The U.S. Secret Service issued a warning about an increase in hacks targeting managed service providers, or MSPs, of both the U.S. private sector and various government entities. According to a document published by ZDNet on June 7, threat actors have been widely relying on ransomware attacks, point-of-sale intrusions, and business email compromise scams to breach the internal networks of MSP customers. Remote management software under threat MSPs are service providers related to remote management software for enterprises, including file-sharing systems for internal networks, which could also be hosted inside a cloud infrastructure. U.S. Secret Service officials issued a warning, …

The United States’ Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is seeking information and tools to help it trace transactions using privacy coins, layer two protocols such as Lightning Network and side chains like Plasma and OmiseGo (OMG). A June 30 request for information published by the U.S. Department Of The Treasury reveals the IRS’ Criminal Investigation Division is seeking submissions for “an interactive prototype” with a graphic user interface for analyzing distributed ledger-based transactions involving privacy coins and other privacy-enhancing blockchain technologies. IRS peeks into privacy The document explicitly names Monero (XMR), Zcash (ZEC), Dash (DASH), Grin (GRIN), Komodo (KMD), Verge (XVG), …

According to crypto advocate Roger Ver, Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is the only “recent” coin to be widely used on the dark web. “The only other coins being used on the darknet markets are the coins that have been around for a long time like Bitcoin, of course, then Monero,” Ver said. Coinelegraph’s investigation showed that although BCH does reach the Dark Web, it's far from being a leading cryptocurrency there. This is surprising: while privacy-focused cryptocurrencies like Monero commonly protect the identities of darknet buyers and sellers alike, Bitcoin Cash has some technical features that can bring its level of …

The Spanish Civil Guard has taken down a dark-web child porn ring that used cryptocurrency transactions to pay for content. Multiple individuals across the country were ultimately arrested. According to the Spanish Civil Guard, the “Jekyll” operation captured three people involved in the “Welcome 2 Video” platform, thanks in part to additional support from United States authorities. Bitcoin and “anonymous tokens” Users would send Bitcoin (BTC) and “other tokens or anonymous money transfer services” to access videos on the dark web site. Members were also rewarded for uploading their own videos and photos to the platform. Analysis of thousands of …

The Korea Internet and Security Agency, or KISA, plans to develop an artificial intelligence-based software to trace cryptocurrency transactions on the dark web in response to the Telegram Nth Room sexual ring case. According to New Daily, the government has been working on solutions since January, as authorities faced difficult obstacles amid the investigation of the child porn case in South Korea, where people could buy access to videos with sexually explicit content containing minors. The KISA says that such software relies on machine-learning technology, which automatically traces inside South Korean’s dark web sites that process crypto transactions. The authority …

On June 24, security experts from Palo Alto Networks’ Unit 42 warned about a new self-propagating malware that launches cryptojacking and DDoS attacks against Windows systems. The software operates under the name “Lucifer”. According to the study, Lucifer is a hybrid of cryptojacking and DDoS malware that leverages old vulnerabilities on the Windows platform. Vulnerabilities exploited After breaking the security infrastructure, attackers execute commands that release DDoS attacks. This allows them to install XMRig Miner, a well-known Monero (XMR) mining app, to launch cryptojacking attacks. Palo Alto Networks claims that a related Monero wallet has received 0.493527 XMR so far. …

The terrorist organization known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, is beginning to switch to Monero (XMR) to accept donations from the public. As reported by blockchain intelligence company, Whitestream, and independently confirmed by Cointelegraph, a news website affiliated with the terrorist organization and the jihadist movement has updated its donations page on June 21 to only accept Monero. According to the tutorial page published by the website, Monero is a more secure method of payment that cannot be traced. The page then explains how users can buy and send Monero, while including the XMR address. …

The REvil ransomware gang says that they will auction over 1TB of data stolen from New York-based entertainment law firm, Grubman Shire Meiselas & Sacks. This data allegedly contains the “dirty” secrets of a number of celebrities. REvil claims that the contents involve sex scandals, drugs, and treachery. Nicki Minaj, LeBron James, and Mariah Carey among the alleged victims In a blog post, the ransomware group says they will begin the auction on July 1, noting that the first round will contain information from Nicki Minaj, Mariah Carey, and LeBron James. The price for each dataset is $600,000. Two days …

The REvil ransomware gang is auctioning off sensitive information, stolen from debit card services provider, Interacard. According to REvil’s website, the information is available in an auction listing published by the group. All prospective bidders are required to pay using Monero (XMR). REvil has previously only auctioned data in cases where their name-and-shame tactics fail to extract payment from a targeted company. That does not appear to be the case this time, however. Hypothesis behind going directly to the auction stage Speaking with Cointelegraph, Brett Callow, threat analyst at malware lab Emsisoft provided some possible reasons behind REvil’s tactics: “In …

Only about 3.5 million Bitcoin (BTC) are available for trading, according to new data from blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis. The remaining 11.4 million are held as long-term investment and 3.7 million are believed to be lost. This suggests that if institutional investors enter the crypto space and invest for the long-term, the tradeable supply of the top-ranked cryptocurrency on CoinMarketCap is likely to shrink further and possibly boost the price of BTC. Crypto market data daily view. Source: Coin360 In a recent interview with Cointelegraph Markets, Max Keiser, host of the Keiser Report, said that Paul Tudor Jones is likely …

Another ransomware attack has hit the Australia-based drinks manufacturer, Lion. This is the second attack on the company in less than one week. The cybercriminals behind the attack are threatening to double the ransom amount if Lion does not pay by the specified date. The currency of choice for the particular attack is Monero (XMR). A report published by The Sydney Morning Herald on June 18 said that Lion's staff were informed that the attack had disrupted its IT infrastructure. Initially, REvil has asked for a ransom of $800,000, to be paid in Monero. If Lion fails to send this …

A new website seeking to compile an active list of every cryptocurrency exchange that welcomes traders in some capacity without forcing them to hand over personal information through know-your-customer, or KYC, verification. Kycnot.me is only concerned with exchanges that support Bitcoin (BTC) or Monero (XMR), asserting that BTC is the largest crypto asset with the most adoption and XMR offers the strongest privacy protections. Website tracks KYC-free crypto exchanges The website currently lists 14 KYC-free trading platforms, many of which offer a peer-to-peer marketplace for crypto assets. However, the site has listed warnings concerning more than half of the exchanges …