Daily Cyber Insights - Iain Fraser | Accredited Cybersecurity Journalist & Authority Writer

EUROPOL: International operation closes down Piilopuoti dark web marketplace  Syndicated By: Iain Fraser Cybersecurity Journalist Gibraltar - PRWire Channel IainFraser.net/PRWire Thursday 21st September 2023 In a significant victory against dark web criminals, the Finnish Customs (Tulli), together with European partners, has successfully taken down the dark web marketplace ‘Piilopuoti’.  Drugs and other illegal commodities were sold in large quantities on this Finnish-language platform which had been operating on the Onion Router (Tor) network since May 2022.  This successful action by the Finnish Customs was supported, among others, by the German Federal Criminal Office (Bundeskriminalamt) and the Lithuanian Criminal Police Bureau (Lietuvos kriminalinės policijos biuras). Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre coordinated the international activity and provided operational support and technical expertise.  The investigation is still ongoing as law enforcement worldwi...

EUROPOL: Qakbot botnet infrastructure shattered after international operation  Syndicated By:  Iain Fraser Cybersecurity Journalist , Gibraltar via  IainFRASER.net/PRWire Friday, 8th September 2023 The malware victimised more than 700 000 computers, with at least EUR 54 million paid in ransoms since 2007  Europol has supported the coordination of a large-scale international operation that has taken down the infrastructure of the Qakbot malware and led to the seizure of nearly EUR 8 million in cryptocurrencies. The international investigation, also supported by Eurojust, involved judicial and law enforcement authorities from France, Germany, Latvia, The Netherlands, Romania, United Kingdom and the United States. Qakbot, operated by a group of organised cybercriminals, targeted critical infrastructure and busine1sses across multiple countries, stealing financial data and login credentials. Cybercriminals used this persistent malware to commit ransomware, fraud, and ot...

CYBER RESILIANCE ACT: European Parliament has published its position on the act  Syndicated By: Iain Fraser Cybersecurity Journalist , Gibraltar via IainFRASER.net/PRWire Friday, 8th September 2023 The Cyber Resilience Act comprises a legislative initiative aimed at introducing cybersecurity mandates, including obligatory security patches and vulnerability management for Internet of Things (IoT) products and interconnected devices capable of data collection and exchange. The EU lawmakers engaged in the dossier for the European Parliament's principal Industry Committee have deliberated on the incorporation of open source considerations, whether within the preamble or the substantive text, the duration of product support, reporting responsibilities, and the timeline  for implementation. After deliberations, the Parliament has now published its common position. Learn More /... About ECSO (European Cyber Security Organisation ECSO was created in 2016 as the contractual counterpart...

COMPLIANCE: Experian agrees to permanent injunction & $650k Spam Fine - USDOJ  Syndicated By: Iain Fraser Cybersecurity Journalist, Gibraltar via IainFRASER.net/PRWire The Justice Department, together with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), today announced that ConsumerInfo.com, Inc. dba Experian Consumer Services (Experian), has agreed to a permanent injunction and a $650,000 civil penalty as part of a settlement to resolve alleged violations of the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003 (CAN-SPAM Act), the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Rule (CAN-SPAM Rule), and the Federal Trade Commission Act.  The CAN-SPAM Act and Rule require senders of commercial emails to notify the recipients of such emails of their right to opt-out of future emails and to provide an opt-out mechanism. Experian shares a parent company, Experian PLC, with Experian Information Solutions Inc., which offers credit inform...