Security News for the Week Ending February 2, 2024

Myanmar Cyber Crime Bosses Handed to China

You may remember that a couple of weeks ago I reported that the Myanmar government turned over control of the part of the country where Crime bosses were running various social engineering scams and human trafficking to the rebels who threatened to shut them down. Now there are pictures of the crime bosses being flown to China in a chartered plane with two soldiers in full military gear escorting each one. The plane was Chinese. I don’t think they are going to get a warm reception in China. Credit: The Record

Score One for the Good Guys – German Police Seize $2.1 Billion in Crypto from Pirate Movie Website

German law enforcement seized 50,000 Bitcoin allegedly earned through the operation of a pirated movie site. I guess pirating movies is quite profitable. One head of the website has been in prison since 2019 and the site was shut down in 2013. He is, no doubt, trying to cut a deal. Still, recovering $2 billion is a great day’s work. Credit: The Record

Apple Releases First Patch to VR Googles Before it is Even Released

Apple requires everyone to use its web interface library, WebKit. WebKit has a history of patches, no worse than any other software. But, apparently, the most recent patches for WebKit from a couple of weeks ago did not make it into the software build that comes with the VR/AR googles, so they are patching visionOS (shouldn’t it be called iGoggles or something?), even before it is released. So, unbox your new $3500-$4000 goggles and patch them before you use them. Oh, and Apple says the bug may have already been exploited. Credit: Tech Crunch

Score Another One For the Good Guys – FBI Recovers Nearly $3 Mil Stolen in BEC Scam

In 2022 the FBI received almost 22,000 Business Email Compromise scam complaints representing losses of more than $2.7 billion. Industry insiders say that this is just a fraction of the total losses – many or even most don’t get reported. We are personally aware of many of these. In this case, employees of the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency fell for the scam and wired the bad guys $2.7 million. Time is critical here and in this case, after some work, the FBI recovered the funds. If you wind up on the wrong side of one of these attacks, contact us because every minute you lose decreases your odds of recovery. Credit: The Record

Everyone Wants Free Money – Especially Hackers, But Also Taxpayers

This time of year there are always IRS scams. In the past, hackers used emails and phone calls but the IRS has been warning people that they don’t use email or phone calls, only letters, so the hackers are using mail fraud to steal your information. More expensive for the hackers, but if they can drain your bank account, it is worthwhile. Credit: NY Post

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