Cyber Bites

Law enforcement in Ukraine claim to have dismantled a large bot farm used by the Russian special services to spread disinformation and propaganda within the country. The Secret Service of Ukraine (SSU) said that an audience of over 400,000 Ukrainians were receiving misinformation from the million-strong bot farm. They claim that the content was used to "spin destabilising content" on the country's military and political leadership. The content included fake news regarding the situation at...

The former owner of a T-Mobile store has been found guilty of a multimillion-dollar scheme to illegally unlock and unblock mobile devices. Argishti Khudaverdyan, 44, from Burbank, was found guilty of 14 federal charges including wire fraud, money laundering, intentionally accessing a computer without  authorisation to obtain information, access a computer to defraud and obtain value, and aggravate identity theft. From August 2014 to June 2019, Khudaverdyan fraudulently unlocked and unblocked devices on T-Mobile, AT&T,...

Football fans have been warned to exercise caution when online shopping after it has emerged that fraudsters are increasingly taking to social media to sell non-existent tickets for events. According to Lloyds Bank data revealed that incidents surged between January and June 2022, with an average loss of £410 per victim. Tickets for the top six English clubs plus internationals and European games are the most sought after and therefore most at risk of scams...

Security researchers in the UK warn of potentially malicious efforts to alter the result of the upcoming Conservative Party leadership election. The next Prime Minister of the country will be decided by around 160,000 party members when they decide between current foreign secretary Liz Truss and former chancellor Rishi Sunak. The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), part of the spy agency GCHQ, was forced to alert the party that the voting system for members could...

Several government websites in Taiwan suffered intermittent outages due to multiple distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks yesterday following the arrival of senior US lawmaker, Nancy Pelosi. The visit has angered Beijing, which claims Taiwan as its own. Pelosi reportedly met the Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and reiterated Washington's support for the democratic island nation, with a population of 24 million. Simultaneously, reports suggested the websites of Taiwan's presidential office, foreign ministry and other government...

Cybersecurity firm Volexity spotted new activity from a threat actor (TA) allegedly associated with North Korea and deploying malicious extensions on Chromium-based web browsers. The threat has been dubbed SharpTongue by security researchers, despite it being publicly referred to under the name Kimsuky. The researchers frequently observed the TA targeting individuals working for organisations in the US, Europe and South Korea. The TA would reportedly victimise individuals and companies who work on topics including weapons...

A 24-year-old Australian national has been charged for his purported role in the creation and sale of spyware for use by child sex offenders and domestic violence perpetrators. Jacob Wayne John Keen, from Melbourne, is said to have created the remote access trojan (RAT) when he was 15, alongside working as an administrator for the tool from 2013 until it was shutdown in 2019 by the authorities. The Australian Federal Police (AFP) alleged in a...

Cybersecurity researchers have uncovered a large network of more than 11,000 domains used to promote numerous fake investment schemes to users in Europe. The platforms show fabricated evidence of falsified celebrity endorsements and enrichment to create an image of legitimacy and attract a large number of victims. The operation's goal was to trick users into an opportunity for high-return investments and to convince victims to deposit a minimum amount of 250 EUR to sign up...

Lawmakers on the Hill revealed last week that a cyber-attack on the US justice system had compromised a public document management system. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY),  chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, revealed the discovery at a hearing on oversight in the Justice Department. Nadler disclosed that three hostile actors had breached the Public Access to Court Electronic Records and Case Management/Electronic Case File (PACER) system, which provides access to documents across the US court system. Nadler...

Wooton Upper School in Bedfordshire suffered a ransomware attack this week, with hackers demanding £500,000 in ransom, according to reports. The attack also affected the Kimberley college for 16-19 year olds, with both members of the Wootton Academy Trust. The attack was said to be the work of the Hive ransomware group. The cybercriminals messaged parents and students to inform them of the compromise. Bank details, medical records, home addresses and psychological reviews were stolen...