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Ukrainian software developer faces 12 years in Swiss ransomware trial

Swiss prosecutors seek a 12-year sentence for a Ukrainian developer accused in LockerGoga, MegaCortex and Nefilim ransomware attacks causing roughly $160 million in losses.

A 52-year-old Ukrainian software developer went on trial at Zurich District Court over alleged involvement in ransomware attacks using LockerGoga, MegaCortex and Nefilim, with victims including Stadler Rail, Crealogix and Meier Tobler. Prosecutors allege he participated in attacks on 10 companies between December 2018 and May 2020, causing more than 130 million Swiss francs (~$160 million) in losses, and seek a 12-year sentence plus 1.8 million Swiss francs in proceeds. He denies developing malware, and his defense challenges digital evidence handling. The case ties to Oleksandr Ieremenko, who allegedly directed the attacks, was said to have FSB protection, and died falling from a Moscow window in 2022.

The Record · 29d agoPolicy & legal in the wild1

The County Prosecutors Who Became ICE Informants

Illinois county prosecutors shared defendants' personal data with federal ICE agents without warrants, disclosure, or oversight, WIRED reports.

WIRED reports that county prosecutors in Illinois effectively became informants for federal immigration agents. Defendants' personal data was shared without criminal warrants, public disclosure, or legislative oversight. The story raises privacy and accountability concerns around government handling of personal data.

WIRED · Security · 22d agoPolicy & legal

Ukraine moves to crack down on scam call centers after corruption scandal

Ukraine's parliament passed legislation criminalizing fraudulent call centers with 7-12 year prison terms after a bribery scandal implicating prosecutors.

Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada passed legislation making electronic-communications fraud and organizing or working for fraudulent call centers separate crimes punishable by 7-12 years, awaiting President Zelensky's signature. The bill advanced after NABU alleged prosecutors took bribes since mid-2025 to shield scam call centers; five suspects were named and Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko, who denies wrongdoing, was dismissed by parliament and presidential decree. Ukrainian authorities previously reported 411 searches and 94 suspected call centers shut down in one week, including a Kyiv operation that stole over $500,000 from dozens of Americans.

The Record · 9h agoPolicy & legal

Georgia man charged for robbing NBA, NFL players through stolen Apple account details

Georgia man Kwamaine Jerell Ford charged with phishing NBA and NFL players' Apple accounts, making over 2,000 fraudulent transactions, and sex trafficking counts.

Kwamaine Jerell Ford, 34, was arrested and pleaded not guilty to dozens of counts including wire fraud, computer fraud, aggravated identity theft, access device fraud, and sex trafficking. He posed as an adult film actress offering explicit videos, then as Apple customer support to harvest usernames, passwords, and MFA codes from professional athletes, gaining access to their credit and debit cards and making more than 2,000 transactions including fund transfers and DoorDash orders. Prosecutors say he ran the scheme while on probation for a similar 2019 phishing offense in which he spent nearly $325,000 of stolen funds, and also coerced a woman into sex with players, filmed encounters without consent, and hacked one athlete's home security cameras. He was held without bail.

The Record · 8d agoPolicy & legal in the wild

Paris Prosecutors Raid Elon Musk X

Paris prosecutors raided the offices of Elon Musk's social platform X as part of a judicial investigation in France.

Infosecurity Magazine reports that Paris prosecutors carried out a raid at the French offices of X, the social platform owned by Elon Musk. Such raids typically accompany French judicial investigations, and this action places the platform's operations in Europe under legal scrutiny. The full scope of the warrant and any charges were not detailed in the available information.

Infosecurity Magazine · 28d agoPolicy & legal

Members of ‘Black Axe’ cybercriminal group extradited from South Africa

Five Black Axe members extradited from South Africa face US wire fraud and money laundering charges over romance scams defrauding more than 100 victims.

Perry Osagiede, Franklyn Edosa Osagiede, Osariemen Eric Clement, Collins Owhofasa Otughwor and Musa Mudashiru, leaders of Black Axe's Cape Town branch, were extradited September 11 and appear before a federal judge in Trenton, New Jersey under a 2021 indictment. They ran romance scams from 2011 to 2021 that stole thousands of dollars from over 100 people, threatening to leak sensitive photos and laundering proceeds through South African companies; some funds also traced to business email compromise. Wire fraud and money laundering charges each carry up to 20 years. Treasury estimates $12.7 billion stolen from Americans since 2023 via overseas romance and investment scams.

The Recordupdated · 1d agofirst · 2d agoPolicy & legal 3 sources

Your AI chats could be used in court

AI chatbot conversations from ChatGPT and Claude are increasingly obtained by prosecutors and litigants, with OpenAI disclosures quadrupling in 2025.

