In September, hackers from a group called ShinyHunters announced that they stole a trove of FBI data about its own agents. It was an intelligence disaster. Last week, the FBI arrested (alternate link) someone associated with that crime.

Microsoft gives the FBI the ability to decrypt BitLocker in response to court orders: about twenty times per year. > It’s possible for users to store those keys on a device they own, but > Microsoft also recommends BitLocker users store their keys on its servers for > convenience. While that means someone can access their data if they forget > their password, or if repeated failed attempts to login lock the device, it > also makes them vulnerable to law enforcement subpoenas and warrants.

The FBI is warning of AI-assisted fake kidnapping scams: > Criminal actors typically will contact their victims through text message > claiming they have kidnapped their loved one and demand a ransom be paid for > their release. Oftentimes, the criminal actor will express significant claims > of violence towards the loved one if the ransom is not paid immediately. The > criminal actor will then send what appears to be a genuine photo or video of > the victim’s loved one, which upon close inspection often reveals inaccuracies > when compared to confirmed photos of the loved one. Examples of these > inaccuracies include missing tattoos or scars and inaccurate body proportions. > Criminal actors will sometimes purposefully send these photos using timed > message features to limit the amount of time victims have to analyze the > images...

Once you build a surveillance system, you can’t control who will use it: > A hacker working for the Sinaloa drug cartel was able to obtain an FBI > official’s phone records and use Mexico City’s surveillance cameras to help > track and kill the agency’s informants in 2018, according to a new US justice > department report. > > The incident was disclosed in a justice department inspector general’s audit > of the FBI’s efforts to mitigate the effects of “ubiquitous technical > surveillance,” a term used to describe the global proliferation of cameras and > the thriving trade in vast stores of communications, travel, and location > data...

According to a DOJ press release, the FBI was able to delete the Chinese-used PlugX malware from “approximately 4,258 U.S.-based computers and networks.” Details: > To retrieve information from and send commands to the hacked machines, the > malware connects to a command-and-control server that is operated by the > hacking group. According to the FBI, at least 45,000 IP addresses in the US > had back-and-forths with the command-and-control server since September 2023. > > It was that very server that allowed the FBI to finally kill this pesky bit of > malicious software. First, they tapped the know-how of French intelligence > agencies, which had ...

I’ve been writing about the problem with lawful-access backdoors in encryption for decades now: that as soon as you create a mechanism for law enforcement to bypass encryption, the bad guys will use it too. Turns out the same thing is true for non-technical backdoors: > The advisory said that the cybercriminals were successful in masquerading as > law enforcement by using compromised police accounts to send emails to > companies requesting user data. In some cases, the requests cited false > threats, like claims of human trafficking and, in one case, that an individual > would “suffer greatly or die” unless the company in question returns the > requested information...