Europol dismantled a crypto fraud syndicate laundering $540M from 5,000 victims worldwide.
Category: cryptocurrencies
Malware on Google Play, Apple App Store stole your photos—and crypto
A new mobile crypto-stealing malware called SparkKitty was found in apps on Google Play and the Apple App Store, targeting Android and iOS devices.
The malware is a possible evolution of SparkCat, which Kaspersky discovered in January. SparkCat used optical character recognition (OCR) to steal cryptocurrency wallet recovery phrases from images saved on infected devices.
When installing crypto wallets, the installation process tells users to write down the wallet’s recovery phrase and store it in a secure, offline location.
DuckDuckGo beefs up scam defense to block fake stores, crypto sites
The DuckDuckGo web browser has expanded its built-in Scam Blocker tool to protect against a broader range of online scams, including fake e-commerce, cryptocurrency exchanges, and “scareware” sites.
DuckDuckGo is a privacy-focused web browser and search engine that doesn’t track users’ searchers or browsing history.
The browser, which became available as a public beta for macOS and Windows in October 2022 and June 2023, respectively, blocks all trackers by default, does not engage in personalized search profiling, and offers powerful anonymity tools.
Police seizes Archetyp Market drug marketplace, arrests admin
Law enforcement authorities from six countries took down the Archetyp Market, an infamous darknet drug marketplace that has been operating since May 2020.
Archetyp Market sellers provided the market’s customers with access to high volumes of drugs, including cocaine, amphetamines, heroin, cannabis, MDMA, and synthetic opioids like fentanyl through more than 3,200 registered vendors and over 17,000 listings.
Over its five years of activity, the marketplace amassed over 612,000 users with a total transaction volume of over €250 million (approximately $289 million) in Monero cryptocurrency transactions.
Texas House passes strategic Bitcoin reserve bill
The Texas House of Representatives has passed the third reading of SB 21, a bill that seeks to establish a strategic Bitcoin reserve in the state. The bill passed in a 101–42 vote and will now go to Texas Governor Greg Abbott to either sign into law or veto.
SB 21, authored by state Senator Charles Schwertner, establishes a Bitcoin reserve that is managed by the state’s comptroller. The legislation allows the comptroller to invest in any cryptocurrency with a market cap above $500 billion over the previous 12-month period. Currently, the only cryptocurrency fitting the requirement is Bitcoin.
Before the vote, state Representative Giovanni Capriglione said to the chamber that the bill was a “pivotal moment in securing Texas’s leadership in the digital age with the passage of our strategic Bitcoin reserve. Now, we embrace a modern asset with traditional properties for future promise.” The bill passed in the Texas Senate in a 25–5 vote on March 6.
From Blockchain to Brainwaves: Coinbase Co-Founder Fred Ehrsam Enters the Neurotech Race with Non-Invasive BCI Startup Nudge
Fred Ehrsam, billionaire co-founder of Coinbase, is shifting his next big bet from cryptocurrency to the human brain, unveiling a non-invasive brain-computer interface designed to modulate brain activity with sound waves.
Ehrsam’s entry as the latest competitor to join the race to develop accessible brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) follows similar recent efforts from tech leaders like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Bill Gates.
On April 8, Ehrsam’s startup, Nudge, unveiled its first product, the Nudge Zero. A noninvasive brain interface device that uses ultrasound to modulate brain activity, the technology represents the first start-up venture to pursue this unique approach with BCI technology.
New Investment Scams Use Facebook Ads, RDGA Domains, and IP Checks to Filter Victims
Cybersecurity researchers have lifted the lid on two threat actors that orchestrate investment scams through spoofed celebrity endorsements and conceal their activity through traffic distribution systems (TDSes).
The activity clusters have been codenamed Reckless Rabbit and Ruthless Rabbit by DNS threat intelligence firm Infoblox.
The attacks have been observed to lure victims with bogus platforms, including cryptocurrency exchanges, which are then advertised on social media platforms. An important aspect of these scams is the use of web forms to collect user data.
Ripple’s xrpl.js npm Package Backdoored to Steal Private Keys in Major Supply Chain Attack
The Ripple cryptocurrency npm JavaScript library named xrpl.js has been compromised by unknown threat actors as part of a software supply chain attack designed to harvest and exfiltrate users’ private keys.
The malicious activity has been found to affect five different versions of the package: 4.2.1, 4.2.2, 4.2.3, 4.2.4, and 2.14.2. The issue has been addressed in versions 4.2.5 and 2.14.3.
