Krebs on Security: Feds Charge NY Man as BreachForums Boss “Pompompurin”. “The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) this week arrested a New York man on suspicion of running BreachForums, a popular English-language cybercrime forum where some of the world biggest hacked databases routinely show up for sale.”
CNN: FBI seizes website used by notorious ransomware gang. “FBI officials since July have had extraordinary access to the so-called Hive ransomware group’s computer networks, FBI Director Christopher Wray said at a news conference, allowing the bureau to pass computer ‘keys’ to victims so that they could decrypt their systems and thwart $130 million in ransom payments.”
Bloomberg: FBI Examines Snapchat’s Role in Fentanyl Poisoning Deaths. “Federal agencies are questioning Snapchat’s role in the spread and sale of fentanyl-laced pills in the US as part of a broader probe into the deadly counterfeit drugs crisis.”
Bleeping Computer: FBI warns of search engine ads pushing malware, phishing. “The FBI warns that threat actors are using search engine advertisements to promote websites distributing ransomware or stealing login credentials for financial institutions and crypto exchanges.”
Associated Press: FBI director raises national security concerns about TikTok. “FBI Director Chris Wray is raising national security concerns about TikTok, warning Friday that control of the popular video sharing app is in the hands of a Chinese government ‘that doesn’t share our values.'”
ZDNet: Not patched Log4j yet? Assume attackers are in your network, say CISA and FBI. “Almost a year on from Log4j’s disclosure, a joint alert by CISA and the FBI warns organizations that if they haven’t protected their systems against it yet, they really need to now.”
CNET: FBI Director Warns Against TikTok as National Security Threat, Report Says. “While Twitter is in turmoil, another popular social media app, TikTok, continues to receive its share of criticism, most recently from FBI Director Christopher Wray. According to a Bloomberg report, Wray on Tuesday voiced his concerns over the social media app and its potential threat to national security to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which is overseeing a proposed deal to allow TikTok to continue operating in the US.”
New York Times: Internal Documents Show How Close the F.B.I. Came to Deploying Spyware. “During a closed-door session with lawmakers last December, Christopher A. Wray, the director of the F.B.I., was asked whether the bureau had ever purchased and used Pegasus, the hacking tool that penetrates mobile phones and extracts their contents. Mr. Wray acknowledged that the F.B.I. had bought a license for Pegasus, but only for research and development.”
Washington Post: Ernie Lazar, who quietly amassed huge FBI archive, dies at 77. “Lazar, who died Nov. 1 at his home in Palm Springs, Calif., at 77, was not booked on shows as a historical pundit. He did not write his own manuscripts or articles. His name, if noticed at all, was tucked into acknowledgments in books such as Christopher Elias’s ‘Gossip Men’ (2021) on the ‘Red Scare’ era and Thomas Konda’s ‘Conspiracies of Conspiracies: How Delusions Have Overrun America’ (2019). But to a generation of authors, researchers, academics and others, Lazar was a figure of heroic proportions.”
FBI: FBI Warns Public to Beware of Tech Support Scammers Targeting Financial Accounts Using Remote Desktop Software. “The Boston Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is warning that as tech support fraud evolves, the number of people falling victim to the crime is on the rise, and so are financial losses. Investigators are seeing an emerging trend in which tech support scammers are convincing victims that their financial accounts have been compromised and their funds need to be moved so the fraudsters can gain control over the victims’ computers and finances.”
Washington Post: Chinese hackers are scanning state political party headquarters, FBI says. “Chinese government hackers are scanning U.S. political party domains ahead of next month’s midterm elections, looking for vulnerable systems as a potential precursor to hacking operations, and the FBI is making a big push to alert potential victims to batten down the hatches.”
ProPublica: How the FBI Stumbled in the War on Cybercrime. “In this excerpt from ‘The Ransomware Hunting Team: A Band of Misfits’ Improbable Crusade to Save the World From Cybercrime,’ the authors reveal how unprepared the nation’s top federal law enforcement agency was to combat online crime.”
CISA, and a PDF, unfortunately: Malicious Cyber Activity Against Election Infrastructure Unlikely to Disrupt or Prevent Voting . “The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) assess that any attempts by cyber actors to compromise election infrastructure are unlikely to result in largescale disruptions or prevent voting. As of the date of this report, the FBI and CISA have no reporting to suggest cyber activity has ever prevented a registered voter from casting a ballot, compromised the integrity of any ballots cast, or affected the accuracy of voter registration information.”
The Guardian: FBI tracked Aretha Franklin’s civil rights activism, declassified file shows. “The FBI has declassified its file on Aretha Franklin, the late ‘Queen of Soul’ who died in 2018 at age 76. The 270-page document, which includes reports from over a dozen states, shows the bureau extensively tracked the singer’s civil rights activism and her friendships with Martin Luther King Jr and Angela Davis.”
Rolling Stone: The Monkees’ Micky Dolenz Would Like a Word With the FBI. “The Monkees may not be seem like the kind of band that would attract the FBI’s attention, especially during a time when groups like Country Joe and the Fish and the MC5 were leading the movement against the Vietnam War. But the Monkees were one of the most popular bands in America in 1966 and 1967, and they sprinkled anti-war sentiments into songs like ‘Ditty Diego-War Chant’ and even ‘Last Train to Clarksville,’ a song about a man headed off to war that fears he’ll never see his love again.”
