Reefa Posted January 2, 2017 Share Posted January 2, 2017 Quote This year has been a tornado of major cyberattacks and hacker arrests. Here, we look back on the 21 most interesting 'cyberbusts' of 2016. First Hacker Arrested for Cyber-Terror Arrives In Court, Gets 20 Years Ardit Ferizi is a Kosovo citizen who was arrested in late 2015 for hacking and providing material support to a terrorist group, marking the first time the US charged someone with a cyber terror crime. He was suspected of providing ISIS with stolen data on about 100,000 people, including 1,350 US government and military personnel. Ferizi first appeared in American court in February 2016, at which time he faced a maximum sentence of 35 years. He was later sentenced in October to 20 years in a US prison. Man Admits To Laundering $19.6M In Hacking, Telecom Fraud Scam In February 2016, Muhammad Sohail Qasmani admitted to laundering over $19.6 million in support of an international hacking and telecom fraud scheme. Hackers compromised businesses' PBX systems and reprogrammed unused phone extensions, which were used to call phony premium numbers controlled by criminals. The conspiracy to commit wire fraud, to which Qasmani pleaded guilty, carried a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Details of his sentencing were not released. Hospital Hacktivist Arrested In Miami After Failed Escape Attempt Martin Gottesfeld, an alleged member of Anonymous, was arrested in February and charged with conspiracy for his role in a hacktivist attack on Boston Children's Hospital. Gottesfeld and his wife were on a boat near the Cuban coast when they sent a distress signal and were picked up by a Disney Cruise ship. He was arrested when they returned to port in Miami. A conspiracy charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, three years supervised release, and a fine of $250,000, plus restitution. Gottesfeld was indicted in October for one count each of hacking and conspiracy. DOJ Charges 3 Syrian Electronic Army (SEA) Hackers The US Department of Justice charged Amad Umar Agha, Firas Dardar, and Peter Romar in March 2016 for several cyberattacks on US military and media agency websites. For years, suspects conducted phishing attacks to break into privileged accounts. All three were members of the Syrian Electronic Army (SEA), a hacking organization in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Romar pleaded guilty in September to charges of helping the SEA extort cash from victims. The FBI is offering up to $100,000 for information on the locations of accomplices Dardar and Agha, both of whom are on the Most Wanted Cyber list. DOJ Indicts 7 Iranian Hackers For Attacks On US Banks And NY Dam In March 2016, the US Department of Justice indicted seven Iranian hackers with security companies working for the Iranian government. The hackers allegedly conducted DDoS attacks against major US financial companies three years ago; one was charged with hacking a server at a New York dam. Experts called the incidents a "wake-up call" on the threat of cybersecurity to our nation's infrastructure, as this marked the first time the US charged state-sponsored actors with hacking US industry networks. The Iranian defendants could face up to 10 years in prison on charges of conspiracy to commit and aid and abet in computer hacking. Hamid Firoozi could face an additional five years for hacking a protected machine at the Bowman Dam in Rye, N.Y. 9 Years Prison, $1.7 Million Fine For Malicious Insider Anastasio Laoutaris, formerly an IT engineer for Locke Lord LLP, was sentenced to 115 months in prison and a hefty $1.697 million fine for a cyberattack against his former employer. It was a major punishment for the malicious insider. In 2011, four months after his employment there ended, Laoutaris broke into Locke Lord's systems and issued commands that caused "significant damage" to its network. The commands deleted or disabled hundreds of user accounts, desktop and laptop accounts, and email accounts. He was convicted with 2 counts of intentionally accessing a computer network without authorization, and intentionally entering malicious code. SpyEye Creators Sentenced To Long Prison Terms The creators of the SpyEye banking Trojan were handed long prison sentences in April 2016. SpyEye strains infected over 50 million computers and stole personally identifiable information, banking data, and funds, causing nearly $1B in financial harm to people and businesses around the world. Developer Aleksandr Andreevich Panin received nine years and six months in prison, plus three years of probation, even