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Operation Jackal: 58 Arrests Expose the Money Laundering Machine Behind Global Scams
INTERPOL's Operation Jackal IV made 58 arrests across 22 countries, disrupting Black Axe-linked networks laundering scam, BEC and sextortion proceeds.
INTERPOL's Operation Jackal IV (November 2025–June 2026) involved 22 countries and led to 58 arrests and 263 suspects identified tied to West African organized crime networks such as Black Axe. Key actions included 39 arrests in South Africa with $2.67 million seized and 257 bank accounts frozen, 17 arrests in Argentina against a crime-as-a-service laundering network, and a Romanian call-center investment scam with estimated global losses around €143 million. The operation also flagged rising sextortion of minors as young as 14 by these networks.
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Interpol targets Black Axe’s illicit financial web in latest international sting
Interpol's Operation Jackal IV made 58 arrests across four continents, disrupting Black Axe money-laundering, BEC, and sextortion networks and seizing millions.
Interpol-coordinated Operation Jackal IV produced 58 arrests and identified 263 suspects across Africa, Europe and South America, targeting Black Axe and other West African organized crime financial networks. Romanian authorities dismantled a call-center investment scam valued at roughly 143 million euros, while South African police made 39 arrests, seized $2.67 million and blocked 257 bank accounts tied to romance and investment scams targeting retirees. Argentine investigators identified 196 people in a Crime-as-a-Service network supplying website domains and laundering support, and Interpol noted the groups' growing focus on sextortion of victims as young as 14.
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Week in review: Microsoft patches zero-day, Apple security updates, HashiCorp Vault vulnerability
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ThreatsDay: CEO Phishing Kits, 5K Dropbox Account Hacks, OAuth Traps + 17 More Stories
Microsoft warns of Teams IT-impersonation intrusions deploying Node.js implants; Spring Ring vishing hit 150+ employees across 10 companies; The Gentlemen ransomware claims 683 victims.
Microsoft warned of a human-operated campaign abusing Teams external collaboration to impersonate IT help desk staff, deploy malicious MSI packages staging Node.js runtimes and obfuscated JavaScript implants, then pivot to domain controllers over WinRM. Unit 42 documented the Spring Ring vishing operation targeting over 150 employees across at least 10 companies using 26 attacker identities, including an NTLM relay variant against domain controllers. Sophos reported The Gentlemen ransomware (Gold Sherwood) reached 683 total victims by end of July 2026, adding 169 in July, with a playbook using BYOVD-based EDR killers and backup tampering. Group-IB found the Outsider phishing-as-a-service platform created 700+ new phishing pages within a month despite law enforcement takedowns.
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Srsly Risky Biz: China's Private Sector Botnets Are Worth Disrupting
DoJ seized domains of Chinese espionage botnet platforms QScan and QTRouter, run by private firm QTFY for MSS and PLA targeting.
The US Department of Justice disrupted QScan, a distributed vulnerability scanning system with nearly a decade of internet scanning data, and QTRouter, a covert communications platform routing traffic through compromised IoT devices, operated by QTFY under Chinese company Nanjing Xinjiuwei Network Technology. FBI and NSA advisories say QTFY customers include China's Ministry of State Security and the People's Liberation Army, targeting federal agencies, the US Senate, hospitals, telecoms and financial institutions. This is the third Chinese state-backed botnet disrupted since December 2023, following the KV botnet (Volt Typhoon) and Raptor Train (Flax Typhoon), and a sister network, JDY, has more than doubled since the KV disruption. Separately, the Qilin ransomware group claimed a breach of the ATF's CALEA system, briefly publishing 6.3 GB of case folders and forensic data.
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⚡ THN Weekly Recap: Top Cybersecurity Threats, Tools and Tips [13 January]
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Trump Memo Paves Way for U.S. Firms to Hack and Disrupt Foreign Crime Groups
Trump White House memo directs NCC to build a program within 60 days authorizing vetted U.S. companies to conduct cyber surveillance and effects operations against foreign criminal groups.
A new White House memorandum instructs the National Coordination Center to establish, within 60 days, a program letting vetted private-sector companies, under federal oversight, conduct cyber surveillance operations (accessing sensitive data without authorization) and cyber effects operations (disruption, degradation, or destruction) against foreign Transnational Criminal Organizations. Targets are groups conducting cyber-enabled crime against U.S. government, persons, or interests that are not institutionally part of a foreign government. Companies must stop operations exceeding approved parameters, run minimization procedures, and alert the NCC, which notifies the Department of Justice. The fact sheet cites an estimated $20.8 billion in reported U.S. consumer losses to cyber-enabled crimes, and experts note legal and security risks since existing laws prohibit private companies from offensive cyber without court authorization.
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White House authorizes private US companies to hack foreign criminal networks
Trump memorandum authorizes vetted private US companies to conduct government-supervised offensive cyber operations against foreign criminal networks.
The National Security Presidential Memorandum signed August 12 lets vetted private companies run offensive cyber operations against transnational criminal organizations behind ransomware, phishing and sextortion, under US government oversight. The Homeland Security Task Force's National Coordination Center, led by DOJ and DHS executive directors, must give written approval for both Cyber Surveillance Operations and Cyber Effects Operations. Participating companies must post a $1 million bond or escrow, undergo annual review, and notify authorities if they unintentionally target US persons or systems.
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