Tag Archive for: Writing

Latvian national charged with writing malware used by Trickbot hackers


Written by Sean Lyngaas

U.S. prosecutors have charged a 55-year-old Latvian national with developing computer code used in tandem with the infamous malicious software known as TrickBot, which has defrauded countless people while infecting tens of millions of computers worldwide.

The defendant, known as Alla Witte, was arraigned in a federal court in Cleveland on Friday after being arrested in Miami in February, the Justice Department said. She is accused of being part of a criminal organization that operated in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and Suriname, and which infected the computers of hospitals, schools, public utilities and government agencies in the U.S.

Witte wrote “code related to the control, deployment, and payments of ransomware,” the Justice Department said in a press release. She also allegedly provided computer code to other members of the criminal group that tracked users of the TrickBot malware. The malicious code was designed to steal banking login credentials, credit card numbers and other sensitive personal data that can be used for fraud.

Witte is charged with 19 criminal counts, including with conspiracy to commit computer fraud and aggravated identify theft.

TrickBot has been one of the prominent hacking tools for scammers in recent years.

Cybercriminals used the malware to assemble a vast botnet, or army of compromised computers, to infect computers with ransomware. Concerned by the threat of ransomware ahead of the 2020 election, U.S. Cyber Command and tech companies sought to knock some of TrickBot’s infrastructure offline, but the botnet has lived on.

In a statement Friday, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco lauded Witte’s indictment as an example of the “broad reach” of a new Justice Department task force to combat ransomware. After the disruptions of major fuel and meat suppliers, ransomware has vaulted to among the top national security issues facing the Biden administration.

An attorney for Witte could not be immediately reached for comment on Friday. She faces decades in prison if convicted on all charges.

You can read Witte’s full indictment online.

Source…

Writing for the Web – Security Boulevard


A guide for writing better technical articles + blog posts

Photo by Andrew Neel on Unsplash

One of the questions I get the most in my Twitter DMs is “How do I write better technical blog posts”?

Technical writing is a specialist skill, and I am by no means an expert. But over the past few years, writing my technical blog has taught me a lot about writing for the Internet. So today, here are my tips to help you produce better technical articles.

Simplify

Good writing is easy to read. This is especially true when writing on the Internet. On the Internet, your technical blog post has the potential to be shared anywhere in the world. You never know who will come across your content and what their background will be. Simple articles allow non-native speakers and novices to consume your article. Short sentences and paragraphs also make your article easier to read for people using mobile devices.

You want your content to be understandable by the largest group of readers. So it is essential to keep it simple. I am not suggesting that you dumb down your technical content. But you should try to use simple words and sentence structures whenever possible. Avoid jargon, abbreviations, and obscure references. And when you can explain something with one word, never use ten.

Next, simplify your sentences and paragraphs. The rule of thumb that I use is “one idea per sentence and one concept per paragraph.” Do not try to say too much in one go. Keep sentences short. If your sentence is getting too long, divide it up to two.

Chunk it up

Writing a blog post is not like writing a research paper or a book because the way people consume information on the Internet is different. When people read your blog posts, they might scan the entire article before committing time to reading it. They might be browsing Twitter or checking their phones at the same time. They might be reading your article on a tiny smartphone screen.

So when writing Internet content, it’s important to deliver a good digital experience. Divide your article up into easily digestible chunks. Ensure that each section is marked by appropriate headers and subheaders and that you are introducing concepts in a sequence…

Source…

Marcus “MalwareTech” Hutchins Pleads Guilty to Writing, Selling Banking Malware – Krebs on Security

  1. Marcus “MalwareTech” Hutchins Pleads Guilty to Writing, Selling Banking Malware  Krebs on Security
  2. Hacking ‘hero’ Marcus Hutchins pleads guilty to US malware charges  BBC News
  3. Marcus Hutchins, slayer of WannaCry worm, pleads guilty to malware charges  Ars Technica
  4. Cyber expert credited with stopping ‘WannaCry’ attack admits malware charges  WHTC News
  5. View full coverage on read more

“malware news” – read more

Justice Dept. indicts Ohio hacker for writing Fruitfly malware to spy on thousands of Mac users

A 28-year-old Ohio man has been named by federal prosecutors as the alleged author of a decade-old Mac malware, which he is accused of using to remotely spy on thousands of unsuspecting victims. Cybersecurity in an IoT and Mobile World The technology world …
mac hacker – read more