Tag Archive for: infiltrating

This Hacker Stole Data From 200M Americans. Now He’s Infiltrating Scam Gangs.


Sitting in court, Ngo Minh Hieu knew he had fucked up big time. 

In July 2015, the 25-year-old was sentenced to 13 years in prison for stealing personal information from approximately 200 million Americans—over 60 percent of the U.S. population—and selling it on the dark web. 

That day in court, the judge told him that they had received some 10,000 complaint letters from his victims. Among them was a woman who had lost her house and was struggling to feed her children after her personal information was hijacked by malicious actors, landing her in crippling debt.

It was then that the gravity of what he had done dawned on him. 

“I felt like a serial killer,” he told VICE World News. “When I was still making money and living a good life in Vietnam, I thought that information was just numbers.”

“I couldn’t imagine that stealing U.S. identities would bring so much damage to a person’s life.”

Today, his life is unrecognizable from that of the prolific hacker he was 10 years ago. After a seven-year stint in U.S. federal prison, the 33-year-old today is still trawling the dark web, but now working for the Vietnamese government to hunt cybercriminals like he once was. As part of this grand redemption arc, the past year has also seen him tackling a disturbing new breed of cyber scammer in Cambodia, where thousands of human trafficking victims are trapped and tortured in industrial-scale centers, forced to lure internet users into online frauds. 

Fueling these attempts to make amends is the nagging guilt over his crime spree, described by U.S. authorities as one of the most prolific identity thefts in U.S. history, which he says continues to haunt many of his victims today.

“Every time I have a chance to speak with the media, I always try to apologize to American people as much as possible,” Hieu said. “Because I know the damage is already done and it’s very difficult to recover when your identity gets traded or sold to bad people on the dark web.”

Hieu grew up in Cam Ranh, a city in south Vietnam, where his parents owned a small electronics store. He got his first computer when he was 13, and by age 14, the curious teen was already dipping his toe into the world of hacking,…

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Hackers arrested for ‘infiltrating’ Ukraine’s health database


COVID vaccine

The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) has arrested a team of actors who illegally infiltrated the information system of the National Health Service of Ukraine (NHSU) and entered false vaccination entries for other people.

The actors found clients in the Sumy region through a team of doctors who participated in the scheme and offered to create false COVID-19 vaccination certificates for anyone who paid them 3,000 hryvnias ($114).

By hacking into the NHSU system and entering false data, the actors enabled their ‘clients’ to pass any COVID-19 vaccination checks requiring QR code scans.

Snapshot from the police raid
Snapshot from the police raid
Source: SSU

It is unclear if the actors were skilled hackers or healthcare insiders who used their work credentials to access the NHSU database.

“The attackers illegally “infiltrated” the information system of the National Health Service of Ukraine (NHSU), which allowed them to enter false information into the mobile application “Action” about the “vaccination” of residents of the region,” says the SSU’s statement.

Ukrainian police said the actors modified health records up to 200 times a month, but it is unclear how long this scheme was conducted.

For their crimes, the arrested individuals are facing proceedings under Part 2 of Art. 361, part 3 of Art. 358 (unauthorized interference in the work of electronic computers and sale of forged documents) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

Cybercriminals abuse the “Action” app

The government in Ukraine recently launched a central information app called “Action,” where citizens can store vaccination certificates and other essential documents.

The app’s goal was to promote the adoption of smart ID technology in the country and push forgeries to obsolescence.

Last week, BleepingComputer found a fake “Action” app being sold on local Telegram channels allowing users to generate any certificate they need to move without restrictions or enjoy other benefits.

Post promoting the clone Action app
Post promoting the clone Action app on Telegram

The app is sold for 120 hryvnias ($4.5) and is mainly used to create fake vaccination certificates, driver’s licenses, and student cards for public transport ticket discounts.

While the fake “Action” doesn’t change the NHSU…

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Cyber Warfare: Iranian Hackers Could Cause Physical Harm After Infiltrating … – International Business Times


Siliconrepublic.com

Cyber Warfare: Iranian Hackers Could Cause Physical Harm After Infiltrating
International Business Times
Iranian hackers have infiltrated a number of key industries around the world over the past two years, according to cyber-security company Cylance. The hackers' targets include companies tied to energy, transportation and infrastructure, and the
Iranians finally enter field of geopolitical cyberwarfareSiliconrepublic.com
Iranian hackers expose worldwide networksThe Hill
Iran hackers target global infrastructure: ReportCNBC
ArmyTimes.com
all 108 news articles »

cyber warfare – read more

Meet ‘Flame,’ The Massive Spy Malware Infiltrating Iranian Computers – Wired News

Meet 'Flame,' The Massive Spy Malware Infiltrating Iranian Computers
Wired News
Dubbed “Flame” by Kaspersky, the malicious code dwarfs Stuxnet in size — the groundbreaking infrastructure-sabotaging malware that is believed to have wreaked havoc on Iran's nuclear program in 2009 and 2010. Although Flame has both a different …

and more »

flame malware – read more