Jarrod Grubb

By Lawrence Delevingne BOSTON, darkmarket April 28 (Reuters) - U.S. officials on Tuesday arrested Roman Sterlingov, the alleged principal operator of cryptocurrency money laundering website Bitcoin Fog, according to a federal court filing. Sterlingov, a citizen of Russia and Sweden, was detained in Los Angeles on money-laundering related charges. Bitcoin Fog, launched in 2011, is one of the original Bitcoin "tumbler" or "mixer" services designed to help users anonymize cryptocurrencies payments, especially on so-called darknet market links online markets that trafficked in drugs and other illegal products, dark markets 2022 according to a legal statement accompanying the criminal complaint by Internal Revenue Service special agent Devon Beckett. "Analysis of bitcoin transactions, financial records, Internet service provider records, email records and additional investigative information, identifies Roman Sterlingov as the principal operator of Bitcoin Fog," Beckett wrote. More than 1.2 million Bitcoin (BTC) -- worth approximately $336 million at the time of the transactions -- were sent through Bitcoin Fog, according to the Beckett statement. A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia, which is handling the case, dark web sites web darknet market did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Requests sent to email addresses tied to Sterlingov were not immediately returned. (Reporting by Lawrence Delevingne; Editing by Aurora Ellis)

BERLIN, May 3 (Reuters) - German police have uncovered one of the world's largest underground darknet websites for child pornography with more than 400,000 users and arrested four people connected to the platform, dark market link prosecutors said on Monday. The "BOYSTOWN" platform has existed since at least June 2019 and was only accessible via the so-called darknet market lists, the Frankfurt public prosecutor's office and the BKA Federal Police said in a statement. The website has more than 400,000 users and was used for the worldwide exchange of child pornography. It enabled members to retrieve child pornography content and exchange footage with each other in chat areas as well as via voice channels. "Among the images and video recordings shared were also recordings of the most severe sexual abuse of young children," prosecutors said. Police arrested three main suspects, who are accused of operating and maintaining the platform, darkmarket url during raids on seven properties in mid-April. The suspects are a 40-year-old man living in Paderborn in western Germany, a 49-year-old man from the Munich area and dark market dark web markets link a 58-year-old man from northern Germany who has been living in South America for several years, dark web link police said. A fourth man, darknet market lists a 64-year-old from Hamburg, has also been arrested on suspicion of having registered as a member of the platform in July 2019 and having posted over 3,500 contributions on the site, making him one of the most active users. Following the raids, the BOYSTOWN platform has been taken down, police said. (Reporting by Caroline Copley; Editing by Giles Elgood)

id="article-body" class="row" section="article-body" data-component="trackCWV" What do Dunkin' Donuts, Fortnite, Sprint and the Dow Jones company all have in common? They've all suffered from massive hacks in 2019 alone.After every data breach, victim data often surfaces on the encrypted "hidden" internet known as the , a network of sites that can only be accessed with . dark market onion web markets operate like the ecommerce websites we shop on every day, but often trade in illicit goods like drugs, weapons and stolen data. Now playing: Watch this: Finding our personal data on the dark web market links web was far too... 3:53 Because so many companies now capture and store personal information, darknet markets hacking has become a profitable profession, darkmarket link said Terbium Labs vice president of research Emily Wilson. One hacker known as Gnosticplayers has allegedly leaked over 840 million user records. His most recent dump of 26.42 million records ."The dark web market list web has provided the raw materials that these fraudsters need to build out scalable criminal empires," said Wilson. "We're talking about identity theft of millions of people, includidark web sites web site Torch, darknet market list I was able to uncover additional details, including older geographic coordinates. Fortunately my current location was not available, but old data is still valuable data, said Wilson, and criminals can use your old details to figure out your routines, where you work and maybe even your neighborhood."Once your data is in the mix, you're just another cog in the wheel," she explained. "You're just another resource. Data is often repackaged, resold, re-released, which means, if you're exposed once, it's going to be used hundreds, thousands, maybe even millions of times before it's all said and done."

