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☆ Russian security agents have been using a secret network of corrupted computers to spy on NATO for decades, but the US just busted it open, feds say
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

US authorities have busted open a secret computer network run by Russian security agents. FBI agents have neutralized what the Justice Department called "sophisticated malware." "Globally, the FSB has used Snake to collect sensitive intelligence from high-priority targets, such as government networks, research facilities, and journalists." Director of Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) Alexander Bortnikov attends a meeting of the service's collegium in Moscow, Russia, February 28, 2023. Top Justice Department officials praised the FBI's ability to neutralize the FSB's network.

☆ A clothing designer was at the checkout line of a Joann fabric store when he learned his ex-girlfriend was wanted by the FBI. They called it quits after he learned she was reading 'Mein Kampf.'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( Lloyd Lee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

—FBI Washington Field (@FBIWFO) April 27, 2023"I stopped dead in my tracks," the designer told NBC News. Months later, Vargas began to reveal her more far-right politics and her interest in Hitler's "Mein Kampf," the designer told the outlet. "I was just instantly turned off, like, 'Yo, I don't think this is going to work out,'" he told NBC News. The designer told the outlet his "heart hurts" for Vargas but also found humor in the situation. "It's just going to be one of those things for me," the designer told NBC News.

☆ Cleveland, Texas shooting: Suspect in massacre had been deported 4 times after entering US illegally, ICE source says
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Ed Lavandera Holly Yan Elizabeth Wolfe Rosa Flores | Ed Lavandera | Holly Yan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

The suspect, identified as Francisco Oropesa Perez-Torres by ICE, was first removed by an immigration judge in March 2009, the ICE source said. The suspect was convicted of driving while intoxicated in 2012 in Montgomery County, Texas, and was sentenced to jail time, the ICE official said. Family photo“One of the people who died saw when my wife fell to the ground,” Garcia told CNN. Go Nakamura/Getty ImagesThere had been 15 people in the house at the time of the shooting, Garcia told CNN. He was in my county,” Capers said.

☆ Chinese hackers outnumber FBI cyber staff 50 to 1, bureau director says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Lauren Feiner | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

U.S. cyber intelligence staff is vastly outnumbered by Chinese hackers, Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Christopher Wray told Congress as he pleaded for more money for the agency. The disclosure highlights the massive scale of cyber threats the U.S. is facing, particularly from China. The agency is requesting about $63 million to help it beef up its cyber staff with 192 new positions. Wray said this would also help the FBI put more cyber staff in field offices to be closer to where victims of cyber crimes actually are. WATCH: Crowdstrike CEO on government spending on cyber, vulnerabilities and geopolitical threats

☆ A mother reportedly got a scam call saying her daughter had been kidnapped and she'd have to pay a ransom. The 'kidnapper' cloned the daughter's voice using AI.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A scammer reportedly used AI to clone a girl's voice in an attempt to get money from her mother. When she answered it, she could hear her 15-year-old daughter crying and saying things like, "mom, I messed up." DeStefano said that a man's voice then came on the line, telling her daughter to put her head back and lie down. "Listen here, I've got your daughter," the scammer reportedly said, according to DeStefano's account of the call. The voice "100%" belonged to her daughter, she told the local news site.

☆ FBI warns against using public phone charging stations
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( Rohan Goswami | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

The FBI recently warned consumers against using free public charging stations, saying that bad actors have managed to hijack public chargers that can infect devices with malware, or software that can give hackers access to your phone, tablet or computer. "Avoid using free charging stations in airports, hotels or shopping centers," a tweet from the FBI's Denver field office said. "Bad actors have figured out ways to use public USB ports to introduce malware and monitoring software onto devices. The Federal Communications Commission has also warned about "juice jacking," as the malware loading scheme is known, since 2021. The FCC told consumers to avoid those public stations.

☆ The FBI says you may want to think twice before plugging into a free phone-charging station
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( Samantha Delouya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The FBI warned people to avoid using free phone-charging stations found in hotels, airports, and other public places. A Los Angeles deputy district attorney once warned that "a free charge could end up draining your bank account." Free phone-charging stations are often found in shopping centers, airports, and hotels. Some cities also offer free charging at public bus stops. Charging stations that have USB cords already plugged in could signal a hack, according to a report in the New York Times.