though he did not profit from the scheme. Hamza Bendelladj did profit, and he was sentenced to 15 years in prison and three years probation. Their sentences demonstrate how hackers can still be heavily punished for developing and distributing code, but profiting from malicious activity can lead to longer terms in prison. Ukranian Pleads Guilty To Stealing Press Releases For Insider Trading In May 2016, securities trader Vadym Iermolovych pleaded guilty to stealing and using unpublished press releases for insider trading. Official charges included conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit computer hacking, and aggravated identity theft. Iermolovych and his collaborators made $30 million over the course of a five-year operation, the largest known incident of hacking and securities fraud as of May 2016. Nine people were charged by authorities in August 2015, and three pleaded guilty over the following months. Later, in August 2016, a Georgia man pleaded guilty to committing wire fraud in the scheme. He is set to be sentenced this month and could face up to 20 years in jail. BEC Scam Mastermind Arrested By Interpol Interpol arrested "Mike," a Nigerian national who conducted multiple Business Email Compromise (BEC), 419, and romance crimes, in June 2016. Mike collected more than $60 million from businesses, including $15 million from a single victim, and worked with accomplices in Nigeria, Malaysia, and South Africa. Trend Micro and Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) contributed to the arrest. Experts at Trend Micro were analyzing malware used in BEC frauds when they discovered evidence in their command-and-control composition that linked back to Mike. BEC scams have caused more than $3B in loss this year, the company says. Employees are targeted via email and tricked into transferring money. Mike faces charges in Nigeria including hacking, conspiracy, and obtaining money under false pretenses. Chinese Hacker Gets US Prison Term For Military Data Theft Su Bin, a Chinese man charged with conspiring to hack US military information, was sentenced to 46 months in prison and a $10,000 fine in July 2016. He collaborated with Chinese military hackers to break into the networks of defense contractors like Boeing, and steal sensitive information like military aircraft designs. Su Bin was arrested in July 2014 and pleaded guilty in March 2016. At that time, he faced a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. White-Hat Hacking Group Founder Arrested In China In August 2016, the Chinese police arrested nine senior members of the country's biggest "ethical hacking" group, including founder Fang Xiaodun. Non-profit Wooyun consisted of 5,000 white-hat hackers who exposed system vulnerabilities in websites and warn owners about flaws that could lead to attack. The sudden arrests may have been related to legal or government problems. Some said Wooyun may have broken into official networks without being authorized to do so. Wooyun also gave owners 45 days to respond to vulnerability reports, a controversial policy that may have also had something to do with the crackdown. Four Years In Jail For Man Charged In Romney Tax Return And Hack Scheme Michael Mancil Brown was given a four-year jail sentence for cybercrimes targeting former presidential candidate Mitt Romney, his wife, and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. A US District Court found Brown guilty of tax return extortion and wire fraud. In 2012, the Department of Justice said Brown falsely claimed to hack the PwC network and steal the tax return details of Mitt and Ann Romney prior to 2010. He proceeded to send extortion letters demanding $1 million in bitcoins as ransom for not releasing the documents, which were sent to the Franklin offices of PwC, the Democratic party, the Republican party, and Pastebin.com. Russian Hacker Convicted of 38 Counts Related To PoS Hack Scheme Russian cybercriminal Roman Valerevich Seleznev was convicted in August 2016 of 38 counts of wire fraud, identity theft, possession of unauthorized access devices, and other charges. All related to his 4-year scheme of hacking PoS devices to steal and sell credit card information online. Between October 2009 and October 2013, Seleznev stole data from retail systems using malware he installed using a server he controlled in Russia. When he was arrested in July 2014, his computer had more than 1.7 million credit card numbers. Seleznev was set to be sentenced earlier this month but there have been no updates on his sentence, which could run between 4 and 34 years in