Cybersecurity firm Cyera has raised $540 million in a Series E funding round, bringing its total to over $1.3 billion. Cyera’s valuation has surged to $6 billion in six months, reporting a 353 percent year-over-year growth.
The line between cybercrime and plain old-fashioned fraud has become yet more blurred following the sentencing of international virtual currency vendor Anurag Pramod Murarka to 121 months in prison for his involvement in a classic money laundering operation that he advertised on Darknet marketplaces.
According to recently unsealed court documents, Murarka operated an international money laundering business from April 2021 until September 29, 2023. Murarka was able to operate out of India and serviced shady clients in the United States through an intricate Indian “hawala” money transferring system and the use of the US Postal Service as his “unwitting partner in transferring ill-begotten funds.” The original Hawala scam was an Indian political and financial scandal involving illicit payments allegedly sent by politicians through a network of four Hawala brokers that implicated some of the country’s leading politicians.
The US is the top target for cyber-attacks focusing on mobile devices and those connected by the Internet of Things (IoT) plus the operational technology (OT) systems than run facilities such as power plants.
According to cybersecurity firm Zscaler’s ThreatLabz 2024 Mobile, IoT, and OT Threat Report, mobile remains a top threat vector, with 111% growth in spyware and 29% growth in banking malware. Technology (18 percent), education (18 percent) and manufacturing (14 percent) continue to be the sectors most targeted by mobile malware. The education sector saw the most dramatic rise in blocked transactions, with a 136 percent increase on the previous year.
The Indian Government is upping the ante with its fight against cybercrime. Indian Union Home Minister Shri Amit Shah this week announced the launch of four major platforms under cyber security program Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Center (I4C), including the training of 5,000 “Cyber Commandos,” to counter the increasing threat of cyber-crime.
The Cyber Commando Program will create a special wing in every Central Police Organization, aiming to train 5,000 “Cyber Commandos” over the next five years. Trained Commandos will assist Central Agencies in “securing digital spaces”. Other platforms include a national Suspect Registry, a Cyber Fraud Mitigation Center, and an online portal for cyber-crime data analytics and crime mapping.
Organized cybercriminal gangs have lost little time in attempting to cash in on the ongoing CrowdStrike/Windows outage currently affecting banks, airlines and businesses.
According to the UK’s National Security Cyber Centre: “An increase in phishing referencing this outage has already been observed, as opportunistic malicious actors seek to take advantage of the situation. This may be aimed at both organizations and individuals.”
India’s current elections have become a prime target for malicious cyber activity on the part of foreign threat actors and independent hacktivist groups. With the results expected to be counted on June 4, the spike in cyber-attacks is a stark warning for other countries such as the US, the UK and the European Union (EU), which are also holding national elections later this year.
Cybersecurity company Resecurity reports that the early stages of cyber-attacks have been observed since the launch of an #OpIndia campaign last year. Escalating geopolitical tensions across the globe are now heightening the threat to India at this crucial time, with the number of attacks increasing by nearly 300% following the launch of #OpIsrael, which coincided with heightened online protests in the context of the ongoing Israel-Gaza crisis.
In today’s roundup; Addresses forged via email forwarding, the Sri Lankan attack causes government data loss, and Pune reports a spike in cybercrime cases.
Hackers hold Prospect Medical’s data ‘hostage’ Hacker group Rhysida has been identified as the mastermind behind the recent ransomware attack on Prospect Medical Holdings, where 500,000 social security numbers, patient records, and corporate documents were stolen. The group identified themselves in ransom notes on employee screens after the August 3 attack. GhostSec exposes Iran’s surveillance […]
The Jordan News Agency has announced that Jordan will hold its first-ever cybersecurity summit this September. The conference will be held on September 25 under the patronage of His Royal Highness Crown Prince Al Hussein bin Abdullah II.
Editorial Team
