Tag Archive for: Admits

Cumberland Man Admits to Possessing Child Pornography | USAO-RI

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PROVIDENCE – A Cumberland man whose email and IP address were used to access and view child pornography pleaded guilty today in federal court to a charge of possession of child pornography, announced United States Attorney Zachary A. Cunha.

Patrick K. Newton, 27, was found on March 30, 2022, by Homeland Security Investigation (HSI) agents and members of the Rhode Island State Police Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force to be in possession of child pornography stored on electronic media storage devices belonging to him.

In January 2022, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children provided HSI with information they obtained from a Canadian-based online messaging and chat service that, on multiple dates, an IP address and email, later determined by law enforcement to belong to Newton, was used on multiple dates to access and view child pornography.

At the time of the court-authorized search of Newton’s residence in March 2022, a preliminary forensic audit of a thumb drive belonging to Newtown was found to contain videos depicting child pornography.

Newton is scheduled to be sentenced on January 12, 2023. The defendant’s sentence will be determined by a federal district judge after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Paul F. Daly, Jr. 

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Bandai Namco Admits July Hack May Have Exposed Customer Information

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Back in July, Bandai Namco revealed that a hack of the company’s servers had taken place. At the time, the Elden Ring publisher offered little information about what had been taken, though it did state that customer information “was included in the servers and PCs.” Today, Bandai Namco offered a follow-up to its previous statement, stating that “external leakage of information” as a result of the hack “cannot be denied.” The company went on to state that it has not confirmed of any such instances, but did provide an email address where users could report any potential “information leakage.”

“We deeply apologize to all those involved for the considerable concern and inconvenience this may cause. Any future matters and such like requiring disclosure will be announced without delay,” the statement reads.

At this point, those that have purchased games or content directly from Bandai Namco will likely have some idea whether or not their information was leaked as part of the hack. It also seems that the majority of customers that may have had their information stolen would have been “in the Asian region (excluding Japan),” so it appears customers in North America and Europe might not have cause for concern. Still, Bandai Namco has pledged to “strengthen its information security structure and work to prevent recurrence.” That might prove little comfort for those that have already had their information stolen or shared online, but hopefully it will help to prevent another incident from happening in the future.

Unfortunately, these types of hacks have become all too common in the video game industry, and throughout the internet as a whole. Bandai Namco is one of the biggest and oldest game publishers, which likely made them a bigger target for ransomware groups. It remains to be seen just how seriously Bandai Namco will take this data leak, and the scale of the company’s response in regards to its future security.

Does this incident make you less likely to make purchases directly from Bandai Namco? Are you concerned about your information being stolen in these types of hacks? Let us know in the comments or share directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp to talk all things gaming!

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Canadian admits to hacking spree with Russian cyber-gang

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The leaders, who are still at large, communicate in Russian online and ensure that their malware does not infect Russian computer systems, or those of former Soviet countries whic …

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Panasonic Admits Suffering a Second Cyber Attack in 6 Months With Conti Ransomware Gang Claiming Responsibility

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Japanese tech company Panasonic disclosed that it was the victim of a “targeted cyber attack” on its Canadian operations. According to malware analysis group VX Underground, the Conti ransomware group claimed responsibility for the attack. The group claims to have stolen 2.8 gigabytes of data from Panasonic Canada.

The February attack was the second to devastate the company within six months. In November 2021, Panasonic Japan disclosed that a third party had breached its network and accessed files on its servers.

The company disclosed in January 2022 that the attack leaked the personal information of job candidates and interns.

According to the Japanese media outlet NHK, the illegal access lasted from June to November 2021.

Similarly, Panasonic Corporation India suffered a cyber attack in December 2020, leaking 4 GB of financial information.

Conti ransomware group leaks files allegedly stolen from Panasonic

Conti ransomware group started sharing allegedly stolen documents on its leak site. The dump includes files and spreadsheets reportedly stolen from the HR and accounting departments. Some of the documents had names like “HR Global Database” and “Budget.”

Panasonic hasn’t disclosed the hacking group’s identity or ransomware demands, the intrusion method, the nature of the information stolen, or the number of potential victims.

However, the company says the attack affected the Canadian operation, which employs 400 people and is part of the North American segment.

Panasonic spokesperson Airi Minobe told TechCrunch that the company “took immediate action to address the issue with assistance from cybersecurity experts and our service providers.”

Its response “included identifying the scope of impact, containing the malware, cleaning and restoring servers, rebuilding applications and communicating rapidly with affected customers and relevant authorities.” This description perfectly resembles a ransomware attack response.

Minobe added that efforts to restore operations were still in progress, although the top priority was to mitigate the impacts of the suspected Conti ransomware attack.

“Since confirming this attack, we have worked diligently to restore operations and…

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