Ars Technica: Verizon fell for fake “search warrant,” gave victim’s phone data to stalker

Ars Technica: Verizon fell for fake “search warrant,” gave victim’s phone data to stalker. “Verizon Wireless gave a female victim’s address and phone logs to an alleged stalker who pretended to be a police officer, according to an affidavit filed by an FBI special agent. The man, Robert Michael Glauner, was later arrested near the victim’s home and found to be carrying a knife at the time, according to the affidavit submitted in court yesterday.”

Boing Boing: Six months jail for YouTuber who filmed self bailing out of plane for the views

Boing Boing: Six months jail for YouTuber who filmed self bailing out of plane for the views. “Trevor Jacob, the YouTuber who bailed out of his own plane and later admitted that he did it for the views, is off to jail for six months over the November 2021 stunt. Jacobs earlier plead guilty to obstructing a federal investigation, having recovered and destroyed the wreckage himself to make sure the NTSB couldn’t get its hands on it.”

WIRED: The Binance Crackdown Will Be an ‘Unprecedented’ Bonanza for Crypto Surveillance

WIRED: The Binance Crackdown Will Be an ‘Unprecedented’ Bonanza for Crypto Surveillance. “The crackdown doesn’t just mean a chastened Binance will have to change its practices going forward. It means that when the company is sentenced in a matter of months, it will be forced to open its past books to regulators, too. What was once a haven for anarchic crypto commerce is about to be transformed into the opposite: perhaps the most fed-friendly business in the cryptocurrency industry, retroactively offering more than a half-decade of users’ transaction records to US regulators and law enforcement.”

404 Media: Reuters Takes Down Blockbuster Hacker-for-Hire Investigation After Indian Court Order

404 Media: Reuters Takes Down Blockbuster Hacker-for-Hire Investigation After Indian Court Order. “Reuters has ‘temporarily’ taken down a blockbuster investigation into a specific Indian hacker-for-hire operation after facing a court order issued on Monday, according to an editor’s note now published on Reuters’ site in place of the article. There is no indication that the article contained errors or otherwise incorrect information, and the editor’s note states ‘Reuters stands by its reporting and plans to appeal the decision.’”

Europol: International collaboration leads to dismantlement of ransomware group in Ukraine amidst ongoing war

Europol: International collaboration leads to dismantlement of ransomware group in Ukraine amidst ongoing war. “In an unprecedented effort, law enforcement and judicial authorities from seven countries have joined forces with Europol and Eurojust to dismantle and apprehend in Ukraine key figures behind significant ransomware operations wreaking havoc across the world. The operation comes at a critical time, as the country grapples with the challenges of Russia’s military aggression against its territory.”

INTERPOL: INTERPOL unveils new biometric screening tool

INTERPOL: INTERPOL unveils new biometric screening tool . “In mid-November, a fugitive migrant smuggler was subject to a police check… Wanted on organized crime and human trafficking charges since 2021, the smuggler presented himself as a fellow migrant under a false name, using a fraudulent identification document to avoid detection. The police check, however, was part of an INTERPOL operation that saw the Biometric Hub – a new tool that checks biometric data against the organization’s global fingerprint and facial recognition databases – used remotely for the first time.”

Founder of spyware maker Hacking Team arrested for attempted murder: local media (TechCrunch)

TechCrunch: Founder of spyware maker Hacking Team arrested for attempted murder: local media. “The founder of the infamous and now-defunct spyware maker Hacking Team was arrested on Saturday after allegedly stabbing and attempting to murder a relative, according to multiple news reports. David Vincenzetti, who launched Hacking Team in 2003, was arrested when police showed up to his apartment after his cousin called the police, local media reported, because he couldn’t reach his wife on the phone.”

Virgina Tech: Are your Cyber Monday purchases legit? There’s (going to be) an app for that

Virginia Tech: Are your Cyber Monday purchases legit? There’s (going to be) an app for that. “Receiving a bogus designer handbag or imitation Wagyu beef might infuriate a Cyber Monday consumer, but a knock-off respirator or a fake pacemaker could imperil them. Virginia Tech researcher Emma Meno is developing a mobile app to empower buyers to ensure their purchases are legitimate. In a study published for Micromachines earlier this fall, Meno and a team of researchers described their work to date.”

Business Insider: Do Kwon’s Extradition Approved by Montenegro Court

Business Insider: Do Kwon’s Extradition Approved by Montenegro Court. “A court in Podgorica, the capital of Montenegro, has approved the extradition of Terra founder Do Kwon to either South Korea or the United States, according to an update posted on the judiciary’s website. Kwon was arrested in the country in March after being caught in Podgorica’s airport with falsified documents.”

Newswise: Digital payment platforms can easily be misused for drug dealing

Newswise: Digital payment platforms can easily be misused for drug dealing. “Digital payment platforms such as Venmo work great for sharing a dinner bill with friends, buying gifts at a pop-up shop or making payments without cash or credit cards. But these digital payment platforms have a dark side: They can be misused for drug dealing and other illicit activity, suggest researchers from the University of California, Davis. And social media apps such as TikTok and Instagram can act as marketing tools for digital drug dealing.”

New York Times: U.S. Case Details Binance’s Knowledge About Criminal Users

New York Times: U.S. Case Details Binance’s Knowledge About Criminal Users (This link goes to a gift article.) “…despite regular warnings from some of its own employees that some transactions on Binance.com were violating anti-money-laundering laws, the firm was reluctant to cut them off. Those allegations, which were made public on Tuesday in a sweeping federal case against Binance and Mr. Zhao, show how thoroughly he and his deputies understood that criminals were using their trading platform — and how little they did to stop them.”

US Department of Justice: Binance and CEO Plead Guilty to Federal Charges in $4B Resolution

US Department of Justice: Binance and CEO Plead Guilty to Federal Charges in $4B Resolution. “Binance Holdings Limited (Binance), the entity that operates the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance.com, pleaded guilty today and has agreed to pay over $4 billion to resolve the Justice Department’s investigation into violations related to the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), failure to register as a money transmitting business, and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).”

Europol: Europol sets up OSINT taskforce to support investigations into war crimes committed in Ukraine

Europol: Europol sets up OSINT taskforce to support investigations into war crimes committed in Ukraine. “A new Operational Taskforce (OTF) has been set up by Europol to assist ongoing investigations into core international crimes committed in Ukraine following the invasion of the country by Russian armed forces in February 2022. This Taskforce aims to help identify suspects and their involvement in war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide crimes committed in Ukraine through the collection and analysis of open source intelligence (OSINT).”

Rolling Stone: How This Viral TikTok Trend Became Linked to a ‘Sex Cult’

Rolling Stone: How This Viral TikTok Trend Became Linked to a ‘Sex Cult’. “A MARKETING GROUP behind one of the most successful TikTok ad campaigns of all time is drawing scrutiny for its alleged ties to NXIVM, the so-called ‘sex cult’ once led by Keith Raniere in upstate New York.” I’m imagining someone reading that headline and summary 100 years from now, blinking, shaking their head slightly to clear it, and reading it again. Yes, it really is that weird at the moment.