A series of ransomware attacks over the past week affected medical care, hundreds of thousands of parcel deliveries during the pandemic — and even a lingerie manufacturer. Attackers are threatening to leak sensitive data if companies fail to make the required payments. ITNews reported that the Australian logistics giant Toll Group suffered its second ransomware attack so far this year, with a type of ransomware known as “Nefilim.” Toll Group had shut down its IT system after detecting “unusual activities.” The company — responsible for delivering many hundreds of thousands of parcels per day — confirmed that the Neflim ransomware …

A report from cybersecurity firm Check Point unveiled a new ransomware attack, where cybercriminals pose as the FBI to demand victims pay their "fine" by credit card. According to the April 28 report, the malware — known as "Black Rose Lucy" — is unusual, since there are no ransom payments involving cryptocurrencies like Bitcoins (BTC) and it affects users of mobile devices with Android as an operating system. Check Point had already tracked the beginnings of the malware since September 2018, originating in Russia as a "Malware-as-a-Service" (MaaS) botnet. However, it took the form of ransomware to make various changes …

South Korean authorities have managed to trace the digital fingerprints of at least 40 people suspected of having paid with cryptocurrencies to access videos of rape and sexual exploitation of minors in the context of the "Nth Room" case. According to a report published on April 27 by local news agency Yonhap News, a raid on 20 of the biggest cryptocurrency exchanges in South Korea yielded information that the police have used to find users, thus setting a precedent for investigations on crypto-related crimes in the country. Payments sent to Nth Room’s mastermind Yonhap also reported the story of a …

A ransomware gang has published personal and financial data from the Californian City of Torrance online — and threatened to reveal 200GB more unless their demands are met. Calling themselves DoppelPaymer, the ransomware gang has demanded 100 Bitcoin (BTC) — worth around $700,000 — in exchange for not releasing any more files stolen in the March 1 cyberattack. The cyberattack erased the City's local backups and encrypted approximately 150 servers and 500 workstations. The release of the data is embarrassing for City officials who claimed that no private data from its 145,000 residents had been compromised in the attack. To …

An April 21 report by malware lab Emsisoft showed that there was a significant drop in the number of successful ransomware attacks on the US public sector during Q1 2020. The findings show a total of 89 organizations were victims of ransomware in the first quarter of the year. And as the COVID-19 crisis deepened, successful attacks fell even lower, to levels "not seen in several years." Government entities were attacked less frequently, with those numbers going down from 19 in January to just seven in March. The same was mostly true for education: ten successful attacks in January, 14 …

Speaking as part of an online panel hosted by think tank, Aspen Institute, Federal Bureau of Investigations, or FBI, deputy assistant director, Tonya Ugoretz, revealed that the number of cybercrime reports received by the agency has more than tripled amid the COVID-19 pandemic. “Whereas they might typically receive 1,000 complaints a day through their internet portal, they're now receiving something like 3,000 to 4,000 complaints a day,” stated Ugoretz, adding: “Not all of those are COVID-related, but a good number of those are.” The FBI agent noted that “there was a brief shining moment when we hoped [...] ‘gosh cybercriminals …

A cybersecurity expert explained why he is convinced that the promises made by ransomware groups amid the pandemic are irrelevant. Brett Callow — threat analyst at cybersecurity firm Emsisoft — told Cointelegraph that multiple ransomware groups recently made promises to halt their activity against medical organizations amid the coronavirus pandemic. Still, he believes that those promises are irrelevant: “The claims of a ceasefire made by ransomware groups are irrelevant [and] should be completely disregarded. Would you leave your front door unlocked simply because the local burglars had pinky-promised not to rob you? Probably not. The story of the frog and …

The number of ransomware attacks globally has dropped significantly since the coronavirus crisis intensified in March, according to a new report from Chainalysis. The blockchain analytics firm said the drop was particularly significant given there were growing concerns over the impact of ransomware attacks against hospitals and other healthcare organizations during the crisis. Hospitals are a favoured target for ransomware gangs. Security software provider Emsisoft reported that over the course of 2019, at least 764 healthcare providers in the U.S. had been attacked. In mid-March Emsisoft publicly implored ransomware gangs to stop targeting hospitals due to the potential fatal impacts …

Google recently removed 49 phishing Google Chrome web browser extensions after receiving reports about their activity. Harry Denley, director of security at cryptocurrency wallet startup MyCrypto, explained in an April 14 Medium post how he got the extensions removed from Chrome’s store within 24 hours with the help of phishing-specialized cybersecurity firm PhishFort. The removed extensions include ones that targeted the owners of hardware wallets produced by Ledger, Trezor and KeepKey, and users of software wallets Jaxx, MyEtherWallet, Metamask, Exodus and Electrum. The extensions triggered the users to enter the credentials needed to access the wallet — such as mnemonic …

A Bitcoin (BTC) trading scam has claimed the involvement of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex Prince Harry Charles Albert David and his wife Meghan Markle. According to an April 9 report by the Mirror, the royal couple was featured in a fake BBC article where they praised a Bitcoin trading scheme. The fake news piece claimed that the pair talked during a television show about a “wealth loophole” that can “transform anyone into a millionaire within three to four months.” According to the fake article, the scheme would play a role in the couple's very real intentions to step …

As the world continues to battle with the deadly coronavirus pandemic, immoral cybercriminals are once again on the prowl. This time, they are using the chaos and fear through phishing techniques and sophisticated malware hacks to access people’s crypto holdings. On March 27, residents in the United Kingdom received warnings from their local councils “to be on their guard against a series of scams attempting to take advantage of the coronavirus outbreak.” Scammers have been using other tricks to lure victims, including the use of false Bitcoin (BTC) donation channels, fake maps of the coronavirus’s spread that steal private data …

A crack team of cybersecurity experts in 65 countries has come together to combat ransomware attacks on hospitals during the coronavirus crisis. Calling themselves the COVID-19 CTI League the community of experts aims to protect the technological infrastructure of front-line medical resources from cyberattacks. Hospitals around the world have seen a big increase in cyberattacks over the past year, in which critical IT systems are encrypted with malware. Gangs demand a Bitcoin ransom in return for the decryption key. Hospitals are often seen as soft targets, due to ageing IT infrastructure and a willingness to pay due to the critical …