DarkCyber for September 11, 2018, Now Available

DarkCyber for September 11, 2018, is now available at www.arnoldit.com/wordpress and on Vimeo at https://vimeo.com/288702728.

Stephen E Arnold’s DarkCyber is a weekly video news and analysis program about the Dark Web and lesser known Internet services.
This week’s program covers four Dark Web and security related stories.

This week’s story line up includes … the rise in malware demand… another murder-for-hire attempt goes off the rails… SpyCloud’s account takeover system… and a 10-year jail sentence for an Australian refusing to unlock a computing device.

The first story reports that cybercrime has increased by 32 percent in the first quarter of 2018 compared to the first quarter of 2017. The most popular malware is for covert crypto currency mining and for Trojan software that can entice a user to download a document or video. DarkCyber reveals an easy way to locate malware using Bing.com and the Pastebin.com service. The easy access to potentially harmful software presents an increasing risk for many Internet users.

The second story explains that a citizen attempted to research a Dark Web murder-for-hire site. After engaging law enforcement, the individual used malware to create a disturbance on the Dark Web site. What happened next surprised the citizen hacker. The police picked up the individual and held him for 36 hours. The incident makes clear that law enforcement has the technical capabilities to monitor Dark Web access and identify individuals who perform certain online actions. The Dark Web and access to it can present some interesting challenges to those who assume that the Dark Web access is secret.

The third story explores the capabilities of SpyCloud, a fast-growing start up based in Austin, Texas. The company has amassed billions of items of information related to passwords, users names, and other types of high-value information. The firm’s system makes it possible for the company to identify a data security problem, often before it poses a problem for the organization. The company recently raised an additional $5 million in Series A funding, bringing the total funding to about $8 million. Stephen E Arnold, author of CyberOSINT: Next Generation Information Access, said: “SpyCloud joins a crowded market indexing content on the Dark Web, forums, and other open source content. SpyCloud, however, has a data collection which contains information to many of the other companies offering similar services. SpyCloud’s technology received recognition from NATO for its effectiveness.” DarkCyber provides a link to a short video which provides a brief demonstration of the SpyCloud system.

The final story reports that the Australian government wants access to computing devices protected by a password. Pending legislation provides for a sentence of 10 years in jail for an individual who refuses to comply with a government request to unlock devices or decrypt encrypted data.

About Stephen E Arnold

Stephen E Arnold is the author of “Dark Web Notebook” and “CyberOSINT: Next Generation Information Access.” This book describes some of the technologies used by GSR and Cambridge Analytica to acquire and analyze Facebook user data. He has been named as a technology adviser to the UK based Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Human Trafficking and Child Sex Abuse.” Mr. Arnold also lectures to law enforcement and intelligence professionals who will be attending the September 2018 Telestrategies ISS conference in Washington, DC, in September 2018. In recent months, he has shared his research with law enforcement and intelligence professionals in the US and Europe. His most recent lectures focus on deanonymizing chat and digital currency transactions. One hour and full day programs are available via webinars and on-site presentations. He publishes the free Web log “Beyond Search,” which is available at www.arnoldit.com/wordpress.

Contact Information

Stuart Schram IV

Chief Technical Officer, ArnoldIT

Arnold Information Technology

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