Security News
The agency joins a chorus of security professionals that have concerns about widespread attacks on the COVID-19 vaccine rollout. "The detection of a fake influenza vaccine confirms that criminals seize opportunities as soon as they present themselves," the Europol warning read. "Owing to the pandemic, the demand for the influenza vaccine has been higher than usual and there risks being a shortage. Criminals have reacted quickly by producing counterfeit influenza vaccines. The same scenario is also likely to happen when COVID-19 vaccines do become available."
Criminals quickly exploited the pandemic to attack vulnerable people; phishing, online scams and the spread of fake news became an ideal strategy for cybercriminals seeking to sell items they claim will prevent or cure COVID-19. The value of being able to access data of criminal communication on an encrypted network is perhaps the most effective illustration of how encrypted data can provide law enforcement with crucial leads beyond the area of cybercrime.
Criminals are preying on a fearful public and disrupting the provision of medical care during the coronavirus pandemic by selling counterfeit products, impersonating health workers and hacking computers as many citizens do their jobs online at home, European law enforcement agency Europol said Friday. "Criminals have quickly seized the opportunities to exploit the crisis by adapting their modes of operation or developing new criminal activities," Europol Executive Director, Catherine de Bolle said in a statement.
Cross-border investigations, Europol announced on Friday that it's arrested more than two dozen people suspected of draining bank accounts by hijacking victims' phone numbers via SIM-swap fraud. As we've explained, SIM swaps work because phone numbers are actually tied to the phone's SIM card - in fact, SIM is short for subscriber identity module, a special system-on-a-chip card that securely stores the cryptographic secret that identifies your phone number to the network.
Europol, along with the Spanish and the Romanian national police, has arrested 26 individuals in connection with the theft of over €3.5 million by hijacking people's phone numbers via SIM swapping attacks. The law enforcement agencies arrested 12 and 14 people in Spain and Romania, respectively, as part of a joint operation against two different groups of SIM swappers, Europol said.
Europol, along with the Spanish and the Romanian national police, has arrested 26 individuals in connection with the theft of over €3.5 million by hijacking people's phone numbers via SIM swapping attacks. The law enforcement agencies arrested 12 and 14 people in Spain and Romania, respectively, as part of a joint operation against two different groups of SIM swappers, Europol said.
In a coordinated global law enforcement operation, Europol has taken down more than 30,500 websites for distributing counterfeit and pirated items over the Internet and arrested three suspects....
Aw man, I was still downl...err.. great work everyone! Europol says its latest piracy takedown netted three arrests and more than 30,000 website takedowns.…
In a coordinated International law enforcement operation, Europol today announced to shut down the global organized cybercrime network behind Imminent Monitor RAT, yet another hacking tool that...
"Spear phishing... remains the principal attack vector for most cybercrimes," says Europol in a new report. Sixty-five percent of targeted attack groups use it as their primary infection vector,...