Cybercrime

WASHINGTON (AP) — Jolted by a sweeping hack that may have revealed government and corporate secrets to Russia, U.S. officials are scrambling to reinforce the nation's cyber defenses and recognizing that an agency created two years ago to protect America's... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Cybersecurity experts suggested to a congressional committee Wednesday that lawmakers act quickly to address growing threats from hackers. They mentioned the SolarWinds computer infiltration by the Russians last year and a hacker’s attempt to poison a Florida municipal... Read More

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — A hacker's botched attempt to poison the water supply of a small Florida city is raising alarms about just how vulnerable the nation's water systems may be to attacks by more sophisticated intruders. Treatment plants... Read More

WASHINGTON — Dramatic changes in the workforce and service delivery have posed unique security challenges over the last year. Evolving technologies are accommodating training and remote work, but new cybersecurity threats continue to emerge.  In the last few years, directives... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — The elite Russian hackers who gained access to computer systems of federal agencies last year didn't bother trying to break one by one into the networks of each department. Instead, they got inside by sneaking malicious code into a... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — Top national security agencies confirmed Tuesday that Russia was likely responsible for a massive hack of U.S. government departments and corporations, rejecting President Donald Trump's claim that China might be to blame. The rare joint statement represented... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — Once in office, President-elect Joe Biden will punish Russia for its suspected cyberespionage operation against the United States with financial sanctions and measures to hobble the Kremlin's ability to launch future hacks, his chief of staff said Sunday, as... Read More

WASHINGTON - Rep. Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla., is urging House leadership to schedule a classified, bipartisan briefing for members of Congress regarding the recently revealed cyberattack on the networks of the federal government and major American companies. The attack is widely... Read More

The suspected Russian hackers behind a global campaign of cyberattacks that have breached U.S. government agencies also hit an American think tank, according to a cybersecurity firm that has been fighting them off. For the better part of a year,... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. government agencies were ordered to scour their networks for malware and disconnect potentially compromised servers on Monday after authorities learned that the Treasury and Commerce departments were hacked in a global cyber-espionage campaign tied to a... Read More

WASHINGTON – This week, Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., introduced bipartisan legislation to allow individuals to seek compensation and relief in federal court for the non-consensual disclosure and transmission of intimate images... Read More

WASHINGTON — Zero Trust is an approach to the design and implementation of internet technology networks. This security concept developed out of the belief that organizations should not trust anything — either outside or inside — its perimeter. Therefore, everything... Read More

WASHINGTON — Just days before the Aug. 3 scheduled start of school, officials at the Athens Independent School District in East Texas received a shock. Cybercriminals had attacked the district’s entire computer network, encrypting all the data and demanding $50,000... Read More

WASHINGTON -- The FBI’s director acknowledged Thursday that the risks of terrorism and other attacks against the United States are evolving so fast that his agency has difficulty managing them. Cyberattackers threaten the next presidential election, COVID-19 vaccine development and... Read More

WASHINGTON — Terrorism hasn’t disappeared just because a pandemic is happening. In fact, calamitous world conditions embolden those who want to do others harm, and police budget cuts, virus-related conspiracy theories, and other vulnerabilities are exacerbated during the COVID-19 crisis.... Read More

Election voting is the cybersecurity industry’s most difficult challenge, and casting ballots on paper is the safest option against any digital disruptions, says CrowdStrike Holdings co-founder and former Chief Technology Officer Dmitri Alperovitch. “Voting is the hardest thing to secure... Read More

ATLANTA (AP) — State and local officials are receiving additional tools from the federal government to help defend the nation’s election systems from cyberthreats ahead of the November vote, as intelligence officials continue to warn about foreign efforts to interfere in the... Read More

WASHINGTON - A federal judge’s recent ruling gave prosecutors nationwide a new tool for pursuing money launderers by redefining bitcoin as a form of currency. The ruling was based on the prosecution of a man who tried to evade criminal... Read More

WASHINGTON - China, Russia and Iran are continuing to try to disrupt political campaigns and the 2020 general election, posing "a direct threat to the fabric of our Democracy," the nation's top counterintelligence official said Friday. William Evanina, director of... Read More

WASHINGTON - Federal law enforcement officials pledged a vigorous crackdown Tuesday during a Senate hearing on fraudsters who are trying to make easy money off vulnerable people during the coronavirus pandemic. They accused con artists of selling fake vaccines and... Read More

WASHINGTON — An email seemingly from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns of new coronavirus infections and urges readers to click on a link to see a list of infections in their community. But the email actually... Read More

WASHINGTON — When cybercriminals struck Lake City, Fla., last June, city officials had to make a tough choice: Pay the hackers or restore systems on their own. A ransomware attack had hijacked the government’s computer network and held it hostage... Read More

MIAMI — Less than five weeks before Florida’s March presidential primary, the Department of Homeland Security is investigating a previously unreported cyber attack on Palm Beach County’s elections office, according to Supervisor of Elections Wendy Sartory Link. Link, who was... Read More

WASHINGTON — When the computers of the city of Lodi, Calif., got hit by a ransomware attack last April, the strike disabled phone lines, forced police officers to write reports by hand and prevented workers from sending out utility bills.... Read More

WASHINGTON — The U.S. unveiled criminal charges and sanctions against members of a hacking group that calls itself Evil Corp, which authorities blame for some of the worst computer hacking and bank fraud schemes of the past decade. The Justice... Read More