’s Gmail Accounts
Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai reports: On March 19 of this year, Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman John Podesta received an alarming email that appeared to come from Google. The email, however, didn’t come from the internet giant. It was actually an attempt to hack into his personal account. In fact, the message came from a group of hackers…