prison. Israeli Teenagers Held For Allegedly Running Hacking Service Two 18-year-old Israelis were arrested in September, suspected of running a service through which paying customers could hack websites. Their service, vDos, allegedly cost between $30 and $200 a month per attack. Over the course of two years, it was used for more than 150,000 DDoS attacks and generated a reported $600,000. Itay Huri and Yarden Bidani were arrested after security expert Brian Krebs published an article about the brains behind vDos. Huri and Bidani each posted $10,000 in bail. Two teenagers Arrested For Alleged Cyberattack-For-Hire Services Teenagers Zachary Buchta (Maryland) and Bradley Jan Willem van Rooy (Netherlands) were arrested in October on suspicion of contributing to a hacking scheme involving DDoS attacks, cyberattack-for-hire services, and trafficking stolen bank card data. Both were allegedly part of the Lizard Squad and PoodleCorp hacking groups. Authorities first noticed the two while investigating complaints for harassing phone calls. They found the website phonebomber.net, which was controlled by the hacking group, and this led to the discovery of a larger scam involving DDoS attacks on various businesses and stolen bank card data. The conspiracy charge comes with a maximum prison term of 10 years. Guccifer Sent Back To Romanian Prison Marcel Lazar, otherwise known as Guccifer, was sentenced to 52 months in prison for several advanced hacks in the US targeting high-profile individuals like Colin Powell and Hillary Clinton advisor Sidney Blumenthal. He exposed Clinton's use of a private server to send and receive classified emails during her term as Secretary of State. Lazar returned to Romania in October to complete a seven-year sentence from an earlier crime. He had been extradited to the US in April to face felony charges and will return to the US to serve his next sentence. NSA Contractor Over 20 Years Stole More Than 50 Terabytes of Government Data Harold Martin, formerly a contractor with the National Security Agency (NSA), was arrested earlier this year for stealing classified data in what could be the largest-ever case of insider theft. Martin was arrested for stealing 50 terabytes of electronic data, and six banker's boxes of print files, in the 20 years he worked for the US government. Much of the information was classified as Secret or Top Secret; some was considered by the government to be key to national defense and security. Martin's store of information dwarfs the amount of data taken by Edward Snowden in 2013. NullCrew Hacker Gets 45-Month Jail Term Timothy Justen French, member of the NullCrew hacking group, was sentenced to 45 months in jail for a series of cyberattacks around the world. Combined, his attacks against businesses, universities, and government organizations cost $792,000 in financial damage. A DoJ report says French exploited vulnerabilities in victims' computers, then leaked their usernames, email accounts, and passwords, leaving them open to fraud and identity theft. 178 Arrested In Money Mule Crackdown Towards the end of November, Europol announced it arrested 178 people associated with money mule operations being used to launder payment card fraud and profits from cybercrime. This was the second crackdown, or European Money Mule Action (EMMA), and was supported by 16 European countries in addition to the US Secret Service, FBI, and 106 banks and private partners. Russian Authorities Make Arrests In Wake Of Central Bank Cyberattack Russian authorities arrested around 50 suspects in connection with a May cyberattack at its central bank, which involved $19 million and hacks on third-party accounts. The arrests were the result of collaboration by the Federal Security Service (FSB) and Interior Ministry. American Hacker Arrested For 2014 JP Morgan Chase Breach Joshua Samuel Aaron was arrested earlier this month for allegedly orchestrating the 2014 JP Morgan Chase breach, in addition to other criminal activity. Along with accomplice Gery Shalon, Aaron has been charged with securities fraud, wire fraud, computer hacking, and identity theft, as well as conspiracies to commit these crimes. The DoJ states the two were behind cyberattacks against US financial businesses, brokerage firms, and publishers of financial news. They are suspected of the largest-ever theft of customer data from a US financial company. http://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/21-biggest-cybercriminal-busts-of-2016/d/d-id/1327792? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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