Tag Archive for: Hire

Woman pleads guilty to trying to hire fake ‘hitman’ to kill ex-husband

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MONROE COUNTY, MI – A Rockwood woman has pled guilty to attempting to hire a hitman through a fake website to kill her ex-husband.

Wendy Lynn Wein, 52, pled guilty to charges of solicitation of murder and using a computer to commit a crime on Nov. 12, according to Monroe County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.

The terms of Wein’s plea agreement include a cap of 108 months in prison on the minimum sentence, officials said. Wein will appear before Monroe Circuit Judge Daniel White for sentencing on Jan. 13, 2022.

In spring 2020, police were contacted by the owner of the website titled “Rent-A-Hitman,” after Wein filled out a “service request form” and asked for a consultation with a professional to help her with an “issue” regarding her ex-husband, according to Michigan State Police.

Tip from fake hit man rental website leads to arrest of woman soliciting murder of ex-husband

The domain was created as a cyber-security test site, police said, adding that the website owner was concerned Wein was serious and could be attempting to kill the man.

Despite using a pseudonym, Wein completed the request with her personal identifying information, officials said.

With assistance from two state police undercover narcotic units, MANTIS and LAWNET, an undercover officer posed as a hitman on July 17 and met with Wein in a South Rockwood parking lot, police said.

During the meeting, Wein offered the undercover officer $5,000 to kill her ex-husband and provided him with an upfront payment to cover travel expenses out of state, police said.

Soon after handing over the payment, Wein was arrested and taken to the Monroe County Jail.

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The year’s best apps, 2020’s biggest downloads, the App Store’s newest hire – TechCrunch

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Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the TechCrunch series that recaps the latest in mobile OS news, mobile applications and the overall app economy.

The app industry is as hot as ever, with a record 204 billion downloads and $120 billion in consumer spending in 2019. People now spend three hours and 40 minutes per day using apps, rivaling TV. Apps aren’t just a way to pass idle hours — they’re also a big business. In 2019, mobile-first companies had a combined $544 billion valuation, 6.5x higher than those without a mobile focus.

This week, Apple and Google announced their editorially curated lists detailing the best apps of the year, and Apple also revealed those that were downloaded the most. Apple also made a notable new hire for an App Store role and opened up its anticipated App Store Small Business Program to developers.

Best Apps of the Year

Image Credits: Apple

Both Apple and Google released their “best apps of 2020” year-end lists and there were some similarities between the two, as well as some differences. Both companies’ lists reflected the tough and stressful year 2020 has been, with everyone being stuck at home during a pandemic that changed how we worked, attended school, connected with friends and family, and entertained ourselves.

Apple and Google, as a result, both selected at least one “de-stressing” app among their year-end winners. In Apple’s case, it was Endel, an iOS app that won for Apple Watch App of the Year. Google, however, awarded sleep app Loóna the title of best app of the year.

Disney+ also made both Apple and Google’s lists, the former as Apple TV App of the Year and the latter as the User’s Choice for app of the year. The new streaming service was a godsend for families with younger children, who often struggled in 2020 to keep kids entertained. New releases like Onward and Mulan in 2020 helped give families something to look forward to, while Marvel and Star Wars content, including new series “The Mandalorian,” were hits with streamers, as well.

Another pandemic-prompted choice was Zoom, which won as iPad App of the Year. Though Zoom was around before the coronavirus outbreak, it’s now become a part of…

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LockBit, the new ransomware for hire: a sad and cautionary tale

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A ransom note is plastered across a laptop monitor.

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images)

Ransomware has emerged as one of the top threats facing large organizations over the past few years, with researchers reporting a more than a fourfold increase in detections last year. A recent infection by a fairly new strain called LockBit explains why: after it ransacked one company’s poorly secured network in a matter of hours, leaders had no viable choice other than to pay the ransom.

A report published by McAfee documents the effectiveness of this newcomer ransomware. Incident responders with Northwave Intelligent Security Operations aided in the analysis. LockBit is most prevalent in countries including the US, the UK, France, Germany, Ukraine, China, India, and Indonesia.

(credit: McAfee)

Attackers started out by researching potential targets with valuable data and the means to make big payouts when faced with the dim prospect of losing access to it. The attackers then used a list of words in hopes of gaining access to one of the accounts. Eventually, they hit the jackpot: an administrative account that had free rein over the entire network. The weak account password, combined with the lack of multi-factor authentication protection, gave the attackers all the system rights they needed.

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Biz & IT – Ars Technica

Meet the hacker mom big companies hire for cybersecurity – NBC News

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Meet the hacker mom big companies hire for cybersecurity  NBC News

Our best line of cyber defense may not be the FBI or Congress, it may be people like 38-year-old Sherri Davidoff of Missoula, Montana.

“computer security news” – read more