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Amazon union organizer arrested for allegedly trespassing at warehouse
With Amazon's Staten Island warehouse facing a vote to unionize next month, police have arrested labor organizer Christian Smalls.
European police hacked encrypted phones used by thousands of criminals
In one of the largest law enforcement busts ever, European police and crime agencies hacked an encrypted communications platform used by thousands of criminals and drug traffickers.
Ukraine catches hacker who tried to sell 773 million stolen email addresses
Ukrainian officials detained the hacker, known as Sanix, who tried to sell a database with 773 million email addresses and 21 million unique passwords.
Huawei technicians may have helped African governments spy on opponents
An investigation by The Washington Post claims Huawei technicians helped African governments spy on domestic political opponents. According to the report, Huawei employees helped authorities in Uganda intercept encrypted messages and allowed police in Zambia to locate opposition bloggers. Such claims could validate the Trump administration's concerns about the use of Huawei technology in the US, but Huawei told The Washington Post it has "never been engaged in 'hacking' activities."
Julian Assange is facing extradition to the US following arrest (update)
Julian Assange has been arrested by London's Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) and removed from the embassy, according to the MPS. Police entered the facility at the request of Ecuador's Ambassador, "following the Ecuadorian government's withdrawal of asylum," the MPS wrote on their website. Assange is now in custody at a "central London police station where he will remain, before being presented before Westminster Magistrates' Court as soon as is possible."
Fitbit data helps police arrest another murder suspect
Fitbit may have helped police solve the murder of one of its users, after investigators used heart rate data to determine the identity of the alleged killer. On September 8th, Anthony Aiello visited his 67-year-old stepdaughter Karen Navarra in San Jose. He claims he brought homemade pizza and biscotti for her, and she walked him to the door and gave him a couple of roses as a thank you. But data from Navarra's Fitbit Alta showed a different story, according to investigators.
17 people charged in a string of Apple store robberies
A number of individuals have been arrested in conjunction with a series of Apple store robberies that resulted in the theft of over $1 million worth of devices. The California Attorney General's office said in a statement on Thursday that seven were arrested earlier in the week, another suspect was in custody and nine others had been charged with the crime. Since then, at least two additional individuals have been arrested. In a string of robberies, groups rushed retail stores, grabbed products on display and left in just a few seconds.
3D gun publisher Cody Wilson was arrested in Taiwan
Cody Wilson, owner of Defense Distributed, a company currently involved in a legal battle over whether it can legally sell plans for 3D-printed guns, has been arrested in Taiwan, BuzzFeed News reports. Wilson was charged with sexual assault earlier this week for allegedly having sex with a 16-year-old girl in Austin, Texas. He was reportedly arrested today in Taipei after checking into a hotel.
US police arrest China shopping giant's CEO over misconduct claims
Richard Liu, the CEO of Chinese internet shopping behemoth JD.com, is facing scrutiny after Minneapolis police arrested and temporarily detained him this weekend over sexual misconduct allegations. Officers took him in late on August 31st and released him without bail on September 1st after determining it could conduct a "fair and thorough investigation" without the executive in custody, according to Minneapolis Police Department information officer John Elder.
Three men arrested for stealing over 15 million payment cards
US officials announced today that three alleged leaders of the cybercrime group known alternatively as Fin7, Carbanak and the Navigator Group have been arrested in Germany, Poland and Spain and charged with 26 felony counts. The charges include conspiracy, wire fraud, computer hacking, access device fraud and aggravated identity theft. The Department of Justice alleges that Fin7 members have targeted more than 100 US companies, hacked thousands of computer systems and stolen 15 million credit and debit card numbers. The group is said to have breached networks in 47 states and Washington, DC and hacked 6,500 point-of-sale terminals at over 3,600 business locations.
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.
