Tag: weaponizing | SpinSafe

Is the IDF weaponizing blockchain? Are cartels paying ransomware on the dark web? #hearsay

March 23, 2024/in Internet Security

Disclosure: The views and opinions expressed here belong solely to the author and do not represent the views and opinions of crypto.news’ editorial.

Welcome to #hearsay, Dorian Batycka’s weekly crypto gossip column. This week’s edition brings you a small dose of dark web cartels, a potential blockchain interface for the Israel Defense Force (IDF), and one NFT collector’s hilarious flex fail.

Every week, crypto.news brings you #hashtag hearsay, a gossip column of scoops and stories shaping the crypto world. If you have a tip, email Dorian Batycka at [email protected]

Question: what if Sam Bankman was actually fried?

That’s the thought that immediately sprang to mind when I learned about a recent exit scam involving one of the world’s largest darknet vendors of illegal drugs.

On March 5, users of the site Incognito Marketplace, a site like Reddit where buyers and sellers can get everything from a gram of weed to kilos of coke, were awakened to a message from one of its administrators, an admin known as Pharaoh.

The message read:

We have accumulated a list of private messages, transaction info and order details over the years. You’ll be surprised at the number of people that relied on our auto-encrypt functionality. And by the way, your messages and transaction IDs were never actually deleted after the expiry.

Anyway, if anything were to leak to law enforcement, I guess nobody never slipped up. We’ll be publishing the entire dump of 557k orders and 862k crypto transaction IDs at the end of May… whether or not you and your customers’ info is on that list is totally up to you. Yes, this is an extortion.

Pharaoh, Incognito Marketplace admin

Holding the site’s BTC and Monero (XMR), Pharaoh stated that vendors on the site would be asked to pay large ransoms, lest they have their data leaked online.

What’s more, Pharaoh also revealed that the “auto-encrypt” button, made available to vendors on the darknet marketplace, actually exposed them to a data breach.

Worries about the Incognito Marketplace began to circulate the week before when users were unable to withdraw BTC and Monero (a privacy-focused cryptocurrency) from the platform.

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Weaponizing Intelligence: How AI is Revolutionizing Warfare, Ethics, and Global Defense

September 23, 2023/in Internet Security

Is artificial intelligence the future of global warfare?” If you find that question compelling, consider this startling fact: The U.S. Army, by leveraging AI in its logistics services, has saved approximately $100 million from analyzing a mere 10% of its shipping orders. In an era defined by rapid technological advances, the marriage of artificial intelligence (AI) with military applications is shaping a new frontier. From AI-equipped anti-submarine warfare ships to predictive maintenance algorithms for aircraft, the confluence of AI and defense technologies is not only creating unprecedented capabilities but also opening a Pandora’s box of complex ethical and strategic questions.

As countries around the globe accelerate their investment in the militarization of AI, we find ourselves at a watershed moment that could redefine the very paradigms of global security, warfare ethics, and strategic operations. This article aims to dissect this intricate and evolving landscape, offering a thorough analysis of how AI’s ever-deepening integration with military applications is transforming the contours of future conflict and defense—across land, cyberspace, and even the far reaches of outer space.

AI on Land, Sea, and Air – A Force Multiplier

The evolution of AI in military applications is reshaping the traditional paradigms of land, sea, and air warfare. In the maritime realm, take DARPA’s Sea Hunter as an illustrative example—an unmanned anti-submarine warfare vessel that can autonomously patrol open waters for up to three consecutive months. This autonomous behemoth promises to revolutionize the cost metrics of naval operations, operating at a daily cost of less than $20,000 compared to $700,000 for a conventional manned destroyer. On land, the U.S. Army’s Advanced Targeting and Lethality Automated System (ATLAS) represents another significant leap. By incorporating AI into an automated ground vehicle, the military aims to accelerate target acquisition, reduce engagement time, and significantly lower the logistical and human costs associated with ground operations. The ATLAS program follows earlier attempts like the remotely controlled Military Utility Tactical Truck,…

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RSAC Fireside Chat: Counteracting Putin’s weaponizing of ransomware — with containment

May 21, 2023/in Internet Security

By Byron V. Acohido

The ransomware plague endures — and has arisen as a potent weapon in geopolitical conflicts.

Cyber extortion remains a material threat to organizations of all sizes across all industries. Ransomware purveyors have demonstrated their capability to endlessly take advantage of a vastly expanded network attack surface – one that will only continue to expand as the shift to massively interconnected digital services accelerates.

Meanwhile, Russia has turned to weaponing ransomware in its attempt to conquer Ukraine, redoubling this threat. Now that RSA Conference 2023 has wrapped, these things seem clear: ransomware is here to stay; it is not, at this moment, being adequately mitigated; and a new approach is needed to slow, and effectively put a stop to, ransomware.

I had the chance to visit with Steve Hahn, EVP Americas, at Bullwall, which is in the vanguard of security vendors advancing ways to instantly contain threat actors who manage to slip inside an organization’s network.

Guest expert: Steve Hahn, EVP Americas, Bullwall

Bullwall has a bird’s eye view of Russia’s ongoing deployment of ransomware attacks against Ukraine, and its allies, especially the U.S.

Weaponized ransomware doubly benefits Russia: it’s lucrative, generating billions in revenue and thus adding to Putin’s war chest; and at the same time it also weakens a wide breadth of infrastructure of Putin’s adversaries across Europe and North America.

Containment is a logical tactic that could make a big difference in stopping ransomware and other types of attacks. For a full drill down, please give the accompanying podcast a listen. I’ll keep watch and keep reporting.

Acohido

Pulitzer Prize-winning business journalist Byron V. Acohido is dedicated to fostering public awareness about how to make the Internet as private and secure as it ought to be.

(LW provides consulting services to the vendors we cover.)

May 20th, 2023

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