Security News
For-profit companies reportedly linked to sextortion activity are targeting victims using various deceptive tactics to pressure them into paying for "Assistance" services provided by non-profit agencies and law enforcement for free, the FBI warns. Sextortion is a digital extortion scheme where criminals use phishing emails or fake social media profiles to deceive potential victims into sharing explicit videos or images later used for blackmail.
"Account access credentials advertised for sale on Genesis Market included those connected to the financial sector, critical infrastructure, and federal, state, and local government agencies," the U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement. DoJ called Genesis Market one of the "Most prolific initial access brokers in the cybercrime world."
Active since 2018, Genesis Market's slogan was, "Our store sells bots with logs, cookies, and their real fingerprints." Customers could search for infected systems with a variety of options, including by Internet address or by specific domain names associated with stolen credentials. Multiple domains associated with Genesis had their homepages replaced with a seizure notice from the FBI, which said the domains were seized pursuant to a warrant issued by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin.
Market, has had its web site seized by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigations. Market as "An invitation-only marketplace" from which buyers can acquire "Stolen credentials, cookies, and digital fingerprints that are gathered from compromised systems".
The domains for Genesis Market, one of the most popular marketplaces for stolen credentials of all types, were seized by law enforcement earlier this week as part of Operation Cookie Monster. While authorities have yet to publish press releases about the takedown, accessing the Genesis Market domains shows a banner saying that the FBI has executed a seizure warrant.
BEC attacks are usually aimed at stealing money or valuable information, but the FBI warns that BEC scammers are increasingly trying to get their hands on physical goods such as construction materials, agricultural supplies, computer technology hardware, and solar energy products. In 2022, the FBI also warned of a BEC scheme aiming to steal shipments of food products and ingredients.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is warning companies in the U.S. of threat actors using tactics similar to business email compromise that allow less technical actors to steal various goods from vendors. Typical business email compromise attacks focus on stealing money by tricking the victim into diverting funds to the fraudster's account.
Today, the FBI confirmed they have access to the database of the notorious BreachForums hacking forum after the U.S. Justice Department also officially announced the arrest of its owner. 20-year-old Conor Brian Fitzpatrick was charged for his involvement in the theft and sale of sensitive personal information belonging to "Millions of U.S. citizens and hundreds of U.S. and foreign companies, organizations, and government agencies" on the Breached cybercrime forum.
The notorious Breached hacking forum has shut down after the remaining administrator, Baphomet, disclosed that they believe law enforcement has access to the site's servers. Breached was a popular hacking and data leak forum notorious for hosting, leaking, and selling data obtained from breached companies, governments, and various organizations.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation revealed in its 2022 Internet Crime Report that ransomware gangs breached the networks of at least 860 critical infrastructure organizations last year. "The IC3 received 870 complaints that indicated organizations belonging to a critical infrastructure sector were victims of a ransomware attack," the FBI said.