Nov. 28, 2018
The FBI has started deploying its own hacking techniques to identify financially-driven cybercriminals, according to court documents unearthed by Motherboard. The news signals an expansion of the FBI’s use of tools usually reserved for cases such as child pornography and bomb threats. But it also ushers in a potential normalization of this technologically-driven approach, as criminal suspects continually cover up their digital trail and law enforcement have to turn to more novel solutions.
May. 26, 2018
In a public service announcement published Friday and noted by Ars Technica, and a new addition to aUS Department of Justice press release, the FBI explains that it’s hoping that your actions will help the US government destroy a botnet before a Russian hacking group, Sofacy, can harden the malware’s defenses. How would pressing a button on your router help, though? According to the FBI, rebooting your router will destroy the part of the malware that can do nasty things like spy on your activities, while leaving the install package intact.
Apr. 13, 2018
A Motherboard investigation has found that law enforcement agencies across the country have purchased GrayKey, a relatively cheap tool for bypassing the encryption on iPhones, while the FBI pushes again for encryption backdoors.
Source: vice.com
Apr. 5, 2018
The Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) last week released a new report that supports what EFF has long suspected: that the FBI’s legal fight with Apple in 2016 to create backdoor access to a San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone was more focused on creating legal precedent than it was on accessing the one specific device.
Mar. 31, 2018
The FBI’s Remote Operations Unit has hacking tools typically reserved for protecting national security. But an overlooked section of a new report says ROU has used these secret techniques in criminal cases.
Source: vice.com
Mar. 8, 2018
The FBI maintains an office, known as the National Domestic Communications Assistance Center (NDCAC), which actively provides technical assistance to local law enforcement in high-profile cases. In its most recently published minutes from May 2017, the NDCAC said that one of its goals is to make commercial tools like those from Israeli data extraction company Cellebrite ‘more widely available’ to state and local law enforcement.
Mar. 7, 2018
The existence of the Geek Squad informants was first revealed via the prosecution of a California doctor named Mark Rettenmaier. After Rettenmaier sent his computer to Geek Squad for repair in 2011, technicians working out of a massive Kentucky repair shop discovered thousands of images depicting child abuse on Rettenmaier’s device. Court filings later revealed that there were “eight FBI informants at Geek Squad City,” and a number had received $500 to $1,000 payments in exchange for acting as confidential sources.