Tag: DOJ

DOJ Warns of Business Email Compromise Scheme Targeted at PPP Loan Recipients

Posted on by BeAware4lways

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts is warning small businesses that received loans through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) of a dramatic increase in reports of business email-compromise schemes related to the program. Scammers are using information about PPP recipients posted by the Small Business Administration (SBA) to impersonate PPP lenders requesting additional information about PPP loan applications or loan forgiveness.

In July 2020, the SBA published information about PPP loan recipients, which included business names and addresses for loans greater than $150,000. In December 2020, the SBA released the exact loan amounts for more than 600,000 small businesses and nonprofit organizations that received at least $150,000 in loans. The published data also included the names of entities receiving less than $150,000, which represent about 87 percent of the total number of loans in the program, as well as the name of the lender and distribution date for each loan.

Scammers are using this publicly-available information to send phishing emails to PPP loan recipients, impersonating the recipients’ PPP lenders to request sensitive information, such as email addresses and passwords, Social Security numbers, and financial information. This information could be used to gain access to a business’s computer network to compromise confidential information or for identity theft.

Recipients of PPP loans should carefully review the headers of emails that appear to come from their PPP lenders to ensure that the domain of the sender’s email address matches the domain of other emails received from the lender. They also should use common sense to question whether the lender is likely to be contacting the recipient at that particular time (e.g., in response to an application or loan forgiveness), or whether the timing appears to be unconnected to other communications with the lender. Recipients should not respond to, or click any links, in any suspicious emails; recipients may want to call their lenders if they believe the content or timing of an email is suspicious.

Suspected criminal activity may be reported to the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud at https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud.

SolarWinds Cyber-Attack Has Significant Implications for Developers and Contractors

Posted on by BeAware4lways

ICYMI, on Wednesday, January 6, 2021, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) issued an update about what it termed “a major incident under the Federal Information Security Modernization Act”: the global SolarWinds cyberattack that had compromised its email system. (SolarWinds is a software provider. In December, 2020, SolarWinds revealed that cybercriminals had injected malware into its Orion® Platform software, a platform used for centralized IT monitoring and management. In doing so, the cybercriminals were able to attack subsequent users of the software, i.e., SolarWinds’ clients, including multiple federal agencies and technology contractors.) The DOJ’s update advised that after removing the malware, it determined that 3 percent of the DOJ’s O365 mailboxes were potentially accessed, albeit there was no indication that any classified systems were impacted. This update was covered by Robinson+Cole’s Data Privacy + Cybersecurity Insider.

Cyber-crime continues to permeate all industries, including real estate development and construction. The SolarWinds incident could just as easily have occurred with a construction management company or general contractor using the construction industry’s various project management software programs. Digital attacks can intercept sensitive information, divert funds and hold hostage a company’s computer systems. Robinson+Cole’s Construction Group is available to discuss the value of adding data privacy and cybersecurity protocols to design and construction agreements, and its Data Privacy + Security Team is available to assist businesses in determining their current risks and liability exposure as well as the benefits of having cyber-liability insurance coverage.

This post was authored by Virginia Trunkes and is also being shared on our Construction Law Zone blog. If you’re interested in getting updates on current developments and recent trends in all areas of construction law, we invite you to subscribe to the blog.

Privacy Tip #256 – COVID-19 Scams Continue to Plague U.S. Public

Posted on by BeAware4lways
Binary Check Ad Blocker Security News

It has been widely reported that hackers are taking advantage of the pandemic to perpetrate scams and frauds. We have seen attacks against workers of companies through phishing emails that include an attachment or link offering information or access to specialized treatment for COVID-19 to lure people to click on them. Once they click on the link or attachment, the attacker infects the system with malware or ransomware. Cyber criminals know that people are concerned about the coronavirus and looking for more information to protect themselves and their family members, and they also are preying on the distraction of working from home.

It has become such a problem that the Department of Justice (DOJ) instructed the National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) to gather coronavirus-related complaints from the public and assist with information sharing about scams. The NCDF has received more than 76,000 tips on COVID-19 related wrongdoing, and the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center has received more than 20,000 tips about suspicious websites and media postings. This doesn’t include the successful phishing campaigns using COVID-19-related information to trick people into clicking on malicious links or attachments.

