Krebs – Page 52 – Computer Security Articles

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Thu, 26 Sep 2019 00:28:36 +0000

In April 2013, I received via U.S. mail more than a gram of pure heroin as part of a scheme to get me arrested for drug possession. But the plan failed and the Ukrainian mastermind behind it soon after was imprisoned for unrelated cybercrime offenses. That individual recently gave his first interview since finishing his jail time here in the states, and he’s shared some select (if often abrasive and coarse) details on how he got into cybercrime and why. Below are a few translated excerpts.

Independent Krebs

September 18, 2019 admin

Before He Spammed You, this Sly Prince Stalked Your Mailbox

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Wed, 18 Sep 2019 18:53:16 +0000

A reader forwarded what he briefly imagined might be a bold, if potentially costly, innovation on the old Nigerian prince scam that asks for help squirreling away millions in unclaimed fortune: it was sent via the U.S. Postal Service, with a postmarked stamp and everything. In truth these “advance fee” or “419” scams- – so-called because they violate section 419 of the criminal code of Nigeria where many such lures originate — predate email and have circulated via postal mail in various forms and countries over the years.

Independent Krebs

September 17, 2019 admin

Man Who Hired Deadly Swatting Gets 15 Months

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Tue, 17 Sep 2019 15:59:02 +0000

An Ohio teen who recruited a convicted serial swatter to fake a distress call that ended in the police shooting an innocent Kansas man in 2017 has been sentenced to 15 months in prison.

Independent Krebs

September 11, 2019 admin

NY Payroll Company Vanishes With $35 Million

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Wed, 11 Sep 2019 15:02:26 +0000

MyPayrollHR, a now defunct cloud-based payroll processing firm based in upstate New York, abruptly ceased operations this past week after stiffing employees at thousands of companies. The ongoing debacle, which allegedly involves malfeasance on the part of the payroll company’s CEO, resulted in countless people having money drained from their bank accounts and has left nearly $35 million worth of payroll and tax payments in legal limbo.

Independent Krebs

September 10, 2019 admin

Patch Tuesday, September 2019 Edition

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Tue, 10 Sep 2019 20:09:11 +0000

Microsoft today issued security updates to plug some 80 security holes in various flavors of its Windows operating systems and related software. The software giant assigned a “critical” rating to almost a quarter of those vulnerabilities, meaning they could be used by malware or miscreants to hijack vulnerable systems with little or no interaction on the part of the user.

Independent Krebs

September 9, 2019 admin

Secret Service Investigates Breach at U.S. Govt IT Contractor

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Mon, 09 Sep 2019 16:47:56 +0000

The U.S. Secret Service is investigating a breach at a Virginia-based government technology contractor that saw access to several of its systems put up for sale in the cybercrime underground, KrebsOnSecurity has learned. The contractor claims the access being auctioned off was to old test systems that do not have direct connections to its government partner networks. In mid-August, a member of a popular Russian-language cybercrime forum offered to sell access to the internal network of a U.S. government IT contractor that does business with more than 20 federal agencies, including several branches of the military. The seller bragged that he had access to email correspondence and credentials needed to view databases of the client agencies, and set the opening price at six bitcoins (~USD $60,000).

Independent Krebs

September 3, 2019 admin

‘Satori’ IoT Botnet Operator Pleads Guilty

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Wed, 04 Sep 2019 04:14:18 +0000

A 21-year-old man from Vancouver, Wash. has pleaded guilty to federal hacking charges tied to his role in operating the “Satori” botnet, a crime machine powered by hacked Internet of Things (IoT) devices that was built to conduct massive denial-of-service attacks targeting Internet service providers, online gaming platforms and Web hosting companies.

Independent Krebs

September 3, 2019 admin

Spam In your Calendar? Here’s What to Do.

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Tue, 03 Sep 2019 18:56:07 +0000

Many spam trends are cyclical: Spammers tend to switch tactics when one method of hijacking your time and attention stops working. But periodically they circle back to old tricks, and few spam trends are as perennial as calendar spam, in which invitations to click on dodgy links show up unbidden in your digital calendar application from Apple, Google and Microsoft. Here’s a brief primer on what you can do about it.