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.

Cryptojacking Overtakes Ransomware as Top Malware in Some Countries

Cryptojacking, the unauthorized use of another’s hardware to mine cryptocurrency, has become the biggest cyber threat in many parts of the world, Bloomberg reported Dec. 14.

According to research from cyber security research firm Kaspersky Lab, cryptojacking overtook ransomware as the biggest cybersecurity threat particularly in the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa. In Afghanistan and Ethiopia over one out of four detected malware are cryptocurrency miners, according to Kaspersky’s data.

As cited by the Bloomberg, Kaspersky’s research “shows crypto mining attacks have risen almost fourfold in the region, from 3.5 million in 2017 to 13 million this year.” The cybersecurity firm reportedly also claimed that cryptojacking incidents are “likely to continue given the increased use of digital currencies.”

Where you're most likely to get cyber-scammed in the UK, revealed

Cyber criminals are targeting people who live in major cities, with London and Birmingham residents most at risk, says a new report. 

According to Barclays’ Digital Safety Index survey, 23 per cent of people living in the capital and 23 per cent of people living in Birmingham have been affected by at least one scam.

The report adds that 28 per cent of London residents and the same proportion of people who live in Bristol have experienced at least one type of online fraud, where the target’s details have been compromised and the perpetrator has completed the transaction.

Majority of Cybercrime Damage is Caused by a Few, Powerful, Covert Criminal Threat Groups

A small subset of professional criminal actors is responsible for the bulk of cybercrime-related damage, employing tools and techniques as sophisticated, targeted and insidious as most nation-state actors, says the State of Cybercrime Report 2018.

These sophisticated and capable criminal gangs operate largely outside of the dark web, although they may leverage low-level criminal tools occasionally when it serves their purposes.

At the same time, there has been no lull in the overall volume of threats, and low-level cybercriminal activity remains a robust market economy, often taking place in view of security researchers and law enforcement on the dark web, the report notes. While relatively simple in their approach, these activities can still deal widespread damage.

Where you're most likely to get cyber-scammed in the UK, revealed

Cyber criminals are targeting people who live in major cities, with London and Birmingham residents most at risk, says a new report.

According to Barclays’ Digital Safety Index survey, 23 per cent of people living in the capital and 23 per cent of people living in Birmingham have been affected by at least one scam (table below).

The report adds that 28 per cent of London residents and the same proportion of people who live in Bristol have experienced at least one type of online fraud, where the target’s details have been compromised and the perpetrator has completed the transaction (table below).

Liverpool shares top place with these cities for impersonation scams.