Chinese Law Enforcement and Intelligence Services Leveraged China’s Reckless and Indiscriminate Hacker-for-Hire Ecosystem, Including the ‘APT 27’ Group, to Suppress Free Speech and Dissent Globally and to Steal Data from Numerous Organizations Worldwide Note: View the indictments in U.S. v. Wu Haibo et al., U.S. v. Yin Kecheng, U.S. v. Zhou Shuai et al. here. The Justice Department, FBI, Naval…
Category: Of Note
FTC, MGM close to solving dispute over costly 2023 cyberattack
Richard N. Velotta reports: The Federal Trade Commission’s dispute with MGM Resorts International over providing information about 2023’s costly cyberattack against the company may be coming to a resolution. The FTC has told MGM it plans to withdraw its civil investigative demand regarding the incident that cost the company an estimated $100 million and crippled the company’s…
Black Basta exposed: A look at a cybercrime data leak and a key member, “Tramp”
Intel471 reports: On Feb. 11, 2025, a mysterious leaker going by the Telegram username ExploitWhispers released one year’s worth of internal communications between members of the Black Basta ransomware group on a Telegram channel. Black Basta is still active in a reduced capacity, but in 2022, it was the third most impactful ransomware group. Its members appeared to be experienced…
Data Breach Class Action Dismissed After ‘Alter Ego’ Doctrine Fails
Colleen Murphy reports that a potential class action lawsuit that relied on a legal strategy called the “alter ego doctrine” has been dismissed. Since DataBreaches is not a lawyer and has never heard of this doctrine before, Murphy’s coverage makes for an interesting read. She reports: A group of optical companies secured the dismissal of…
Criminal hacker known as ALTDOS, DESORDEN, GHOSTR and 0mid16B arrested
He called himself ALTDOS when he first contacted DataBreaches in 2020. In 2021 he started contacting this site as DESORDEN. Then in 2024, he contacted this site as GHOSTR, and more recently, as 0mid16B. Under each new moniker, he denied being the individual DataBreaches knew under previous monikers, even though based on his targets, his…
Imprisoned IRS Contractor Leaked Information of Over 400,000 Taxpayers
James Lynch reports: Imprisoned former IRS contractor Charles Littlejohn improperly leaked information of over 400,000 taxpayers, a far greater number than the agency previously disclosed. Acting IRS Commissioner Douglas O’Donnell wrote a letter to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R., Ohio) earlier this month notifying him that Littlejohn’s illegal disclosures impacted 405, 427 taxpayers,…