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Hackers Target Crypto Investors With Malware
Starting in 2022, two malicious files, the MortalKombat ransomware and the Laplas Clipper malware, have been crawling the internet and stealing cryptocurrency from investors, according to Cisco Talos threat intelligence. The victims of the attacks are mainly in the United States, with smaller numbers in the United Kingdom, the Philippines and Turkey.
The two malicious files work together to steal the wallet information pasted on the user's clipboard. It then replaces the stolen wallet information with a different address. The attack is random and targets individual investors, large and small.
Once the malware infects the user, MortalKombat ransomware encrypts the user's files and sends a ransom payment request.
The โtag team campaignโ starts with a crypto-themed email with a malicious attachment. The attachment executes a BAT file that downloads and runs the ransomware if opened, according to malwarebytes. A typical email reads, in part:
YOUR SYSTEM IS LOCKED AND ALL YOUR IMPORTANT DATA HAS BEEN ENCRYPTED. DON'T WORRY YOUR FILES ARE SAFE. TO RETURN ALL OF THEM YOU NORMALLY NEED TO PURCHASE THE CERBER DECRYPTOR PROGRAM. PAYMENTS ARE ONLY ACCEPTED THROUGH THE BITCOIN NETWORK.
Bankman-Fried's Balil Backers Identified
Two academics from Stanford Law School and Stanford University are the previously unknown signatories to the bonds that helped Sam Bankman-Fried get out of prison, court documents reveal.
The two are identified as Larry Kramer, who was dean of the law school, and Andreas Paepcke, a computer science research engineer at the university.
The two signed separate bonds included in a $250 million personal acknowledgment bond signed by Bankman-Fried's parents. Kramer's bail was $500,000 and Paepcke's share was $200,000.
The revelations came after Judge Lewis Caplan granted motions submitted by various news organizations, ruling that it was public information.
Shortly after his removal from the Bahamas, federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York claimed that Bankman-Fried was being released after posting $250 million bail. In reality, the amount recoverable if Bankman-Fried fled would be a tiny fraction of that amount
Democrats return just 2% of $45 million Bankman-Fried donations
In related news, the Democrats, who received $45 million in 2020 campaign donations from Bankman-Fried, have returned just 2.2% of that amount to their failing crypto exchange.
$5.2 million went to Joe Biden's presidential campaign. At a White House press conference on December 13, 2022, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked if the president would return the funds. Jean-Pierre declined to comment.
โAnything that is related to political contributions, I would have to refer it to the DNC from here,โ Jean-Pierre said, citing the Hatch Act.
Bankman-Fried was the second largest donor Democrats during the midterm elections, second only to George Soros, according to Federal Election Commission (FEC) records.
The bankrupt estate is asking for $45.2 million given to Democratic candidates, political action committees and Biden to be returned to the company so it can pay off its creditors.
Dollar Collapse Looms as BRICS Nations Unite
In a February 16 interview with Michelle Makori of Kitco News, Miles Franklin executive Andy Schectman predicted that a significant portion of the world's economies would abandon the US dollar and trigger a "tsunami of inflation."
Schectman expects an economic collapse and believes it will trigger the World Economic Forum's Great Reset, with central banks issuing digital currencies, allowing for full monetary control.
Pointing out that the US dollar has become a weapon, he hopes china, russiaSaudi Arabia and other nations to overthrow it as the world's reserve currency.
โAll it would take would be for Saudi Arabia to stand on the stage [and declare] now we are going to consider taking other currencies for oil,โ Schectman said. โAnd suddenly, bang, all the countries that have had to have dollars for the last fifty years are no longer interested in having them. And if everyone starts throwing dollars, and I think it would happen quickly, you'd have a tsunami of inflation hitting the shores of the West."
Watch the full interview here:
