Posts Tagged ‘cyber threats’
Bremerton ‘cyber-terrorist’ convicted for massive swatting, extortion scheme
A Bremerton 21-year-old pleaded guilty Thursday in Tacoma to four felonies related to a massive swatting scheme spanning nine states. Ashton Connor Garcia pleaded guilty to two counts of extortion and two counts of threats and hoaxes regarding explosives, according to U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman. From early June 2022 through March 2023, documents say…
Read MoreFBI Releases 2023 Year in Review
In 2023, the FBI faced a growing and evolving threat spectrum—from an uptick in violent and bias-motivated crimes to increasingly elaborate cyberattacks to a rise in more potent drugs like fentanyl. A look back over the past 12 months shows the diversity of law enforcement and intelligence challenges facing the 115-year-old Bureau. While the year…
Read MoreStates And Congress Wrestle With Cybersecurity At Water Utilities Amid Renewed Federal Warnings
The tiny Aliquippa water authority in western Pennsylvania was perhaps the least-suspecting victim of an international cyberattack. It had never had outside help in protecting its systems from a cyberattack, either at its existing plant that dates to the 1930s or the new $18.5 million one it is building. Then it — along with several…
Read MoreUk Says Russia’s Intelligence Service Behind Sustained Attempts To Meddle In British Democracy
Russia’s intelligence services targeted high-profile British politicians, civil servants and journalists with cyberespionage and “malicious cyberactivity” as part of sustained attempts to interfere in U.K. political processes, Britain’s government said Thursday. The Foreign Office said Russia’s FSB agency was responsible for a range of cyberespionage operations in the U.K., including targeting British parliamentarians from multiple…
Read MoreRansomware hackers ‘wreaking havoc’ arrested in Ukraine
European cyber police have arrested a 32-year-old suspected of being the ringleader of a ransomware gang operating in Ukraine. In raids across the country authorities seized laptops and arrested four other alleged hackers. The gang are accused of successfully extorting “several hundred millions of euros” from victims in 71 countries. The arrests are the latest…
Read MoreEmergency rooms in at least 3 states diverting patients after ransomware attack
Hospitals in at least three states are diverting patients from their emergency rooms after a major cyberattack hit their parent company last week. Ardent Health Services, which oversees 30 hospitals across the U.S., said Monday that it had been the victim of a severe ransomware attack in Oklahoma, News Mexico and Texas, forcing it to…
Read MoreMunicipal Water Authority of Aliquippa hacked by Iranian-backed cyber group
The Municipal Water Authority of Aliquippa said on Saturday that one of their booster stations had been hacked by an Iranian-backed cyber group. Matthew Mottes, the chairman of the board of directors for the Municipal Water Authority of Aliquippa, confirmed to KDKA-TV that the cyber group, known as Cyber Av3ngers, took control of one of…
Read MoreDHS Continues to See High Risk of Foreign and Domestic Terrorism in 2024 Homeland Threat Assessment
Today, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released the 2024 Homeland Threat Assessment (HTA), which continues to identify a high risk of foreign and domestic terrorism in 2024. The HTA provides the public and the Department’s partners with a detailed report on the most pressing threats to the United States as part of the Biden…
Read MoreA second major British police force suffers a cyberattack in less than a month
Personal details of thousands of police officers and staff from Greater Manchester Police have been hacked from a company that makes identity cards, the second such cyberattack to affect a major British police force in less than a month. Details on identity badges and warrant cards, including names, photos and identity numbers or police collar…
Read MoreTop U.S. cyber official offers ‘stark warning’ of infrastructure attacks if China tensions escalate
China’s hackers have been positioning themselves to conduct destructive cyberattacks on U.S. critical infrastructure, a top U.S. cyber official warned Saturday. Speaking at a panel at the Def Con hacker conference in Las Vegas, Jen Easterly, the director of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency, said, “I hope that people are taking seriously a pretty…
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