Skip to main content

Russia

Blackhole Exploit Kit creator 'Paunch' in custody, Russian police confirm

posted onDecember 9, 2013
by l33tdawg

The first photograph shows a slightly overweight young man standing in front of a white Porsche Cayenne, cigarette in hand, expression uneasy.  In a second he appears to be reading a charge sheet as a masked military policeman in black stands guard in the background.

Could this confused-looking individual really be the creator of one of the most successful and feared cybercrime tools of all time?

Blackhole Exploit Kit creator arrested in Russia

posted onOctober 9, 2013
by l33tdawg

After twenty-four hours of speculation, as well as a wall of silence from officials connected to the case, Europol's Troels Oerting, who is head of the European Cybercrime Center, has confirmed that 'Paunch' — one of the people behind the creation and maintenance of the Blackhole Exploit Kit — has been arrested in Russia.

"I know it is true, we got some information, but I cannot say anymore," Oerting told TechWeekEurope in a brief statement.

Russia Preparing New Cyber Warfare Branch, Military Official Says

posted onAugust 20, 2013
by l33tdawg

Similar to other countries, Russia is becoming more and more concerned with cyber threats. As a result, it has decided to create a new cyber warfare branch in the Russian Armed Forces, a military research and development official has revealed.

According to RIA Novosti, the new branch comes after Russia set up the Foundation for Advanced Military Research – the Russian equivalent of the United State’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) – back in October 2012.

US fumes as Russia grants Snowden asylum

posted onAugust 2, 2013
by l33tdawg

Snowden slipped out of Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport on Thursday in a cloak-and-dagger operation overseen by his Russian lawyer, but unnoticed by the hordes of media trying to follow his every move.

The White House said it is "extremely disappointed" that the former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor was given asylum, and that it would now review plans for a US-Russia presidential summit in September.

Snowden granted asylum in Russia, leaves Moscow airport

posted onAugust 1, 2013
by l33tdawg

Edward Snowden, the fugitive former U.S. security contractor, left the transit zone at Moscow’s international airport Thursday after Russian authorities granted him temporary asylum.

Anatoly Kucherena, an attorney for Snowden, said documents were issued Thursday allowing Snowden to live and work in Russia for up to one year while his application for permanent political asylum is pending. Snowden, 30, had been stranded in Russia’s Sheremetyevo Airport for more than five weeks.

U.S. agents 'got lucky' pursuing accused Russia master hackers

posted onJuly 26, 2013
by l33tdawg

The two Russians arrested in what prosecutors call the largest online fraud case brought in the United States were caught through a combination of high-tech tools, dogged detective work and sheer luck.

The propensity of the wealthy young Russians to travel provided authorities with their big opportunity to collar them in the Netherlands last year.

All three Russian telcos stop selling iPhone

posted onJuly 18, 2013
by l33tdawg

All three major Russian cellcos have stopped selling the iPhone, the most dramatic instance so far in a rising tide of operator backlash against Apple's tough contractual requirements. VimpelCom has severed its ties with the handset provider, following in the footsteps of MTS and MegaFon. VimpelCom says it has put Samsung at the top of its list of smartphones to promote under its BeeLine brand.

Snowden seeks asylum in Russia

posted onJuly 2, 2013
by l33tdawg

Former US spy agency contractor Edward Snowden has applied for political asylum in Russia, a Russian official said on Monday, but President Vladimir Putin said he was not welcome unless he stopped harming US interests "as strange as that sounds coming from my lips".

Wikileaks activist Sarah Harrison, who is travelling with Snowden, handed his application to a Russian consular official in the transit area at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport late on Sunday, Kim Shevchenko, a consul at the airport, told Reuters.