By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss NEW YORK, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Cybercriminals laundered $8.6 billion in cryptocurrencies last year, up 30% from 2020, according to a report from blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis released on Wednesday. Overall, cybercriminals have laundered more than $33 billion worth of crypto since 2017, Chainalysis estimated, with most of the total over time moving to centralized exchanges. The firm said the sharp rise in money laundering activity in 2021 was not surprising, given the significant growth of both legitimate and dark darknet market 2022 illegal crypto activity last year. Money laundering refers to that process of disguising the origin of illegally obtained money by transferring it to legitimate businesses. About 17% of the $8.6 billion laundered went to decentralized finance applications, darknet market list Chainalysis said, referring to the sector which facilitates crypto-denominated financial transactions outside of traditional banks. That was up from 2% in 2020. Mining pools, high-risk exchanges, dark web market and mixers also saw substantial increases in value received from illicit addresses, the report said. Mixers typically combine potentially identifiable or tainted cryptocurrency funds with others, so as to conceal the trail to the fund's original source. Wallet addresses associated with theft sent just under half of their stolen funds, or more than $750 million worth of crypto in total, to decentralized finance platforms, according to the Chainalysis report. Chainalysis also clarified that the $8.6 billion laundered last year represents funds derived from crypto-native crime such as darknet market list darknet market sales or ransomware attacks in which profits are in crypto instead of fiat currencies. "It's more difficult to measure how much fiat currency derived from off-line crime - traditional drug trafficking, for example - is converted into cryptocurrency to be laundered," Chainalysis said in the report. "However, we know anecdotally this is happening." (Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Himani Sarkar)

id="article-body" class="row" section="article-body" data-component="trackCWV" This is part of our  about how innovators are thinking up new ways to make you — and the world around you — smarter. "Are you a hacker?"A Las Vegas driver asks me this after I tell him I'm headed to Defcon at Caesars Palace. I wonder if his sweat isn't just from the 110℉ heat blasting the city. All week, a cloud of paranoia looms over Las Vegas, as hackers from around the world swarm Sin City for Black Hat and Defcon, two back-to-back cybersecurity conferences taking place in the last week of July. At Caesars Palace, where Defcon is celebrating its 25th anniversary, the UPS store posts a sign telling guests it won't accept printing requests from USB thumb drives. You can't be too careful with all those hackers in town. Aaron Robinson/CNET Everywhere I walk I see hackers — in tin-foiled fedoras, wearing . Mike Spicer, a security researcher, carries a 4-foot-high backpack holding a "Wi-Fi cactus." Think wires, antennas, colored lights and 25 Wi-Fi scanners that, in seven hours, captured 75 gigabytes of data from anyone foolish enough to use public Wi-Fi. I see a woman thank him for holding the door open for her, all while his backpack sniffs for unencrypted passwords and personal information it can grab literally out of thin air. You'd think that, with all the potential threats literally walking about town, Vegas' director of technology and innovation, Mike Sherwood, would be stressed out. It's his job to protect thousands of smart sensors around the city that could jam traffic, blast water through pipes or cause a blackout if anything goes haywire. And yet he's sitting right in front of me at Black Hat, smiling. His entire three-person team, in fact, is at Black Hat so they can learn how to stave off future attacks. Machine learning is guarding Las Vegas' network for them. Broadly speaking, artificial intelligence refers to machines carrying out jobs that we would consider smart. Machine learning is a subset of AI in which computers learn and adapt for themselves. Now a number of cybersecurity companies are turning to machine learning in an attempt to stay one step ahead of professionals working to steal industrial secrets, disrupt national infrastructures, hold computer networks for ransom and even influence elections. Las Vegas, which relies on machine learning to keep the bad guys out, offers a glimpse into a future when more of us will turn to our AI overlords for protection. Man and machineAt its most basic, machine learning for security involves feeding massive amounts of data to the AI program, which the software then analyzes to spot patterns and recognize what is, and isn't, a threat. If you do this millions of times, the machine becomes smart enough to prevent intrusions and darknet market list malware on its own. Theoretically. Machine learning naysayers argue that hackers can write malware to trick AI. Sure the software can learn really fast, but it stumbles when it encounters data its creators didn't anticipate. Remember how trolls turned ? It makes a good case against relying on AI for cybersecurity, where the stakes are so high. Even so, that has protected Las Vegas' network and thousands of sensors for the last 18 months. Since last February, Darktrace has defended the city from cyberattacks, around the clock. That comes in handy when you have only three staffers handling cybersecurity for people, 3,000 employees and thousands of online devices. It was worse when Sherwood joined two years ago. "That was the time where we only had one security person on the team," Sherwood tells me. "That was when I thought, 'I need help and I can't afford to hire more people.'" It's really easy for AI to miss things. David Brumley, Carnegie Mellon University He'd already used Darktrace in his previous job as deputy director of public safety and city technology in Irvine, California, and he thought the software could help in Las Vegas. Within two weeks, Darktrace found malware on Las Vegas' network that was sending out data."We didn't even know," Sherwood says. "Traditional scanners weren't picking it up."  