Tag Archive for: Million

Estonia’s BotGuard OÜ secures €12 million in Series A funding to expand global cybersecurity reach


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BotGuard OÜ, a cybersecurity software company based in Tallinn, has secured €12 million in Series A funding led by MMC Ventures, with participation from Tera Ventures, Expeditions Fund, and angel investors including Stefan Lindeberg. The company specializes in helping web hosting providers manage and protect their infrastructure from malicious threats. With this funding, BotGuard OÜ plans to further develop its technology, recruit tech development talent, and expand its sales and marketing teams as it continues to scale globally.

BotGuard is a cybersecurity company founded in 2019, with a global presence and clients across more than 30 countries. The company specializes in developing user-friendly online tools designed to protect businesses from contemporary web threats. Embracing a remote-first culture, BotGuard boasts an international team comprising over 15 nationalities, collaborating on agile projects to enhance internet security for businesses and individuals worldwide. The company has secured funding through various rounds, with notable investors including Tera Ventures and Expeditions Fund.

Nik Rozenberg, CEO and co-founder at Botguard OÜ, says, “Every business should have effective web traffic management, yet there are no affordable solutions focused on the SME segment due to complicated and expensive onboarding processes. Malicious bot traffic can be extremely harmful for businesses – particularly for the likes of e-commerce retailers that depend on their website to operate – and organisations require tools that keep pace with the rapidly-evolving threat landscape. Even neutral web traffic – like some crawler bots – can drive up management costs. We are democratising web security by offering web hosting providers a flexible, easy-to-use, and cost-effective solution that still offers the highest level of control over web traffic. We are excited for this next stage of our growth journey as we continue to innovate and expand into new territories.”


Mina Samaan, Partner at MMC Ventures, states, “Born from the pain of living through this problem, Nik and Denis have built an impressive business, and the incredible traction BotGuard…

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Prominent Sacramento law firm sues for $1 million after falling prey to ransomware attack


A prominent Sacramento law firm that represents police officers and sheriff’s deputies in the capital region is suing a computer firm for more than $1 million alleging that, after hiring the company to provide cybersecurity, the law firm was hit with a ransomware attack.

The Mastagni Holstedt law firm filed the suit in Sacramento Superior Court this week against Lantech LLC, claiming that because of the cyberattack last year, Mastagni Holstedt was forced to pay a ransom to regain access to its data.

An office manager at Lantech who would not give her name Wednesday morning declined to comment when reached by phone, saying she knew nothing about the suit, which names Lantech, former Lantech owner Terry Berg and backup computer data storage company Acronis Inc.

Lantech did not respond to a subsequent email request for comment, and Acronis denied any responsibility for the cyberattack.

Law firm founder Davis Mastagni also did not respond to a request for comment.

The lawsuit alleges the attack came from a group known as “Black Basta,” a Russian-speaking group first detected in early 2022 that has been blamed for hundreds of ransomware attacks that have resulted in payments of more than $100 million by firms seeking to retrieve data.

“In its first two weeks alone, at least 20 victims were posted to its leak site, a Tor site known as Basta News,” according to a March 2023 “threat profile” by the U.S. Health and Human Services Department’s Office of Information Security. “It exclusively targets large organizations in the construction and manufacturing industries, but was also observed to target other critical infrastructure, including the health and public health sector.

“While primarily targeting organizations within the United States, its operators also expressed interest in attacking other English-speaking countries’ organizations in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. Threat actors that used the ransomware have additionally impacted organizations based in the United States, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, France, and the Netherlands.”

The group has extorted at least $107 million in bitcoin from targets, according to a November report by Reuters news…

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US government offers $10 million reward in bid to track down Hive ransomware leaders


The Department of State also announced it is offering $5 million for any information that leads to the arrest of any individual around the world conspiring to participate in Hive ransomware activity

In 2023, the State Department’s ‘Rewards for Justice’ program issued rewards for any information that could link Hive or other groups targeting US critical national infrastructure to a foreign government.

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U.S. Offers $10 Million Bounty for Info Leading to Arrest of Hive Ransomware Leaders


Hive Ransomware

The U.S. Department of State has announced monetary rewards of up to $10 million for information about individuals holding key positions within the Hive ransomware operation.

It is also giving away an additional $5 million for specifics that could lead to the arrest and/or conviction of any person “conspiring to participate in or attempting to participate in Hive ransomware activity.”

The multi-million-dollar rewards come a little over a year after a coordinated law enforcement effort covertly infiltrated and dismantled the darknet infrastructure associated with the Hive ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) gang. One person with suspected ties to the group was arrested in Paris in December 2023.

Hive, which emerged in mid-2021, targeted more than 1,500 victims in over 80 countries, netting about $100 million in illegal revenues. In November 2023, Bitdefender revealed that a new ransomware group called Hunters International had acquired the source code and infrastructure from Hive to kick-start its own efforts.

There is some evidence to suggest that the threat actors associated with Hunters International are likely based in Nigeria, specifically an individual named Olowo Kehinde, per information gathered by Netenrich security researcher Rakesh Krishnan, although it could also be a fake persona adopted by the actors to cover up their true origins.

Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis, in its 2023 review published last week, estimated that ransomware crews raked in $1.1 billion in extorted cryptocurrency payments from victims last year, compared to $567 million in 2022, all but confirming that ransomware rebounded in 2023 following a relative drop off in 2022.

“2023 marks a major comeback for ransomware, with record-breaking payments and a substantial increase in the scope and complexity of attacks — a significant reversal from the decline observed in 2022,” it said.

Cybersecurity

The decline in ransomware activity in 2022 has been deemed a statistical aberration, with the downturn attributed to the Russo-Ukrainian war and the disruption of Hive. What’s more, the total number of victims posted on data leak sites in 2023 was 4,496, up from 3,048 in 2021 and 2,670 in 2022.

Palo Alto Networks Unit…

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