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Why Malware Crypting Services Deserve More Scrutiny

Krebs on Security

If you operate a cybercrime business that relies on disseminating malicious software, you probably also spend a good deal of time trying to disguise or “crypt” your malware so that it appears benign to antivirus and security products. This story explores the history and identity behind Cryptor[.]biz

Malware 220
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Spam Kingpin Peter Levashov Gets Time Served

Krebs on Security

.” Over the course of his 15-year cybercriminal career, Severa would emerge as a pivotal figure in the cybercrime underground , serving as the primary moderator of a spam community that spanned multiple top Russian cybercrime forums. The government argued that under U.S.

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How Did Authorities Identify the Alleged Lockbit Boss?

Krebs on Security

This post examines the activities of Khoroshev’s many alter egos on the cybercrime forums, and tracks the career of a gifted malware author who has written and sold malicious code for the past 14 years. was used by a Russian-speaking member called Pin on the English-language cybercrime forum Opensc. Dmitry Yuryevich Khoroshev.

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Breach Exposes Users of Microleaves Proxy Service

Krebs on Security

The service, which accepts PayPal, Bitcoin and all major credit cards, is aimed primarily at enterprises engaged in repetitive, automated activity that often results in an IP address being temporarily blocked — such as data scraping, or mass-creating new accounts at some service online. Which hints at a possible BOTNET.

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Ten Years Later, New Clues in the Target Breach

Krebs on Security

That reporting was based on clues from an early Russian cybercrime forum in which a hacker named Rescator — using the same profile image that Rescator was known to use on other forums — claimed to have originally been known as “Helkern,” the nickname chosen by the administrator of a cybercrime forum called Darklife.

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Former Russian Cybersecurity Chief Sentenced to 22 Years in Prison

Krebs on Security

Sergei Mikhailov , formerly deputy chief of Russia’s top anti-cybercrime unit, was sentenced today to 22 years in prison. In a telephone interview with this author in 2011, Vrublevsky said he was convinced that Mikhailov was taking information gathered by Russian government cybercrime investigators and feeding it to U.S.

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The History of Computer Viruses & Malware

eSecurity Planet

Though polite, the Creeper was still an annoyance to some, and in 1971, Ray Tomlinson developed the first antivirus software , called Reaper. One of the first pieces of antivirus software , McAfee’s VirusScan, was released in 1987. It also would actively shut down antivirus processes to evade detection and removal.

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