'PUBG' hackers arrested and fined in China for selling game cheats
Combatting hacking and cheating in online games has taken a serious turn for PlayerUknown's Battlegrounds developer Bluehole/PubgCorp. Over the weekend it was revealed that Chinese authorities arrested some 15 people for their roles in making and selling cheats for the online shooter, and the offending parties have been fined over $4.5 million (30m yuan). What's more, this doesn't sound like it'll be an isolated incident: the BBC writes that more arrests are expected as the investigation goes on.
Prosecutors claim Marcus Hutchins admitted writing Kronos malware
Just a couple of days after the FBI arrested Marcus Hutchins (aka MalwareTech) he made an appearance in a Las Vegas federal courthouse to have his bail conditions set ahead of his full arraignment. KSNV News 3 Las Vegas reporter Christy Wilcox reported from the scene, tweeting that prosecutors claim Hutchins admitted to writing malware code (update: per The Telegraph, prosecutor Dan Cowhig told the court "He admitted he was the author of the code of Kronos malware and indicated he sold it.")
FBI arrests UK security researcher who stopped WannaCry outbreak (updated)
Marcus Hutchins, the 23-year-old security researcher who is credited with halting the spread of the WannaCry malware program earlier this year has been arrested by the FBI while attending the Def Con security conference in Las Vegas, Motherboard reports.
Russian charged over $4 billion bitcoin laundering scheme
The US Department of Justice (DoJ) has charged a Russian Bitcoin exchange operator with 17 counts of laundering up to $4 billion since 2011. Alexander Vinnik was arrested earlier this week by Greek police, and shortly afterwards, security firm Wizsec identified him as a prime laundering suspect in the infamous $480 million Mt. Gox hack. "BTC-e was an international money-laundering scheme that, by virtue of its business model, catered to criminals -- and to cyber criminals in particular," the DoJ's indictment reads.
UK police make first arrest triggered by facial recognition
Police in South Wales have arrested a man using automatic facial recognition software. It's the first time a person has been seized this way in the UK, according to Wales Online, following a series of trials at large-scale public events including Download music festival and Notting Hill Carnival. The most recent was the Champions League final in Cardiff, which took place last Saturday (June 3rd). The man, however, was arrested three days beforehand (May 31st). In a statement to Ars Technica UK, police confirmed he was a local resident and "unconnected" to the game in Cardiff.
India is cracking down on dissidence posted to WhatsApp
India's hardline stance against spreading misinformation on social media is getting real. An administrator of a WhatsApp group has been arrested following accusations that he altered a photo of prime minister Narendra Modi "to look ugly and obscene," according to regional publication News18. It follows a recent ruling passed by Indian officials that prohibits social media posts that are fake, contain rumors or that could cause "religious disharmony" -- something similar to what Malaysia has passed.
Man arrested after knocking over a 300-pound security robot
Sure, the K5 isn't the cutest robot making its first steps into human society, but that doesn't mean drunks get to knock it over. One of the five-foot droids took a tumble last week in Mountain View, when a drunk man took umbrage to its whistlin', patrolling ways. (Knocking it over is a bit of feat in itself: The thing weighs 300 pounds.) It's not the first robot to suffer either. Softbank's (more adorable) Pepper has felt the cruelty of mankind while working in a phone store, while Hitchbot lasted just two weeks when it tried to cross America. It suffered a vandal attack in Philadelphia that cut its journey short.
Justice Department attacks global spam botnet after arrest
The Kelihos botnet is a global network of infected Windows machines that is used for all manner of nefarious cybercrime. That's enough reason for the Justice Department to want to wipe the network off the face of the Earth and prosecute its creator to the full extent of the law. Which is what the department believes it is doing, after releasing a statement confirming that it was behind the arrest of Peter Yuryevich Levashov.
Spain arrests Russian citizen for connections to US election hack (updated)
The evidence that Russia hacked the US to influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential election continues to grow. The latest comes from AFP, which says that that a Russian "computer expert" was arrested in Spain today at the Barcelona airport on suspicions of hacking the US presidential election campaigns. Furthermore, the US has already put in an extradition request so that the subject Piotr Levashov would have to stand trial here for his alleged crimes.