☆ Trump keeps claiming his legal troubles will mobilize Republican voters. Those votes haven't materialized yet.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( Madison Hall | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

And each time, experts and those close to Trump have predicted the proceedings could energize his supporters and the Republican base. Following the proceedings, former Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale predicted the impeachment would lead to a high Republican turnout in the 2020 presidential election. "Any time people try to lessen this legitimate president, in any way, his voters fight back," Parscale said in December 2019. Prior to the 2022 election, Republicans and pollsters repeatedly predicted the election would result in a "Red Wave," or a GOP landslide victory. Despite repeated predictions and warnings that prosecuting the former president would invigorate his base in upcoming elections, investigations against Trump simply haven't energized his base as expected.

☆ San Francisco's homicide rate is low compared to other big cities, but the killing of tech founder Bob Lee shows that doesn't tell the whole story
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Paayal Zaveri | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

The tragic killing of tech founder Bob Lee has reignited the debate over crime in San Francisco. Those stats compare relatively favorably to other big cities in the US, the San Francisco Chronicle reported, citing FBI data. Meanwhile, the homicide rate in San Francisco was 5 per 100,000 in 2020, the FBI's crime data shows, as analyzed by the San Francisco Chronicle. It's also lower than other cities of comparable sizes to San Francisco, including Columbus, Ohio. Additionally, the San Francisco Police Department must conclude its investigation before the DA's office can step in, Randy Quezada, communications director at the San Francisco District Attorney's office, told Insider's Grace Kay and Sindhu Sundar.

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department confirmed on Wednesday it had seized the Russia-linked online criminal marketplace Genesis Market, working in conjunction with international law enforcement and the Treasury Department. The announcements from Justice and Treasury came a day after the FBI and a consortium of international law enforcement authorities shut down Genesis Market. The international marketplace steals private information from victims' devices and offers it for sale, Treasury said in a release Wednesday. "Today's takedown of Genesis Market is a demonstration of the FBI's commitment to disrupting and dismantling key services used by criminals to facilitate cybercrime," FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a statement. "Treasury will continue to work closely with our law enforcement colleagues to disrupt this activity and hold malign cyber actors accountable."

☆ Hacker Stole My Phone, Credit Card, Identity. I Set Out to Find Them.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-02 | by ( Avery Hartmans | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +22 min

They left the Verizon store and went to a nearby Apple store, where they used my Chase credit card to spend $6,370. And two, because a physical credit card had been used to make the purchases, even though I was still in possession of my card. Typically, when your credit card is about to expire, as mine was, the bank sends you a new card a few weeks ahead of time. All told, the gang allegedly stole hundreds of identities and defrauded retailers and credit card companies of $1.3 million. Whoever hacked my identity, it makes sense that they started with my credit card.

☆ The FBI seized $40,000 a couple held in a deposit box 2 years ago, but won't say why and won't return their cash
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-26 | by ( Sam Tabahriti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The FBI seized a couple's savings they held in a deposit box in a raid in March 2021. The couple were keeping $40,200 cash in their box and only found out about the raid on local news. "The FBI took my savings nearly two years ago but has never told me why," Linda Martin said in a press release. He added: "Then, the FBI sends copy-and-paste forfeiture notices that fail to tell owners anything about why it is trying to take their property. US Private Vaults shut down following the Beverly Hills raid and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to launder drug money.

☆ Ex-Trump lawyer appears before grand jury as U.S. probes swirl
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Sarah N. Lynch | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Corcoran and his attorney Michael Levy entered the federal courthouse in Washington and went to the third floor, where the grand jury typically meets. Attorneys for Trump did not respond to a request for comment on the court order compelling Meadows and other former aides to testify. At that June meeting, the lawyers handed over a single envelope containing 38 documents with classified markings. Corcoran is one of multiple Trump attorneys who have been summoned to appear before the grand jury. Tim Parlatore, another attorney, voluntarily testified before the same grand jury in December to explain the steps Trump's legal team took to comply with the May 2022 subpoena.

