FBI

Two huge Dark Web marketplaces, peddling illegal drugs, fake documents, firearms, and more, have been shut down in a clandestine sting. US and European investigators collaborated for months on the takedown, which saw AlphaBay and Hansa - together responsible for more than 350,000 "illicit commodities" - first infiltrated and then taken offline. Indeed, police in the Netherlands were able to secretly take control of Hansa and then track what its users were doing.

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In the wake of Russian hackers interfering with the US's presidential election this year, along with the subsequent sanctions issued by President Obama, a Vermont power company has discovered evidence of Russian malware on one of its laptops. The code is said to be linked to the hacking group identified by the FBI and Department of Homeland Security as "Grizzly Steppe." The find was made as the US government continues to asses Russian cyber attacks on different agencies and organizations.

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Russia isn't the only source of cyber attacks the US is facing recently. The FBI has opened an investigation into the breaches of Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) computer systems by Chinese hackers for several years starting in 2010. According to Reuters, it's believed that these attacks were sponsored by China's military, and resulted in the compromise of dozens of computers.

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Last week the CIA released a report saying that it concluded Russia had carried out cyber attacks in an effort to disrupt the US's presidential election and tip the scales to benefit Donald Trump. Following an earlier request from President Obama for an investigation into the matter, the FBI now agrees with the CIA's assessment, as does the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

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It's difficult not to feel a little embarrassed for the FBI in light of its recently published anti-hacking advertisement. Made in collaboration with Europol, the ad shows two teenagers, one dolled up like an Ivy Leaguer and the other replete with emo affectations in a dark hoodie, both of them labelled with things like health status, 'cash total,' and, of course, their hacker/non-hacker designations.

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The White House has ordered an investigation into hacking done to disrupt the 2016 Presidential Elections here in the United States. This order from President Obama came not long after Trump's most recent Time Magazine interview in which he said he does not believe the U.S. intelligence community in their assessment that Russia attempted to affect the outcome of this year's Presidential Election. Word of an investigation directed by President Obama came through Lisa Monaco, the Obama's top counterterrorism adviser, earlier today.

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Before getting my first tattoo, I joked that I was about to make any potential future as a fugitive from the law a lot harder. Tattoos, even trendy ones picked from the same book used by hundreds of other people, can be highly personal -- not just in what it means to a person, but in how much it helps identify that individual. Even small elements can say quite a bit about the person who got it, and the FBI is reportedly developing a technology that can exploit these unspoken cues.

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For a period of 10 months, the FBI planted hidden microphones in several public locations outside a courthouse in Oakland, California, it has recently been discovered. A warrant wasn't needed, but the microphones allowed the government to secretly record and monitor private conversations during the period between March 2010 and January 2011.

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Take a count of how many microphones are around your right now -- your phone, of course, which is probably always listening, and your laptop most likely. Your TV? Perhaps, if it's new enough. Your wireless speaker probably has a microphone, too, for speakerphone functions. Your smartwatch might have a microphone. There are even smart refrigerators cropping up with integrated microphones (for voice commands, not spying), and, of course, dedicated personal assistants like Amazon Echo and Tap. How many of those microphones has the FBI tapped?

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Apple wants to know how the FBI accessed the San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone, but the agency has no plans on giving away the goods, according to sources who have surfaced. These individuals say the FBI’s decision to withhold information is due largely in part to its lack of knowledge about how the technology works — while the agency knows how to use the tool, say the sources, it doesn’t know the particulars about the iPhone vulnerability and how it exploits it.

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Public information about the FBI’s method for unlocking the San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone is slight, and so we’re forced to piece together what precious little information is available. Take, for example, FBI Director James Comey’s recent statement about how much the FBI had to pay to get the iPhone unlocked: more than he will make in the remainder of his time serving as the bureau’s director, which a little bit of math estimates as $1.3 million.

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Apple's tussle with the government over encrypted iPhones isn't completely over yet but things have mellowed down somewhat. All the hoopla, mudslinging, and accusations, not to mention money, might have been for naught, however. According to an insider source on the side of law enforcement, the now hacked iPhone of the San Bernardino shooter has so far not produced any of the juicy information that the FBI alleges the smartphone holds, the very reason it took Apple to court in the first place.

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