Krebs on Security

FEBRUARY 25, 2024

The FBI’s takedown of the LockBit ransomware group last week came as LockBit was preparing to release sensitive data stolen from government computer systems in Fulton County, Ga. But LockBit is now regrouping, and the gang says it will publish the stolen Fulton County data on March 2 unless paid a ransom. LockBit claims the cache includes documents tied to the county’s ongoing criminal prosecution of former President Trump , but court watchers say teaser documents published by the cr

Ransomware 335

Ransomware Government IT Personal data 335

Krebs on Security

FEBRUARY 22, 2024

A new data leak that appears to have come from one of China’s top private cybersecurity firms provides a rare glimpse into the commercial side of China’s many state-sponsored hacking groups. Experts say the leak illustrates how Chinese government agencies increasingly are contracting out foreign espionage campaigns to the nation’s burgeoning and highly competitive cybersecurity industry.

Government 248

Government Cybersecurity Sales Blockchain 248

Krebs on Security

FEBRUARY 13, 2024

Microsoft Corp. today pushed software updates to plug more than 70 security holes in its Windows operating systems and related products, including two zero-day vulnerabilities that are already being exploited in active attacks. Top of the heap on this Fat Patch Tuesday is CVE-2024-21412 , a “security feature bypass” in the way Windows handles Internet Shortcut Files that Microsoft says is being targeted in active exploits.

Phishing 212

Phishing Authentication Security IT 212

Krebs on Security

FEBRUARY 1, 2024

Three Americans were charged this week with stealing more than $400 million in a November 2022 SIM-swapping attack. The U.S. government did not name the victim organization, but there is every indication that the money was stolen from the now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX , which had just filed for bankruptcy on that same day. A graphic illustrating the flow of more than $400 million in cryptocurrencies stolen from FTX on Nov. 11-12, 2022.

Blockchain 223

Blockchain Ransomware Retail Analytics 223

Krebs on Security

JANUARY 25, 2024

Google continues to struggle with cybercriminals running malicious ads on its search platform to trick people into downloading booby-trapped copies of popular free software applications. The malicious ads, which appear above organic search results and often precede links to legitimate sources of the same software, can make searching for software on Google a dicey affair.

IT 245

IT Security 245

Krebs on Security

DECEMBER 19, 2023

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) disclosed today that it infiltrated the world’s second most prolific ransomware gang, a Russia-based criminal group known as ALPHV and BlackCat. The FBI said it seized the gang’s darknet website, and released a decryption tool that hundreds of victim companies can use to recover systems. Meanwhile, BlackCat responded by briefly “unseizing” its darknet site with a message promising 90 percent commissions for affiliates who con

Ransomware 240

Ransomware Encryption IT Access 240

Krebs on Security

NOVEMBER 2, 2023

The login page for the criminal reshipping service SWAT USA Drop. One of the largest cybercrime services for laundering stolen merchandise was hacked recently, exposing its internal operations, finances and organizational structure. Here’s a closer look at the Russia-based SWAT USA Drop Service , which currently employs more than 1,200 people across the United States who are knowingly or unwittingly involved in reshipping expensive consumer goods purchased with stolen credit cards.

Marketing 256

Marketing Retail Blockchain Communications 256

Krebs on Security

OCTOBER 31, 2023

The top-level domain for the United States — US — is home to thousands of newly-registered domains tied to a malicious link shortening service that facilitates malware and phishing scams, new research suggests. The findings come close on the heels of a report that identified.US domains as among the most prevalent in phishing attacks over the past year.

