Security News
An EU watchdog says rules that allow Europol cops to retain personal data on individuals with no links to criminal activity go against Europe's own data privacy protections, not to mention undermining the regulator's powers and role. The European Data Protection Supervisor has asked Europe's top court to toss out two amendments to the Europol Regulation that took effect on June 28 enabling this data hoarding by the police.
A decryptor for the LockerGoga ransomware has been made available by Romanian cybersecurity firm Bitdefender in collaboration with Europol, the No More Ransom project, and Zürich law enforcement...
Europol cops have arrested nine suspected members of a cybercrime ring involved in phishing, internet scams, and money laundering. Dutch police haven't ruled out additional arrests.
Europol on Tuesday announced the dismantling of an organized crime group that dabbled in phishing, fraud, scams, and money laundering activities. The cross-border operation, which involved law enforcement authorities from Belgium and the Netherlands, saw the arrests of nine individuals in the Dutch nation.
FluBot, the super-spreader Android malware that infected tens of thousands of phones globally, has been reportedly squashed by an international law enforcement operation. In May, Dutch police disrupted the mobile malware's infrastructure, disconnecting thousands of victims' devices from the FluBot network and preventing more than 6.5 million spam text messages propagating the bot from reaching potential victims, according to Finland's National Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday.
Dubbed Tourniquet, the seizure of the cybercrime website involved authorities from the U.S., U.K., Sweden, Portugal, and Romania, with the criminal investigation resulting in the arrest of the forum's administrator at his home last month in Croydon, England. Interestingly, the "Raid" in RaidForums is a nod to its early beginnings as a hub for organizing various forms of electronic harassment - like "Raiding," which refers to a form of targeted harassment by posting an overwhelming volume of messages to a victim.
Europol has announced the arrest of 108 people suspected of being involved in an international call center operation that tricked victims into investment scams. According to the Europol announcement, the crime group directed an army of 200 "Traders" who spoke English, Russian, Polish, and Hindi, calling prospective victims to present fake investment opportunities in cryptocurrency, commodities, and foreign currencies.
Law enforcement authorities from 10 countries took down VPNLab.net, a VPN service provider used by ransomware operators and malware actors. The law operatives seized 15 servers used by the VPNLab.net service and took down its main site, so the platform is no longer available.
VPNLab.net, a VPN provider that was used by malicious actors to deploy ransomware and facilitate other cybercrimes, was taken offline following a coordinated law enforcement operation. Europol said it took action against the misuse of the VPN service by grounding 15 of its servers on January 17 and rendering it inoperable as part of a disruptive action that took place across Germany, the Netherlands, Canada, the Czech Republic, France, Hungary, Latvia, Ukraine, the U.S., and the U.K. A second outcome of the seizure is that at least 100 businesses that have been identified as at risk of impending cyber attacks are being notified.
The European Data Protection Supervisor has ordered European Union law enforcement agency Europol to delete any data it has on individuals that's over six months old, provided there's no link to criminal activity. The investigation concluded the law enforcement agency needed to up its game when it came to data minimisation and retention and encouraged Europol to make necessary changes and then let the EDPS know of its action plan.