WIRED

Feds Seize Record-Breaking $15 Billion in Bitcoin From Alleged Scam Empire

Officials in the US and UK have taken sweeping action against “one of the largest investment fraud operations in history,” confiscating a historic amount of funds in the process.

WIRED

‘OpenAI’ Job Scam Targeted International Workers Through Telegram

An alleged job scam, led by “Aiden” from “OpenAI,” recruited workers in Bangladesh for months before disappearing overnight, according to FTC complaints obtained by WIRED.

WIRED

Trump Frees Silk Road Creator Ross Ulbricht After 11 Years in Prison

Donald Trump pardoned the creator of the world’s first dark-web drug market, who is now a libertarian cause célèbre in some parts of the crypto community.

WIRED

The ‘Largest Illicit Online Marketplace’ Ever Is Growing at an Alarming Rate, Report Says

Huione Guarantee, a gray market researchers believe is central to the online scam ecosystem, now includes a messaging app, stablecoin, and crypto exchange—while facilitating $24 billion in transactions.

WIRED

Meet ZachXBT, the Masked Vigilante Tracking Down Billions in Crypto Scams and Thefts

He just untangled a $243 million bitcoin theft, what may be the biggest-ever crypto heist to target a single victim. And he has never shown his face.

WIRED

Nigeria Drops Charges Against Tigran Gambaryan, Jailed Binance Exec and Former IRS Agent

After eight months, one of the US’s most prominent crypto-crime investigators may finally be coming home.

WIRED

69,000 Bitcoins Are Headed for the US Treasury—While the Agent Who Seized Them Is in Jail

The $4.4 billion in crypto is set to be the largest pile of criminal proceeds ever sold off by the US. The former IRS agent who seized the record-breaking sum, meanwhile, languishes in a Nigerian jail cell.

WIRED

Pressure Grows in Congress to Treat Crypto Investigator Tigran Gambaryan, Jailed in Nigeria, as a Hostage

A new resolution echoes what 16 members of Congress have already said to the White House: It must do more to free one of the most storied crypto-focused federal agents in history.

WIRED

Inside a Violent Gang's Ruthless Crypto-Stealing Home Invasion Spree

More than a dozen men threatened, assaulted, tortured, or kidnapped 11 victims in likely the worst-ever crypto-focused serial extortion case of its kind in the US.

Security – Cisco Blog

Digital Forensics for Investigating the Metaverse

Exploring the Metaverse? Discover its hidden cybersecurity risks and stay protected. Dive into the evolving world of virtual reality with us, where we uncover and tackle the security challenges of tomorrow

The Hacker News

Microsoft Uncovers 'Moonstone Sleet' — New North Korean Hacker Group

A never-before-seen North Korean threat actor codenamed Moonstone Sleet has been attributed as behind cyber attacks targeting individuals and organizations in the software and information technology, education, and defense industrial base sectors with ransomware and bespoke malware previously associated with the infamous Lazarus Group. "Moonstone Sleet is observed to set up fake companies and

WIRED

How Researchers Cracked an 11-Year-Old Password to a $3 Million Crypto Wallet

Thanks to a flaw in a decade-old version of the RoboForm password manager and a bit of luck, researchers were able to unearth the password to a crypto wallet containing a fortune.

The Hacker News

Chinese Nationals Arrested for Laundering $73 Million in Pig Butchering Crypto Scam

The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) has charged two arrested Chinese nationals for allegedly orchestrating a pig butchering scam that laundered at least $73 million from victims through shell companies. The individuals, Daren Li, 41, and Yicheng Zhang, 38, were arrested in Atlanta and Los Angeles on April 12 and May 16, respectively. The foreign nationals have been "charged for leading a scheme

The Hacker News

Dutch Court Sentences Tornado Cash Co-Founder to 5 Years in Prison for Money Laundering

A Dutch court on Tuesday sentenced one of the co-founders of the now-sanctioned Tornado Cash cryptocurrency mixer service to 5 years and 4 months in prison. While the name of the defendant was redacted in the verdict, it's known that Alexey Pertsev, a 31-year-old Russian national, had been awaiting trial in the Netherlands on money laundering charges.