Pattern recognitionI'm standing in front of a tattoo parlor in , a little more than 4 miles from Caesars Palace. Across the street, I see three shuttered stores next to two bail bonds shops. I'm convinced the taxi driver dropped me off at the wrong location. This is supposed to be Vegas' $1 million Innovation District project? Where are the in the area? Or the ? I look again at the Innovation District map on my phone. I'm in the right place. Despite the rundown stores, trailer homes and empty lots, this corner of downtown Vegas is much smarter than it looks.That's because hidden on the roads and inside all the streetlights, traffic signals and pipes are thousands of sensors. They're tracking the air quality, controlling the lights and water, counting the cars traveling along the roads, and providing Wi-Fi. Aaron Robinson/CNET Officials chose the city's rundown area to serve as its Innovation District because they wanted to redevelop it, with help from technology, Sherwood says. There's just one problem: All those connected devices are potential targets for a cyberattack. That's where Darktrace comes in. Sherwood willingly banks on Darktrace to protect the city's entire network because the software comes at machine learning from a different angle. Most machine learning tools rely on brute force: cramming themselves with thousands of terabytes of data so they can learn through plenty of trial and error. That's how IBM's Deep Blue computer learned to defeat Garry Kasparov, the world chess champion, in a best-of-seven match in 1997. In the security world, that data describes malware signatures — essentially algorithms that identify specific viruses or worms, for instance.Darktrace, in contrast, doesn't look at a massive database of malware that's come before. Instead, it looks for patterns of human behavior. It learns within a week what's considered normal behavior dark darknet market for users and sets off alarms when things fall out of pattern, like when someone's computer suddenly starts encrypting loads of files.Rise of the machines?Still, it's probably too soon to hand over all security responsibilities to artificial intelligence, says  , a security professor and director of Carnegie Mellon University's CyLab Security and Privacy Institute. He predicts it'll take at least 10 years before we can safely use AI to keep bad things out. "It's really easy for AI to miss things," Brumley tells me over the phone. "It's not a perfect solution, and you still need people to make important choices." Aaron Robinson/CNET Brumley's team last year built an AI machine that won beating out other AI entries. A few days later, their contender took on some of the world's best hackers at Defcon. They came in last. Sure, machines can help humans fight the scale and speed of attacks, but it'll take years before they can actually call the shots, says Brumley. That's because the model for AI right now is still data cramming, which — by today's standards — is actually kind of dumb. But it was still good enough to , making him the de facto poster child for man outsmarted by machine. "I always remind people it was a rematch, because I won the first one," he tells me, chuckling, while sitting in a room at Caesars Palace during Defcon. Today Kasparov, 54, is the which is why he's been giving talks around the country on why humans need to work with AI in cybersecurity.  He tells me machines can now learn too fast for humans to keep up, no matter if it's chess or cybersecurity. "The vigilance and the precision required to beat the machine -- it's virtually impossible to reach in human competition," Kasparov says. Nobody's perfectAbout two months before Defcon, I'm at Darktrace's headquarters in New York, where company executives show me how the system works. On a screen, I see connected computers and printers sending data to Darktrace's network as it monitors for darknet market links behavior that's out of the ordinary.  Garry Kasparov addresses the Defcon crowd at this year's conference.  Avast "For example, Sue doesn't usually access this much internal data," Nancy Karches, Darktrace's sales manager, tells me. "This is straying from Sue's normal pattern." So Darktrace shuts down an attack most likely waged by another machine. "When you have machine-based attacks, the attacks are moving at a machine speed from one to the other," says Darktrace CEO Nicole Eagan. "It's hard for humans to keep up with that."But what happens when AI becomes the norm? When everyone's using AI, says Brumley, hackers will turn all their attention on finding the machines' flaws — something they're not doing yet. Darktrace "We've seen again and again, the reason new solutions work better is because attackers aren't targeting its weaknesses," he says. "As soon as it became popular, it started working worse and worse."About 60 percent of cybersecurity experts at Black Hat believe hackers will use AI for attacks by 2018, according to a survey from the security company Cylance."Machine learning security is not foolproof," says Hyrum Anderson, principal data scientist at cybersecurity company Endgame, who and their tools. Anderson expects AI-based malware will rapidly make thousands of attempts to find code that the AI-based security misses. to see more Road Trip adventures. Bettmann/Contributor "The bad guy can do this with trial and error, and it will cost him months," Anderson says. "The bot can learn to do this, and it will take hours." Anderson says he expects cybercriminals will eventually sell AI malware on darknet markets to wannabe hackers. For now, Sherwood feels safe having the city protected by an AI machine, which has shielded Las Vegas' network for the past year. But he also realizes a day will come when hackers could outsmart the AI. That's why Sherwood and his Las Vegas security team are at Black Hat: to learn how to use human judgment and creativity while the machine parries attacks as rapidly as they come in. Kasparov has been trying to make that point for the last 20 years. He sees machines doing about 80 percent to 90 percent of the work, but he believes they'll never get to what he calls "that last decimal place." "You will see more and more advanced destruction on one side, and that will force you to become more creative on the positive side," he tells me. "Human creativity is how we make the difference." : Reporters' dispatches from the field on tech's role in the global refugee crisis. : CNET hunts for innovation outside the Silicon Valley bubble. 

