Hacker Gang Stole 1.2bn Credentials, States FBI

According to FBI, a hacker after propagating online that he could produce user account details from twitter.com and facebook.com is now suspected of using one Russian e-mail id for stealing an astounding 1.2bn logins; reported reuters.com dated November 24, 2015.

Calling himself "mr.grey" on the Internet, the hacker was recognized from information that certain cyber-security company gathered which during August 2014 declared that it was aware of one so-called crime ring based in Russia that stole data from over 420k online sites, court documents of FBI stated.

The documents that a Milwaukee, Wisconsin federal court recently made public give an indication of the FBI's investigation into possibly the biggest database containing filched passwords and usernames.

After FBI sought one search warrant during December 2014, which was carried out in January 2015 regarding e-mail records, the filing of court documents was done.

When Hold Security a cyber-security company declared in 2014 that it had knowledge of a hacker cabal from Russia called CyberVor that had grabbed over a million e-mail ids and over a billion Internet credentials, it prompted the FBI probe.

CyberVor didn't make a distinction between large or small websites. It did not simply attack big companies, however, any website which its victims visited.

Subsequently, Hold Security began one service notifying about breaches, asking for a $120 fee from websites wishing the service notified them whether the cabal tried exploiting their networks/computers.

FBI's interest was aroused following the news and it began one official investigation about CyberVor followed with finally unearthing posts on one illegal hackers' site in connection with the breach.

According to Reuters, FBI discovered many domain-names as well as utilities understood as being utilized for distributing spam that was as well connected with 'mr.grey.'

Technology Director Dave Palmer at Darktrace a security company stated that CyberVor utilized a network-of-bots quite distinctly for exploiting varieties of websites, reported V3, November 26, 2015.

He explained that botnets characteristically used the vastness they obtained for targeting a single entity like one case of impairing PC games consoles in 2014 Christmas. To achieve this aim, the botnets aided in scanning websites globally for vulnerabilities, Palmer illustrated.

» SPAMfighter News - 12/3/2015