WIRED

The $2.3 Billion Tornado Cash Case Is a Pivotal Moment for Crypto Privacy

Tuesday’s verdict in the trial of Alexey Pertsev, a creator of crypto-privacy service Tornado Cash, is the first in a string of cases that could make it much harder to skirt financial surveillance.

The Hacker News

Bitcoin Forensic Analysis Uncovers Money Laundering Clusters and Criminal Proceeds

A forensic analysis of a graph dataset containing transactions on the Bitcoin blockchain has revealed clusters associated with illicit activity and money laundering, including detecting criminal proceeds sent to a crypto exchange and previously unknown wallets belonging to a Russian darknet market. The findings come from Elliptic in collaboration with researchers from the&

WIRED

A Vast New Data Set Could Supercharge the AI Hunt for Crypto Money Laundering

Blockchain analysis firm Elliptic, MIT, and IBM have released a new AI model—and the 200-million-transaction dataset it's trained on—that aims to spot the “shape” of bitcoin money laundering.

The Hacker News

Akira Ransomware Gang Extorts $42 Million; Now Targets Linux Servers

Threat actors behind the Akira ransomware group have extorted approximately $42 million in illicit proceeds after breaching the networks of more than 250 victims as of January 1, 2024. "Since March 2023, Akira ransomware has impacted a wide range of businesses and critical infrastructure entities in North America, Europe, and Australia," cybersecurity agencies from the Netherlands and the U.S.,

The Hacker News

Ex-Security Engineer Jailed 3 Years for $12.3 Million Crypto Exchange Thefts

A former security engineer has been sentenced to three years in prison in the U.S. for charges relating to hacking two decentralized cryptocurrency exchanges in July 2022 and stealing over $12.3 million. Shakeeb Ahmed, the defendant in question, pled guilty to one count of computer fraud in December 2023 following his arrest in July. "At the time of both attacks,

Security – Cisco Blog

Cryptocurrency and Blockchain security due diligence: A guide to hedge risk

Blockchain technology has experienced remarkable adoption in recent years, driven by its use across a broad spectrum of institutions, governments, retail investors, and users. However, this surge in… Read more on Cisco Blogs

The Hacker News

U.S. Sanctions 3 Cryptocurrency Exchanges for Helping Russia Evade Sanctions

The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned three cryptocurrency exchanges for offering services used to evade economic restrictions imposed on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine in early 2022. This includes Bitpapa IC FZC LLC, Crypto Explorer DMCC (AWEX), and Obshchestvo S Ogranichennoy Otvetstvennostyu Tsentr Obrabotki Elektronnykh Platezhey (

The Hacker News

U.S. Sanctions Russians Behind 'Doppelganger' Cyber Influence Campaign

The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Wednesday announced sanctions against two 46-year-old Russian nationals and the respective companies they own for engaging in cyber influence operations. Ilya Andreevich Gambashidze (Gambashidze), the founder of the Moscow-based company Social Design Agency (SDA), and Nikolai Aleksandrovich Tupikin (Tupikin), the CEO and

WIRED

Binance’s Top Crypto Crime Investigator Is Being Detained in Nigeria

Tigran Gambaryan, a former crypto-focused US federal agent, and a second Binance executive, Nadeem Anjarwalla, have been held in Abuja without passports for two weeks.

WIRED

The Mystery of the $400 Million FTX Heist May Have Been Solved

An indictment against three Americans suggests that at least some of the culprits behind the theft of an FTX crypto fortune may be in custody.

The Hacker News

29-Year-Old Ukrainian Cryptojacking Kingpin Arrested for Exploiting Cloud Services

A 29-year-old Ukrainian national has been arrested in connection with running a “sophisticated cryptojacking scheme,” netting them over $2 million (€1.8 million) in illicit profits. The person, described as the “mastermind” behind the operation, was apprehended in Mykolaiv, Ukraine, on January 9 by the National Police of Ukraine with support from Europol and an unnamed cloud service provider

WIRED

Child Abusers Are Getting Better at Using Crypto to Cover Their Tracks

Crypto tracing firm Chainalysis found that sellers of child sexual abuse materials are successfully using “mixers” and “privacy coins” like Monero to launder their profits and evade law enforcement.

