An anonymous reader quotes a report from WTSP: hacker gained access to Oldsmar’s water treatment plant, bumping the sodium hydroxide in the water to a “dangerous” level, according to Pinellas County’s sheriff. In a press conference Monday, Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said his deputies, along with the FBI and U.S. Secret Service, are investigating the breach as it is unclear if it…
Tag: Secret Service
Kingpin Behind Massive Identity-Theft Service Says He’s Sorry
Krebs on Security tells the tale of Hieu Minh Ngo, who earned $3 million by selling the identity records he’d stolen from consumer data brokers (which included social security numbers and physical addresses). “He was selling the personal information on more than 200 million Americans,” one secret service agent tells the site, “and allowing anyone to buy it for pennies apiece.”…
Secret Service Paid To Get Americans’ Location Data Without a Warrant, Documents Show
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Gizmodo: A newly released document shows the U.S. Secret Service went through a controversial social media surveillance company to purchase the location information on American’s movements, no warrant necessary. Babel Street is a shadowy organization that offers a product called Locate X that is reportedly used to gather anonymized location data from a host…
A 17-Year-Old’s Journey: Minecraft, SIM-Swapping Bitcoin Heists, Breaching Twitter
The New York Times tells the story of the 17-year-old “mastermind” arrested Friday for the takeover of dozens of high-profile Twitter accounts. They report that Graham Ivan Clark “had a difficult family life” and “poured his energy into video games and cryptocurrency” after his parents divorced when he was 7, and he grew up in Tampa, Florida with his mother, “a…
US Secret Service Creates New Cyber Fraud Task Force
The U.S. Secret Service announced the creation of the Cyber Fraud Task Force (CFTF) after the merger of its Financial Crimes Task Forces (FCTFs) and Electronic Crimes Task Forces (ECTFs) into a single unified network. Bleeping Computer reports: CFTF’s main goal is to investigate and defend American individuals and businesses from a wide range of cyber-enabled financial crimes, from business email…
Germany Calls In Russian Envoy Over Hack Attack
In response to a cyberattack on the German Parliament in 2015, Germany wants to impose a European travel ban and asset freeze on those responsible. Reuters reports: Russia has rejected allegations that its military intelligence was behind the cyber attack after media reported that data had been stolen, including emails from Chancellor Angela Merkel’s constituency office. State Secretary Miguel Berger told…
Breach of MGM Hotels’ Cloud Server Exposed Data on 10.6 Million People
Personal information from more than 10.6 million people was published online this week, reports ZDNet — all from people who’d stayed at MGM Resorts hotels (which include the Bellagio, Mandalay Bay, and ARIA):
Besides details for regular tourists and travelers, included in the leaked files are also personal and contact details for celebrities, tech CEOs, reporters, government officials, and employees at some…
America’s CIA Reportedly Spied on Julian Assange In the Ecuador Embassy
A Spanish private security firm spied on Wikileaks founder Julian Assange on behalf of the CIA while he was inside Ecuador’s embassy in London, according to the Spanish newspaper El Pais. An anonymous reader quotes AFP:
Citing unspecified documents and statements, the paper said Undercover Global Ltd, which was responsible for security at the embassy while Assange was staying there, sent the…
Employees Connect Nuclear Plant To the Internet So They Can Mine Cryptocurrency
Ukrainian authorities are investigating a potential security breach at a local nuclear power plant after employees connected parts of its internal network to the internet so they could mine cryptocurrency. From a report: The investigation is being led by the Ukrainian Secret Service (SBU), who is looking at the incident as a potential breach of state secrets due to the classification…
Remembering The Retiree Who Became America’s Worst Counterfeiter
The Hustle tells the story of a mysterious legend who “produced thousands of the ugliest counterfeit $1 bills ever made…so poorly done that the Secret Service thought the perpetrator was intentionally mocking them” — using a small hand-driven printing press in his kitchen:
It was printed on cheap bond paper that could be found at any stationary store. The serial numbers were…