Feds take down a half-billion dollar cybercrime forum after 7 years online

WITH THE RISE and fall of dark web black markets like Alphabay and the Silk Road, law enforcement officials have repeatedly warned that even anonymity tools like Tor and cryptocurrencies won't hide criminals from the law's long reach. But the most recent takedown of another massive cybercrime forum carries a different lesson: It's still possible to create an online black market even outside of the dark web's cover, grow it to a half-billion dollar operation, and get away with it for the better part of a decade.

On Wednesday, the Department of Justice unsealed an indictment against no fewer than 36 people, accused of acting variously as administrators, moderators, and sellers of illegal hacking and fraud services on a black market forum known as Infraud. A coordinated action by Homeland Security Investigations and cops in Australia, Britain, France, Italy, Kosovo and Serbia arrested 13 of those named, and took down the website itself, replacing it with a seizure notice.

Defence chief issues cyber crime warning

Australia's military chief has warned European officials of the ever-present threat posed by cyber espionage and intellectual property theft.

Chief of the Defence Force Angus Campbell said the "ineffectively governed" internet had fuelled an "extraordinary uptick" in international espionage, economic theft and corporate crime.

"The opportunities that the connected world provide are very significant, with the potential for very significant damage, both to companies and to institutions that we hold dear and also to states more broadly," General Campbell told an international policy institute in Brussels overnight.

Banks review security measures as cyber crime menace grows

Criminals are getting more sophisticated, warn SA's major banks, as they pilot debit-order system DebiCheck to fight SIM-swap fraud

SA’s major banks are reviewing their online security measures to combat increasingly sophisticated cyber crime.

Absa,  which recently had to refund one of its clients the R3.1m   stolen from his account as a result of SIM-swap fraud,  says this is just an isolated incident.