extortion
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Google will update its search algorithm to discourage slander extortion schemes
Google is changing its search algorithms to suppress sites used to extort money through slander.
Apple supplier is the latest target of a $50 million ransomware hack
Apple's key MacBook supplier, Quanta, is the target of ransomware hackers threatening to leak Mac blueprints
Hacker who tried to extort Tesla pleads guilty
A Russian national accused of trying to hack and extort Tesla has pleaded guilty, avoiding a jury trial and a possible long stay in prison.
Hacker sells access to hundreds of corporate executives' email accounts
A hacker is selling access to email accounts for hundreds of CEOs and other high-level executives.
Tesla worked with the FBI to block a million dollar ransomware attack
Tesla avoided a ransomware attack with the help of an honest employee and the FBI.
Extortionists threaten sites with bad traffic to make Google ban ads
A creative extortion scheme is threatening websites with revenue loss by unleashing bad traffic that activates Google's AdSense anti-fraud systems, according to Krebs on Security. First, a fraudster threatens to flood the publisher's site with sketchy bot traffic. Then, Google's AdSense anti-fraud systems would pick up on that traffic and suspend the user's AdSense account. Naturally, all you have to do to make this problem go away is pay said fraudster $5,000 in bitcoin.
YouTube sues user who extorted others through fake takedown requests
A lawsuit filed by YouTube yesterday claims that a user abused its copyright infringement reporting system to extort fellow YouTubers and carry out a swatting attack. YouTube alleges that Christopher Brady, of Omaha, Nebraska, filed dozens of Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown notices, which falsely claimed that materials posted by other users infringed his copyrights. Not only were the takedown notices bogus, they were allegedly part of Brady's plan to extort money from those users.
Hackers claim to have insurance data linked to 9/11 attacks
The hackers who stole Orange is the New Black are back, and they've hit a new low. The group known as TheDarkOverlord claims to have stolen 18,000 documents from Hiscox Syndicates, Lloyds of London and Silverstein Properties, and threatened to release files providing "answers" for 9/11 attack "conspiracies" unless it received a ransom. A Hiscox spokesperson confirmed the hack to Motherboard and indicated that this was likely insurance data tied to litigation involving the terrorist campaign.
US charges Iranian hackers over $30 million ransomware spree
The US is attempting to hold the creators of the infamous SamSam ransomware to account. A federal grand jury has revealed indictments against two Iranian men, Mohammad Mansouri and Faramarz Savandi, for allegedly authoring and wielding SamSam to extort money from a wide range of North American targets, including multiple hospitals, health care companies, state agencies and the city of Atlanta. They've successfully collected $6 million in ransoms so far, according to the Justice Department, and have created over $30 million in losses.
Four men linked to Mugshots.com have been charged with extortion
Four men allegedly behind the website Mugshots.com have been arrested and California Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced charges of extortion, money laundering and identity theft. The website mines information from police department websites, pulling names, mugshots and charges of those who have been arrested, and then publishes them online. To get the content taken down, individuals have to pay a "de-publishing" fee -- a practice that has been illegal in California since 2015. Becerra's office says that over the course of three years, the site collected more than $64,000 from California residents and over $2.4 million nationwide.
Copyright troll lawyer is finally disbarred for fraud
While it is illegal to download copyrighted files from file-sharing sites, it is also against the law to extort downloaders. John L. Steele, a Chicago lawyer who pled guilty to perjury, fraud and money laundering resulting from alleged "honeypot" schemes, has just been disbarred by an Illinois court. Both Steele and his law partner, Paul Hasmeier, were indicted last March for uploading porn videos that they acquired through sham companies in the West Indies and then suing whomever downloaded them, resulting in a staggering $6 million in settlement fees. That's quite a honeypot.
'Orange is the New Black' hackers may have stolen 36 other shows
When the hackers who swiped Netflix's unreleased Orange is the New Black season warned that they had shows from other TV networks, they might not have been kidding around. TheDarkOverlord has reportedly provided DataBreaches.net with a "preview" of the shows it obtained from Larson Studios, and it looks like there could be 36 more titles in the mix -- many of which you've likely heard about. The mix includes recent and yet-to-air episodes of Fox's New Girl, FX's It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, IFC's Portlandia and CBS' NCIS: Los Angeles, among others. There are also singular titles like the Vin Diesel movie XXX: Return of Xander Cage as well as Netflix's Bill Nye Saves the World and a YouTube Red original.