It appears the self-proclaimed 'Crocodile of Wall Street', Heather Rhiannon Morgan, 31, who was granted $3milli and the United States and the co-founder of an online marketing firm. Morgan, a rapper and former Forbes contributor, describes herself as 'an expert in persuasion, social engineering, and game theory'.WARNING: EXPLICIT LYRICS  Morgan, who raps under the name Razzlekhan, (seen in front of Federal Hall on Wall Street in a music video) declared herself the 'Crocodile of Wall Street' in one of her rap songs In this courtroom sketch, attorney Sam Enzer, center, sits between Heather Morgan, left, and darkmarket list her husband, Ilya 'Dutch' Lichtenstein, in federal court on TuesdayThe August 2016 Bitfinex hack itself was one of the largest crypto heists ever recorded - so massive that news of the theft knocked 20 percent off Bitcoin's value at the time. Lichtenstein and Morgan are thus far not charged directly with perpetrating the hack, but rather with receiving and laundering the stolen funds. The case was filed in a federal court in Washington, D.C.It was unclear who will be representing the couple in the criminal case and whether they had an attorney to speak on their behalf.They were due to appear in federal court in Manhattan at 3pm on Tuesday. The couple is accused of conspiring to launder 119,754 bitcoin that was stolen, after a hacker attacked Bitfinex and initiated more than 2,000 unauthorized transactions. Morgan, a rapper and former Forbes contributor, describes herself as 'an expert in persuasion, social engineering, and game theory' The couple is accused of conspiring to launder 119,754 bitcoin that was stolen, after a hacker attacked Bitfinex and initiated more than 2,000 unauthorized transactionsJustice Department officials said the transactions at the time were valued at $71 million in Bitcoin, but with the rise in the currency's value, it is now valued at over $4.5 billion.'As the complaint alleges, dark darknet market link the FBI and federal prosecutors were able to trace the movement of Bitcoin from this hack,' said Matthew Graves, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia.He added that the money moved through a major darknet market exchange tied to a host of crimes, as well as cryptocurrency addresses tied to child sexual abuse materials.Lichtenstein and Morgan are facing charges of conspiring to commit money laundering, as well as to defraud the United States.Prosecutors said on Tuesday the illegal proceeds were spent on a variety of things, from gold and non-fungible tokens to 'absolutely mundane things such as purchasing a Walmart gift card for $500.'Bitfinex said in a statement that it was to working with the Department of Justice to 'establish our rights to a return of the stolen bitcoin.''We have been cooperating extensively with the DOJ since its investigation began and will continue to do so,' the company said. Bitfinex said it intends to provide further updates on its efforts to obtain a return of the stolen bitcoin as and when those updates are available. Tuesday's criminal complaint came more than four months after Monaco announced the department was launching a new National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team, which is comprised of a mix of anti-money laundering and cybersecurity experts. The August 2016 Bitfinex hack itself was one of the largest crypto heists ever recorded - so massive that news of the theft knocked 20 percent off Bitcoin's value Lichtenstein and Morgan are facing charges of conspiring to commit money laundering, as well as to defraud the United States Morgan is seen rapping with the New York Stock Exchange behind her to the rightCyber criminals who attack companies, municipalities and individuals with ransomware often demand payment in the form of cryptocurrency.In one high-profile example last year, hackers caused a widespread gas shortage on the U.S. East Coast when by using encryption software called DarkSide to launch a cyber attack on the Colonial Pipeline.The Justice Department later recovered some $2.3 million in cryptocurrency ransom that Colonial paid to the hackers.Cases like these demonstrate that the Justice Department 'can follow money across the blockchain, just as we have always followed it within the traditional financial system,' said Kenneth Polite, assistant attorney general of the department's Criminal Division. Justice Department officials say that though the proliferation of cryptocurrency and virtual currency exchanges represent innovation, the trend has also been accompanied by money laundering, ransomware and other crimes'Toda'´s arrests, and the Department's largest financial seizure ever, show that cryptocurrency is not a safe haven for criminals,' Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said in a statement. 'In a futile effort to maintain digital anonymity, the defendants laundered stolen funds through a labyrinth of cryptocurrency transactions. Thanks to the meticulous work of law enforcement, the department once again showed how it can and will follow the money, no matter the form it takes.'   data-track-module="am-external-links^external-links" Read more: DM.later('bundle', function() DM.has('external-source-links', 'externalLinkTracker'); );

id="article-body" class="row" section="article-body" data-component="trackCWV" Earlier this month, hundreds of companies from the US to Sweden were entangled in the , a company that offers network infrastructure to businesses around the world.The Kaseya hack comes on the heels of other headline-grabbing cyberattacks like the  and the . In each instance, criminals had the opportunity to make off with millions -- and much of the ransoms were paid in Bitcoin."We have to remember the primary reason for creating Bitcoin in the first place was to provide anonymity and secure, trustless and borderless transaction capabilities," says Keatron Evans, principal security researcher at . As Bitcoin grows more prominent in markets around the world, cybercrooks have found a vital tool to help them move illegal assets quickly and pseudonymously. And by all accounts, the attacks are only becoming more common. Ransomware on the riseRansomware is a cybercrime that involves ransoming personal and business data back to the owner of that data.  