- Extreme heat another form of death sentence in Texas jails
- Can music help plants grow? Study suggests sound boosts fungus
- Nike earnings drop, says turnaround will take time
- US dockworkers launch mass strike a month before election
- Iron Dome: Israel's key anti-missile shield
- Cranes stand still as US dockworkers fight for 'future'
- GM reports US sales dip, but says EVs grew
- Sheinbaum takes office as Mexico's first woman president
- Webb telescope detects carbon dioxide on Pluto's largest moon
- Stock markets slump, oil jumps on Middle East concerns
- French PM vows more taxes and spending cuts ahead of budget fight
- Germany inaugurates IBM's first European quantum data centre
- Stock markets diverge as eurozone inflation drops further
- France's richest man takes control of Paris Match magazine
- Anger meets tear gas as Nigeria hardship protests fizzle out
- US dockworkers launch mass strike month before election
- Evacuations from Lebanon: what we know
- Feathers fly at Chanel's Paris fashion return
- UAE oil giant ADNOC swoops on German chemicals firm Covestro
- Eurozone inflation falls under 2% for first time since 2021
- Coldplay ticket scalping fiasco sparks backlash in India
- Droughts drive Spanish boom in pistachio farming
- Tokyo recovers some losses to lead Asian markets higher
- Rural schools empty in North Macedonia due to exodus
- US dockworkers launch strike after labor contract expires
- Thousands evacuated as Super Typhoon Krathon approaches Taiwan
- Kenya airport whistleblower fears for his life
- Sheinbaum to take office as Mexico's first woman president
- Scientists fear underfunded Argentina research on verge of collapse
- US port officials gird for strike despite last-minute bargaining
- With 118 dead from Hurricane Helene, Biden defends US government response
- Breeder who tried to create enormous trophy sheep jailed in US
- Qatar Airways seeking 25% stake in Virgin Australia
- US port officials gird for strike as labor talks stay stuck
- As toll crosses 100, Trump puts Hurricane Helene at election center stage
- US Fed Chair sees 'further disinflation' in economy
- Epic Games sues Google and Samsung over app store
- Officials see no shortages from likely US port strike
- UK families of Gaza hostages warn Lebanon attack 'takes focus away'
- Shares in Stellantis, Aston Martin skid on profit warnings
- Dali prints found in London garage sold at auction
- ECB chief backs bank mergers amid UniCredit, Commerzbank talk
- China stocks soar on stimulus, but US and Europe retreat
- 100 dead in storm Helene damage, flooding across US southeast
- China stocks soar on stimulus, Europe slides on automaker woes
- German antitrust watchdog steps up monitoring of Microsoft
- Nepal's urban poor count cost of 'nightmare' floods
- E.Guinea, Gabon clash at ICJ over oil-rich islands
- New blow for UK's Starmer as growth data disappoints
- China's top banks to tweak mortgage rates to boost housing market
US accuses Venezuela doctor of selling ransomware to cybercriminals
A French-Venezuelan cardiologist was accused Monday by the US of selling ransomware to cybercriminals and instructing them on how to extort money from the victims they hacked.
The Brooklyn district attorney's office said Moises Luis Zagala, 55, who lives in the Venezuelan city of Ciudad Bolivar, "not only created and sold ransomware products to hackers, but also trained them in their use."
It said the French-Venezuelan doctor "sold the tools for conducting ransomware attacks, trained the attackers about how to extort victims, and then boasted about successful attacks, including by malicious actors associated with the government of Iran."
The ransomware would encrypt information on the computers that had been hacked, then the attackers would demand money to decrypt it.
One of the first products developed by Zagala was a data hijacking program called "Jigsaw v. 2", which had a "doomsday" counter that kept track of the times the user had tried to destroy it.
"If the user kills the ransomware too many times, then it's clear he won't pay so better erase the whole hard drive," Zagala instructed his clients, according to the US authorities.
In early 2019, Zagala began advertising his new tool on the web, a "Private Ransomware Builder" which he named "Thanos" after the Marvel Comics villain responsible for destroying the half of life in the universe, as well as Thanatos in Greek mythology, associated with death.
The "multi-tasking doctor," as the Brooklyn DA described him, allowed criminals to either buy the program -- and create their own customized ransom notes -- or to join an "affiliate program" to gain access to the program in exchange for a share of the ill-gotten gains, which could be paid in cryptocurrency or regular cash.
His preferred aliases were "Aesculapius," referring to the ancient Greek god of medicine, and "Nosophoros," which means "sickness" in Greek.
Zagala allegedly boasted in specialized hacker forums that the Thanos program was practically undetectable by antivirus programs and that once the encryption was finished the program would self-delete, making it almost impossible for the victim to be able to detect it and retrieve their documents.
Zagala even asked his clients "if you have time and it's not too much trouble" to rate their experience online.
If found guilty, he could be sentenced to 10 years in jail.
H.Cho--CPN