As Google deploys AI hacking bots, hackers continue to fight with each other, and the FBI remotely deletes malware files from U.S. victim computers, the war against criminal hacking is really heating up. The U.S. Department of Justice has now confirmed that some 17 million Americans have been impacted by the hackers targeted in the latest FBI offensive, Operation Talent, and now a shady group known as The Manipulaters has been hit, hard. Here’s what you need to know.
As I reported Jan. 30, the U.S. Department of Justice has confirmed a joint FBI and International law enforcement agencies offensive against dark web marketplaces and infrastructure allegedly aiding criminal hackers. Operation Talent, according to unsealed seizure warrants, identified a whole bunch of servers hosting the Cracked criminal marketplace infrastructure. Those warrants stated that the Cracked marketplace had been selling stolen login credentials, hacking tools, and servers for hosting malware and stolen data — as well as other tools for carrying out cybercrime and fraud — since March 2018. Cracked had over four million users, listed over 28 million posts advertising cybercrime tools and stolen information, generated approximately $4 million in revenue, and impacted at least 17 million victims from the United States according to the Department of Justice statement. A separate statement has detailed another raid, this time of 39 Pakistan-based criminal marketplaces, operated by a mysterious group known as The Manipulaters.
A Jan. 31 report from the ever-brilliant investigative cybercrime journalist Brian Krebs, has taken a deep dive into the seizure of the servers and domains involved in what he referred to as a “hugely popular spam and malware dissemination service,” operated by a group collectively known as The Manipulaters.
Source: Forbes