First, a criminal hacks into a private network. The hack is accomplished through various tactics, including phishing, social engineering and preying upon users' weak passwords.Once network access is gained, the criminal locks important files within the network using encryption. The owner can't access the files unless they pay a ransom. Nowadays, cybercriminals tend to request their ransoms in cryptocurrencies.The FBI  ransomware attacks accounted for at least $144.35 million in Bitcoin ransoms from 2013 to 2019. These attacks are scalable and can be highly targeted or broad, ensnaring anyone who happens to click a link or install a particular software program. This allows a small team of cybercrooks to ransom data back to organizations of all sizes -- and the tools needed to hack into a small business or multinational cooperation are largely the same. Private citizens, businesses, and state and national governments have all fallen victim -- and many decided to pay ransoms.Today's business world depends on computer networks to keep track of administrative and financial data. When that data disappears, it can be impossible for the organization to function properly. This provides a large incentive to pay up. Although victims of ransomware attacks are encouraged to report the crime to federal authorities, there's no US law that says you have to report attacks (). Given this, there's little authoritative data about the number of attacks or ransom payments.  However, a recent study from Threatpost  only 20% of victims pay up. Whatever the actual number is, the FBI  against paying ransoms because there's no guarantee that you'll get the data back, and paying ransoms creates further incentive for ransomware attacks. Why do hackers like cryptocurrency?Cryptocurrency provides a helpful ransom tool for cybercrooks. Rather than being an aberration or misuse, the ability to make anonymous (or pseudonymous) transfers is a  of cryptocurrency. "Bitcoin can be acquired fairly easily. It's decentralized and readily available in almost any country," says Koen Maris, a cybersecurity expert and advisory board member at IOTA Foundation.Different cryptocurrencies feature different levels of anonymity. Some cryptocurrencies, like Monero and Zcash, specialize in confidentiality and may even provide a higher level of security than Bitcoin for cybercriminals. That's because Bitcoin isn't truly anonymous -- it's pseudonymous. Through careful detective work and analysis, it appears possible to trace and recoup Bitcoin used for ransoms, as the FBI  after the Colonial Pipeline hack. So Bitcoin isn't necessarily used by ransomers simply because of security features. Bitcoin transfers are also fast, irreversible and easily verifiable. Once a ransomware victim has agreed to pay, the criminal can watch the transfer go through on the public blockchain. After the ransom is sent, it's usually gone forever. Then crooks can either exchange the Bitcoin for another currency -- crypto or fiat -- or transfer the Bitcoin to another wallet for safekeeping. While it's not clear exactly when or how Bitcoin became associated with ransomware, hackers, cybercrooks, and crypto-enthusiasts are all computer-savvy subcultures with a natural affinity for new tech, and Bitcoin was adopted for illicit activities online soon after its creation. One of Bitcoin's first popular uses was currency for transactions on the dark web. The  was among the early marketplaces that accepted Bitcoin. Financial impactRansomware is big business. Cybercriminals made off just under $350 million worth of cryptocurrency in ransomware attacks last year, . That's an increase of over 300% in the amount of ransom payments from the year before. The COVID-19 pandemic set the stage for a surge in ransomware attacks. With vast tracts of the global workforce moving out of well-fortified corporate IT environments into home offices, cybercriminals had more surface area to attack than ever.According to , the organizational changes needed to accommodate remote work opened up more businesses for cybercrime exploits, dark market darknet market onion with Coalition's policyholders reporting a 35% increase in funds transfer fraud and social engineering claims since the beginning of the pandemic.It's not just the number of attacks that is increasing, but the stakes, too. A  from Palo Alto Networks estimates that the average ransom paid in 2020 was over $300,000 -- a year-over-year increase of more than 170%.When an organization falls prey to cybercrime, the ransom is only one component of the financial cost. There are also remediation expenses -- including lost orders, business downtime, consulting fees, and other unplanned expenses. The  report from Sophos found that the total cost of remediating a ransomware attack for a business averaged $1.85 million in 2021, up from $761,000 in 2020. Many companies now buy cyber insurance for financial protection. But as ransomware insurance claims increase, the insurance industry is also dealing with the fallout.Globally, the price of cyber insurance has , according to a new report from Howden, an international insurance broker. The increase is likely due to the growing cost these attacks cause for insurance providers.  A cyber insurance policy generally covers a business's liability from a data breach, such as expenses (i.e., ransom payments) and legal fees. Some policies may also help with contacting the businesses customers who were affected by the breach and repairing damaged computer systems. Cyber insurance payouts now account for  of all premiums collected, which is the break-even point for the providers. "We noticed cyber insurers are paying ransom on behalf of their customers. That looks like a bad idea to me, as it will only lead to more ransom attacks," says Maris. "Having said that, I fully understand the argument: the company either pays or it goes out of business. Only time will tell whether investing in ransom payments rather than in appropriate cybersecurity is a viable survival strategy."Early adoptersThe AIDS Trojan, or PC Cyborg Trojan, is the first known ransomware attack. The attack began in 1989 when an AIDS researcher distributed thousands of copies of a floppy disk containing malware. When people used the floppy disk, it encrypted the computer's files with a message that demanded a payment sent to a PO Box in Panama. Bitcoin wouldn't come along until almost two decades later. In 2009, Bitcoin's mysterious founder, Satoshi Nakamoto, created the blockchain network by mining the first block in the chain -- the genesis block. Bitcoin was quickly adopted as the go-to currency for the dark market link web. While it's unclear exactly when Bitcoin became popular in ransomware attacks, the 2013 CryptoLocker attack definitely put Bitcoin in the spotlight.  