Andy Greenberg’s Post

A new resolution in the House Foreign Affairs Committee calls on the US State Department to treat the case of Tigran Gambaryan, formerly one of the most effective crypto crime investigators in the US government, now jailed in Nigeria, as a hostage situation. https://lnkd.in/egxw_7gn The resolution to push for Gambaryan's release follows an earlier open letter from 16 members of Congress calling on the White House to transfer Gambaryan's case to the Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage affairs. Two House members, French Hill and Chrissy Houlahan, visited Gambaryan in jail last month and have also called for his release. Pressure is growing to get Tigran home.

Thank you to the Society of Professional Journalists for honoring WIRED's Mirai cover story with a Sigma Delta Chi award for crime reporting last night! https://spj.org/sdxa23.asp "Deeply researched," judges specifically noted, so shoutout to Matt Giles for the most impressive fact-checking I've ever witnessed.

Crypto-tracing firm Elliptic found a Cambodian online market called Huione Guarantee offering every product and service for the online financial scam industry: Money laundering, victim data, deepfake software, electrified shackles and batons for slave labor. It's done $11B in transactions in three years and is linked to the country's ruling Hun family. That’s the tragic scale of the scam ecosystem today. https://lnkd.in/gabZN6D7

Court documents reveal how more than a dozen men threatened, assaulted, tortured, or kidnapped 11 victims across four US states to coerce them to hand over access to cryptocurrency. This is very likely the worst crypto-focused physical extortion crime spree ever seen in the US. A very disturbing form of cryptocurrency theft that may be on the rise.

Some charges against Binance exec and former IRS crypto crime investigator Tigran Gambaryan were dropped today in Nigeria. He's still in jail, still very sick, still facing charges from another agency, Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. Press release from his family below. Pressure is mounting to bring Gambaryan home. After 16 members of congress sent a letter to the White House urging he be treated as a hostage, Rep. Rick Mccormick demanded in a hearing yesterday that the US special envoy for hostage affairs take up his case: Watch: https://lnkd.in/eWt2wirF

When Change Healthcare paid a $22 million ransom to hackers in March, security analysts warned it would fuel a new wave attacks on healthcare victims. The next month? 44 healthcare ransomware attacks, a new record, according to new data collected by cybersecurity firm Recorded Future. https://lnkd.in/eRMznkah

Speaking not once but twice tomorrow (8am and then 4:30pm) at the Rocky Mountain Information Security Conference in Denver to celebrate Tracers in the Dark joining the Cybersecurity Canon Hall of Fame! Book-signing to follow in the evening. See you there! https://www.rmisc.org/