A Washington Post report found chatbot logs cited in 12 court cases over the past two years, and OpenAI disclosed the content of more than 80 user accounts in the second half of 2025, more than four times the figure for the second half of 2024. In The New York Times' copyright lawsuit against OpenAI, a judge ordered the company to preserve chat logs, including ones users had asked to delete, despite GDPR and California privacy commitments. Chatbot conversations lack attorney-client or medical privilege, and OpenAI's policy allows reviewers to refer conversations to law enforcement when there is an imminent, credible risk of harm.

Malwarebytes Labs · 14d agoAI policy

Black Axe Members Extradited to US Over Internet Fraud Claims

Five alleged Black Axe leaders were extradited from South Africa to the US over romance scam and money laundering charges.

Five Nigerian nationals who allegedly led Black Axe's Cape Town zone were extradited to the US on September 11 and appeared in federal court in Trenton, New Jersey on September 14. The superseding indictment alleges romance scams, advance-fee fraud, BEC, and money laundering via US bank accounts between 2011 and 2021, using social media, dating sites, and VoIP, with coercion via threats to distribute victims' intimate photos. Charges include wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy carrying up to 20 years each, plus aggravated identity theft for three defendants.

Infosecurity Magazine · 1d agoPolicy & legal

Swiss court sentences 52-year-old Ukrainian ransomware dev to nearly 13 years in the cooler

Zurich court sentences Ukrainian ransomware developer to 12 years, 9 months for LockerGoga, MegaCortex and Nefilim attacks including Stadler Rail.

Zurich District Court sentenced a 52-year-old Ukrainian to 12 years and 9 months for developing LockerGoga, MegaCortex, and Nefilim ransomware, plus a 10-year ban from Switzerland; the verdict can be appealed. The operations hit over 1,800 victims across 71 countries with losses of several hundred million Swiss francs, including Stadler Rail (2020, $6 million Nefilim demand), Meier Tobler, and Crealogix. Alleged mastermind Volodymyr Tymoshchuk, indicted in the US and tied to at least 250 companies including Norsk Hydro, remains at large with an $11 million FBI bounty.

The Register · Security · 1d agoPolicy & legal

Conti Hacker Who Built Malware and Attacked Victims Gets Four-Year Sentence

Ukrainian lawyer and Conti malware developer Oleksii Lytvynenko was sentenced to four years in U.S. prison for wire fraud conspiracy tied to Conti ransomware.

Lytvynenko, 44, admitted coding a loader for Conti and holding stolen data from eight U.S. and four overseas victims; prosecutors linked his actions to attacks on at least 12 companies. Conti infected more than 1,000 organizations across 47 U.S. states and 31 countries between 2020 and 2022, with victim payouts exceeding $150 million. Arrested in County Cork in July 2023 with Cobalt Strike running and an active Rocket.Chat session over Tor, forensic evidence showed his ransomware activity continued after Conti's 2022 collapse.

Security Affairs · 3d agoPolicy & legal

US, Britain to coordinate on scam center takedowns

The US and UK signed an MOU to jointly investigate Southeast Asian scam compounds behind fraud that stole over $12 billion from Americans last year.

The DOJ and UK's National Crime Agency and Crown Prosecutor signed a memorandum of understanding on Thursday for parallel investigations and information sharing on scam centers, largely run by Chinese gangs using human trafficking victims in compounds across Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos. The Scam Center Strike Force, with more than 150 personnel from the FBI, IRS, and US Postal Inspection Service, leads the effort; the FBI says cyber-enabled fraud accounted for almost 85% of reported losses, with over $12 billion stolen from Americans last year. An in-person disruption event with private industry partners is planned in London in early October. The initiative follows sanctions on Prince Group and a roughly $15 billion bitcoin seizure linked to its CEO Chen Zhi.

The Record · 12d agoPolicy & legal

Eight years later, federal authorities re-up charges against alleged Iranian hackers at Mabna Institute

US prosecutors unsealed a superseding indictment charging 17 Iranians in the Mabna Institute's state-sponsored theft of 31.5 terabytes from universities and companies.

The superseding indictment unsealed in the Southern District of New York charges 17 people affiliated with Tehran's Mabna Institute, adding eight defendants to the 2018 indictment of nine. The institute allegedly compromised over 100,000 professor email accounts worldwide, including 8,000 accounts at 144 US universities, and stole at least 31.5 terabytes of academic journals, dissertations, and e-books. US universities spent approximately $3.4 billion procuring the stolen data, and victims also included at least five federal and state agencies, 42 US companies, and 11 foreign companies including HBO. The State Department's Rewards for Justice program is offering up to $10 million for information on four of the defendants.

CyberScoop · 29d agoPolicy & legal

LinkedIn fights for the right to tell customers when the feds want their data

Microsoft's chief legal officer argues federal subpoenas for LinkedIn user data should carry narrower scope and that secrecy orders must become the exception.

