The number of successful ransomware attacks witnessed a decrease between January and April 2020 in the U.S. public sector amid the COVID-19 crisis. However, researchers have recently noticed that trend reversing, with incidents now starting to increase. According to the study by the malware lab, Emsisoft, the figures show a decline in comparison to the 966 targeted establishments that were successfully attacked at the cost of $7.5 billion. Strong decline in the figures compared with 2019 stats However, during the Q1 and Q2 2019, just 128 federal and state entities, healthcare providers, and educational districts were attacked by ransomware gangs. …

The Chinese authorities dismantled a significant crypto-related scam in Wenzhou. The scheme amassed over 100 million yuan ($14.31 million), which was seized along with a number of luxury cars and villas. According to Toutiao, the gang has been operating since 2019 and primarily sought out victims through Telegram chat groups, including one called “Huobi Global Moving Brick Arbitrage HT Chinese Group Community.” ETH, BTC, and USDT stolen from victims The report states the scammers pretended to be investors who had benefited from an “investment scheme.” The scammers told their victims that all they had to do was send their cryptos …

The South Korean National Assembly will host a talk titled "How to boost transparency in cryptocurrency transactions" on July 10. This news comes amid a recent child porn scandal that involved crypto transactions. According to the Kukto Ilbo, the seminar will discuss topics related to money-laundering prevention and the creation of a system that oversees crypto transactions. Preventing money laundering through dark web crypto transactions The initiative is led by Democratic Party Congressman, Lee Soo-jin. The Blockchain Law Association and blockchain media representatives from South Korea will also join the seminar. A special act law —already approved in the plenary …

The U.S. Department of Justice, or DoJ, indicted Andrey Turchin, known under the pseudonym "fxmsp," with various federal crimes. Turchin allegedly founded a cybercrime group that targeted the computer networks of several companies. After stealing each company’s data, Turchin’s group allegedly sold the data on the dark web. Turchin, a 37 year old Kazakhstan national, is affectionately known on the dark web as "the invisible god of networks." He allegedly sold access to thousands of networks breached with his malware attacks, amassing a million dollar crypto fortune over the course of three years. The Western District of Washington is now …

The Bolivarian National Guard of Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela, seized 315 Bitcoin (BTC) mining machines manufactured by Bitmain. The owners of the mining rigs were told that they did not possess the necessary permits to own and operate the machines. They also were not authorized to be transporting the machines during the COVID-19 quarantine. According to current legislation, Venezuelan citizens who are interested in conducting crypto-related mining activities must obtain the appropriate permits from a government office called the National Superintendence of Cryptoactives. Owners who fail to obtain these permits risk being fined, and having their equipment confiscated.

Cryptocurrency has a starring role in a new casino heist action movie starring Adam Copeland, Denise Richards, and Kelsey Grammer that premieres later this week. According to the trailer, Money Plane (out July 10) is about a former gambler who is pushed into stealing from an aircraft that’s “a bulletproof casino in the sky, untouchable by any government agency”. Grammer’s character says the plane carries “up to a billion on board in crypto and millions in cash.” While not identifying which coins are essential to the plot, a screen capture shows the Money Plane has at least $241 million in …

A hacker gang known as “Keeper” established an interconnected network to steal credit card data from over 570 e-commerce sites. Since 2017, they have profited around $7 million in crypto by selling card information through the dark web. According to a July 7 study by threat intelligence firm, Gemini Advisory, the hacker group managed to create 64 attacker domains and 73 exfiltration domains. These domains were used to retrieve user credit card data from numerous e-commerce sites located across 55 countries. The malicious domains hosted an identical login panel from each e-commerce website. They inserted a malware payload to get …

The U.S. Secret Service issued a warning about an increase in hacks targeting managed service providers, or MSPs, of both the U.S. private sector and various government entities. According to a document published by ZDNet on June 7, threat actors have been widely relying on ransomware attacks, point-of-sale intrusions, and business email compromise scams to breach the internal networks of MSP customers. Remote management software under threat MSPs are service providers related to remote management software for enterprises, including file-sharing systems for internal networks, which could also be hosted inside a cloud infrastructure. U.S. Secret Service officials issued a warning, …

Willie Breedt, a South African national accused of stealing up to $16.3 million from around 2,000 investors via his VaultAge Solutions scheme, has reportedly been forced into bankruptcy by a local court. According to a recent report from News24, the sequestration order was initiated on July 3 by Simon Dix — one of VaultAge’s largest investors, who entrusted Breedt with 7.5 million South African rand, or $440,000. VaultAge Solutions was founded in 2018, promising weekly returns on customer deposits through crypto mining and trading and accepting deposits starting from $50. The scheme’s investors have allegedly received only 1% of expected …

Law enforcement authorities throughout Europe arrested over 800 individuals that allegedly were using an encrypted chat network to coordinate their illicit activities. 60,000 members EncroChat was using modified Android devices to provide its users “worry free secure communications”. BBC reports that EncoChat has about 60,000 users: “An estimated 60,000 people, among them up to 10,000 in Britain, subscribed to France-based EncroChat, which has now been taken down.” Authorities allege that the criminals were using the encrypted messaging service to coordinate illegal activities like the sale of drugs and weapons. However, it is not clear whether they allege that all the …

Cross-platform database company, MongoDB, is the latest victim of a cybercriminal attack. This attack has infiltrated 22,900 unsecured databases by wiping their contents. The gang behind the attack has since requested Bitcoin (BTC) payments in exchange for a backup of the data. According to WeLiveSecurity from the cybersecurity firm ESET, if the ransom isn't paid in two days, the hacker, or a gang of cybercriminals, threatened to notify authorities in charge of enforcing European Union's General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR. A report published by ZDNet explains that the number of databases compromised in the “Wiping & Ransom” attack account …

Reports circulating in Chinese media allege that Zhao Dong, head of the over-the-counter (OTC) crypto lending platform RenrenBit, has been detained by local police. The validity of these reports is not known at this time. Some say Dong is currently in a police station in Hangzhou, others claim he is in Yancheng. Matthew Graham, chief of Sino Global Capital, said through Twitter that reports about Zhao’s current situation seem “confirmed.” RenrenBit allegedly operating “as usual” Graham clarifies that being detained is not the same as being arrested. He notes that the alleged detention may not have anything to do with …