Operation Green Heart targets online currency counterfeit buyers

December 11, 2018GeneralEdward Kiledjian

A massive Europe wide operation took place between November 19 until December 6th, arresting 235 suspects in 13 countries. The operation confiscated 1,500 Euro banknotes, drugs, weapons, computers, phones, bitcoin, etc.

This operation was made possible after a 33-year old counterfeiter was arrested in June 2018 by Austrian police in the city of Leoben. The counterfeiter was producing 10,20 & 50 Euro banknotes and it is believed he had successfully offloaded over 10,000 (worth ~ $500,000 EUR) notes before being arrested. The counterfeit notes were sent out using regular mail, so as not to arouse suspicion.

The counterfeiter is believed to have designed the notes on his own computer. He printed them himself and made them look authentic using (suspected) Chinese made holograms. Depending on the quality of the prints, the price varied from 15-40% of the notes face value.

Aldia.cat also reports that data from an FBI/Europol raid on another Darknet seller specializing in weapons, drugs and fake money also contributed valuable information to Operation Green Heart.

The operation involved raids on 300 dwellings across Europe: 178 in Germany, 28 in France, 20 in Austria and others in Spain (Madrid, Velncia, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Tenerife, Barcelona, Sevilla, Granada, etc) , Croatia, Cyprus, Finland, Ireland and the Netherlands.

One of the suspects arrested in Munich still had 14 counterfeit notes with him.

The moral of the story is that good policing can cut through the anonymity of TOR, so criminals beware.

Sources:

DarkPage wants to resurrect Backpages

December 11, 2018GeneralEdward Kiledjian

US law enforcement shutdown online classified ads site in April (2018) because they had evidence it was facilitating human trafficking and exploitation. Supporters applauded the authorities for shutting down a marketplace specifically encouraging sex sale, while free speech advocates highlight this as a limitation of free speech (and press) by government.

There is now an attempt to resurrect this service online (by new owners) using the secrecy of the TOR darknet anonymous network (http://s7guxry2lvu3bblf.onion/)

On the internet, many espouse the belief that if something can be done, then it should be done without any regard to the socioeconomic impact.

The site is very basic, with a clumsy interface. Clearly this was a hastily designed and deployed site.

This site is in startup mode, and you will notice that most categories are still empty, but it will be interesting to watch and see what happens. Could the push for open sexual advertising drive users to a TOR site (which typically is only used by more tech-savvy professionals)?

Facebook helps FBI shutdown the butterfly botnet (mariposa)

December 13, 2012InfoSecEdward Kiledjian

The US Department of justice said it has arrested 10 people from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, New Zealand, Peru, the United Kingdom, and the United States related to the operation of the butterfly (mariposa) botnet.

The exact infection rate can't be ascertained with certainty however it is believed over 11 millions systems are infected worldwide. As one of the biggest and most widely known botnets, experts estimate that it stole close to $850M by harvesting financial information from 800,000 people.

Facebook becomes the tool

You can read the FBI statement here, however the most interesting part of the story is this:

"Facebook’s security team provided assistance to law enforcement throughout the investigation by helping to identify the root cause, the perpetrators, and those affected by the malware. Yahos targeted Facebook users from 2010 to October 2012, and security systems were able to detect affected accounts and provide tools to remove these threats."

Cybercrime is on the rise

Criminals follow the money and right now, the money is moving online. As more of the world's financial transactions happen on the internet, more of the world's criminals gravitate to online crime. These nefarious individuals will use any means available to reach their goals and unfortunately most of the time, it involved tricking you to infect your machine then steal your information (banking, financial, corporate information, intellectual property, etc).

DVDs and blu-ray discs to get new piracy notice

May 14, 2012technologyEdward Kiledjian

If you have watched a DVD or Blue-ray movie, you have surely seen that government notice about piracy and copyright. Well the US government announced that it will now require 2 copyright notices. The first notice is a warning to pirates and the second one is aimed at educating the general viewing audience.

All major studios have agreed to the new notices and it should start showing up on new discs in the next couple of weeks. Each notice will last 10 seconds and you will not be able to skip them.

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