☆ Attorney for former President Trump appears before grand jury
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Sarah N. Lynch | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] Former U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks on education as he holds a campaign rally with supporters, in Davenport, Iowa, U.S. March 13, 2023. REUTERS/Jonathan ErnstWASHINGTON, March 24 (Reuters) - Donald Trump's attorney Evan Corcoran appeared on Friday before a federal grand jury investigating the former U.S. president's retention of classified documents after he left the White House in January 2021. Corcoran and his attorney Michael Levy entered the federal courthouse in Washington and went to the third floor where the grand jury typically meets. In May 2022, Trump received a grand jury subpoena ordering him to turn over any records with classified markings, and officials from the Justice Department and FBI met with Trump's attorneys in June to enforce the subpoena. That claim later proved to be false, after the FBI discovered about 100 additional classified records among some 13,000 government documents in its Aug. 8 search.

☆ Manhattan DA is discussing security around court ahead of a potential Trump indictment: report
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Law enforcement agencies in New York are reportedly taking security precautions ahead of a possible indictment against Donald Trump. A representative for the Manhattan district attorney's office didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment. "When you're surrendering someone that has any degree of notoriety, more security-conscious issues always exist," Bachner told Insider. Courts in Manhattan and Atlanta — where Trump also faces a potential criminal case — have prepared for potential chaos, Insider previously reported. "We are one of the few court systems nationally who have a law-enforcement arm under our roof," Chalfen told Insider.

☆ Mike Pence won't use an indictment to hammer Trump, backing off from even attempting to push his ex-boss out of the race if he's charged
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Rebecca Cohen | Brent D. Griffiths | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Mike Pence won't pressure Donald Trump to drop out of the 2024 presidential race if he is charged. Trump's GOP rivals would be in a tough position if the former president is charged. Trump's Republican rivals — including Pence and Florida Gov. The former president has previously capitalized on law enforcement actions against him to rally supporters to his side. Both Pence and DeSantis previously called out the FBI's search at Mar-a-Lago, an example at times on how Trump's rivals have been forced by circumstance to embrace him.

☆ New York law enforcement preparing for possible Trump indictment in porn star payoff case
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Dan Mangan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

If he is indicted, Trump, a 2024 Republican presidential candidate , would become the first former president ever to face criminal charges. The law enforcement agencies involved in security talks about that possibility include the New York Police Department, the U.S. Secret Service, the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force, and New York State Court Officers, WNBC reported. In recent days, Trump has lashed out at Cohen, Daniels and prosecutors. The Trump Organization was convicted in December in an unrelated criminal tax fraud case brought by the Manhattan DA's office. A grand jury impaneled in that case recommended that a number of people be charged with a range of crimes.

☆ Hate crimes in US surged 11.6% in 2021, fueled by race, ethnic bias
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Sarah N. Lynch | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, March 13 (Reuters) - Hate crimes in the United States surged 11.6% in 2021 from 2020, with the most frequent ones fueled by racial, ethnic and ancestral bias, the FBI said on Monday. The FBI in a new report said reported hate crime incidents rose to 9,065 in 2021 from 8,120 in 2020. Attorney General Merrick Garland has made enforcement against hate crimes a top priority for the Justice Department. "Hate crimes and the devastation they cause communities have no place in this country. Officials said the top five hate crime categories reported for 2021 were anti-Black, anti-white, anti-gay male, anti-Jewish and anti-Asian.

☆ Prosecutors deny claim by Alec Baldwin's lawyers that authorities destroyed gun in 'Rust' movie set shooting
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Rebecca Picciotto | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

New Mexico prosecutors denied the claim that Alec Baldwin's lawyers made on Thursday that state authorities had destroyed the firearm that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the movie "Rust." Prosecutors didn't respond to Spiro's assertion during the hearing, but in a statement to CNBC said that Spiro's claim is false. "The gun Alec Baldwin used in the shooting that killed Halyna Hutchins has not been destroyed by the state. Baldwin, star and producer of "Rust," was holding the gun when it killed Hutchins. The defendants are charged with two different types of involuntary manslaughter following the October 2021 fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

