On The Wire

What Is Trickbot?

Trickbot is both a sophisticated trojan malware and the alleged cybercrime syndicate that developed it. The malware was historically deployed to steal banking credentials but its capabilities were later expanded to create a complete modular malware ecosystem. In a report release yesterday the British cybersecurity firm Cyjax analyzed a trove ...
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OneCoin and the Cryptoqueen

She was the Cryptoqueen. In a resplendent red ballgown and long diamond earrings she promised the adoring crowd a financial revolution. But after convincing investors to plough $4 billion into OneCoin, described by a New York prosecutor as a pyramid scheme based on smoke and mirrors, Dr. Ruja Ignatova boarded ...
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Supreme Court of Canada strikes down ‘absurd’ parole ineligibility law

On January 29, 2017, Alexandre Bissonnette walked into the Great Mosque of Quebec in Quebec City, Canada, armed with a semi-automatic rifle and opened fire. He killed six people and injured five others. He pleaded guilty to six counts of first degree murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment without ...
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Twitter Violates Data Privacy Promises

The United States Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission have announced a settlement that will require Twitter to pay a civil penalty of $150 million to resolve allegations that it told consumers it would use their personal information for one purpose but then used it for another. In ...
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The Myth of Anonymous Cryptocurrency

The United States Department of Justice has initiated the first prosecution involving the use of cryptocurrency to allegedly evade economic sanctions issued under emergency economic powers legislation. An American citizen has been accused of conspiracy to transmit more than $10 million in bitcoin to a virtual currency exchange in one ...
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Europe agrees on landmark law forcing big tech to tackle illegal content

European policymakers have reached a provisional political agreement on a landmark regulatory regime requiring online platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Google to to do more to tackle illegal content in the second pillar of a digital services package that provides a framework of unprecedented regulation. Based on the principle that ...
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The RaidForums Takedown

An online marketplace for trafficking in hacked data was seized this week following a global investigation that resulted in the takedown of the RaidForums website. The alleged chief administrator has been charged with conspiracy, access device fraud and aggravated identity theft. The founder of the site, Diogo Santos Coelho, a ...
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Cybersecurity and the Dark Art of the Possible

The United States Department of Justice has unsealed two historical indictments charging four Russian nationals with conducting computer intrusions, in two separate conspiracies, that targeted the international energy sector between 2012 and 2018. The worldwide hacking campaigns were carried out against thousands of computers at hundreds of companies and organizations ...
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Geofence Warrants and Google’s Sensorvault

The cellphone dragnet called a geofence warrant harvests the location history generated by users of electronic devices that is stored by Google in a vast repository known as Sensorvault. Access to the storehouse by law enforcement continues to generate controversy because these warrants vacuum the location data of people who ...
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Social Media and the New Cyberwar

The Russian invasion of Ukraine is an opportunity for social media giants to rehabilitate their reputations tarnished by invasive surveillance practices, the relentless harvesting of personal data and a collective indifference to social responsibility. Now seizing the chance to gain a higher ground they are pushing back against the Russian ...
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