CryptoLocker infected more than 250,000 computers over a few months. The criminals made off with about $3 million in Bitcoin and pre-paid vouchers. It took an internationally coordinated operation to take the ransomware offline in 2014.Since then, Bitcoin has moved closer to the mainstream, and ransomware attacks have become much easier to carry out.Early ransomware attackers generally had to develop malware programs themselves. Nowadays, ransomware can be bought as a service, just like other software. Ransomware-as-a-service allows criminals with little technical know-how to "rent" ransomware from a provider, which can be quickly employed against victims. Then if the job succeeds, the ransomware provider gets a cut. Future legislationIn light of the recent high-profile ransomware attacks, dark darknet market list calls for new legislation are growing louder in Washington.President Joe Biden issued an  in May "on improving the nation's cybersecurity." The order is geared toward strengthening the federal government's response to cybercrime, darknet market and it looks like more legislation is on the way.The  was recently introduced by a bipartisan group of senators. The bill aims to ramp up penalties for cyberattacks that impact critical infrastructure, so the Justice Department would have an easier time charging criminals in foreign countries under the new act.States are also taking their own stands against cybercrime:  have proposed legislation to outlaw ransomware payments. North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Texas are all considering new laws that would outlaw taxpayer money from being used in ransom payments. New York's law goes a step further and could outright ban private businesses from paying cybercrime ransoms. "I think the concept of what cryptocurrency is and how it works is something that most legislative bodies worldwide struggle with understanding," says Evans. "It's difficult to legislate what we don't really understand."

Footage has emerged of the inside of a five-storey abandoned underground NATO bunker built with 31inch thick concrete walls in Germany allegedly converted by criminal gangs into a high tech data centre to host darknet websites. An Australian man was arrested on Monday accused of running a $220million illegal darkweb marketplace - called the biggest in the world and ' for criminals' - after ha was tracked following the bunker's discovery. The joint investigation by Australian Federal Police, Scotland Yard, the , Europol, and German authorities, among others, arrested the man, 34, as he allegedly tried flee across the Danish border into . The man, known only as Julian K, is the alleged operator of DarkMarket and has been detained by German investigators. more videos DM.later('bundle', function() DM.molFeCarousel.init('#p-17', 'channelCarousel', "activeClass" : "wocc", "pageCount" : "3.0", "pageSize" : 1, "onPos": 0, "updateStyleOnHover": true ); ); The 5,000sq m former NATO bunker located in south-western Germany (pictured) was built with 31inch thick concrete walls and was converted into a data facility called CyberBunker to host darknet market websites after being bought in 2012  A night-vision aerial view of the aboveground portion of the bunker containing a gatehouse, office, helipad and entrance building (pictured) which descends another four levels below the surface  A screenshot of the illegal website allegedly run by the arrested Australian man and temporarily hosted on CyberBunker which displays drugs for sale (pictured)  German police officers walk through the gate at the perimeter of the former Cold War bunker (pictured) converted into an illegal data centre after it was raided in 2019 DarkMarket was shut down on Monday and its new servers, located in Ukraine and Moldova after relocating from the bunker, were taken off the internet, prosecutors in the city of Koblenz said.'Until its closure, DarkMarket was probably the largest marketplace worldwide on the darknet market, with almost 500,000 users and more than 2400 sellers,' prosecutors said.  RELATED ARTICLES Share this article Share More than 320,000 transactions were conducted via the website including the sale of drugs, counterfeit money, stolen or falsified credit cards, anonymous SIM cards and malware.The transactions were reportedly worth a total of 4,650 bitcoin and 12,800 monero - two cryptocurrencies - for an equivalent sum of more than $221million. The servers will be forensically examined by authorities to uncover information about the website's operations and criminal network.  The solid concrete bunker (pictured) was built to withstand a nuclear blast is located in the south-western German town of Traben-Trarbach  Two of the entrances to the disused bunker (pictured) which was raided by police in 2019 after being bought by a private foundation based in Denmark in 2012 The accused man has already fronted a German court and been denied bail - to be transferred to a German prison in the next few days. He has reportedly refused to speak to investigators or court officials. German prosecutors said the man was trying to flee Denmark into Germany when arrested and was travelling through Europe either on holiday or conducting business for the illegal website. They said the investigation around DarkMarket originated after the discovery of the data processing centre run by criminals in the 5,000sqm former unused bunker in south-west Germany.  The discovery of the illegal data centre in the bunker led to the arrest of multiple people accused of being part of a criminal network and being an accessory to hundreds of thousands of illegal transactions. Some went on trial in October (pictured) The data facility hosted illegal websites, which included DarkMarket temporarily, and was shut down in 2019. The building, constructed by the West-German military, in the mid-1970s descended five-storeys below the surface and was built with 31inch thick concrete walls to withstand a nuclear blast. A meteorological division of the military used the facility after the Cold War until 2012 to forecast weather patterns where German soldiers were deployed. The building was sold to a foundation based in Denmark in 2012 after officials could find no other buyers for the vacant facility. A number of people were arrested after the discovery of the data centre - accused of being part of a criminal network and being accessories to hundreds of thousands of illegal transactions involving prohibited material such as drugs and hacking tools. Some already went on trial in October. The darkweb was originally developed for darknet market the United States military but has been overrun by criminals because they can conceal their identity on the platform.  Server rows constructed in the bunker which is made of solid concrete and climate controlled (pictured). The data centre was dismantled after the raid and dark markets 2022 multiple people linked to the centre were put on trial 

