Tag Archive for: Rewards

US offering rewards for information on leaders of ransomware group

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The U.S. is offering rewards for information on leaders of the LockBit ransomware group.

LockBit is a syndicate operating since 2019. It accounted for 23 percent of the nearly 4,000 attacks globally last year in which ransomware gangs posted data stolen from victims to extort payment, according to the cybersecurity firm Palo Alto Networks, per The Associated Press.

“The Department of State is announcing reward offers totaling up to $15 million for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of any individual participating in a LockBit ransomware variant attack and for information leading to the identification and/or location of any key leaders of the LockBit ransomware group,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a Wednesday statement.

“Since January 2020, LockBit actors have executed over 2,000 attacks against victims in the United States, and around the world, causing costly disruptions to operations and the destruction or exfiltration of sensitive information,” Miller’s statement continued. “More than $144 million in ransom payments have been made to recover from LockBit ransomware events.”

Miller’s statement follows another announcement by the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency (NCA) on the disruption of the LockBit group with the help of international law enforcement agencies including the FBI on Tuesday.

NCA Director General Graeme Biggar called the agency’s investigation with other international partners “a ground-breaking disruption of the world’s most harmful cyber crime group.”

“Through our close collaboration, we have hacked the hackers; taken control of their infrastructure, seized their source code, and obtained keys that will help victims decrypt their systems,” Biggar said in an NCA release.

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland also said that law enforcement from the U.S. and the U.K. “are taking away the keys to their criminal operation.”

“And we are going a step further — we have also obtained keys from the seized LockBit infrastructure to help victims decrypt their captured systems and regain access to their data,” Garland said in the NCA release. “LockBit is not the first ransomware variant the U.S….

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High salary, job security rewards of a career in Computer Engineering

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As Computer Engineering is a vast and diverse field, those choosing to study in this field with the right aptitude would never be disappointed. Along with a high salary and status, there is also the opportunity to work satisfactorily and have good living conditions. Another notable factor is job security. By keeping up with the latest trends, adapting to the changes and resolving the challenges, Computer Engineering professionals would be able to forge ahead.

High salary

Computer Engineering and Information Technology are the two job sectors that offer high salaries in the present times. As per the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, employees in these two sectors earn twice than the national average. Jobs such as web development and computer support technicians do not require a degree but can get high salaries.

Degree-holders working as network architect, programmer, system analyst, software developer, and hardware engineer get only average salary.

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Banking Users Faced With Rewards Phishing Scam

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Earlier today reports of an SMS-based phishing campaign were announced, targeting customers of Indian banks with information-stealing malware that masquerades as a rewards application.


According to the Microsoft 365 Defender Research Team, the messages contain links that redirect users to a sketchy website that triggers the download of the fake banking rewards app for ICICI Bank.

“The malware’s RAT capabilities allow the attacker to intercept important device notifications such as incoming messages, an apparent effort to catch two-factor authentication (2FA) messages often used by banking and financial institutions,” researchers Shivang Desai, Abhishek Pustakala, and Harshita Tripathi said.

In addition to this, the malware is equipped with the ability to steal SMSes, potentially enabling the attacker to swipe 2FA codes sent as text messages and gain unauthorized access to victim accounts.

Similarly to other social engineering attacks, familiar brand logos and names are used in the smishing message as well as the rogue app in a bid to give an illusion of legitimacy and trick the users into installing the apps.

The attacks are recognised as a continuation of an ongoing campaign that has distributed similar rewards-themed apps for other Indian banks such as the State Bank of India (SBI) and Axis Bank in the past.

Once the fraudulent app has been installed, it not only asks for extensive permissions, but also requests users to enter their credit/debit card information as part of a supposed sign-in process, while the trojan waits for further instructions from the attacker.

The app commands allow the malware to harvest system metadata, call logs, intercept phone calls, as well as steal credentials for email accounts such as Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo.

“This malware’s continuing evolution highlights the need to protect mobile devices,” the researchers said. “Its wider SMS stealing capabilities might allow attackers to the stolen data to further steal from a user’s other banking apps.”

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SSU dismantles an infowar botnet. HIMARS, atrocities, provocation, and disinformation. A Russian disinformation mouthpiece raises the prospect that there are highly placed traitors in the GRU. Rewards for Justice works toward securing elections from Russian meddling. The case that Russia’s war is genocidal. The case that pan-Slavism has found wayward, but sincere, expression in Mr. Putin’s war.

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At a glance.

  • SSU dismantles an infowar botnet.
  • HIMARS, atrocities, provocation, and disinformation.
  • A Russian disinformation mouthpiece raises the prospect that there are highly placed traitors in the GRU.
  • Rewards for Justice works toward securing elections from Russian meddling.
  • The case that Russia’s war is genocidal.
  • The case that pan-Slavism has found wayward, but sincere, expression in Mr. Putin’s war.

Ukraine claims to have taken down a massive Russian bot farm.

The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) says it dismantled a large Russian botnet operation that was being used to spread Russian propaganda and disinformation. The bots, about a million strong, were herded from locations within Ukraine itself, in the cities of Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Vinnytsia, BleepingComputer reports. Their output took the form of social media posts from inauthentic accounts associated with fictitious personae. The SSU describes the operation as follows: “Their latest ‘activities’ include the distribution of content on the alleged conflict between the leadership of the President’s Office and the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine as well as a campaign to discredit the first lady. To spin destabilizing content, perpetrators administered over 1 million of their own bots and numerous groups in social networks with an audience of almost 400,000 users. In the course of a multi-stage special operation, the SSU exposed the leader of this criminal group. He is a russian citizen who has lived in Kyiv and positioned himself as a ‘political expert.’”

On the other side of the information war, BleepingComputer also reported earlier this week that Ukrainian hacktivists, “Torrents of Truth,” were bundling instructions on how to bypass Russian censorship into movie torrents whose intended audience would be Russian viewers.

HIMARS, atrocities, provocation, and disinformation.

The killing of Ukrainian prisoners of war in Olenivka is by now clearly a Russian atrocity–the prisoners were apparently murdered by their captors. (And we note in passing that the International Committee of the Red Cross still has not been given the access to the prison international law requires.) The prisoners did not die in a…

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