Austrian Government to Implement a Federal Trojan to Spy the Dark Web 645 Austrian government federal Trojan Horse to scour the deep web. In recent years, there has been a significant increase in activities in  dark net markets . Unfortunately, the majority of these activities tend to be illegal in nature. This has led to a number of international governments actively attempting to tackle increasing crime on the dark web. Austria seems to be stepping up its efforts in this regards admitting in highly controversial ways. Politicians in Austria have forwarded a new proposition to develop a federal Trojan horse that will enable Austrian law enforcement agencies to spy on  dark web  platforms. According to reports, Wolfgang Sobotka, Austrian Interior Minister, seeks to implement the federal Trojan in efforts to monitor the dark web. Through this misguided move, the Austrian government hopes to effectively take on the increasing cases of criminal activi...

FBI’s Hacking Tool “NIT” Is Not A Malware 1871 From as early as the 1990s, FBI has been known to use hacking as a method and deploying malware programs to identify suspects and their online activities. However, in the recent Playpen case which involved the identification of a few suspe.cts in a child porn ring site, Daniel Alfin, an FBI agent has argued that the hacking tool called Network Investigative Technique (NIT) used to identify the Playpen userscannot be considered as “malware.” In many of the related cases, the warrant that was employed by the FBI to deploy the NIT has been considered invalid as per the jurisdictional limits imposed by Rule 41. NIT Malware? It was last year that FBI hacked a dark web child-porn site called Playpen and identified thousands of users. The FBI employed a hacking tool, NIT, which used one single warrant to uncover close to 1,300 hidden IP addresses of the users. These addresses were then traced back to the individuals. In this...

Proton Malware Being Offered on Russian Hacking Forum 993 A Mac OS Remote Administration Tool called Proton is being sold at 40 BTC through the dark web. The malware can facilitate remote espionage and theft. Ever since the widespread notion that Mac operating systems were invulnerable to malware attacks was dispelled, more hackers have been developing malicious software targeted at the systems. It seems like cybercriminals are coming up with increasingly advanced and sophisticated tools to achieve their goals. Internet security researchers at Sixgill have discovered that Mac malware capable of facilitating theft and remote espionage is currently being sold on a dark web hacking forum based out of Russia. Sixgill is a cyber intelligence firm whose primary goal is to identify cyber threats and confidential data breaches that are facilitated by dark web platforms and forums. The Mac malware being marketed in this case is a  Remote Administration Tool (RAT), referr...

New Mac Malware Spotted on the Dark Web 56 Security researchers have discovered two pieces of Mac malware posted on malware-as-a-service and ransomware-as-a-service portals. Over the years, Apple’s impeccable marketing strategies have led to some misguided beliefs concerning the security of Mac computers. While the system is considerably secure, the recent discovery of two pieces of Mac malware on the dark web shows that cyber criminals are slowly but surely turning their attention to the largely untapped Mac user base. Listed on the Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) and Malware-as-a-Service (MaaS) portals, the two pieces of software have reportedly been on sale for close to a month now. Security researchers have been credited with  the discovery of the two pieces of malware  named MacSpy and MacRansom—a discovery that has left Mac users on high alert. MacSpy and MacRansom Further analysis of the malware, performed by security firms AlienVault and Fortinet, ...

Revenge Services Offered on the Dark Web A dark web vendor known by the screen name “Etimbuk” is offering a range revenge services for $700 on a darknet market. A listing belonging to a dark web vendor under the pseudonym “Etimbuk” has caught much attention in the past few days. What this particular vendor is selling stands out from the usual darknet listings in a major way. For $700, Etimbuk is offering those willing to buy the services a chance to get revenge on anyone that has crossed them before. Odd as it seems, the listing goes on to specify that the act of revenge could be carried out on an ex-lover, a neighbor, a coworker, a boss, or as Etimbuk puts it, “someone they hate.”Aside from that, there’s a dire lack of details especially when it comes to the nature of the revenge services offered and how far the seller would go to satisfy customer demands as needed. Going by the listing itself, it appears as if Etimbuk represents a larger group of people, consiste...

Hacked Data from Qatar and UAE Banks is Being Sold on the Dark Web Stolen information from the Qatar National Bank and UAE InvestBank has been listed for sale on the dark web by the unknown perpetrators of the hackings. Even as animosity worsens between Qatar and its much more powerful former ally the United Arab Emirates, the repercussions of two cyber attacks on banks from both countries are only beginning to emerge. The alleged perpetrators of two cyber attacks that hit the Qatar National Bank and UAE’s InvestBank have now availed massive caches of stolen data on the dark web. The data breaches, which occurred shortly one after the other in 2016, resulted in the theft of massive caches of the banks’ customer data containing sensitive information such as full credit card numbers with their corresponding CVV codes, addresses, full names, passport numbers and other highly personal details. According to a HackRead security researcher , both caches of data from ...

Couple Accused of Smuggling Fentanyl via Dark Web A Cincinnati couple was arrested for smuggling and importing fentanyl via the dark web, and distributing it into various states through the U.S. Postal Service. A couple from Cincinnati area—Grace Bosworth, 38, and James Halpin, 30—have just been charged with trafficking, importing and selling fentanyl online. This substance is a lethal synthetic opiate. The two operated a dark web storefront, charging anywhere from $20 to $230 for the drug, plus a $35 shipping fee out of the Newport and Norwood post offices. The drug would be packaged amid pages of magazines and distributed through the United States Postal Service. Undercover federal officials realized the operations of the couple when they started purchasing fentanyl from vendors through dark web, after receiving consent from a federal Attorney’s Office located in Cleveland. Their main aim was to catch dark web criminals, which is a difficult process since u...