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Report: IoT is the next frontier for ransomware

LAS VEGAS — The growth of the Internet of Things will offer new ransomware opportunities for cybercriminals, according to a report released Thursday by Symantec.

Researchers were able repackage existing Android ransomware — Android.Simplocker — inside a new Android Wear project, and when the phone was infected, so was a paired smartwatch. Once executed, the ransomware made the watch unusable, and also encrypted files stored on the watch’s SD card.

Researchers said they haven’t seen any examples of this kind of ransomware in the wild yet.

According to a report by Symantec researcher Kevin Savage, cybercriminals switch their focus to a different malware type approximately every two or three years of reaching a peak.

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GameOver ZeuS criminals spied on Turkey, Georgia, Ukraine and OPEC

The criminals behind the GameOver ZeuS Botnet didn’t just steal $100 million from banks — they also spied on several countries on behalf of Russia, according to a Black Hat presentation Wednesday by an FBI agent and two other security experts.

These countries included Ukraine, Turkey, Georgia, and OPEC members, according to FBI special agent Elliott Peterson.

The gang, which called itself Business Club, had two leaders, one of whom was Evgeniy Bogachev who is still uncaught. The FBI is offering a $3 million reward for information leading to Bogachev’s arrest.

[ Follow all the stories out of Black Hat 2015 ]

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