The United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Louisiana issued a reminder this week for “members of the public to be vigilant against fraudsters who are using the COVID-19 pandemic to exploit American consumers and organizations…In particular, the department is warning the public about scams perpetrated through websites, social media, emails, robocalls, and other means that peddle fake COVID-19 vaccines, tests, treatments, and protective equipment, and also about criminals that fabricate businesses and steal identities in order to defraud federal relief programs and state unemployment programs.”

In addition, the notice states “Moving forward, the department also is concerned about, and will aim to deter and prevent, attempts by wrongdoers to prey upon potential victims by leveraging news about anticipated approval of a COVID-19 vaccine or about the potential enactment of new disaster relief bills that extend or expand upon CARES Act relief.”

The notice is a good reminder to each of us personally as well as employees of the continued threat and to need to remain vigilant to combat these scams. The DOJ “encourages the public to continue to report wrongdoing relating to the pandemic to the NCDF and to remain vigilant against bad actors looking to exploit this national emergency.”

As Election Day Nears, Kremlin Leans on Hackers-for-Hire

Posted on by BeAware4lways
Keyboard to the internet

The DOJ indicted a Russian national for his role in “Project Lakhta,” a campaign to undermine the U.S. election…and mine some cryptocurrency along the way. It is the latest evidence of Russia’s willingness to use cyber criminals to conduct state-sponsored espionage.

A global pandemic, mass social unrest, economic crisis, and a divisive presidential election: there is no better time for Russia to be chumming the waters for political mayhem. And, if a newly released indictment is any indication, that’s exactly what experts say is happening.

With a little over fifty days until election day, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) on Thursday charged Artem Mikhaylovich Lifshits, a Russian national, for his alleged role in a conspiracy to use the stolen identities of U.S. persons to open fraudulent accounts at banking and cryptocurrency exchanges.

Report: China, Like Russia, Uses Social Media to Sway U.S. Public Opinion

Lifshits was a part of “Project Lakhta,” a Russia-based campaign of political and electoral interference operations that dates to 2014. The project encompasses a range of activities including the Internet Research Agency (IRA), which gained notoriety for disinformation campaigns around the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Project Lakhta Endures

According to the court document, Project Lakhta’s stated goal is to “disrupt the democratic process and spread distrust towards candidates for political office and the political system in genera disrupt the democratic process and spread distrust towards candidates for political office and the political system in general.”

Feds, Facebook Join Forces to Prevent Mid-Term Election Fraud

Lifshits worked as a manager of The Translator Department, which directed Project Lakhta’s influence operations – operations that are still ongoing, according to G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.

“This case demonstrates that federal law enforcement will work aggressively to investigate and hold accountable cyber criminals located in Russia and other countries, which serve as safe-havens for this type of criminal activity,” Terwilliger said in a statement.

“Lifshits participated in this fraud in order to further Project Lakhta’s malign influence goals and for his own personal enrichment,” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers in a statement.

As Cybercrooks Specialize, More Snooping, Less Smash and Grab

Lifshits is just the latest Russian national indicted for crimes linked to foreign interference in U.S. domestic politics. Thirteen members of the Internet Research Agency were indicted in 2018 for influence campaigns as part of Robert Meuller’s probe into Russian activities in the 2016 election. Given Russia doesn’t extradite its citizens to the US, legal maneuvers do little to stamp out the work of hackers like Lifshits, a 27-year-old living in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Russia Taps Hackers-for-Hire

Lifshits’ mixture of financial fraud and political influence allegations are characteristic of Russian cyber operations, the authorities said.

“This case provides a clear illustration of how these malicious actors fund their covert foreign influence activities and Russia’s status as a safe-haven for cyber criminals who enrich themselves at others expense,” said Assistant AG Demers.

Earlier this year, Facebook identified Russian campaigns linked to cyber criminal groups in Nigeria and Ghana. Within Russia, robust black markets for info-ops exist in which operators are driven by financial incentives, according to research by firm Recorded Future.

The issue expands beyond Russia. Even beyond the “big-four” (Russia, China, Iran, North Korea), nations in the Middle East, Asia, and South America are showing evidence that hacker-for-hire groups are on the rise.

While attribution of these campaigns to electoral outcomes is difficult if not impossible, Project Lakhta’s work demands to be taken seriously. Microsoft warned last week that China and Iran are working to move the needle on elections as well.