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Feds charge nine hackers for $30M insider trading scheme
The Wall Street Journal reports that federal prosecutors are set to unseal charges Tuesday against nine hackers and stock traders involved in an insider trading operation that netted more than $30 million on illicit deals. The group to be charged allegedly had been conducting sophisticated cyber-attacks against newswire services in order to steal upcoming merger and acquisition information that had been uploaded to the newswire's servers -- but not yet published -- and position their investments accordingly. The group was discovered after a multi-agency investigation involving the DHS, FBI, SEC and the Secret Service.
Andrew Tarantola08.11.2015FBI: Retweeting terrorist organizations could get you arrested
The Federal Bureau of Investigation's least likely informant isn't a shadowy figure in a parking garage or an anonymous phone call -- it's a fast-paced social network with a short attention span: Twitter. According to FBI Director James Comey, the social network has proved to be an invaluable source of evidence against supporters of terrorism. An account that's constantly retweeting content from ISIS or ISIL could be a sign of criminal activity. That said, context still matters.
Sean Buckley08.07.2015Darkode cybercrime forum seized as police arrest 28 members
In a coordinated takedown, law enforcement agents around the world have teamed up to shut down the well-known cybercrime forum Darkode, pursuing 70 of its members and associates resulting in 28 arrests so far. In the US, the Department of Justice and the FBI have announced criminal charges against 12 individuals including the site's alleged admin, Johan Anders Gudmunds, aka Mafi aka Crim aka Synthet!c, and the seizure of the site's servers. Dubbed Operation Shrouded Horizon, the effort by police in 20 countries took on a forum known as a place for cyber criminals to swap tips and tools (botnets, spamming services, you name it) of the trade. Brian Krebs has been reporting on Darkode's community for quite some time, including a profile published after its administrators tricked him into publishing details on a fake Java exploit.
Richard Lawler07.15.2015The 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.
Andrew Tarantola07.07.2015FBI director says he's 'not a maniac' about backdoor cellphone access
FBI director James Comey is making a final push for backdoor cellphone access for law enforcement ahead of key Senate committee meetings. In national security site Lawfare, he first admitted that "universal strong (cellphone) encryption will protect all of us -- our innovation, our private thoughts, and so many other things of value -- from thieves all kind." However, he quickly added that "there are many costs to this," citing terrorist organizations like ISIS. He said that the group recruits members "through mobile messaging apps that are end-to-end encrypted... (and) may not be intercepted, despite judicial orders under the Fourth Amendment."
Steve Dent07.07.2015Feds hunt for suspects in California internet backbone attack
A string of attacks in California on one of the core portions of the internet has the FBI searching for suspects. The latest disruption occurred yesterday morning when three fiber-optic cables were cut in Alameda county in the Bay Area. The interruption affected internet access for individuals and businesses throughout Northern California and was fixed early Wednesday morning. This is the 11th time in the past year that an individual or group of individuals have vandalized fiber optic cables in the Bay Area. The first such attack occurred on July 6, 2014 in Berkeley. FBI special agent Greg Wuthrich told Engadget, "The FBI is coordinating with local law enforcement partners as these cuts are happening in multiple cities and jurisdictions."
Roberto Baldwin07.01.2015FBI investigating St. Louis Cardinals for hacking another team's files
Sports teams employ questionable methods to gain an advantage over their opponents, but the FBI is looking into whether or not one team took to hacking. The Justice Department is investigating the St. Louis Cardinals for allegedly hacking into the Houston Astros' network and accessing files containing player information. According to the New York Times, investigators discovered evidence that front-office personnel hacked into the Astros' databases and looked at scouting reports, stats and info about potential trades. This is the first "known" incident of a pro sports franchise hacking another, as professional hackers, companies and groups operating in foreign countries are typically the culprits.
Billy Steele06.16.2015White House secretly expands NSA power to collect US internet data
The Obama administration expanded the NSA's ability to collect Americans' internet data in 2012, with absolutely no notice to the public, The New York Times reports. The Justice Department issued two memos, in secret, to the NSA allowing the agency to gather and search Americans' international internet traffic without a warrant, ostensibly to find foreign hackers or malware. The secret memos allowed the NSA to track IP addresses and cybersignatures that could be tied to foreign governments. However, documents provided to the Times by Edward Snowden show that the NSA tried to target hackers that weren't tied to any foreign authority.
