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Teenage hackers run rings around cyber-defenses

The recent UK retail cyberattacks that impacted Marks & Spencer and the Co-Op supermarket chain are only the tip of a very large iceberg that now threatens organizations on both sides of the Atlantic. Although media reports have attributed the attacks to a group named “Scattered Spider,” the actual threat is far bigger. For a start, there is no criminal group that actually calls itself “Scattered Spider”, which is just a made-up name attributed by cybersecurity researchers. These attacks and many others in the US and the UK are now known to be the work of a vast sprawling network of hackers, some as young as 14, spread across the US and the UK. They call themselves “the Community”, or “the Com” for short, and are essentially a vast teenage subculture of criminal hackers.

Russia orchestrates vast cyber-espionage campaign

A new Russian threat actor, Void Blizzard, also known as Laundry Bear, is gathering intelligence from Western states on an industrial scale unseen since the end of the Cold War. According to Microsoft Threat Intelligence, Void Blizzard primarily targets NATO member states, particularly those supporting Ukraine, and Ukraine.

us and russia cyber warfare stance at risk

Cyber truce with Russia opens up US for cyber-attacks

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s shock directive to US Cyber Command to pause offensive cyber-operations against Russia may have unforeseen consequences for organizations across the US. It would mean that the West could be blind-sided by a lack of actionable intelligence regarding Russia’s ongoing cyber-war against countries such as the US and the UK. Russian groups are already upping cyber-attacks on the US. In December, Cyber Intelligence reported that two Russian groups, the People’s Cyber Army and Z-Pentest, claim to have taken attacks on critical infrastructure in the US to a new and more dangerous level. This was evidenced by Telegram videos detailing attacks on US energy and water facilities far beyond the previously supposed capabilities of such groups.

russia cyberattacks on the US

Russian cyber gangs escalate attacks on US

Two Russian groups, the People’s Cyber Army and Z-Pentest, claim to have taken attacks on critical infrastructure in the US to a new and more dangerous level. Dark web researchers at threat intelligence firm Cyble have discovered Telegram videos detailing attacks on US energy and water facilities far beyond the previously supposed capabilities of such groups. Cyble believes that the two groups may be working in cooperation with one another. Previously, the People’s Cyber Army, which also goes by the name of the Cyber Army of Russia Reborn, and lesser-known groups such as Z-Pentest, have largely confined their attacks on US critical infrastructure to simple and easy-to-repel distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks.

matveev behind bars

Russian Authorities Arrest FBI’s Most Wanted Hacker

The FBI’s most wanted hacker, Mikhail Pavlovich Matveev, dubbed the “Moriarty” of cybercrime, has finally been arrested by Russian authorities. Described by the FBI as a “prolific” cybercriminal, Matveev has had a $10 million bounty on his head for any information leading to his arrest since 2023. The arrest is a turning point on the part of the Russian authorities, as cybercriminals have long seen Russia as a safe haven. According to intelligence sources, this could either represent an attempt to try and legitimize the Russian economy or an indication that the state is taking back control of cyber-attacks on Western economies.

women in russian cybercrime

Women break glass ceiling of Russian cybercrime

Women cybercriminals and lady Darknet hackers are now starting to make inroads into the hitherto male-dominated fraternities of Russian-speaking cybercrime. According to the cybersecurity training and certification cooperative, the SANS Institute, women cybercriminals sometimes now pose as men in order to obfuscate their identities as well as to gain credibility among Russian-speaking criminals. The SANS Institute interviewed one such woman cybercriminal, who is referred to only as a "Confidential Human Source (CHS)" in order to comply with her request for anonymity. “I often took my boyfriend to in-person meetings,” CHS revealed, shining a new light on a so-far largely unrecognized aspect of cybercrime, the fact that cybercriminals meetings are frequently also conducted offline.

russia phishing warning from microsoft

Russian secret service steps up cyber-attacks on the West

Software giant Microsoft has made an urgent public announcement that the Russian secret service is currently sending thousands of weaponized spear-phishing emails to key individuals in over 100 organizations in countries including the US and the UK. According to Microsoft: “The emails were highly targeted, using social engineering lures relating to Microsoft, Amazon Web Services (AWS)… In some of the lures, the actor attempted to add credibility to their malicious messages by impersonating Microsoft employees.”

uncovering goldenjackal

GoldenJackal targets top-secret installations

An as-yet-unidentified group, known only as GoldenJackal with suspected links to the Russian state, is targeting high-security networks that are intentionally isolated from the internet. Confidential data is frequently stored in “air-gapped” computers that do not have an online connection and were, until now, virtually impossible to hack. But cybersecurity firm ESET now reports that GoldenJackal was deploying “a highly modular toolset” against a government organization in a European Union (EU) country between May 2022 and March 2024. This follows similar ongoing attacks on air-gapped systems in Belarus that began in August 2019.

attack on london's transport systems

London’s transport cyber-breach is spreading fast

A cyber-attack on the London transport system earlier this month was far more serious than initially reported and is rapidly spreading across the UK. It is also now ringing loud alarm bells on both sides of the Atlantic, particularly in light of the upcoming US elections in November. Transport for London (TfL) has now admitted that over 5,000 customers’ personal details and, in many cases, their financial details have been stolen. TfL added that the breach is also rapidly starting to affect services outside London. The London Underground, the UK capital’s vast underground rail network, like most European metros, has a touchpad automatic electronic payment system using prepaid plastic cards. London also allows travelers simply to use their visa or MasterCard on the touchpads at the London underground barriers. This means that organizations such as TfL have become repositories of millions of commuters’ financial details, making them a tempting target for small-time cyber crooks.

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