Security News

Australian Federal Police commissioner Reece Kershaw has accused un-named nations of helping organized criminals to use technology to commit and launder the proceeds of crime, and called for international collaboration to developer technologies that counter the threats that behaviour creates. Kershaw's remarks were made at a meeting of the Five Eyes Law Enforcement Group, the forum in which members of the Five Eyes intelligence sharing pact - Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the UK and the USA - discuss policing and related matters.

An international law enforcement operation involving 11 countries has culminated in the takedown of a notorious mobile malware threat called FluBot. "This Android malware has been spreading aggressively through SMS, stealing passwords, online banking details and other sensitive information from infected smartphones across the world," Europol said in a statement.

Europol has announced the takedown of the FluBot operation, one of the largest and fastest-growing Android malware operations in existence. The malware operation's takedown resulted from a law enforcement operation involving eleven countries following a complex technical investigation to pinpoint FluBot's most critical infrastructure.

An international law enforcement operation involving 11 countries has disrupted the spreading of the FluBot Android malware, which spreads via SMS and MMS and steals sensitive information - passwords, online banking details, etc. The Dutch Police, who took control of the malware's infrastructure earlier in May, made the malware inactive.

Apple and Meta shared data with child hackers pretending to be law enforcement. It was revealed on March 30 that both Apple and Facebook parent company, Meta, were duped by child hackers impersonating law enforcement officers last year, according to a report from Bloomberg.

The numerous law enforcement operations leading to the arrests and takedown of ransomware operations in 2021 have forced threat actors to narrow their targeting scope and maximize the efficiency of their operations. Most of the notorious Ransomware-as-a-Service gangs continue their operations even after the law enforcement authorities have arrested key members but have refined their tactics for maximum impact.

Ransomware groups continue to evolve their tactics and techniques to deploy file-encrypting malware on compromised systems, notwithstanding law enforcement's disruptive actions against the cybercrime gangs to prevent them from victimizing additional companies. Sweeping law enforcement operations undertaken by government agencies in recent months have brought about rapid shifts in the RaaS landscape and turned the tables on ransomware syndicates like Avaddon, BlackMatter, Cl0p, DarkSide, Egregor, and REvil, forcing the actors to slow down or shut down their businesses altogether.

A January 2021 FBI document outlines what types of data and metadata can be lawfully obtained by the FBI from messaging apps. Rolling Stone broke the story and it’s been written about elsewhere. I...

According to Reuters, the REVil ransomware operation was "Hacked and forced offline this week by a multi-country operation". The Colonial ransomware incident was attributed to a cybergang going by DarkSide, a criminal operation that Reuters describes as "Developed by REvil associates."

AnyVision announced the availability of OnPatrol, a tactical surveillance mobile application that protects law enforcement and military personnel by recognizing persons of interest and alerting officers in real-time via their mobile device. "Public trust in the safety and security provided by law enforcement agencies is of paramount importance. AnyVision OnPatrol can help de-escalate potential threats and prevent physical harm by identifying criminals and dangerous individuals in real-time through our Recognition AI technology," said Dieter Joecker, AnyVision's CTO. "It is designed specifically to recognize and check individual faces against a designated watchlist - even when people are in motion, captured in poor lighting, or partially obscured by surrounding people."