Author: HackWatchit
Cybersecurity researchers at CloudSEK’s STRIKE team used facial recognition and GPS data to expose a massive, over $2 million, fake currency operation in India. This report details the exposure of individuals and their activities on Facebook and Instagram. A large-scale counterfeit currency operation is reportedly circulating fake notes worth millions of dollars, which has been brought to light by cybersecurity firm CloudSEK. Its investigation, shared with Hackread.com, CloudSEK’s STRIKE team has not only calculated the vast spread of this illicit trade, estimated at ₹17.5 crore (over $2 million) in fake Indian currency over just six months (December 26, 2024, to…
New York is proposing new cybersecurity regulations for its water and wastewater systems, paired with a US$2.5 million grant program to help offset compliance costs. The initiative would require public water systems to adopt enforceable cybersecurity measures, including formal security programs, risk assessments, and technical safeguards to defend against cyberattacks. The grant is intended to help utilities meet these new obligations and strengthen the security of the state’s water infrastructure. As part of Governor Kathy Hochul’s 2025 State of the State agenda, the Department of Health was directed to implement enforceable cybersecurity standards for New York’s public water systems. Acting…
Arizona woman sentenced for aiding North Korea in U.S. IT job fraud scheme Pierluigi Paganini July 26, 2025 Arizona woman gets 8 years for helping North Korea-linked threat actors to infiltrate 309 U.S. firms with fake IT jobs. Christina Marie Chapman (50) from Arizona, was sentenced to 102 months in prison for aiding North Korean IT workers in infiltrating 309 U.S. companies. She pleaded guilty to charges including aggravated identity theft, conspiracy to defraud the U.S., and conspiracy to commit money laundering, wire fraud, identity fraud, and bank fraud. Chapman was charged in May 2024 alongside Ukrainian national Oleksandr Didenko,…
Note: Quotes have been edited for clarity. The cybercrime landscape has fundamentally shifted. What began as small-scale social engineering attacks have evolved into sophisticated, team-based operations capable of bringing entire organizations to a standstill. Unit 42’s latest research reveals how Muddled Libra (also known as Scattered Spider) has transformed from a handful of cryptocurrency-focused attackers into a distributed network of specialized teams that pose unprecedented risks to organizations worldwide. From Petty Theft to Disruption at Scale In a recent Threat Vector podcast discussion, Principal Threat Researcher Kristopher Russo put today’s Muddled Libra operations in stark perspective: This is an incredibly…
a query folding?” “Does your query fold?”… Maybe someone asked you those questions, but you were like: “Query…Whaaaat?!” Or, maybe you’ve heard about query folding in Power BI, but didn’t know how to take advantage of it in real-life scenarios. If you recognized yourself in (at least) one of the two situations specified above, then please continue reading this article. Fine, you are curious to find out what a Query folding is. But, first things first…Before you proceed, we need to establish some theoretical foundations, which will put the Query folding feature in the proper context. Data Shaping and why…
The recent amendment to executive orders 14144 and 13694 marks a pivotal moment for the cybersecurity community. For years, we’ve discussed best practices, frameworks and the evolving threat landscape, but this latest EO from the White House sends a clear message: The time for theory is over. It’s time to operationalize. It sends a signal that the federal government is aligning its muscles, mandates and timelines around what security practitioners have been asking for: real-world execution, standards with teeth and a shared defense posture that keeps pace with modern threats. That said, it’s also a reminder of how much more…
Microsoft is investigating an ongoing outage blocking Microsoft 365 administrators with business or enterprise subscriptions from accessing the admin center. While the company has yet to disclose which regions are currently affected by this ongoing service degradation issue, it’s currently tracking it on its official service health status page to provide impacted organizations with access to up-to-date information. “Microsoft is investigating a potential issue that may be preventing administrators from accessing the Microsoft 365 admin center,” the company explains. “Information about this issue is posted on this page because Microsoft 365 administrators may be unable to access the admin center…
Intel 471 launched Guided Threat Hunts, a new method-driven tool within the Hunt Management Module, part of our HUNTER solution. As threat hunting for advanced adversaries continues to be an increasingly complex, time-consuming and resource-heavy process, Intel 471 is empowering threat hunters with the capabilities to craft their own queries and filters to more efficiently identify sophisticated threat behaviors that evade traditional detection methods. “Threat hunt teams are constantly tasked with sifting through large datasets or collecting data to support a hypothesis on a specific threat. This presents a challenge for organizations experiencing persistent shortages of seasoned threat hunters or…
Christina Marie Chapman, an Arizona resident, was sentenced to 8.5 years in prison for her role in a wide-ranging North Korean IT worker scam that sent $17 million to the outlaw country. Chapman ran a laptop farm from her home, validated stolen U.S. identities for the scammers, and transferred money overseas to the bad actors. The post U.S. Woman Sentenced to 8.5 Years for Role in North Korean Worker Scam appeared first on Security Boulevard.