News in the Legal category

Google Analytics data transfer to U.S. brings $1 million fine to Swedish firms

The Swedish Authority for Privacy Protection (Integritetsskyddsmyndigheten - IMY) has fined two companies with 12.3 million SEK (€1 million/$1.1 million) for using Google Analytics and warned two others about the same practice.
- Bill Toulas
- July 04, 2023
- 11:19 AM
- 0
EncroChat takedown led to 6,500 arrests and $979 million seized

Europol announced today that the takedown of the EncroChat encrypted mobile communications platform has led to the arrest of over 6,600 people and the seizure of $979 million in illicit funds.
- Bill Toulas
- June 27, 2023
- 10:20 AM
- 0
Google targets fake business reviews network in new lawsuit

Google has filed a consumer protection lawsuit against Ethan QiQi Hu and his company, Rafadigital, accusing him of creating 350 fraudulent Business Profiles and 14,000 fake reviews for an alleged business verification service for Google services.
- Bill Toulas
- June 16, 2023
- 02:26 PM
- 0
Bulletproof hoster gets 3 years for pushing Ursnif, Zeus malware

Romanian national Mihai Ionut Paunescu, aka "Virus," was sentenced to three years in prison by a Manhattan federal court for running a bulletproof hosting service and facilitating the distribution of the Gozi (Ursnif), Zeus, SpyEye, and BlackEnergy malware.
- Bill Toulas
- June 13, 2023
- 10:52 AM
- 1
CEO guilty of selling counterfeit Cisco devices to military, govt orgs

A Florida man has pleaded guilty to importing and selling counterfeit Cisco networking equipment to various organizations, including education, government agencies, healthcare, and the military.
- Bill Toulas
- June 07, 2023
- 10:19 AM
- 3
IT employee impersonates ransomware gang to extort employer

A 28-year-old United Kingdom man from Fleetwood, Hertfordshire, has been convicted of unauthorized computer access with criminal intent and blackmailing his employer.
- Bill Toulas
- May 23, 2023
- 11:22 AM
- 5
Former Ubiquiti dev who extorted the firm gets six years in prison

Nickolas Sharp, a former senior developer of Ubiquiti, was sentenced to six years in prison for stealing company data, attempting to extort his employer, and aiding the publication of misleading news articles that severely impacted the firm's market capitalization.
- Bill Toulas
- May 11, 2023
- 10:55 AM
- 1
Hacker ‘PlugwalkJoe’ pleads guilty to 2020 Twitter breach

Joseph James O'Connor, aka 'PlugwalkJoke,' has pleaded guilty to multiple cybercrime offenses, including SIM swapping attacks, cyberstalking, computer hacking, and hijacking high-profile accounts on Twitter and TikTok.
- Bill Toulas
- May 10, 2023
- 09:48 AM
- 0
FBI seizes 9 crypto exchanges used to launder ransomware payments

The FBI and Ukrainian police have seized nine cryptocurrency exchange websites that facilitated money laundering for scammers and cybercriminals, including ransomware actors.
- Bill Toulas
- May 02, 2023
- 03:52 PM
- 1
Police operation 'SpecTor' arrests 288 dark web drug vendors and buyers

An international law enforcement operation codenamed 'SpecTor' has arrested 288 dark web vendors and customers worldwide, with police seizing €50.8 million ($55.9M) in cash and cryptocurrency.
- Bill Toulas
- May 02, 2023
- 10:40 AM
- 1
Ukrainian arrested for selling data of 300M people to Russians

The Ukrainian cyber police have arrested a 36-year-old man from the city of Netishyn for selling the personal data and sensitive information of over 300 million people, citizens of Ukraine, and various European countries.
- Bill Toulas
- April 26, 2023
- 05:35 PM
- 3
American Bar Association data breach hits 1.4 million members

The American Bar Association (ABA) has suffered a data breach after hackers compromised its network and gained access to older credentials for 1,466,000 members.
- Lawrence Abrams
- April 21, 2023
- 09:56 AM
- 0
DISH slapped with multiple lawsuits after ransomware cyber attack

Dish Network has been slapped with multiple class action lawsuits after it suffered a ransomware incident that was behind the company's multi-day "network outage." The legal actions aim to recover losses faced by DISH investors who were adversely affected by what has been dubbed a "securities fraud."
- Ax Sharma
- April 01, 2023
- 06:39 AM
- 2
UK creates fake DDoS-for-hire sites to identify cybercriminals

The U.K.'s National Crime Agency (NCA) revealed today that they created multiple fake DDoS-for-hire service websites to identify cybercriminals who utilize these platforms to attack organizations.
- Bill Toulas
- March 24, 2023
- 12:35 PM
- 0
Dutch Police arrest three ransomware actors extorting €2.5 million

The Amsterdam cybercrime police team has arrested three men for ransomware activity that generated €2.5 million from extorting small and large organizations in multiple countries.
- Bill Toulas
- February 24, 2023
- 03:32 AM
- 0
Russian hacker convicted of $90 million hack-to-trade charges

Russian national Vladislav Klyushin was found guilty of participating in a global scheme that involved hacking into U.S. computer networks to steal confidential earnings reports, which helped the criminals net $90,000,000 in illegal profits.
- Bill Toulas
- February 15, 2023
- 03:39 PM
- 0
Former Ubiquiti dev pleads guilty to trying to extort his employer

Nickolas Sharp, a former Ubiquiti employee who managed the networking device maker's cloud team, pled guilty today to stealing gigabytes worth of files from Ubiquiti's network and trying to extort his employer while posing as an anonymous hacker and a whistleblower.
- Sergiu Gatlan
- February 02, 2023
- 02:01 PM
- 1
WhatsApp fined €5.5 million by Irish DPC for GDPR violation

The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) has fined WhatsApp Ireland €5.5 million ($5.95M) after confirming that the communications service has violated the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation).
- Bill Toulas
- January 22, 2023
- 10:11 AM
- 0
New York man defrauded thousands using credit cards sold on dark web

A New York resident has pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit bank fraud using stolen credit cards purchased on dark web cybercrime marketplaces.
- Bill Toulas
- January 18, 2023
- 12:06 PM
- 0
TikTok slapped with $5.4 million fine over cookie opt-out feature

France's data protection authority (CNIL) has fined TikTok UK and TikTok Ireland €5,000,000 for making it difficult for users of the platform to refuse cookies and for not sufficiently informing them about their purpose.
- Bill Toulas
- January 15, 2023
- 10:05 AM
- 0