🔐 Hacking back

The FBI infiltrated one of the world's biggest ransomware gangs

January 27, 2023

IN THIS ISSUE 👮 The FBI infiltrated a prolific ransomware gang 🤖 Amazing new 'Terminator' robot melts to escape cage ☄️ An asteroid came incredibly close to Earth yesterday

UP FIRST The FBI infiltrated one of the world's most prolific ransomware gangs Investigators targeted Hive, which has netted around $100 million from ransomware victims over the past few years The FBI has managed to infiltrate infamous hacker gang Hive, the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) revealed on Thursday.   First observed in 2021, Hive has been responsible for numerous ransomware attacks around the world targeting hospitals, school districts, financial firms, and critical infrastructure. Last November it emerged that Hive and its affiliates had netted around $100 million via ransom payments from 1,300 companies around the world.   But in July 2022, the FBI turned the tables, penetrating Hive's computer networks. Since then, it's been able to capture more than 300 decryption keys and offer them to victims, preventing them from having to hand over huge sums of cash to Hive hackers.   Cooperating with its partners in Germany and the Netherlands, investigators also seized control of the servers and websites used by the gang to communicate with its members, thereby disrupting its ability to attack and extort victims.   Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said: "Simply put, using lawful means, we hacked the hackers."   The authorities are now pursuing Hive's members in a bid to bring them to justice. Read more

ROBOTICS Real-world 'Terminator' robot can melt to escape a cage, then reform The technology could one day be used for medical procedures Scientists from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh have developed a humanoid robot that can melt into a liquid before reforming.   The astonishing feat, captured in a video, brings to mind the shapeshifting assassin in Terminator 2.   According to The Times, the tiny robot is made from a mix of the liquid metal gallium, which melts at 85.6F (29.8C), and microscopic pieces of a magnetic material made of neodymium, iron, and boron.   The team use a magnetic field to control the robot's physical state and movements. The technique sets it apart from other phase-shifting materials that utilize heat guns, electrical currents, or other external heat sources to transform.   The tiny robot can also jump, climb, and divide into two pieces to work together to move objects before reforming into a single robot that's strong enough to support an object 30 times its own mass.   The technology could one day be used for medical procedures, for example, to deliver drugs to a target within the body. Read more

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT An asteroid flew extremely close to Earth yesterday It came within just 2,200 miles (3,540 km) of our planet An asteroid hurtled past Earth yesterday in an event described by NASA as "one of the closest approaches by a near-Earth object ever recorded."   Asteroid 2023 BU zipped by at 7:27 p.m. (4:27 p.m. PT) on Thursday, passing over the southern tip of South America at an altitude of just 2,200 miles (3,540 km) – equal to the distance between New York City and Las Vegas.   The space rock, which is estimated to be 11.5 to 28 feet (3.5 to 8.5 meters) across, never posed any risk to Earth. Even if it had been on a collision course with our planet, it would've turned into a fireball and mostly disintegrated in the atmosphere, with some of the bigger debris potentially falling as small meteorites, NASA said.   The asteroid was first sighted by an amateur astronomer in Europe just six days ago. Following additional sightings by observatories around the world, astronomers were able to nail down 2023 BU's orbit and confirm that it would miss Earth. Just. Read more

STAFF PICKS We highly recommend ...

Dead Space (2023) If the mark of a good video game remake is that it preserves the original experience and makes it feel the way it felt the first time you played it, then consider Dead Space a success … by default. That's because the original 2008 action-horror game still feels perfectly modern to this day, even with some dated visuals and storytelling. I should know, because I just played the original for the first time one year ago. For a project like this, not stomping all over its source material's corpse would be the franchise's safest move. For anyone who's yet to play one of gaming's horror greats, the new take on Dead Space is a fairly definitive version of the experience. Its limb-carving combat and claustrophobic atmosphere still outclass its peers 15 years later, and that fact is only emphasized with some smart adjustments. - Giovanni Colantonio Gaming Editor

Digital Trends helps readers keep tabs on the fast paced world of tech with all the latest news, fun product reviews, insightful editorials, and one-of-a-kind sneak peeks. Contact Us │ Privacy Policy

forward to friend

Digital Trends Media Co | 111 SW 5th Ave Suite 1000, Portland, OR, 97201

To unsubscribe from this list or all subscriptions Click Here or Update Preferences

Try it for Free