Twitter blocked in Russia, $4 billion in cybercrime losses, and other cybersecurity developments

We round up the week’s most important cybersecurity news.

Russian admits guilt in attempt to hack a U.S. company; Tesla is the likely target

Russian citizen Yegor Kruchkov has admitted his guilt in an attempt to organise a plot to carry out a cyberattack on an American company. In a Department of Justice statement, the name of the latter is not specified, but Elon Musk had previously indirectly confirmed that the target was Tesla.

According to the investigation, Kruchkov tried to bribe an employee of a Nevada-based company with $1 million in bitcoins to install malware in the computer system of that organisation.

FBI: in 2020, victims of cybercrime lost more than $4.2 billion

The year 2020 saw a record number of cybercrimes, according to a report by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

With the release of the 2020 Internet Crime Report, the #FBI wants to remind the public to file complaints about internet crimes via https://t.co/MWss57C5gI. By reporting internet crimes, victims can help law enforcement fight cybercriminals. https://t.co/FqVzJjZlJy pic.twitter.com/NFFhQ77YK3

— FBI (@FBI) March 17, 2021

The number of cybercrime complaints in 2020 rose by 69% compared with the previous year, and total losses rose by 20%. Victims lost more than $4.2 billion, according to the FBI.

A database of former WeLeakInfo clients surfaces online

On the hacker forum RaidForums, a database with data on former WeLeakInfo clients—a service that sold personal data and was shut down by authorities last year—was published. This is reported by Bleeping Computer.

Experts estimate the database contains data on about 10,000 WeLeakInfo clients, including email addresses, bank card information, IP addresses, phone numbers and other details. 

US authorities seek the hacker behind a 150,000-camera video-surveillance breach

American authorities charged hacker Tillie Kottmann with numerous hacks and the theft of confidential data.

Swiss Hacker indicted for conspiracy, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft — Allegedly targeted and published source code and proprietary data of corporate and government victims in various countries https://t.co/nRj90oRuO3

— WDWAnews (@WDWAnews) March 18, 2021

According to the indictment, since 2019 Kottmann and his associates hacked dozens of companies and government agencies and published confidential data of more than 100 organisations online.

Earlier, Kottmann claimed involvement in the Verkada breach, which allegedly gave hackers access to 150,000 cameras.

Roskomnadzor threatens a full Twitter block in Russia within a month

Roskomnadzor said it is giving Twitter a month to remove banned content. If the service takes no action, the agency will consider blocking it entirely in the country.

Last week, after Twitter refused to remove content deemed illegal in Russia, Roskomnadzor began slowing the service.

Researchers find a way to decrypt data without paying the LockBit ransom

A bug was found in the LockBit ransomware code, enabling data to be decrypted without paying the ransom.

#Malware #Ransomware #LockBit

In LockBit ransomware, clients found a bug that allows using trial decryptor infinitely. Also, one client reminded about critical bugs due to not usable LockBit in big ransomware attacks. pic.twitter.com/D98Na8MZ7r

— 3xp0rt (@3xp0rtblog) March 16, 2021

Recall that the bitcoin ransomware LockBit targets companies and business users. Last year operators of the ransomware published the stolen data of U.S. residents.

Also on ForkLog:

• A blockchain platform for issuing “social money” was hacked for $5.7 million.
• Several DeFi projects were hit by cyberattacks.
• Russian authorities aim to require operators to provide Roskomnadzor with subscribers’ personal data, and force businesses to hand over anonymised data about Russians to the state for free.
• Signal messenger began accepting donations in cryptocurrency.
• An 18-year-old Twitter hacker received three years in prison.
• Media reports say authorities will require major foreign IT companies to open offices in Russia.
• Bitcoin wallet data of users of the dark-net social network Atlayo leaked.

What to read this weekend?

Read ForkLog’s exclusive on how cipherpunks built programs that help protect privacy, and their impact on the world of cryptocurrencies.

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