Phishing 254

Phishing IT Privacy Government 254

Krebs on Security

OCTOBER 17, 2023

Amir Golestan , the 40-year-old CEO of the Charleston, S.C. based technology company Micfo LLC , has been sentenced to five years in prison for wire fraud. Golestan’s sentencing comes nearly two years after he pleaded guilty to using an elaborate network of phony companies to secure more than 735,000 Internet Protocol (IP) addresses from the American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN), the nonprofit which oversees IP addresses assigned to entities in the U.S., Canada, and parts of the Ca

Marketing 285

Marketing Sales Government Security 285

Krebs on Security

OCTOBER 9, 2023

The fake USPS phishing page. Recent weeks have seen a sizable uptick in the number of phishing scams targeting U.S. Postal Service (USPS) customers. Here’s a look at an extensive SMS phishing operation that tries to steal personal and financial data by spoofing the USPS, as well as postal services in at least a dozen other countries. KrebsOnSecurity recently heard from a reader who received an SMS purporting to have been sent by the USPS, saying there was a problem with a package destined

Phishing 263

Phishing Analytics Passwords Government 263

Krebs on Security

SEPTEMBER 18, 2023

The victim shaming website operated by the cybercriminals behind 8Base — currently one of the more active ransomware groups — was until earlier today leaking quite a bit of information that the crime group probably did not intend to be made public. The leaked data suggests that at least some of website’s code was written by a 36-year-old programmer residing in the capital city of Moldova.

Ransomware 229

Ransomware Communications Encryption IT 229

Krebs on Security

SEPTEMBER 5, 2023

In November 2022, the password manager service LastPass disclosed a breach in which hackers stole password vaults containing both encrypted and plaintext data for more than 25 million users. Since then, a steady trickle of six-figure cryptocurrency heists targeting security-conscious people throughout the tech industry has led some security experts to conclude that crooks likely have succeeded at cracking open some of the stolen LastPass vaults.

Passwords 341

Passwords Encryption Blockchain Data breaches 341

Krebs on Security

SEPTEMBER 1, 2023

Domain names ending in “ US ” — the top-level domain for the United States — are among the most prevalent in phishing scams, new research shows. This is noteworthy because.US is overseen by the U.S. government, which is frequently the target of phishing domains ending in.US. Also,US domains are only supposed to be available to U.S. citizens and to those who can demonstrate that they have a physical presence in the United States.US is the “country code top-level doma

Phishing 219

Phishing Government Compliance Communications 219

Krebs on Security

AUGUST 29, 2023

The U.S. government today announced a coordinated crackdown against QakBot , a complex malware family used by multiple cybercrime groups to lay the groundwork for ransomware infections. The international law enforcement operation involved seizing control over the botnet’s online infrastructure, and quietly removing the Qakbot malware from tens of thousands of infected Microsoft Windows computers.

Ransomware 239

Ransomware Government Military Access 239

Krebs on Security

AUGUST 8, 2023

Microsoft Corp. today issued software updates to plug more than 70 security holes in its Windows operating systems and related products, including multiple zero-day vulnerabilities currently being exploited in the wild. Six of the flaws fixed today earned Microsoft’s “critical” rating, meaning malware or miscreants could use them to install software on a vulnerable Windows system without any help from users.

Passwords 182

Passwords Security Risk IT 182

Krebs on Security

AUGUST 8, 2023

WormGPT , a private new chatbot service advertised as a way to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to write malicious software without all the pesky prohibitions on such activity enforced by the likes of ChatGPT and Google Bard , has started adding restrictions of its own on how the service can be used. Faced with customers trying to use WormGPT to create ransomware and phishing scams, the 23-year-old Portuguese programmer who created the project now says his service is slowly morphing into “

Phishing 204

Phishing Artificial Intelligence Ransomware Libraries 204

Krebs on Security

JULY 26, 2023

The Russian government today handed down a treason conviction and 14-year prison sentence on Iyla Sachkov , the former founder and CEO of one of Russia’s largest cybersecurity firms. Sachkov, 37, has been detained for nearly two years under charges that the Kremlin has kept classified and hidden from public view, and he joins a growing roster of former Russian cybercrime fighters who are now serving hard time for farcical treason convictions.

Cybersecurity 189

Cybersecurity Military Communications Ransomware 189

Krebs on Security

JUNE 22, 2023

The United Parcel Service (UPS) says fraudsters have been harvesting phone numbers and other information from its online shipment tracking tool in Canada to send highly targeted SMS phishing (a.k.a. “smishing”) messages that spoofed UPS and other top brands. The missives addressed recipients by name, included details about recent orders, and warned that those orders wouldn’t be shipped unless the customer paid an added delivery fee.