San Francisco transit hackers threaten to expose data
Looks like San Francisco refused to give in to transit system hackers trying to hold the city for ransom. In a conversation with Motherboard, the attackers (still going by "Andy Saolis") have threatened to expose 30GB of Muni databases and documents unless they receive the $73,000 in bitcoin that they demanded alongside the initial hack. They're trying to claim the moral high ground, too. Purportedly, the hack was a "proof of concept" meant to show that the San Francisco Metropolitan Transportation Authority doesn't "pay attention to your safety." This forces SFMTA to "do right job," the perpetrators claim in broken English.
Experts crack nasty ransomware that locks your PC and your backup
Petya, a brutal piece of malware, surfaced two weeks ago. It's a mean bit of crypto-extortion that hits its victims where it hurts: right in your startup drive. Because it encrypts your master boot file, if attacked, not only will you be unable to start up your PC and not even access your startup disk. Eeesh. Fortunately, there's help. Leostone has come up with a tool that creates the password needed to unlock your startup disk. It's not all that simple, however.
21-year-old charged with sextortion crimes
A 21-year-old from New Hampshire has been charged with a range of crimes surrounding a grisly extortion scheme involving underage girls. The Department of Justice accuses Ryan J. Vallee of hacking into several teenagers' social media accounts, holding them hostage unless they sent him explicit images of themselves. If they didn't comply, he would threaten the girls with "additional harm," although after obtaining the pictures, he distributed them to others anyway. In addition, Vallee is said to have accessed the victim's Amazon accounts and ordered "items of a sexual nature," which were then sent to their homes, causing untold distress.
The FBI needs your help finding 250 sextortion victims
Lucas Michael Chansler is a 26-year-old sexual predator sentenced to 105 years in prison after pleading guilty to multiple counts of child pornography production. Over several years, he tricked roughly 350 teenage girls from 26 states into giving him explicit pictures of themselves by posing as a teen boy and befriending them online before threatening to distribute the photos on social media. He was eventually tracked down to his Jacksonville, Florida home when one victim reported his extortion attempts to the FBI and the The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. While the Feds have been able to locate more than 100 of his underage victims, nearly 250 young women have yet to be identified. And that's where you come in.
Apple to charge $1.99 for 802.11n enabler
CNet reports that Apple has confirmed reports that it will charge to distribute the 802.11n enabler software but that it will charge $1.99 for this enabler rather than the $5.00 previously reported on TUAW. There's a big emotional distance between $5 ("Those bastards[1]! They're messing with us by making us pay again!") and $1.99 (The phrase "nominal" actually does come to mind). Affected products include Intel Core 2 Duo iMacs (except 17-inch, 1.83GHz iMac), Intel Core 2 Duo MacBooks, Intel Core 2 Duo MacBook Pros, and Mac Pros with the AirPort Extreme card option. The lower cost point may truly be a victory over the "Sarbanes-Oxley Act", which readers suggest may protect Apple's accounting department against charges of improper finances (as if Apple really needed that charge being thrown around) due to delivery of incomplete purchases[2]. [1] "They killed Kenny." [2] Blame Enron. (I know. South Park blames Canada, not Enron.)Thanks Mitch Greenfield
Eriksson was driver in stolen car crash, says detective
Detective Zack Conner testified that ex-Gizmondo exec Bo Stefan Eriksson was indeed the (intoxicated) driver during the now infamous Ferrari crash this past February in Malibu, ruling out claims that "Dietrich" — Eriksson's imaginary friend — was behind the wheel. In addition to the DUI charge, Eriksson has been pegged with embezzlement, grand theft, and possession of a gun by a felon.The gaming industry's bad boy is no stranger to the criminal lifestyle. He served 5 & 1/2 years in Swedish prison for assaults, threats, and extortion.See also: Ex-Gizmondo exec's bail set at $7.5M, considered flight risk Ex-Gizmondo exec arrested, faces grand theft charges Gizmondo exec's life continues to spiral into infamy [Thanks, elvisizer]
