US Charges Four Men Over One of Largest Hacks in History
Two Americans and two Israelis have been charged over what is believed to be one of the largest cyber attacks in the United States, affecting over 100 million customers. As the US charges four men over one of largest hacks in history. The four men were behind an elaborate scheme that was the largest theft of personal customer data from a US financial institution. The attacks targeted not only customers, but employees and databases of several high profile companies and organisations, including Dow Jones, JP Morgan Chase and Fidelity Investments.
Of those accused are Americans Joshua Aaron, Anthony Murgio and Israelis Gery Shalon and Ziv Orenstien. These four were behind a scheme that was so epic in scale, that the likes of which have never been seen before. Part of the scheme was a stock-inflation scheme headed by Shalon, involved a sprawling infrastructure that operated in more than 10 countries and even had hundreds of employees. They systematically targeted the stock exchange by buying stocks low, modifying them and selling them on.
The other attacks involved such large scale online fraud involving malware and even ran an overly elaborate con which helped disguise their customer’s fraudulent credit and debit card transactions, by disguising them as wedding dress shops and pet supply stores. The group’s presence has been felt around the world, including large scale attacks of servers in Brazil, Czech Republic, South Africa amongst many others. The group also employed the notorious security bug Heartbleed for its own uses.
This news come as a welcome relief compared to most of the news lately of more and more cyber attacks with no suspects in sight. But even if the four main men behind this huge operation have now been revealed, it just showed a bigger glimpse into the world of cyber attacks. No longer is the image of the lonely hacker in his room relevant anymore, but instead huge networks of coordinated and sophisticated criminals to rival that of the huge companies they are going after.
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About the author
Le VPN Blog Editor
Alan Summers has been writing and editing for the Le VPN blog for years, covering online privacy, cyber security, and the best ways to get the most out of a VPN. He keeps a close eye on the news that affects internet freedom around the world and turns it into practical advice for Le VPN readers.
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