Jessica Conditt06.04.2015FBI surveillance planes flying over US cities linked to fake companies
Thanks to a report from The Associated Press, we now know more about the FBI's fleet of small surveillance planes that are flying over US cities. It's no secret the aircraft have been used for years to aid the bureau's efforts on the ground, but recent flights were equipped with cameras and cellphone-tracking technology. The FBI says mass surveillance isn't the purpose of the group of mostly Cessnas (like the one above), maintaining the gear is only used for ongoing investigations -- more often than not, without a warrant. The FBI isn't denying the existence of the aircraft, but the AP linked the fleet to at least 13 fake companies. Those companies coordinated over 100 flights in 11 states during a 30-day span starting in late April. According to the bureau, measures are taken for "operational security purposes" and for pilot safety. The FBI also says the phone-tracking tech is rarely used. However, as with its Stingray devices, the cellphones of nearby people are caught up in the net -- not just the intended target. [Image credit: AP Photo/Andrew Harnik]
Billy Steele06.03.2015FBI slip-up leaves Megaupload, other seized sites hosting nasty ads
The FBI might want to continue brushing up on its internet skills. The agency's online division forgot to renew the web domain it uses to host seized websites, leading to a "black hat SEO" marketer taking over sites like Megaupload and temporarily filling them with malware- and scam-laden ads. Law enforcement officials eventually got their former domain suspended due to an "ongoing criminal investigation" into the malware, but the address' ultimate fate remains up in the air. Suffice it to say that the mistake is ironic -- the FBI inadvertently contributed to the very sort of digital crime it's trying to stop.
Jon Fingas06.01.2015DOJ lays down some privacy rules for feds flying drones
The Justice Department promises to keep a closer eye on how its agencies are using drones from now on -- after all, they can be useful in nabbing suspects, but they can also be used as a tool to abuse power. In its new five-page policy guidance, the department has listed when its agencies can and can't use drones, with a focus on people's right to privacy. For instance, they can't be deployed to monitor activities protected by the First Amendment, such as peaceful protests. Authorities will also have to secure warrants to use the machines in places where the subject of investigation has "reasonable expectation of privacy." Obviously, the drones can only be used for authorized investigations and never for engaging in discriminatory acts.
Mariella Moon05.23.2015Apple and Google push Obama to prevent encryption backdoors
Apple, Google and other major tech companies have urged President Obama not to give the FBI backdoor access to smartphone data, according to the Washington Post. The publication obtained a letter signed by no less than 140 major tech players, security specialists and privacy groups stating that "strong encryption is the cornerstone of the modern information economy's security." All of the players feel that it's impossible to build a backdoor for governments in email, cellphone encryption and other communications without creating vulnerabilities that can be exploited by hackers or hostile nations. Obama previously said that while he's in favor of stronger encryption, "the only concern is our law enforcement is expected to stop every (terrorist) plot."
Steve Dent05.19.2015FBI: Security researcher claimed to hack, control plane in flight
Remember the security researcher who was pulled from a United flight and had his equipment taken (before its frequent flier miles-paying bug hunt) for tweeting about hacking into the plane via its entertainment system? In an application for a search warrant, FBI agents said he previously told them he's gone further than that. APTN National News obtained the document, which contains claims that Chris Roberts told them he connected his laptop to a plane via an Ethernet cable, hacked into a thrust management computer and briefly controlled one of the engines, causing the plane to change course. As reported previously by Wired, he has warned of vulnerabilities in planes for years -- manufacturers deny they exist -- and the conversations were apparently intended to get these problems fixed.
Richard Lawler05.15.2015FBI says police can disclose Stingray use, but not what they can do
Look, none of us should be surprised that police departments across the country use things like Stingrays -- sophisticated surveillance devices that suck up cell phone communications -- in their investigations. Still, more than a few of those PDs have insisted in court on trying to keep that specialized gear out of the limelight. Consider cases like this one in Baltimore last year, where a police officer was nearly held in contempt for withholding information about cell phone tracking practices; they often hinge on the fact that law enforcement officials entered into non-disclosure agreements with the FBI to keep usage under wraps. Turns out, that's not exactly the full story. According to a statement released by the FBI earlier this morning (and obtained in full by Ars Technica), there really aren't any legal stipulations meant to keep law enforcement from admitting stingrays have been used.