Phishing 265

Phishing Retail IT Communications 265

Krebs on Security

MAY 26, 2023

The number of phishing websites tied to domain name registrar Freenom dropped precipitously in the months surrounding a recent lawsuit from social networking giant Meta , which alleged the free domain name provider has a long history of ignoring abuse complaints about phishing websites while monetizing traffic to those abusive domains. The volume of phishing websites registered through Freenom dropped considerably since the registrar was sued by Meta.

Phishing 245

Phishing Mining IT 245

Krebs on Security

MAY 22, 2023

Social networks are constantly battling inauthentic bot accounts that send direct messages to users promoting scam cryptocurrency investment platforms. What follows is an interview with a Russian hacker responsible for a series of aggressive crypto spam campaigns that recently prompted several large Mastodon communities to temporarily halt new registrations.

Data science 229

Data science IoT Manufacturing Sales 229

Krebs on Security

APRIL 27, 2023

A shocking number of organizations — including banks and healthcare providers — are leaking private and sensitive information from their public Salesforce Community websites, KrebsOnSecurity has learned. The data exposures all stem from a misconfiguration in Salesforce Community that allows an unauthenticated user to access records that should only be available after logging in.

Access 278

Access Authentication Information Security Communications 278

Krebs on Security

APRIL 11, 2023

Microsoft today released software updates to plug 100 security holes in its Windows operating systems and other software, including a zero-day vulnerability that is already being used in active attacks. Not to be outdone, Apple has released a set of important updates addressing two zero-day vulnerabilities that are being used to attack iPhones , iPads and Macs.

Ransomware 221

Ransomware Access Phishing Security 221

Krebs on Security

MARCH 22, 2023

Google says it has suspended the app for the Chinese e-commerce giant Pinduoduo after malware was found in versions of the software. The move comes just weeks after Chinese security researchers published an analysis suggesting the popular e-commerce app sought to seize total control over affected devices by exploiting multiple security vulnerabilities in a variety of Android-based smartphones.

Military 248

Military Marketing Archiving Security 248

Krebs on Security

MARCH 7, 2023

The domain name registrar Freenom , whose free domain names have long been a draw for spammers and phishers, has stopped allowing new domain name registrations. The move comes just days after the Dutch registrar was sued by Meta , which alleges the company ignores abuse complaints about phishing websites while monetizing traffic to those abusive domains.

Phishing 239

Phishing IT Access 239

Krebs on Security

FEBRUARY 14, 2023

Microsoft is sending the world a whole bunch of love today, in the form of patches to plug dozens of security holes in its Windows operating systems and other software. This year’s special Valentine’s Day Patch Tuesday includes fixes for a whopping three different “zero-day” vulnerabilities that are already being used in active attacks.

Phishing 46

Phishing Security Authentication Ransomware 46

Krebs on Security

JANUARY 25, 2023

On Dec. 23, 2022, KrebsOnSecurity alerted big-three consumer credit reporting bureau Experian that identity thieves had worked out how to bypass its security and access any consumer’s full credit report — armed with nothing more than a person’s name, address, date of birth, and Social Security number. Experian fixed the glitch, but remained silent about the incident for a month.

Mining 278

Mining Paper Access Security 278

Krebs on Security

JANUARY 24, 2023

Denis Emelyantsev , a 36-year-old Russian man accused of running a massive botnet called RSOCKS that stitched malware into millions of devices worldwide, pleaded guilty to two counts of computer crime violations in a California courtroom this week. The plea comes just months after Emelyantsev was extradited from Bulgaria, where he told investigators, “America is looking for me because I have enormous information and they need it.

IoT 208

IoT Data breaches Ransomware Access 208

Krebs on Security

DECEMBER 29, 2022

KrebsOnSecurity turns 13 years old today. That’s a crazy long time for an independent media outlet these days, but then again I’m bound to keep doing this as long as they keep letting me. Heck, I’ve been doing this so long I briefly forgot which birthday this was! Thanks to your readership and support, I was able to spend more time in 2022 on some deep, meaty investigative stories — the really satisfying kind with the potential to affect positive change.

