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Pioneering British KYC tech company acquired by American ID verification firm

The supply-chain attack on the U.S. energy sector targeted thousands of computers at hundreds of organizations, including at least one nuclear power plant.

Two separate campaigns from different threat actors targeted users with the same exploit kit for more than a month before the company fixed an RCE flaw found in February.

Research:

Abstract: The retreating ice cover of the Central Arctic Ocean (CAO) fuels speculations on future fisheries. However, very little is known about the existence of harvestable fish stocks in this 3.3 million­–square kilometer ecosystem around the North Pole. Crossing the Eurasian Basin, we documented an uninterrupted 3170-kilometer-long deep scattering layer (DSL) with zooplankton and small fish in the Atlantic water layer at 100- to 500-meter depth. Diel vertical migration of this central Arctic DSL was lacking most of the year when daily light variation was absent. Unexpectedly, the DSL also contained low abundances of Atlantic cod, along with lanternfish, armhook squid, and Arctic endemic ice cod. The Atlantic cod originated from Norwegian spawning grounds and had lived in Arctic water temperature for up to 6 years. The potential fish abundance was far below commercially sustainable levels and is expected to remain so because of the low productivity of the CAO.

As usual, you can also use this squid post to talk about the security stories in the news that I haven’t covered.

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Gus Simmons is an early pioneer in cryptography and computer security. I know him best for his work on authentication and covert channels, specifically as related to nuclear treaty verification. His work is cited extensively in Applied Cryptography.

He has written a memoir of growing up dirt-poor in 1930s rural West Virginia. I’m in the middle of reading it, and it’s fascinating.

More blog posts.

An Estonian man was sentenced today to more than five years in a U.S. prison for his role in at least 13 ransomware attacks that caused losses of approximately $53 million. Prosecutors say the accused also enjoyed a lengthy career of “cashing out” access to hacked bank accounts worldwide.

Maksim Berezan, 37, is an Estonian national who was arrested nearly two years ago in Latvia. U.S. authorities alleged Berezan was a longtime member of DirectConnection, a closely-guarded Russian cybercriminal forum that existed until 2015. Berezan’s indictment (PDF) says he used his status at DirectConnection to secure cashout jobs from other vetted crooks on the exclusive crime forum.

Berezan specialized in cashouts and “drops.” Cashouts refer to using stolen payment card data to make fraudulent purchases or to withdraw money from bank accounts without authorization. A drop is a location or individual able to securely receive and forward funds or goods obtained through cashouts or other types of fraud. Drops typically are used to make it harder for law enforcement to trace fraudulent transactions and to circumvent fraud detection measures used by banks and credit card companies.

Acting on information from U.S. authorities, in November 2020 Latvian police searched Berezan’s residence there and found a red Porsche Carrera 911, a black Porsche Cayenne, a Ducati motorcycle, and an assortment of jewelry. They also seized $200,000 in currency, and $1.7 million in bitcoin.

After Berezan was extradited to the United States in December 2020, investigators searching his electronic devices said they found “significant evidence of his involvement in ransomware activity.”

“The post-extradition investigation determined that Berezan had participated in at least 13 ransomware attacks, 7 of which were against U.S. victims, and that approximately $11 million in ransom payments flowed into cryptocurrency wallets that he controlled,” reads a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice.

Berezan pleaded guilty in April 2021 to conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

For many years on DirectConnection and other crime forums, Berezan went by the hacker alias “Albanec.” Investigators close to the case told KrebsOnSecurity that Albanec was involved in multiple so-called “unlimited” cashouts, a highly choreographed, global fraud scheme in which crooks hack a bank or payment card processor and used cloned payment cards at cash machines around the world to fraudulently withdraw millions of dollars in just a few hours.

Berezan joins a growing list of top cybercriminals from DirectConnection who’ve been arrested and convicted of cybercrimes since the forum disappeared years ago. One of Albanec’s business partners on the forum was Sergey “Flycracker” Vovnenko, a Ukrainian man who once ran his own cybercrime forum and who in 2013 executed a plot to have heroin delivered to our home in a bid to get Yours Truly arrested for drug possession. Vovnenko was later arrested, extradited to the United States, pleaded guilty and spent more than three years in prison on botnet-related charges (Vovnenko is now back in Ukraine, trying to fight the Russian invasion with his hacking abilities).

Perhaps the most famous DirectConnection member was its administrator Aleksei Burkov, a Russian hacker thought to be so connected to the Russian cybercriminal scene that he was described as an “asset of extreme importance to Moscow.” Burkov was arrested in Israel in 2015, and the Kremlin arrested an Israeli woman on trumped-up drug charges to force a prisoner swap.

That effort failed. Burkov was extradited to the U.S. in 2019, soon pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to nine years. However, he was recently deported back to Russia prior to serving his full sentence, which has prompted Republican leaders in the House to question why.

Other notable cybercrooks from DirectConnection who’ve been arrested, extradited to the U.S. and sentenced to prison include convicted credit card fraudsters Vladislav “Badb” Horohorin and Sergey “zo0mer” Kozerev, as well as the infamous spammer and botnet master Peter “Severa” Levashov.

At his sentencing today, Berezan was sentenced to 66 months in prison and ordered to pay $36 million in restitution to his victims.

Arrests made over fake websites selling forged helicopter ride tickets to pilgrims

Russian allegedly operated darknet store, selling stolen PII, credentials and authentication tools

ISACA’s State of Cybersecurity 2022 report revealed ongoing struggles to hire and retain skilled cybersecurity professionals

Palo Alto claims Conti was most prolific actor last year