Tag Archive for: leads

United States Leads Seizure of One of the World’s Largest Hacker Forums and Arrests Administrator

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The Department of Justice announced Tuesday the seizure of the RaidForums website, a popular marketplace for cybercriminals to buy and sell hacked data, and unsealed criminal charges against RaidForums’ founder and chief administrator, Diogo Santos Coelho, 21, of Portugal. Coelho was arrested in the United Kingdom on Jan. 31, at the United States’ request and remains in custody pending the resolution of his extradition proceedings.

Court records unsealed today indicate that the United States recently obtained judicial authorization to seize three domains that long hosted the RaidForums website. These domains were “raidforums.com,” “Rf.ws,” and “Raid.lol.” According to the affidavit filed in support of these seizures, from in or around 2016 through February 2022, RaidForums served as a major online marketplace for individuals to buy and sell hacked or stolen databases containing the sensitive personal and financial information of victims in the United States and elsewhere, including stolen bank routing and account numbers, credit card information, login credentials and social security numbers.

“The takedown of this online market for the resale of hacked or stolen data disrupts one of the major ways cybercriminals profit from the large-scale theft of sensitive personal and financial information,” said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “This is another example of how working with our international law enforcement partners has resulted in the shutdown of a criminal marketplace and the arrest of its administrator.”

“Our interagency efforts to dismantle this sophisticated online platform – which facilitated a wide range of criminal activity – should come as a relief to the millions victimized by it, and as a warning to those cybercriminals who participated in these types of nefarious activities,” said U.S. Attorney Jessica D. Aber for the Eastern District of Virginia. “Online anonymity was not able to protect the defendant in this case from prosecution, and it will not protect other online criminals either.”

“The seizure of the RaidForums website – which facilitated the sale of…

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The First Step: Initial Access Leads to Ransomware

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Key Findings

  • Preventing ransomware today largely has shifted from a direct email threat to an indirect threat where email is only part of the attack chain.
  • Ransomware threat actors leverage cybercriminal enterprises – largely banking trojan distributors – for malware deployment. These access facilitators distribute their backdoors via malicious links and attachments sent via email.
  • Banking trojans were the most popular malware distributed via email, representing almost 20% of malware seen in Proofpoint data the first half of 2021.
  • Proofpoint currently tracks at least 10 threat actors acting as initial access facilitators or likely ransomware affiliates.
  • Ransomware is rarely distributed directly via email. Just one ransomware strain accounts for 95% of ransomware as a first-stage email payload between 2020 and 2021.
  • There is not a 1:1 relationship between malware loaders and ransomware attacks. Multiple threat actors use the same malware payloads for ransomware distribution.


Overview

Ransomware attacks still use email — but not in the way you might think. Ransomware operators often buy access from independent cybercriminal groups who infiltrate major targets and then sell access to the ransomware actors for a slice of the ill-gotten gains. Cybercriminal threat groups already distributing banking malware or other trojans may also become part of a ransomware affiliate network. The result is a robust and lucrative criminal ecosystem in which different individuals and organizations increasingly specialize to the tune of greater profits for all-except, of course, the victims.

Preventing ransomware via email is straightforward: block the loader, and you block the ransomware.

Typically, initial access brokers are understood to be opportunistic threat actors supplying affiliates and other cybercrime threat actors after the fact, for example by advertising access for sale on forums. But for the purposes of this report, we consider initial access brokers to be the groups who…

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1,000 gas stations report running out of fuel as Colonial Pipeline hack leads to panic-buying in Southeast U.S.

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State and federal officials are scrambling to find alternate routes to deliver gasoline in the Southeast U.S. after a hack of the nation’s largest fuel pipeline led to panic-buying that contributed to more than 1,000 gas stations running out of fuel.

There is no gasoline shortage, according to government officials and energy analysts, but if the pipeline shutdown continues past the weekend, it could create broader fuel disruptions.

The Colonial Pipeline, which delivers about 45% of what is consumed on the East Coast, was hit on Friday with a cyberattack by hackers who lock up computer systems and demand a ransom to release them. The attack raised concerns, once again, about the vulnerability of the nation’s critical infrastructure.

The pipeline runs from the Gulf Coast to the New York metropolitan region, but states in the Southeast are more reliant on the pipeline for fuel. Other parts of the country have more sources to tap. For example, a substantial amount of fuel is delivered to states in the Northeast by massive tankers.

“What you’re feeling is not a lack of supply or a supply issue. What we have is a transportation issue,” said Jeanette McGee, spokeswoman for the AAA auto club. “There is ample supply to fuel the United States for the summer, but what we’re having an issue with is getting it to those gas stations because the pipeline is down.”

In North Carolina, 28% of gas stations were out of fuel, according to Gasbuddy.com, a technology firm that tracks real-time fuel prices across the country. In Raleigh-Durham it was worse, with 72% of gas stations out of fuel.

North Carolina Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper urged people Wednesday to only buy gas if their tank is low, and to report any instances of price gouging.

“We will continue our efforts to help make sure there is an adequate supply of fuel,” Cooper wrote on Twitter.

Cooper declared a state of emergency Monday, initiating fuel waivers that make it easier to transport fuel into the state.

Georgians were also getting squeezed, with 17.5% of stations there out of gas, according to Gasbuddy.com. In Virginia, 17% of stations were out, and in South Carolina, 16% had…

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AutoWeb Case Study Demonstrates Significant Dealership Sales Growth by Integrating High-Quality Leads and Well-Defined Processes Nasdaq:AUTO

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TAMPA, Fla., Dec. 17, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — AutoWeb, Inc. (Nasdaq: AUTO), a robust digital marketing platform providing digital advertising solutions for automotive dealers and OEMs, announced the availability of its recent case study with the Platinum Group and Homer Skelton Ford, two dealer customers of the company who have experienced robust sales growth by combining AutoWeb’s high-quality leads with Dealer Synergy’s customer relationship management (CRM) processes. The full case study, available at www.autoweb.com/dealers/dealer-corner/news, outlines how the Platinum Group, a franchise Mitsubishi store and two independent stores, increased total group sales by 75 percent and internet sales 528 percent in 16 short weeks, while Homer Skelton Ford, a leading franchise dealership, increased internet sales 90 percent.

With the automotive industry more volatile than ever, dealerships require high-volume, high-quality customer engagement opportunities coupled with a strategic follow-up program in order to thrive in today’s market. As the case study with the Platinum Group and Homer Skelton Ford demonstrates, when dealerships focus on integrating quality leads with an exceptional process, they can achieve incredible sales growth quickly and easily.

“Since we invented automotive internet leads back in 1995, AutoWeb has been matching consumers with our partner dealers for an efficient and cost-effective buying process that helps them boost revenue and achieve their sales goals,” said Cory Nacke, senior director of sales effectiveness at AutoWeb. “Despite the market shifts we have experienced, we have effectively pivoted to align our solutions and approach to the specific needs of dealers and OEMs. We are excited to share our successes in this case study and demonstrate what achievements are possible with the right lead formula and effective sales follow-up.”

AutoWeb has held a long-standing relationship with Dealer Synergy, an automotive training, consulting, CRM, accountability and recruiting firm headed by Sean V. Bradley, a 22-year industry veteran, international trainer, author and speaker. Dealers and OEMs using AutoWeb’s leads program, combined with a…

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