Passwords 220

Passwords Ransomware Computer and Electronics Encryption 220

Krebs on Security

DECEMBER 14, 2022

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) today seized four-dozen domains that sold “booter” or “stresser” services — businesses that make it easy and cheap for even non-technical users to launch powerful Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks designed knock targets offline. The DOJ also charged six U.S. men with computer crimes related to their alleged ownership of the popular DDoS-for-hire services.

Computer and Electronics 287

Computer and Electronics Education IT Risk 287

Krebs on Security

DECEMBER 14, 2022

Microsoft has released its final monthly batch of security updates for 2022, fixing more than four dozen security holes in its various Windows operating systems and related software. The most pressing patches include a zero-day in a Windows feature that tries to flag malicious files from the Web, a critical bug in PowerShell , and a dangerous flaw in Windows 11 systems that was detailed publicly prior to this week’s Patch Tuesday.

Ransomware 185

Ransomware Authentication Security Access 185

Krebs on Security

DECEMBER 8, 2022

Ransomware groups are constantly devising new methods for infecting victims and convincing them to pay up, but a couple of strategies tested recently seem especially devious. The first centers on targeting healthcare organizations that offer consultations over the Internet and sending them booby-trapped medical records for the “patient.” The other involves carefully editing email inboxes of public company executives to make it appear that some were involved in insider trading.

Ransomware 250

Ransomware Metadata Insurance Encryption 250

Krebs on Security

DECEMBER 5, 2022

In December 2021, Google filed a civil lawsuit against two Russian men thought to be responsible for operating Glupteba , one of the Internet’s largest and oldest botnets. The defendants, who initially pursued a strategy of counter suing Google for interfering in their sprawling cybercrime business, later brazenly offered to dismantle the botnet in exchange for payment from Google.

Mining 221

Mining Access IoT Passwords 221

Krebs on Security

NOVEMBER 16, 2022

A financial cybercrime group calling itself the Disneyland Team has been making liberal use of visually confusing phishing domains that spoof popular bank brands using Punycode , an Internet standard that allows web browsers to render domain names with non-Latin alphabets like Cyrillic. The Disneyland Team’s Web interface, which allows them to interact with malware victims in real time to phish their login credentials using phony bank websites.

Phishing 257

Phishing Authentication Financial Services Access 257

Krebs on Security

NOVEMBER 10, 2022

A nonprofit organization is suing the state of Massachusetts on behalf of thousands of low-income families who were collectively robbed of more than a $1 million in food assistance benefits by card skimming devices secretly installed at cash machines and grocery store checkout lanes across the state. Federal law bars states from replacing these benefits using federal funds, and a recent rash of skimming incidents nationwide has disproportionately affected those receiving food assistance via stat

Agriculture 200

Agriculture Libraries Sales Risk 200

Krebs on Security

NOVEMBER 8, 2022

Let’s face it: Having “2022 election” in the headline above is probably the only reason anyone might read this story today. Still, while most of us here in the United States are anxiously awaiting the results of how well we’ve patched our Democracy, it seems fitting that Microsoft Corp. today released gobs of security patches for its ubiquitous Windows operating systems.

Security 195

Security IT Access 195

Krebs on Security

NOVEMBER 4, 2022

Responding to a recent surge in AI-generated bot accounts, LinkedIn is rolling out new features that it hopes will help users make more informed decisions about with whom they choose to connect. Many LinkedIn profiles now display a creation date, and the company is expanding its domain validation offering, which allows users to publicly confirm that they can reply to emails at the domain of their stated current employer.

Artificial Intelligence 216

Artificial Intelligence Information Security Cybersecurity Risk 216

Krebs on Security

OCTOBER 15, 2022

AMLBot , a service that helps businesses avoid transacting with cryptocurrency wallets that have been sanctioned for cybercrime activity, said an investigation published by KrebsOnSecurity last year helped it shut down three dark web services that secretly resold its technology to help cybercrooks avoid detection by anti-money laundering systems. Antinalysis, as it existed in 2021.

Blockchain 218

Blockchain Marketing Sales Access 218