Tag Archives: hacks

Enlarge (credit: Thomas Trutschel / Getty Images News ) The value of bitcoin and many other digital currencies fell to their lowest levels this year after South Korean exchange Coinrail said a hack over the weekend stole virtual coin estimated to be worth more than $37 million. In a post published Monday morning , Coinrail said hackers obtained about 30 percent of its coin and token reserves. The stolen coins included those designated as NPXS, ATX, NPER, and DENT. A wallet address reportedly belonging to the attackers showed the value of the pilfered coins was as much as $37 million. Coinrail’s statement said officials took the exchange offline and moved the remainder of its assets to cold storage as officials review the security system and work with law enforcement to investigate what happened. The statement made no mention of if or how the exchange might reimburse customers for the losses. The price of bitcoin was trading down about 6 percent on Monday morning, according to Coinbase . As Ars reported Sunday , bitcoin had already lost more than half its value since last year’s all-time high. The price of Ethereum and many other digital currencies also fell on Monday after experiencing declines over the past month or two. Read 2 remaining paragraphs | Comments

More than two months after a cyberattack hobbled many of its critical municipal systems, the city of Atlanta is still sorting through the wreckage of what is likely the worst cyberattack targeting a U.S. city to date. On March 22 , Atlanta’s connected systems city-wide were hit with a ransomware message locking their respective files and demanding an approximately $50,000 payment in bitcoin (the price has fluctuated since). The ransomware is believed to be from the group known as SamSam , which has been operating and executing similar attacks since at least 2015. In the days following the March 22 incident, Atlanta residents were unable to do simple city system-dependent tasks like paying parking tickets or utility bills. City employees didn’t get the all-clear to turn on their computers until five days later and many city systems still have not recovered. On Wednesday during a budget meeting , Daphne Rackley, Atlanta’s Interim Chief Information Officer and head of Atlanta Information Management, disclosed new details about the extent of the damage. As Reuters reports , at least one third of the 424 software programs that the city runs remain offline or partially inoperable. Almost 30 percent of those programs are deemed “mission critical” by the city meaning that they control crucial city services like the court system and law enforcement. In the meeting, Rackley explained that the city initially believed only 20 percent of the city’s software programs to be affected by the attack, none of which affected critical systems. While reporting the updated numbers, Rackley estimated that $9.5 million would need to be added to the department’s $35 million budget to address the remaining damage. That amount is on top of the more than two million dollars in emergency procurements sought by Atlanta Information Management following the attack. TechCrunch has reached out to Atlanta Information Management about how that additional $9.5 million for recovery from the attack would be allocated and will update if we learn further details. Earlier this week, Atlanta’s Police Chief disclosed that the cyberattack destroyed “years” worth of police dash cam video footage.

Enlarge (credit: Lisa Brewster / Flickr ) A recent hack of ticket-distribution website Ticketfly exposed more than 26 million email addresses, along with home addresses, phone numbers, and first and last names, according to the Have I Been Pwned breach notification service. The intrusion provides the latest reminder that users should provide incorrect or incomplete information to online services whenever possible. More about that later. The breach was first reported last week by Motherboard , which said the breach was carried out by a hacker who had first offered to provide Ticketfly officials with details of the underlying vulnerability in exchange for one bitcoin, worth roughly $7,500. When the officials didn’t respond, the hacker defaced the site and published the user data online, Motherboard said. Have I Been Pwned said over the weekend that the data included 26.1 million unique email addresses, names, physical addresses, and phone numbers. It didn’t include password or credit card data. In a blog post , Ticketfly officials said they were in the process of bringing the ticket service back online. Part of that effort involves working with forensic and security experts to investigate the hack and to better secure the new site against similar intrusions. Read 5 remaining paragraphs | Comments

The arrest of an alleged source of a classified leak to the Intercept offers a lesson in the risks of spilling secrets. The post Feds Charge NSA Contractor Accused of Exposing Russian Hacking appeared first on WIRED .

A group of security researchers present the most systematic analysis yet showing Russian hackers mix fakes in with their hacked revelations. The post Russian Hackers Are Using 'Tainted' Leaks To Sow Disinformation appeared first on WIRED .

Each weekend we round up the news stories that we didn't break or cover in depth but that still deserve your attention. The post Security News This Week: Hoo-Boy , Mar-a-Lago's Internet Is Insecure appeared first on WIRED .

The "sinkhole" domain that's held the ransomware in check is coming under repeated denial-of-service attacks. The post Hackers Are Trying to Reignite WannaCry With Nonstop Botnet Attacks appeared first on WIRED .

The "sinkhole" domain that's held the ransomware in check is coming under repeated denial-of-service attacks. The post Hackers Are Trying to Reignite WannaCry With Non-Stop Botnet Attacks appeared first on WIRED .

Some pick-ups that could help protect you from the next big ransomware wave. The post 5 Tools to Help Protect Yourself From Ransomware appeared first on WIRED .

A Google researcher has identified a telltale chunk of code shared between the ransomware and malware used by suspected DPRK hackers. The post The WannaCry Ransomware Has a Link to Suspected North Korean Hackers appeared first on WIRED .

It's not just British hospitals. A nasty strain of ransomware is sweeping the world. The post The Ransomware Meltdown Experts Warned About Is Here appeared first on WIRED .

There are clues that the Kremlin hacked the French presidential candidate. But not yet enough to draw a conclusion. The post Don't Pin the Macron Email Hack on Russia Just Yet appeared first on WIRED .

Each weekend we round up the news stories that we didn't break or cover in depth but that still deserve your attention. The post Security News This Week: Oh Good, Hackers Beat Two-Factor to Rob Bank Accounts appeared first on WIRED .

The campaign of French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron confirms it's been the target of a successful hacking operation. The post Hackers Hit Macron With Huge Email Leak Ahead of French Election appeared first on WIRED .

Putting an unreleased series on the Pirate Bay unless Netflix pays up? Good luck with that. The post That Orange Is the New Black Leak Was Never Going to Pay Off appeared first on WIRED .