• Home
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Digital technology
  • Cloud
  • Data analytics
  • Digital leaders
  • IoT
  • Opinion
  • Events
  • Whitepapers
  • Newsletters
  • Sign in
  • Events
    • Follow V3 Events

      Sign up to receive email alerts about our events

      Sign up
  • Whitepapers
    • V3resources 120x194
      Network Security Forensics For GDPR Compliance

      An effective network security forensics strategy can assist an organization in providing key compliance-related details as part of any post-incident GDPR investigation.

      Download
      V3resources 120x194
      10 ways to increase productivity with managed Office 365

      For businesses large and small, relying on a cloud-based collaboration and productivity suite such as Microsoft Office 365 is becoming the norm. Enhancing productivity in your organisation is vital to get ahead in 2017 - and using Office 365 can help, if it's used right...

      Download
      Find whitepapers
      Search by title or subject area
      View all whitepapers
  • Data Strategy Spotlight
  • Sign in
  •  
    •  

      You are currently accessing V3 .co.uk via your Enterprise account.

      Personalise your on site experience

      Download and use the apps

      Access your subscription from outside of the office

      Get relevant news and insight straight to your inbox

      • Sign in
     
      • Newsletters
      • Account details
      • Contact support
      • Sign out
     
  • Follow us
    • RSS
    • Twitter
    • Newsletters
    • Facebook
    • YouTube
  • Register
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Digital technology
  • Cloud
  • Data analytics
  • Digital leaders
  • IoT
  • Opinion
 
  •  

    You are currently accessing V3 .co.uk via your Enterprise account.

    Personalise your on site experience

    Download and use the apps

    Access your subscription from outside of the office

    Get relevant news and insight straight to your inbox

    • Sign in
 
    • Newsletters
    • Account details
    • Contact support
    • Sign out
 
V3.co.uk
  • Security

FBI links hacker to Russian gang responsible for theft of 1.2 billion records

Russian CyberVor gang used botnet to scan for SQL flaws on the internet

FBI logo (Creative Commons)
Feds link hacker to Russian gang responsible for theft of 1.2bn records
  • Jason Murdock
  • Jason Murdock
  • @Jason_A_Murdock
  • 26 November 2015
  • Tweet  
  • Facebook  
  •  
  •  
  • Send to  
0 Comments

The FBI is closing in on a hacker linked to the CyberVor criminal gang responsible for the theft of 1.2 billion internet records and up to 500 million email addresses.

Milwaukee-based security firm Hold Security revealed last year that an operation carried out by cyber criminals in Russia had resulted in the loss of sensitive data from 420,000 different websites.

A lone hacker known to authorities as ‘mr.grey' or ‘mistergrey' has now been linked to the cyber gang through a Russian email address, according to federal documents seen by Reuters.

The log-ins, which include details for Facebook and Twitter, were reportedly harvested using botnets set up to scour the internet for sites with SQL injection flaws.

"Through the underground black market, CyberVor got access to data from botnet networks. These botnets used victims' systems to identify SQL vulnerabilities on the sites they visited," explained Hold Security in August last year.

"CyberVor did not differentiate between small or large sites. They didn't just target large companies, they targeted every site that their victims visited."

Hold Security started a ‘breach notification service' after the discovery, charging $120 to websites wanting to be notified if the gang attempted to exploit their systems or networks.

The news piqued the interest of the FBI, which started an official investigation into the gang and eventually uncovered posts on an underground hacking forum linked to the breach.

Reuters said that the FBI found lists of domain names and utilities believed to be used to send spam, also linked to ‘mr.grey'.

Dave Palmer, director of technology at security firm Darktrace, told V3 that CyberVor uses its botnet in a unique way to exploit a wide range of websites.

"Botnets typically harness their scale to attack an individual target, such as taking computer games consoles down last Christmas. In this mission, they have been used to scan websites all around the world for weaknesses," he said.

"Many of the computers that are being exploited will belong to businesses too, which do not necessarily realise the impact of this kind of attack and the knock-on effect on the internet at large.

"Either way, the worrying part is that we are still getting caught out by these attacks."

Most recently, an investigation into the TalkTalk attack found that an SQL injection flaw was exploited to gain access to millions of sensitive customer records.

2015 has been a record year for data breaches following high-profile attacks on Ashley Madison, Vodafone and the US Office of Personnel Management.

Concerns have also been raised about the sheer scope of stolen data now being collected by countries including Russia and China for intelligence purposes.

  • Tweet  
  • Facebook  
  •  
  •  
  • Send to  
  • Topics
  • Security
  • cyber-crime
  • FBI
  • Russia

V3 Latest

First plant to grow on the Moon, err, dies
First plant to grow on the Moon, err, dies

Cotton seedling freezes to death as Chang'e-4 shuts down for the Moon's 14-day lunar night

  • Communications
  • 18 January 2019
Fortnite news and updates: Fortnite made $2.4bn in 2018, according to SuperData
Fortnite news and updates: Fortnite made $2.4bn in 2018, according to SuperData

Fortnite easily out-earns PUBG, Assassin's Creed Odyssey and Red Dead Redemption 2 in 2018

  • Software
  • 18 January 2019
Japanese firm sends micro-satellites into space to deliver artificial meteor showers on demand
Japanese firm sends micro-satellites into space to deliver artificial meteor showers on demand

Meteor showers as a service will be visible for about 100 kilometres in all directions

  • Communications
  • 18 January 2019
Saturn's rings only formed in the past 100 million years, suggests analysis of Cassini space probe data
Saturn's rings only formed in the past 100 million years, suggests analysis of Cassini space probe data

New findings contradict conventional belief that Saturn's rings were formed along with the planet about 4.5 billion years ago

  • Communications
  • 18 January 2019
Back to Top
  • Contact
  • Marketing solutions
  • Enterprise IT Events
  • About
  • Terms & conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • Newsletters
  • Facebook
  • YouTube

© Incisive Business Media (IP) Limited, Published by Incisive Business Media Limited, New London House, 172 Drury Lane, London WC2B 5QR, registered in England and Wales with company registration numbers 09177174 & 09178013

Digital publisher of the year
Digital publisher of the year 2010, 2013, 2016 & 2017