Tag Archive for: World’s

Spain’s police report arrest of leader of world’s largest hacking group

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(MENAFN) In the coastal city of Alicante, Spanish police have reported the arrest of an individual believed to be one of the leaders of the hacktivist group Kelvin Security.

As reported by Spanish authorities, Kelvin Security has engaged in hacking activities targeting more than 300 organizations across more than 90 countries in the last three years. The group is alleged to have extracted sensitive information, subsequently selling it on the dark web.

The arrested individual, considered the head of finances within Kelvin Security, is accused of being responsible for money laundering related to the proceeds obtained from the group’s hacking operations.

Police assert that the detainee primarily utilized cryptocurrency trading for money laundering purposes. Hailing from Venezuela, the individual faces charges such as belonging to a criminal organization, revealing secrets, as well as money laundering.

Spanish law enforcement notes that Kelvin Security’s most recent cyber-attack targeted an energy company last month, resulting in a significant extraction of confidential information from over 85,000 clients of the company.

The investigation in Spain began in 2021 after Kelvin Security hacked the computer systems of several Spanish entities, including the cities of Getafe, Camas, La Haba, in addition to the regional government of Castille-La Mancha.

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Spanish police say they nabbed leader of one of the world’s biggest hacking groups

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Arrestee linked to Kelvin Security, which over last 3 years carried out more than 300 high-level attacks around the world – Anadolu Ajansı …

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‘Treat it like China’: How U.S. officials stay safe, and have fun, at the world’s biggest hacking conference

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When you spend three days with 30,000 people who love cracking code, you’re always just one errant click away from sheep-dom. In fact, fending off the maze of Wi-Fi sniffers, hardware hackers and social engineers at DEF CON is a little like going toe-to-toe with elite, state-backed cyber spies, according to one senior State Department official.

“Almost treat it like going to China,” said the official, granted anonymity to offer frank and colorful advice to a DEF CON first-timer. “Really treat it like going to a technologically sophisticated peer competitor.”

At this year’s conference, which wraps up Sunday, the Wall of Sheep was located in a dimly lit auditorium off the main conference floor. It included, for the first time ever, a live feed with the location of individuals who were leaking data. As of Friday afternoon, there were at least 2,000 sheep at DEF CON, per the floor-to-ceiling projection. Their personal information was, mercifully, partly blacked out for privacy reasons.

Since the first-ever convention in 1993, DEF CON has brought some of the world’s most talented computer security wizards into the Las Vegas desert to scour software, hardware and networking equipment in search of vulnerabilities.

Operating under the principle that the best way to secure computer code is to expose it, attendees have demonstrated some truly jaw-dropping research over the last three decades. They’ve taken over the controls of cars, tricked ATMs to spew out cash and sent insulin pumps into overdrive, to name a few memorable hacks.

Feats like that have turned the convention into an increasingly common pit stop for top U.S. government officials, dozens of whom are in attendance this year. DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, CISA Director Jen Easterly and Acting National Cyber Director Kemba Walden are all in Las Vegas for DEF CON and Black Hat, its more corporate-friendly counterpart.

But the convention didn’t earn its reputation as “the world’s most hostile network” just because of what happens on the main stage.

“There is a criminal ecosystem out there,” said Marc Rogers, the conference’s head of security. “You probably don’t want to access your…

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Ukraine’s cyber chief says Kyiv is winning ‘world’s first cyberwar’

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For Ukraine’s main cybersecurity agency, Russia’s full-scale war began over a month before Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine from all directions – with a large cyber attack on Jan. 14, 2022.

“It all started with an attack on state authorities, it was the largest attack in 17 years,” says Yurii Shchyhol, head of the State Special Communications Service, which is responsible for defending Ukraine’s cyberspace.

Shchyhol says over 90 government websites were targeted, about 20 of them were defaced, and some data was erased. It took Ukrainian authorities 2-3 days to get those websites back up.

“This was the first indication for us that (Russia) was planning something big,” he adds.

The month leading up to the full-scale invasion, Ukraine experienced several major cyberattacks – on Feb. 15 and Feb. 22.

By the time Russia launched its full-scale war, Ukraine was ready to face Kremlin’s cyberwarfare, taking place alongside the ground offensive.

The 7,500 employees of the Special Communications Service are now in charge of protecting Ukraine from cyberattacks, ensuring the military and political communication is secure, and conducting online operations to hamper Russia’s war effort.

Read also: Fighting smarter: Ukraine’s transformation into a military innovator

The agency has also created a database of critical infrastructure, and coordinates its defense.

“There has never been such a war in history,” Shchyhol, who took charge of the agency in 2021, says. “It is the world’s first cyberwar in general, and there is no country in the world (except Ukraine) with this experience.”

He adds that Ukraine has faced around 20 cyberattacks per day since February 2022, with most of them deterred automatically, while some requiring timely intrusions by the agency.

In the 16 months since the start of the full–scale war, Shchyhol says Ukraine hasn’t lost any critical information, nor were any major systems downed.

Shchyhol says the agency is now drawing up a list of sanctions and laws required to stop Russia from being able to conduct cyberwarfare.

“Even after our victory on the ground, we understand that the cyberwar will not cease, and they will persist in attacking our systems,”…

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