An IT contractor who sabotaged a client's website and demanded $10,000 to restore it was this week convicted of wire fraud and sentenced to four years behind bars. Tavis Tso, 40, from Arizona, was also ordered by US District Judge David Campbell to pay $9,145 in restitution to the unnamed victim of his crime. Tso had …

A new project aims to mitigate cybercrime by making it in the economic and business interests of ISPs and telcos to clean up the internet. CyberRehab wants to prove that it can establish an IP range that hackers choose to stay away from. If miscreants try to attack, they will lose their infrastructure. The IP range will be …

Researchers have discovered a new variant of banking trojan that targets cryptocurrency wallets instead of traditional accounts. Coinbase, the cryptocurrency exchange site targeted in part by the latest Trickbot variant, manages multiple currencies thus offering crooks a wider platform for abuse once they succeed in harvesting …

Crooks slinging mobile trojans have reverted to old techniques by stealing users' money through WAP-billing services. The "unusual" rise in mobile trojan clickers that steal money from Android users through Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) billing has been tracked by security researchers at Kaspersky Lab. The unexpected …

A new study has lifted the lid on the booming ecosystems of fake websites that underpin phishing scams, revealing a wide variety of prices and products from cheap knock-ups to bespoke fraud services offering concierge-level customer support. Infosec firm Clearsky surfed popular Russian and English-speaking underground boards …

Most of the UK's top businesses are underprepared for new data protection rules, while 10 per cent have no response plan for a cyber attack, according to a government survey. This year's annual cyber governance health check (PDF) asked FTSE 350 companies about both their cyber security and data protection measures – the latter …

BSides Weighing in at 800kg secondhand, freestanding ATMs - a “safe with a computer on top” - are a logistical nightmare to own and research, security boffin Leigh-Anne Galloway warned delegates at the BSides Manchester infosec conference yesterday. b sides manchester talk on ATM. scrren grab from video Security boffin Leigh-Anne …

A seemingly state-sponsored cyberattack aimed at more than 4,000 infrastructure companies has been blamed on a lone Nigerian cybercriminal. The campaign started in April 2017, and has targeted some of the largest international organisations in the oil, gas, manufacturing, banking and construction industries. The global scale …

Marcus Hutchins, the WannaCry kill-switch hero, has today pleaded not guilty to charges of creating and selling malware at a hearing in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The court took the unusual step of relaxing the the 23-year-old's bail terms, allowing him to access the internet and work again. He will also be able to live in Los …

A middle-aged Ukrainian has been arrested on suspicion of acting as an agent in distributing the infamous NotPetya ransomware. Sergey Neverov, 51, a video blogger and computer enthusiast from Nikopol, was cuffed by Ukrainian police on August 7 (official statement in Ukrainian here). Neverov is accused of posting a video …

A third of businesses have suffered a ransomware attack in the last 12 months, according to a new survey sponsored by Malwarebytes. Globally, most organisations experienced some form of attack or breach during the past year, with 35 per cent suffering a ransomware attack specifically. Ransomware demands are relatively low, …

An as yet unnamed 29-year-old pleaded guilty on Friday to charges relating to the hijacking of more than 1.25 million Deutsche Telekom routers, according to reports in the German press. German news agency DPA and others quoted a court spokesman as saying the accused, who pleaded guilty to "attempted computer sabotage", had " …

Analysis A US Federal Bureau of Investigation veteran has spoken out on the international police ops that led to the takedown of dark web drug souks AlphaBay and Hansa, giving an insider's look at the process. Joseph Campbell served for 25 years in the FBI, where he led criminal investigations into child exploitation and the trade in …

Ransomware crooks have become skilled psychological manipulators in their attempts to fleece victims of file-encrypting malware. Analysis of the psychology behind ransomware "splash screens", the initial warning screens of ransomware attacks, commissioned by SentinelOne, reveals how social engineering tactics are used by cyber …

Cyber crime lords have come up with a new money-spinner – Russian-language e-learning courses geared towards teaching the skills necessary to rip off consumers and card companies. Risk management firm Digital Shadows flagged up the course as part of a wider report into trends in underground carding forums. The study, published …

Attackers are manually deploying ransomware directly into target networks to maximise the damage and potential payout. Unlike "spray-and-pray" attacks such as WannaCrypt, which hit victims at random, targeted attacks that manually execute the ransomware enable criminals to ensure they have locked mission-critical files that …

More than $7m was stolen by hackers on Monday from folks investing in a cryptocurrency startup. Israel-based CoinDash – which bills itself as an "an operating system" for "interacting, handling and trading crypto assets" – launched what's called an initial coin offering. This is a process in which people buy virtual tokens …

Dark web marketplace AlphaBay's closure last week followed an international law enforcement operation and multiple raids, it has emerged. It has also been reported that a key suspect who was arrested in the raids has died in custody. The world’s biggest online drug bazaar dropped offline on 5 July, sparking fears that its …