has announced a spike in far-right and warned that political extremists are 'the biggest threat to our country.'The interior ministry reported another annual increase in anti-Semitic crimes, up by 15.7 per cent in 2020, with 2,351 total incidents - 94.6% of which were committed by a far-right suspect.Of the total, 62 were acts of violence while the majority were antisemitic hate speech and other related crimes, frequently on social media.Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said: 'This development in Germany is not only troubling, but in view of our history, deeply shameful.'  A protester with an Iron Cross draped over his back outside the Reichstag at a far-right demonstration against lockdown during the summer. The symbol harks back to imperial Germany and was re-appropriated by the Nazis under Adolf Hitler  Far-right crime rose by 5.65 per cent in 2020, accounting for more than half of all politically-motivated criminality.Seehofer said: 'This shows again that right-wing extremism is the biggest threat for our country.'It comes as Berlin police arrested a 53-year-old man on Tuesday on suspicion of sending dozens of threatening neo-Nazi letters to politicians, dark web sites lawyers and journalists. The suspect, whose name wasn't released for privacy reasons, has previous convictions for 'numerous crimes, including ones that were motivated by right-wing ideology,' said prosecutors in Frankfurt, who are handling the case.The letters were signed 'NSU 2.0.' A German group called the National Socialist Underground was responsible for a string of violent crimes between 1998 and 2011, including the racially motivated killings of nine men with immigrant backgrounds and a police officer.The group's name was derived from the full name of the Nazi, or National Socialist, party.Police think the suspect sent almost 100 letters to dozens of people and organizations across Germany and Austria since 2018. RELATED ARTICLES Share this article Share 12 shares German news agency dpa reported that investigators think the suspect may have obtained personal data on the people he targeted from official records or darknet market forums.German security agencies warned of the growing threat of violent far-right extremism.In July 2019, a regional politician from Chancellor dark market onion Angela Merkel's party was killed by a neo-Nazi; three months later, a gunman tried to force his way into a synagogue on Yom Kippur, killing two people. Moshe Kantor, president of the European Jewish Congress, said the German numbers revealed by the interior ministry today highlighted a broader issue.'This is a wake-up call, not just for Germany, but for the whole world,' he said. 'These figures should ring alarm bells, because we are seeing similar trends across the Western world.'In 2020, Germany recorded a 72.4% increase in anti-immigrant crimes, up to 5,298 total cases over 3,073 in 2019, Seehofer said. A bullet lies on the street in Hanau in February, 2020, after a right-wing terrorist shot nine people before turning the gun on himself  Forensic officers investigating in Hanau after the shooting which targeted immigrants in February, 2020 In the most deadly incident, nine people with immigrant backgrounds were shot dead in Hanau, near Frankfurt, in February by a gunman who had called for genocide.Authorities have raised concerns about the role the Alternative for Germany party allegedly played in stoking a climate of resentment toward immigrants and the government.The party, which placed third in Germany's 2017 election, dark markets 2022 web darknet market list has moved steadily to the right in recent years, drawing increasing scrutiny from the country's domestic intelligence agency.On Tuesday, Alternative for Germany's section in Berlin condemned a member who appeared to lament the absence of attacks on Merkel.The news website Business Insider reported that AfD's former chairman in Berlin, Guenter Brinker, forwarded a message stating that 'either that piece of dirt is so well protected that nobody can get at her, or don't the Germans have any balls?'Brinker said later that he had mistakenly forwarded the message and regretted doing so, and that he rejected 'all forms of hatred and violence.'Many in the AfD have expressed support for, and participated in, dark market link web darknet market list the regular protests in Germany against lockdown measures, organized by the so-called Querdenker movement. Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (pictured on Tuesday) said: 'This (anti-Semitic) development in Germany is not only troubling, but in view of our history, deeply shameful.'The demonstrations have become increasingly violent, and the country's domestic intelligence service late last month said it had put some members of the loose-knit Querdenker movement under observation.The protests have brought together a broad range of demonstrators, including people opposing vaccinations, others who deny the existence of the coronavirus, mask opponents, conspiracy theorists and others.Seehofer said the protests have also attracted neo-Nazis and other right-wing extremists, and have regularly become violent.'At these gatherings organized by the so-called Querdenker movement, attacks are directed against police officers and the press,' Seehofer said.'Of the 260 reported crimes against journalists, 112 were related to corona' protests, he said. 'I want to say here very clearly: These acts of violence are no longer about exercising a constitutional right (to demonstrate), but are acts of violence of a criminal nature that I condemn in the strongest possible terms.' 

COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) - A federal judge rejected a plea agreement on Wednesday that called for 15 to 21 years in prison for a man authorities described as the world´s largest purveyor of child pornography. Eric Eoin Marques is entitled to withdraw his guilty plea from last year if the judge departs from the sentencing range prosecutors and darkmarket list defense attorneys recommended. But U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang isn't bound by the terms of the Justice Department´s plea deal. "It's too flawed, and I also don't agree with the outcome," Chuang said. The judge said he's inclined to give Marques a longer sentence for operating a web hosting service that enabled users to anonymously access millions of illicit images and videos, many depicting the rape and torture of infants and toddlers. The judge criticized a provision of the plea deal that wouldn't give Marques credit for six years he spent in custody in Ireland while fighting extradition after his 2013 arrest in Dublin. Chuang said he can't tell the federal Bureau of Prisons to refrain from counting those years when Marques likely is entitled to get credit for that time. The judge said he isn't prepared to impose a sentence of 15 to 21 years if Marques does get credit for darknet market those six years. "I want a sentence higher than that," Chuang added. "It's not going to be 21 minus 6 to 15. That's not going to happen. I don't have to follow what you all did. It's clear neither of you really understood what you were doing." Chuang also expressed frustration that prosecutors and defense lawyers still couldn't agree on certain facts of the case even after spelling them out in writing as part of the deal. "I certainly think the process was such that I shouldn't defer to the parties' agreement when I'm not sure they really thought it out that carefully," he said. Defense attorney Brendan Hurson told the judge that his remarks give them a "platform to negotiate further." "If we can't get somewhere, then we would ask for some time to set a trial date," Hurson said. Chuang instructed the attorneys to provide him with a status report by June 25. Marques, a 35-year-old dual citizen of the U.S. and Ireland, was extradited to Maryland in March 2019, and pleaded guilty in February 2020 to conspiracy to advertise child pornography. He faced a mandatory minimum of 15 years and a maximum of 30 years in prison before the plea deal. Marques created and operated a free, darknet market links anonymous web hosting service, called "Freedom Hosting," on the darknet market between 2008 and 2013. The darknet is part of the internet but hosted within an encrypted network. It is accessible only through anonymity-providing tools, such as the Tor browser, and allows users to access websites without revealing their IP addresses. Marques´ attorneys have questioned how federal investigators were able to pierce the Tor network´s anonymity and trace the IP address of the server to a web hosting company in Roubaix, France. "This anonymity is notoriously difficult for government investigators to penetrate," they wrote. Defense attorneys said they received an initial answer to that question when the government revealed "vague details" of how they discovered the IP address and location of the server. "It appears that this disclosure was delayed, in part, because the investigative techniques employed were, until recently, classified," they wrote in December 2019. Investigators found what appeared to be more than 8.5 million images and videos of child pornography on the Freedom Hosting server, including nearly 2 million images that were new to authorities, according to a court filing that accompanied Marques' guilty plea. Marques was living in Ireland at the time of the offenses. He used the encrypted server in France to host more than 200 websites that site administrators and users used to upload and download child pornography. In 2013, FBI agents in Maryland connected to the network and accessed a child pornography bulletin board with more than 7,700 members and more than 22,000 posts. Agents downloaded more than 1 million files from another website on the network, nearly all of which depicted sexually explicit images of children. In July 2013, Irish authorities searched Marques' home and vehicle and detained him. When investigators entered his home, Marques moved toward his computer but was subdued before he could turn it off, authorities said. After his release from custody, Marques purchased a new laptop and logged into his server to lock out the FBI and other law enforcement, the filing says. Authorities seized nearly $155,000 in U.S. currency from Marques. During an August 2013 extradition hearing, Marques said his business had been "very successful" and profitable. In an April 28 court filing, a prosecutor said a government witness was prepared to testify at Wednesday's sentencing hearing that law enforcement had identified Marques as the largest purveyor of child pornography in the world and that he made approximately $3.6 million in U.S. currency from his servers. ___ This version corrects that the judge set a June 25 deadline for a status report from attorneys, not a status conference for that date.