☆ China spent years angrily trying to shut down the theory that COVID-19 came from its labs. It failed.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Tom Porter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

China has pushed another theory, suggesting the COVID-19 may have jumped to humans from frozen food shipped from elsewhere in the world. Lab leak theory initially dismissedThe suspicion that COVID-19 may have leaked from a Wuhan lab has circulated since the earliest days of the pandemic. Trump sought to use the pandemic to discredit China, using the xenophobic term "China virus" to describe the disease. A group of scientists criticised the WHO for dismissing the lab leak thesis too hastily, and pointed to gaps in the report's evidence. Yet the lab leak theory has continued to gain credibility, despite China's efforts, and scientists who once dismissed it now think it's a credible explanation.

Wray's comments Tuesday came after Baier noted that the Energy Department had cited the FBI's earlier findings in its report. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Mao Ning, said earlier Tuesday that China has "always been open and transparent" about Covid. In its assessment, the Energy Department also described the "likely" laboratory-related leak as an "accident," the official added. The Energy Department is one of 18 government departments and agencies that make up the U.S. intelligence community. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said, "China obviously is very threatened by this," but "the lab leak story is not anti-Chinese.

☆ Merrick Garland's stonewalling about multiple investigations is annoying lawmakers on both sides of aisle ahead of his Capitol Hill visit
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Warren Rojas | Mattathias Schwartz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle want Merrick Garland to debrief them about DOJ investigations. Garland is scheduled to join the Senate Judiciary Committee on March 1 for a general oversight hearing — his first of the 118th Congress. In early February, both Durbin and his Republican counterparts leading the House Judiciary Committee requested briefings about McGonigal. The Senate letter requested information from Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray; the House letter was addressed to Wray but not Garland. "Everything is on the table," a staff member from House Judiciary told Insider.

☆ Exclusive: British authorities surveilled FBI spy chief Charles McGonigal's secret 2018 meeting with a Russian contact
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Mattathias Schwartz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

An FBI spy chief's secret meeting with a Russian contact was detected by UK officials. McGonigal should have realized that the London meeting would be noticed, one source said. During his years in New York, McGonigal oversaw 150 FBI agents tasked with shadowing foreign operatives and turning them into spies for the US. He would have had intimate knowledge of surveillance penetration in world capitals, which makes the London meeting all the more mystifying. McGonigal had investigated Russian operatives earlier in his career, but it is unclear whether he was involved with the FBI's Deripaska recruitment effort.

☆ Michigan State University shooter's motive a mystery
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Dieu-Nalio Chery | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/4] Police officers surround a scene where the suspect was located as they respond to a shooting at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan, U.S., February 14, 2023. REUTERS/Dieu-Nalio CheryEAST LANSING, Mich., Feb 14 (Reuters) - A 43-year-old gunman killed three students and wounded five others at Michigan State University before an hours-long manhunt ended with the suspect's death from a self-inflicted gunshot, authorities said on Tuesday. The gunman was identified as Anthony Dwayne McRae, 43, said Chris Rozman, deputy chief of the Michigan State University police force, at the morning briefing. Details about the sequence of events remained sketchy, but Rozman said shots were fired in two locations - an academic building called Berkey Hall and the Michigan State University (MSU) Union building. Students, faculty and residents in the surrounding off-campus neighborhoods of East Lansing had been told by authorities to "shelter in place" during the manhunt.

WASHINGTON, Feb 9 (Reuters) - U.S. House Republicans on Thursday stepped up their probes of Democratic President Joe Biden's family and what they allege is partisan bias in federal law enforcement, in moves that the White House dismissed as politically motivated attacks. The Republican chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, James Comer, on Thursday asked Biden's son and brother for documents related to the family's international business dealings. The White House in a memo distributed to allies and seen by Reuters dismissed the hearing as a "political stunt." "Instead of working with President Biden to address the top priorities of the American people - fighting inflation and lowering costs, creating jobs, boosting manufacturing and infrastructure, and protecting and expanding people's health care and rights – this is what House Republicans are focused on," wrote Ian Sims, the White House spokesman on oversight. Reporting by David Morgan and Gram Slattery; Editing by Scott Malone and Cynthia OstermanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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