Tag Archive for: police

Chinese police step up fight against hackers, with thousands captured

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Chinese police have intensified the fight against hacker crimes over the past year, leading to the capture of more than 7,000 suspects, the Ministry of Public Security said on Thursday.

Police officers across the country have solved 2,430 criminal cases involving hackers since the start of last year, which has contributed to protecting data security and maintaining order in cyberspace, Li Tong, deputy head of the ministry”s cybersecurity bureau, told a news conference.

Hacker crimes mainly include illegal intrusion into computer information systems, illegal acquisition of computer information system data, illegal control of computer systems and the provision of programs and tools for intrusion.

Statistics released by the ministry on Thursday showed that the number of hacking cases solved by Chinese police has risen three consecutive years, with an average annual growth rate of 27.7 percent.

While directly infiltrating and sabotaging computer information systems, criminals have also been discovered to have provided technical support and material information for other illegal activities such as telecom fraud, online gambling and online pornography, Shi You, a bureau official, said.

He said the methods used by hacking criminals have diversified with the rapid development of technologies, including artificial intelligence and blockchain, adding that thousands of hacker tools are circulating online.

“Most of the tools come with detailed tutorials and user-friendly interfaces, allowing people to carry out criminal activities such as vulnerability scanning and Trojan implantation without needing to have a high level of technical expertise,” Shi said.

The average age of hackers had also been decreasing year by year, he added, revealing that there have been cases of elementary school students being proficient in using hacker tools.

Huang Xiaosu, another bureau official who specializes in technologies, said the victims of such crimes frequently have computer systems with security loopholes or have failed to install risk prevention software.

“Some victims had little security awareness, as they used simple passwords that were easy for hackers to attack,” she added.

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Police Bust Ransomware Gang in Ukraine for Attacking 1,800 Victims

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European police say they’ve dismantled a ransomware group in Ukraine that was behind a series of high-profile attacks on corporations across the globe.

Law enforcement arrested the suspected 32-year-old ringleader to the group, along with four of his most active accomplices, Europol said on Tuesday. Law enforcement agencies including officials from the US, also helped investigate 30 properties across Ukraine, including in the capital of Kyiv, tied to the gang. 

Europol didn’t say whether the gang developed the ransomware code. But the group used several ransomware strains, including “LockerGoga, MegaCortex, HIVE and Dharma” to attack companies. This suggests they operated as an “affiliate,” buying access to the attacks from ransomware code developers.

Police investigating the hacker's phones.

(Credit: Cyber Police of Ukraine)

Europol adds: “The suspects had different roles in this criminal organization. Some of them are thought to be involved in compromising the IT networks of their targets, while others are suspected of being in charge of laundering cryptocurrency payments made by victims to decrypt their files.”

To spread ransomware to the corporations, the group resorted to sending phishing emails to employees or guessing their login passwords. Once inside a company network, the gang would use other tools, including the Trickbot malware, to gain wider access. The ensuing ransomware attack would then encrypt servers across the network, forcing the victim companies to pay up in cryptocurrency or risk losing their data forever. 

“These attacks are believed to have affected over 1,800 victims in 71 countries,” added the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation. “The perpetrators targeted large corporations, effectively bringing their business to a standstill and causing losses of at least several hundred millions of euros.” 

The Cyber Police of Ukraine also assisted in taking down the gang, which allegedly began targeting companies starting in 2018. In one example, the group demanded a company in the Netherlands pay 450 Bitcoin ($16.8 million in today’s value) to restore their servers. 

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“It has been established that over several years of criminal…

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Pair Lost Over $40,000 in ‘Malware’ Scam, Police Say

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Two local residents recently lost more than $40,000 after they were duped into believing that someone from Microsoft was helping them remove malware from their computer, state police said.

According to a news release issued by the Dublin barracks Saturday, the Riegelsville area residents called the “phone number listed on the malware” after their computer became “infested” with it.

“They believed they were in contact with Microsoft,” police said.

Instead, they were in contact with a thief who ultimately defrauded them of $40,600, the news release said.

Police said their investigation is ongoing.

Earlier this month, state police said another upper Bucks County resident was swindled out of nearly $50,000 in a phone scam.

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Ransomware group threatens to leak Stanford police data

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Notorious ransomware gang ‘Akira’ listed Stanford University on the darknet as the target of a ransomware attack on Friday morning. Screenshots of the listing were shared on other parts of the internet, including the r/stanford subreddit and on X (formerly Twitter) by cyber risk analyst Brett Callow. 

University spokesperson Luisa Rapport confirmed “this is the same as the SUDPS cybersecurity incident” previously covered by The Daily. 

Akira claims to hold 430 gigabytes of internal data, including private information and confidential documents. They threatened to leak the information online if the University did not pay an unspecified ransom. The Stanford University Department of Public Safety processes and stores data on personnel, case reports, risk evaluations and crime involving students, faculty and other community members. It is unclear at this point how much of this data was lost or encrypted by this ransomware. 

The University wrote in a Friday statement that “there is no indication that the incident affected any other part of the university, nor did it impact police response to emergencies.” According to the statement, “the investigation is ongoing and once it is completed, we will act accordingly and be able to share more information with the community.”

The Akira listing describes Stanford as “known for its entrepreneurial character.” The group threatened that, “Soon the university will be also known for 430Gb of internal data leaked online. Private information [and] confidential documents.”

Chris Hoofnagle, law professor and director of the Center for Law & Technology at the University of California, Berkeley, wrote to The Daily that attackers interested in police entities are sometimes “a nation state or organized crime” group. 

“The first steps of identifying the scope of the breach can be quite expensive and time consuming. Almost all entities hire outside forensic firms to do the analysis,” Hoofnagle wrote.

He wrote it was “best practice” to limit information until there was information on the full scope of the breach and the network was secure. “Institutions do not want to get into a drip situation where they notify…

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