WIRED

Lawmakers Are Out for Blood After a Hack of the SEC’s X Account Causes Bitcoin Chaos

The US Securities and Exchange Commission is under pressure to explain itself after its X account was compromised, leading to wild swings in the bitcoin market.

The Hacker News

Beware: Scam-as-a-Service Aiding Cybercriminals in Crypto Wallet-Draining Attacks

Cybersecurity researchers are warning about an increase in phishing attacks that are capable of draining cryptocurrency wallets. "These threats are unique in their approach, targeting a wide range of blockchain networks, from Ethereum and Binance Smart Chain to Polygon, Avalanche, and almost 20 other networks by using a crypto wallet-draining technique," Check Point researchers Oded Vanunu,

The Hacker News

Crypto Hardware Wallet Ledger's Supply Chain Breach Results in $600,000 Theft

Crypto hardware wallet maker Ledger published a new version of its "@ledgerhq/connect-kit" npm module after unidentified threat actors pushed malicious code that led to the theft of more than $600,000 in virtual assets. The compromise was the result of a former employee falling victim to a phishing attack, the company said in a statement. This allowed the attackers to gain

The Hacker News

New NKAbuse Malware Exploits NKN Blockchain Tech for DDoS Attacks

A novel multi-platform threat called NKAbuse has been discovered using a decentralized, peer-to-peer network connectivity protocol known as NKN (short for New Kind of Network) as a communications channel. "The malware utilizes NKN technology for data exchange between peers, functioning as a potent implant, and equipped with both flooder and backdoor capabilities," Russian

The Hacker News

N. Korea's Kimsuky Targeting South Korean Research Institutes with Backdoor Attacks

The North Korean threat actor known as Kimsuky has been observed targeting research institutes in South Korea as part of a spear-phishing campaign with the ultimate goal of distributing backdoors on compromised systems. "The threat actor ultimately uses a backdoor to steal information and execute commands," the AhnLab Security Emergency Response Center (ASEC) said in an

WIRED

The Binance Crackdown Will Be an 'Unprecedented' Bonanza for Crypto Surveillance

Binance’s settlement requires it to offer years of transaction data to US regulators and cops, exposing the company—and its customers—to a “24/7, 365-days-a-year financial colonoscopy.”

The Hacker News

U.S. Treasury Sanctions Sinbad Cryptocurrency Mixer Used by North Korean Hackers

The U.S. Treasury Department on Wednesday imposed sanctions against Sinbad, a virtual currency mixer that has been put to use by the North Korea-linked Lazarus Group to launder ill-gotten proceeds. "Sinbad has processed millions of dollars' worth of virtual currency from Lazarus Group heists, including the Horizon Bridge and Axie Infinity heists," the department said. "Sinbad is

The Hacker News

N. Korean Hackers 'Mixing' macOS Malware Tactics to Evade Detection

The North Korean threat actors behind macOS malware strains such as RustBucket and KANDYKORN have been observed "mixing and matching" different elements of the two disparate attack chains, leveraging RustBucket droppers to deliver KANDYKORN. The findings come from cybersecurity firm SentinelOne, which also tied a third macOS-specific malware called ObjCShellz to the RustBucket campaign

WIRED

DOJ Charges Binance With Vast Money-Laundering Scheme and Sanctions Violations

From Russia to Iran, the feds have charged Binance with conducting well over $1 billion in transactions with sanctioned countries and criminal actors.

The Hacker News

Randstorm Exploit: Bitcoin Wallets Created b/w 2011-2015 Vulnerable to Hacking

Bitcoin wallets created between 2011 and 2015 are susceptible to a new kind of exploit called Randstorm that makes it possible to recover passwords and gain unauthorized access to a multitude of wallets spanning several blockchain platforms. "Randstorm() is a term we coined to describe a collection of bugs, design decisions, and API changes that, when brought in contact with each other, combine

Naked Security

Beanstalk cryptocurrency heist: scammer votes himself all the money

Voting safeguards based on commuity collateral don't work if one person can use a momentary loan to "become" 75% of the community.

Naked Security

Wormhole cryptotrading company turns over $340,000,000 to criminals

It was the best of blockchains, it was the worst of blockchains... as Charles Dickens might have said.