Chris Velazco05.15.2015FBI dumps 5,000 redacted pages on its cellphone-tracking device
It's no secret that local law enforcement offices around the US are using a tool called Stingray to track cellphone locations without the approval of a judge. In response to a Freedom of Information Act request from MuckRock's Alex Richardson, the FBI released thousands of pages of heavily-redacted documents, emails and more concerning the project, including one titled "Cellphone Tracking for Dummies." The super secret Stingray device is provided to local authorities by the FBI, creating fake cell towers that force nearby handsets to connect to it -- even those belonging to folks other than a suspect. And as you might expect, in addition to tracking, it also reveals the identity of the phone's owner. Included in the collection is loads of correspondence between the Bureau, Boeing, the Harris Corporation and local law enforcement. Those two middle companies, by the way, are manufacturers of the tech.
Billy Steele05.01.2015Feds ask airlines to look for theoretical WiFi hacks
The FBI and TSA have begun telling airlines to watch out for passengers attempting to access their planes' internal navigation networks, despite lacking evidence that anybody's ever actually tried to do so. The Feds are warning aircrews to look for people attempting to access these networks via the public-facing WiFi, through the In-Flight Entertainment systems or by physically connecting to the network ports that everybody now knows are located under their seats.
Andrew Tarantola04.21.2015Federal law enforcement is wasting a lot of money on drones
The US' national law enforcement has been using drones to help nab crooks for almost nine years, but it's still making plenty of rookie mistakes. The Department of Justice's Inspector General has published an audit that shows its agencies not only making poor uses of drones, but wasting a ton of money in the process. Units in the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives spent $600,000 on drones that didn't live up to their promised abilities or couldn't even fly in the first place; in one case, a unit blew $15,000 without telling headquarters. Meanwhile, only half of the FBI's 34 drones (which cost a total of $3 million) worked as of 2014, and the agency has just two pilots that have to fly across the country to deploy their unmanned machines. It's no wonder that investigators have used drones a mere 13 times since 2006, then -- it's rarely practical to even consider the idea.
Jon Fingas03.25.2015'Canary Watch' legally reveals when sites get national security requests
Internet service companies like Reddit and Tumblr want to be transparent about user privacy. The problem is, they're sometimes forced by law to clam up when they receive specific national security data requests from agencies like the NSA or FBI. But there's nothing stopping them from saying they haven't received such requests, and that's where a new website called Canary Watch comes in. Like the birds that show a mine is safe by not being dead, the site tracks statements by websites like Pinterest saying they haven't received national security requests. If such "warrant canaries" suddenly disappear, Canary Watch will flag that fact, revealing that the site actually has received a request without breaking any laws.
Steve Dent02.04.2015Google: We fought to notify WikiLeaks about email warrants
We still don't know everything about the information Google handed over to the government about three WikiLeaks employees, but a lawyer for the search giant has answered one question about the incident. While a gag order prevented Google from the three staff members, attorney Albert Gidari told the Washington Post it fought the government for four years to overturn it. Apparently, the government allowed Twitter to notify supporters -- including Icelandic politician Birgitta Jónsdóttir -- of surveillance in 2010 and was shocked at their disagreement. Afterwards, it was determined to avoid that, and fought hard to keep gag orders in place. The lawyer claims it's policy to challenge any gag order with an indefinite time period, but as a law professor told the Post -- the targets of the surveillance have the strongest potential case to reduce the scope of a warrant, if only they knew that it was happening. [Image credit: Associated Press]
Richard Lawler01.29.2015WikiLeaks furious at Google for keeping government data request a secret
Google is catching some heat from WikiLeaks after the company revealed that it handed over emails and other data on three WikiLeaks employees to the US government. Obviously, that in and of itself would be enough to ruffle the feathers of the activist group. But, to make matters worse, Mountain View handed handed over the data in the spring of 2012. That's right, Google waited over two and a half years to tell Wikileaks about the government request. The warrants, which were served by the FBI in March of 2012, asked for the contents of all emails -- sent, received and draft -- as well as their destination or origin, IP addresses and even the credit cards associated with the accounts. How much of that information Google ultimately delivered is not known, but WikiLeaks has asked the internet giant for some insight.
Terrence O'Brien01.26.2015