hacking

The findings from the internet security firm Malwarebytes showed alarming trends in the global ransomware surge from July 2022 to June 2023, in which it noted 1,900 reported ransomware attacks collected, over 43 per cent originating in the US. Germany, France, and the UK all saw an increase in ransomware deployment but lower than the US. 

According to cloud-enabled security solutions provider Barracuda Network, such tactics could help attackers to stay under the radar and avoid alerting potential victims, security teams and payment systems. Researchers analysed 3,00,000 emails detected as blackmailing scams.

The tech giant has published details of activity by a China-based actor it is tracking as "Storm-0558".  "We have been working with the impacted customers and notifying them prior to going public with further details." said Charlie Bell, Executive Vice President, Microsoft Security. 

Transparent Tribe, a persistent threat group that originated in 2013 in Pakistan, has been targeting Indian government and military entities, according to the report by Seqrite, the enterprise arm of Pune-based Quick Heal Technologies. The Pakistan-based group (dubbed as APT36) is using a malicious file.

A 24-year-old hacker behind the massive July 2020 Twitter hack where he along with others attempted to take control of at least 130 famous Twitter accounts has been sentenced to federal prison in the US. O'Connor was sentenced in a New York federal court to five years in prison, after pleading guilty in May to his role in cyber.

CyberArk, in its report said that Indian organisations experienced growing cyber debt in 2022 where security spending over the pandemic period lagged investment in broader digital business initiatives. In 2023, levels of cyber debt are expected to rise as a result of an economic downturn, increased staff turnover, a drop in consumer spending, and an uncertain global environment.

Cybersecurity company Kaspersky discovered the mobile Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) campaign targeting iOS devices with previously unknown malware. Dubbed as 'Operation Triangulation', the ongoing campaign distributes zero-click exploits via iMessage to run malware gaining complete control over the device and user data, with the final goal to "hiddenly spy on users".

However, the amount lost was actually less than in any other quarter of 2022. Moreover, the report showed that the average hack size fell to $10.5 million in Q1 2023, down from nearly $30 million in the same quarter of 2022, despite a similar number of incidents (around 40).

Joseph James O'Connor, a.k.a. PlugwalkJoe, 23, was extradited to the US from Spain last month, where he awaited trial for harassing, threatening, and extorting his victims. According to Gizmodo, the first time O'Connor was arrested was in 2021 for attempting to take control of 130 Twitter accounts, including -- US President Joe Biden, American socialite & model Kim Kardashian, and Tesla & Twitter CEO Elon Musk.