In the US alone, over $55m has been stolen through SIM swapping attacks since 2018. NEM, a blockchain-based ecosystem, believes that decentralized apps could provide a meaningful solution to this problem. According to NEM, they’re working with a solution called “FIX Network”, which was established to help mobile subscribers secure private keys and transactions on SIM cards. The network leverages a blockchain-based protocol to support the security and privacy of mobile subscribers, NEM explains: “This unique architecture will allow mobile operators to deliver services such as digital identity management, cryptocurrency wallets, and personal data firewalls, all enabled by the safekeeping …

Authorities have taken a 17-year-old into custody, alleging the not-yet-adult cooked up the massive Twitter breach. "Early this morning, the FBI, IRS, US Secret Service, and Florida law enforcement placed a 17-year-old in Tampa, Florida, under arrest — accusing him of being the 'mastermind' behind the biggest security and privacy breach in Twitter’s history," a July 31 article from The Verge said. The massive exploit saw many top Twitter accounts breached on July 15, including the likes of Elon Musk, Joe Biden and Bill Gates. “Our offices found 30 felony charges against Clark, including organized fraud, communications fraud, identity theft …

Twitter released an update on July 30 revealing how hackers gained access to its internal network and account management tools in the recent attack. It also gave details of additional measures taken to improve security since the hack, which netted 12 Bitcoin (BTC) through targeting the Twitter accounts of celebrities and crypto businesses. Phishing for complements The update confirmed that Twitter had been the victim of a social engineering attack, putting paid to rumors that the hack could have been an inside job. According to the report, the July 15 incident started with a spear-phishing attack, targeting a small number …

A new study indicates that hackers are actively relying on the Dogecoin (DOGE) blockchain to expand a malware payload named “Doki.” According to cybersecurity researchers at Intezer, Doki is a fully undetected backdoor that abuses the Dogecoin blockchain “in a unique way” in order to generate its C2 domain address and breach cloud servers. It is deployed through a botnet called Ngrok. These domain addresses are used by the malware to search for additional vulnerable cloud servers within the network of the victim. Intezer’s study explains further about the deployment of the attack: “The attacker controls which address the malware …

Following Ledger's confirmed data breach on June 17, competing hardware wallet manufacturer Trezor cheekily made their followers aware that they frequently purge their systems of all customer order data, including email addresses — apparently every 90 days. Trezor also added a coupon in its tweet that offers 10% discount in its shop, and the code is “DATAPRIVACY.” However, despite the measures announced in the tweet, people asked the company if their “database backups and logs” will be included in the sensitive data purge every 90 days. No response has been provided by Trezor as of press time. Ledger already notified …

A group of hackers associated with the North Korean regime have kept their crypto extortion efforts alive in 2020. A group of North Korean hackers operating under the name “Lazarus” targeted several crypto exchanges last year, according to a report published by Chainalysis. One of the attacks involved the creation of a fake trading bot which was offered to employees of the DragonEx exchange. Findings show that in March 2019, the hackers stole approximately $7 million in various cryptocurrencies from the Singapore-based exchange. Cybersecurity vendor Cyfirma warned in June about a massive crypto phishing campaign that could be launched by …

Digital intelligence firm Cellebrite has launched its “Cellebrite Crypto Tracer” solution. The new offering is powered by CipherTrace and aims to trace illicit cryptocurrencies involved in money laundering, terrorism, drugs, human trafficking, weapon sales and ransomware schemes. The suite of tools will be available to investigators, analysts and non-technical agents who want to lawfully obtain evidence and trace criminals who use cryptos like Bitcoin (BTC) through the darknet. Citing figures from an Oxford University study, Cellebrite states that an estimated $76 billion worth of illegal activities involve Bitcoin. Curating millions of information references to trace transactions The Cellebrite Crypto Tracer …

The No More Ransom decryption tool repository, an initiative launched by Europol to combat ransomware attacks, has saved individuals $632 million in ransom demands since 2016. According to the announcement published by Europol, the repository is celebrating its fourth anniversary. Over the past four years, the repo has gathered over 4.2 million visitors from 188 countries thanks to a compilation of tools from 163 partners. The initiative’s website lists 100 different tools covering 140 different families of ransomware. Covering a wide range of ransomware decryptors The project’s largest contributor is the malware lab, Emsisoft, which has contributed 54 tools so …

Garmin, a multinational tech company, has been operating at less than full capacity following a ransomware attack launched by the Russian cybergang, Evil Corp. Garmin is being extorted for a $10 million ransom, to be paid in cryptocurrency. According to a report published by Bleeping Computer, an unidentified Garmin employee confirmed that the WastedLocker ransomware took down the company’s customer support services, navigation solutions, and other aspects of the U.S.-based firm. The leader of the cybercriminal group is a Russian individual named Maksim Yakubets. A known criminal, Yakubets was indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice in 2019. He was …

Ajey Nagar, a Popular Indian YouTuber with 6.7 million subscribers, is the latest victim of the ongoing BitCoin giveaway scam on Youtube. The hack happened on Nagar’s second Youtube channel- CarryisLive where he streams himself playing video games with YouTubers and celebrities. Two Bitcoin giveaway scam promotional videos were reportedly posted on the channel. Both videos displayed bitcoin addresses. One of the videos also featured an image of SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk supposedly giving away Bitcoin. The scammers were promising to double the Bitcoin sent to them. By press time, Ajey Nagar announced that his Youtube channel is …

Reggie Middleton, the chief executive of crypto company Veritaseum, is suing telecommunications provider T-Mobile for allegedly enabling the theft of $8.7 million worth of crypto in a series of SIM-swap attacks. According to filings published on July 22, Middleton was first targeted by SIM-swappers during July 2017. Despite immediately reporting the incident to T-Mobile, Middleton claims to have been the victim of four successful SIM-swaps over the rest of 2017, and further attacks during 2018 and 2019. The suit accuses T-Mobile of having “abjectly failed” in its responsibility to protect the personal and financial information of its customers. What is …

Bitcoin (BTC) has made global headlines again because of the recent Twitter hack, but this time, we need to work harder to protect Bitcoin’s integrity and the progress the industry has made. The coordinated social engineering attack compromised the Twitter accounts of high-profile figures and organizations like Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Tesla founder Elon Musk, Amazon owner Jeff Bezos, former United States President Barack Obama and 2020 U.S. presidential candidate Joe Biden, among many others, to ask for Bitcoin in fake “giveaway” posts. When the story broke, the New York Times, BBC and other mainstream media outlets were quick to …