The Gaurdian

Millions more in cash needed to fund UK’s open-banking watchdog

Guardian Security - Sun, 03/17/2024 - 8:06am

Exclusive: £10m needed for regulator charged with developing tools to thwart financial crime and protect consumers

Banks are under pressure to stump up millions of pounds in interim funding for the organisation that polices open banking, with regulators saying the new money is needed to prevent financial crime and protect consumers if things “go wrong”.

Large banks including NatWest, HSBC, Lloyds and Santander UK were among more than 40 City firms summoned by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) last week to discuss a cash injection into Open Banking Limited (OPL), the body that oversees innovation in this area.

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How an infamous ransomware gang found itself hacked – podcast

Guardian Security - Tue, 03/12/2024 - 11:00pm

LockBit was a sophisticated criminal operation, offering the tools needed to steal a company’s data and hold it to ransom. Then it was itself hacked. Alex Hern reports

A ransomware site on the dark web has allowed criminals to extort hospitals, businesses and schools for years. By encrypting data or threatening to post data online, hackers have cost companies millions of pounds.

It’s called LockBit, and it was very successful until one day last month when hackers who logged on to the site found it had been hacked by authorities including the UK National Crime Agency and the FBI. These agencies announced they were in control of LockBit’s site, marking a new stage in their war on cybercrime.

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Russian-based LockBit ransomware hackers attempt a comeback

Guardian Security - Mon, 02/26/2024 - 11:34am

Gang has set up a new site on the dark web and declares an intention to vote for Donald Trump

The LockBit ransomware gang is attempting a comeback days after its operations were severely disrupted by a coordinated international crackdown.

The Russian-based group has set up a new site on the dark web to advertise a small number of alleged victims and leak stolen data, as well as releasing a rambling statement explaining how it had been hobbled by the UK’s National Crime Agency, the FBI, Europol and other police agencies in operation last week.

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A penny per email could curb our enormous data use | Letters

Guardian Security - Tue, 02/20/2024 - 11:54am

Mike McClelland proposes a 1p charge for messages in response to an article on the downside of Ireland’s datacentre boom. Plus a letter from Sue Stephenson

The long read (Power grab: the hidden costs of Ireland’s datacentre boom, 15 February) highlights the enormous cost in terms of energy consumption and carbon emissions of our collective love affair with the seemingly free ability to send emails, text and WhatsApp messages every minute of the day. There is an enormous cost to us all in terms of data storage – a fact of which we are barely cognisant.

Think how much money could be raised to counter the impact on our environment if we all paid just one penny for each digital message we blithely send. And tuppence if there is an attachment, and thruppence if it includes a digital photo of the meal you ate at a restaurant last night.

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UK and US hack the hackers to bring down LockBit crime gang

Guardian Security - Tue, 02/20/2024 - 8:16am

Four arrests, including in Poland and Ukraine, and victims will be helped to recover encrypted data

A massive law enforcement operation has seized the “command and control” infrastructure for the international ransomware group LockBit, the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) revealed on Tuesday, and will repurpose the technology to expose the group’s operations to the world.

The joint operation, between the NCA, the FBI, Europol and a coalition of international police agencies, was revealed with a post on LockBit’s own website, which read: “This site is now under the control of the National Crime Agency of the UK, working in close cooperation with the FBI and the international law enforcement taskforce Operation Cronos.”

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Categories: The Gaurdian