Microsoft chief legal officer Jon Palmer said federal courts and Congress must curb overly broad US government subpoenas for LinkedIn user data that arrive with secrecy orders preventing customer notification. The company is asking courts to enforce meaningful limits on demand scope and secrecy, invoking Fourth and First Amendment arguments. Palmer cited House legislation passed August 31 to rein in secret surveillance, while LinkedIn simultaneously faces user privacy lawsuits, one dismissed with leave to amend by Judge Vince Chhabria.

CSO Online · 1h agoPolicy & legal

Zelensky appoints former police chief to lead Ukraine’s cyber coordination center

Zelensky appoints former police chief Ihor Klymenko to head Ukraine's National Cybersecurity Coordination Center amid broader security leadership reshuffle.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appointed Ihor Klymenko, former National Police head, interior minister, and NSDC secretary, to lead the National Cybersecurity Coordination Center (NCCC). The NCCC, created in 2016 under the National Security and Defense Council, coordinates government agencies' responses to major cyberthreats including Russian operations. The appointment comes amid a wider reshuffle of Ukraine's defense and security leadership.

The Record · 1d agoPolicy & legal

Suspected Black Axe gang leaders face cybercrime charges in the US

Five alleged Black Axe leaders extradited from South Africa to the US face wire fraud and money laundering charges over romance scams.

Perry Osagiede, Franklyn Osagiede, Osariemen Clement, Collins Otughwor, and Musa Mudashiru were extradited to the US on September 11, 2026, accused of running advance-fee and romance scams from Cape Town between 2011 and 2021. Victims were deceived via dating sites, aliases, and VoIP numbers, and coerced with threats to publish sensitive photos. The case follows Operation Jackal IV, which arrested 58 people across 22 countries; Black Axe is estimated to have 30,000 registered members.

BleepingComputer · 1d agoPolicy & legal

Conti Ransomware Hacker Sentenced After Group Attacked Over 1,000 Victims Worldwide

Ukrainian national Oleksii Lytvynenko sentenced to four years in US prison for his role in Conti ransomware attacks on 1,000+ victims.

Oleksii Oleksiyovych Lytvynenko, 44, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud for working as a developer and intruder in the Conti ransomware operation, coding a malware loader and handling data stolen from 12 victims. Conti compromised over 1,000 victims across 47 US states and 31 foreign countries between 2020 and 2022, generating more than $150 million in ransoms. He was arrested in County Cork, Ireland in July 2023 and extradited to the US. The sentencing is part of a wider US investigation into the Conti and TrickBot ecosystem.

Cyber Security Newsupdated · 5d agofirst · 5d agoPolicy & legal 7 sources

Countering misuse of AI: September 2026 / Anthropic

Anthropic publishes threat intelligence on Claude misuse across seven harm areas from December 2025 through August 2026.

Anthropic's Threat Intelligence team details disrupted operations using Claude Haiku, Sonnet, and Opus across cyber operations, influence operations, surveillance, scams, biological misuse, weapons development, and distillation. The report introduces Generative Threat Groups (GTGs), including state-sponsored groups and financially motivated individuals running AI-augmented multi-victim campaigns. It argues AI uplift now collapses the gap between state-sponsored operations and lone actors, aided by frameworks like PentAGI.

Lobsters · securityupdated · 8h agofirst · 5d agoAI safety & security 18 sources1

Russian national extradited to US for alleged involvement in bank-account takeover scheme

US extradited Russian national Sergei Filimonov over a bank-account takeover scheme using spoofed bank domains that defrauded two banks of $6.3 million.

US authorities extradited 36-year-old Russian national Sergei Anatolyevich Filimonov from the Republic of Georgia on charges including bank and wire fraud conspiracy and aggravated identity theft. He and unnamed co-conspirators allegedly ran spoofed bank domains, bought sponsored links to lure victims, and harvested over 5,000 victim login credentials starting in November 2023, causing unauthorized transfers of about $5.58 million and $735,000 from two banks in 2024. The FBI previously identified at least 19 US victims linked to the credential-storage domain, with roughly $28 million in attempted losses including $14.6 million confirmed. Filimonov faces up to 175 years in prison, pleaded not guilty on September 4, and remains detained in the Northern District of Georgia.

CyberScoop · 8d agoPolicy & legal

A California county wants to hire Tina Peters to help run its elections

Shasta County, California plans to hire Tina Peters, convicted of stealing voting system software, as assistant registrar of voters.

Shasta County registrar of voters Clint Curtis said he plans to hire former Mesa County clerk Tina Peters as assistant registrar after Colorado Governor Jared Polis commuted her nine-year sentence for seven felonies, including identity theft, breaking into an election office, and stealing voting system software. Senators Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff asked California Secretary of State Shirley Weber to provide maximum oversight to prevent Peters from improperly accessing ballots, voting systems, or data of over 100,000 registered voters. The county board of supervisors recently censured Curtis after investigations found he was verbally abusive or physically threatening toward staff.

CyberScoop · 27d agoPolicy & legal