Content by Mathew J. Schwartz

3rd FTX Official Pleads Guilty to Criminal Charges

Mathew J. Schwartz  •  March 1, 2023

As U.S. prosecutors continue to probe collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, Nishad Singh, the former head of engineering, has pleaded guilty to multiple criminal charges and agreed to assist prosecutors with their case against founder Sam Bankman-Fried, accused of orchestrating billions in fraud.

Healthcare Most Hit by Ransomware Last Year, FBI Finds

Mathew J. Schwartz  •  February 27, 2023

Healthcare last year was the most attacked sector within critical infrastructure, David Scott, deputy assistant director of the FBI Cyber Division, told a Scottish cybersecurity conference. The bureau in 2022 received 870 complaints showing indicators of a critical infrastructure ransomware attack.

Russia-Ukraine War: Cyberattacks Fail to Best Partnerships

Mathew J. Schwartz  •  February 24, 2023

One year after Russia intensified its invasion of Ukraine, the cyberwar many feared Moscow might unleash hasn't come to pass. In fact, while cyber operations have been a component of Russia's war - and cybersecurity a necessity of Ukraine's defense - cyber operations remain no silver bullet.

Crime Blotter: Hackers Fail to Honor Promises to Delete Data

Mathew J. Schwartz  •  February 24, 2023

Cybercrime experts have long urged victims to never pay a ransom in return for any promise an attacker makes to delete stolen data. That's because, as a recent case highlights, whatever extortionists might promise, stolen personal data is lucrative, and it often gets sold six ways from Sunday.

Yes, Virginia, ChatGPT Can Be Used to Write Phishing Emails

Mathew J. Schwartz  •  February 22, 2023

Will large language models such as ChatGPT take cybercrime to new heights? Researchers say AI for malicious use so far remains a novelty rather than a useful and reliable cybercrime tool. But as AI capabilities and chatbots improve, the cybersecurity writing is on the wall.

Ireland Set to Notify 20,000 More Health Data Breach Victims

Mathew J. Schwartz  •  February 21, 2023

Ireland's child and family agency, Tusla, says it is beginning a months-long process to notify 20,000 individuals that their personal information was exposed in the May 2021 ransomware attack against the Health Service Executive, which formerly managed Tusla's IT systems.

Spanish Court Approves Twitter Hacking Suspect's Extradition

Mathew J. Schwartz  •  February 20, 2023

Spain's high court has approved the U.S. Department of Justice's request that British national Joseph James O'Connor be extradited to face charges that he helped hack Twitter in 2020 to perpetrate a cryptocurrency scam. The final extradition decision now rests with the Spanish government.

Computer Crime: Britain Plans to Overhaul 32-Year-Old Law

Mathew J. Schwartz  •  February 17, 2023

The British government has proposed revisions to the country's main computer crime law - the 32-year-old Computer Misuse Act - to allow police to seize domains and compel data retention. While the government has promised to protect white hat hackers, it has yet to issue concrete proposals.

Cops in Israel and France Cuff Suspected CEO Fraudsters

Mathew J. Schwartz  •  February 17, 2023

A joint law enforcement operation led to the dismantling of what authorities describe as a Franco-Israeli "large-scale CEO fraud" criminal network that stole millions from French victims and laundered the proceeds via banks in China and Israel. The group's single biggest attack netted $40 million.

Ransomware Campaigns Compromise More VMware ESXi Hosts

Mathew J. Schwartz  •  February 16, 2023

Attackers are continuing to target unpatched VMware hosts to infect them with ESXiArgs and RansomExx2 crypto-locking malware and hold them to ransom. VMware urges immediate updating, saying that the attacks don't appear to be targeting zero-day vulnerabilities but rather long-patched flaws.

Government Sanctions: No Ransomware Please, We're British

Mathew J. Schwartz  •  February 15, 2023

As ransomware continues to disrupt British organizations, the U.K. for the first time has sanctioned alleged cybercriminals, including accused Conti and TrickBot operators. Ransomware victims must conduct due diligence before paying any ransom, as violating sanctions carries severe penalties.

Russian Found Guilty of Insider Trading in Hacking Case

Mathew J. Schwartz  •  February 15, 2023

Vladislav Klyushin, who ran a Moscow-based IT services firm associated with the Russian government, has been found guilty of running a criminal hacking scheme that earned $90 million via insider trading. He faces up to 50 years in prison. His four alleged co-conspirators remain at large.

Clop Ransomware Claims Widespread GoAnywhere MFT Exploits

Mathew J. Schwartz  •  February 13, 2023

Attackers have been actively exploiting a zero-day vulnerability in widely used managed file transfer software GoAnywhere MFT to take full control of systems, and in some cases to deploy ransomware. Vendor Fortra has released a patch and urged users to review systems for unusual behavior.

Modified ESXiArgs Ransomware Blocks VMware Host Recovery

Mathew J. Schwartz  •  February 9, 2023

Attackers targeting unpatched VMware ESXi hypervisors to hit virtual machines have reportedly modified their ESXiArgs ransomware to prevent victims from using decryption workarounds identified by researchers. The campaign has already amassed nearly 3,000 known victims and could have many more.

E-Commerce Shops: 12% Are Publicly Exposing Private Backups

Mathew J. Schwartz  •  February 8, 2023

Researchers at Sansec warn that 12% of e-commerce sites they studied publicly expose private backups and that hackers are actively scanning for them. Such backups can give attackers customer data, passwords and other details required to gain remote, administrator-level access to an environment.