Tag Archive for: crack

Crypto hack alarms ramp up as authorities crack down after $3.7 billion stolen

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The rapid growth of cryptocurrency theft over the past few years has become a major concern for U.S. authorities, who are ramping up efforts to crack down on hackers and illicit crypto schemes.

Just last year, crypto hackers managed to steal about $3.7 billion in digital assets, with North Korean state-sponsored cyber actors taking the lead as the main culprit in many of those heists, according to TRM Labs, a blockchain intelligence company.

Although this year has seen a decline in crypto hacks compared to 2022, about $400 million of virtual currency was stolen in the first quarter of 2023, TRM Labs reported. 

Over the last few years, North Korean state-sponsored cyber actors have aggressively targeted the crypto sector, often taking advantage of an industry that is not well understood by many and not well regulated.

North Korean flags are carried during a celebration of the nation’s 73rd founding anniversary in Pyongyang, North Korea, on Sept. 9, 2021. (Associated Press).

U.S. officials and the United Nations have reported that stolen crypto funds have become an important source of revenue for North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile program. 

“The problem has gotten very big and very serious with North Korea cybercriminals accounting for about $1 billion in stolen crypto last year,” said Ari Redbord, global head of policy and government affairs at TRM Labs.

“With North Korea, it is not about personal financial gain. Stolen crypto is used to fund weapons proliferation and other destabilizing activity,” Redbord said, adding that it has become a “serious national security threat.”

A top cyber official in the Biden administration also raised similar concerns regarding North Korea’s role in crypto hacks. 

Anne Neuberger, the administration’s deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technology, said last year she was “concerned about North Korea’s cyber capabilities,” adding that the country uses “up to a third of [stolen crypto] funds to fund their missile program.”

Neuberger added that North Korea’s expansion of its missile testing has been a top priority for the administration, which has taken several…

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How machine learning can help crack the IT security problem

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Join top executives in San Francisco on July 11-12, to hear how leaders are integrating and optimizing AI investments for success. Learn More

Less than a decade ago, the prevailing wisdom was that every business should undergo digital transformations to boost internal operations and improve client relationships. Next, they were being told that cloud workloads are the future and that elastic computer solutions enabled them to operate in an agile and more cost-effective manner, scaling up and down as needed. 

While digital transformations and cloud migrations are undoubtedly smart decisions that all organizations should make (and those that haven’t yet, what are you doing!), security systems meant to protect such IT infrastructures haven’t been able to keep pace with threats capable of undermining them.  

As internal business operations become increasingly digitized, boatloads more data are being produced. With data piling up, IT and cloud security systems come under increased pressure because more data leads to greater threats of security breaches. 

In early 2022, a cyber extortion gang known as Lapsus$ went on a hacking spree, stealing source code and other valuable data from prominent companies, including Nvidia, Samsung, Microsoft and Ubisoft. The attackers had originally exploited the companies’ networks using phishing attacks, which led to a contractor being compromised, giving the hackers all the access the contractor had via Okta (an ID and authentication service). Source code and other files were then leaked online.

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This attack and numerous other data breaches target organizations of all types, ranging from large multinational corporations to small startups and growing firms. Unfortunately, in most organizations, there are simply too many data points for security engineers to…

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After recent spate of cyber attacks, Schumer is calling on feds to crack down on hackers

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STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — In response to a string of data breaches among such retailers as American Airlines, DoorDash, Uber and U-Haul over the last month, U.S. Senator Charles Schumer, is calling on the federal government to crack down on cyber hackers.

Schumer is calling on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to ensure companies are doing everything they can to protect consumer data. In addition, he wants the Department of Justice (DOJ) to fully investigate and go after hackers aiming to harm Americans and New Yorkers.

Schumer on Sunday cited a March 2022 law that gave the feds more oversight on hacks, and said more public information for impacted consumers should be made available. The new law, the Cyber Incident Reporting Act, according to Bloomberg, mandated that companies report hacks to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security within 72 hours of discovery of the incident, and 24 hours if they make a ransomware payment.

“In roughly the last 30 days, vital and personal information has been hacked at many major U.S. companies, compromising people’s privacy. Yet, if you ask most people about these hacks they don’t even know they occurred and the feds are saying very little,” said Schumer. “In fact, for a lot of consumers, unless you have a service—which often comes at a cost—you are not aware of these breaches and hacks. And in some cases, even if you do have a service that alerts you, information about where your personal information went, the origin of the hack and so much more is elusive.”

Schumer said many consumers are “clueless” about these recent hacks and others that have preceded them. He wants the feds to publicly disclose more details about recent breaches, and give impacted consumers more help and information.

“The feds have a law on the books to glean more information on major hacks, so the message today is: give consumers the details and investigate who is hacking,” said Schumer. “If a company is not doing right by their customers’ very personal information, then hold them to account as well. That is the two-pronged message today.”

RECENT DATA BREACHES

According to Schumer’s office, here are the most recent data breaches:

Sept. 20: American…

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If you can crack the code on the new 50 cent coin, the Australian cyber-spy agency wants to hear from you | Katherine Times

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A new 50 cent coin, released by the Royal Australian Mint today, celebrates the importance of code breaking and evolution of signals intelligence – and if you can work out what is written on the coin, the Australian cyber-spy agency wants to hear from you.

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