Ransomware attacks, business e-mail compromise and criminal use of cryptocurrency were last year on the rise in the United States and exposed the dangers malign cyber actors pose to individuals, companies, banks, and governments.

After the FBI raided his Washington D.C. and New York homes last week, a Russian oligarch whom the U.S. Treasury’s blacklisted for supporting President Vladimir Putin’s actions in Ukraine and Syria as well as the destabilization of Western democracies, lashed out at Washington, accusing it of treating Russia as a boogeyman and scapegoat.

A Canadian citizen who allegedly gave voice to the media and propaganda efforts of the Islamic State (ISIS) was charged by U.S. federal prosecutors on Saturday for conspiring to support the terrorist organization’s crimes against humanity.

Authorities in the United Kingdom warned on Wednesday of scammers posing as County Court bailiffs who are sending emails attempting to force businesses and householders to make quick payments. In the U.S., meanwhile, officials report an increase of ransomware attacks.

Although the FBI is trying to discourage ransomware payments to hacking groups, global meat supplier JBS said it paid US$11 million in Bitcoin in response to the May 30 REvil cyberattack which shut down the company’s North American and Australian systems.

Police in 16 countries arrested over 800 suspects who have used an encrypted messaging platform to discuss their illegal activities, not knowing that the app was secretly run by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigations.

Croatian police confiscated nearly 600 kilograms of cocaine concealed in a shipment of bananas that arrived from South America to the Adriatic port of Ploče. Officials say that with increased controls in ports in Western and Northern Europe, organized crime seems to be looking for alternative routs in the south of the continent.

Sixteen years ago, Azerbaijani investigative journalist Elmar Huseynov was gunned down in the stairwell of his Baku apartment building. Newly unearthed documents point to a trail of obfuscations and missteps in the official investigation.

Instead of a great opportunity to express love, care or passion to someone, Valentine’s Day may lead to “heartbreak, embarrassment, and financial loss,” theFBI stressed on the eve of the popular holiday of love.

In a coordinated international effort, the FBI made critical advances in taking down the ransomware NetWalker by disrupting its dark web communication site, confiscating nearly half a million dollars in cryptocurrency payments and charging a Canadian man related to the attacks, according to a U.S. Department of Justice press release.

U.S. intelligence and security agencies believe that someone from Russia is responsible for recently discovered, ongoing cyber compromises of both government and non-governmental networks, the agencies said Tuesday in a jointstatement.

A Malaysian subsidiary ofGoldman Sachs pleaded guilty Thursday to charges in a scheme to pay more than US$1 billion in bribes to Malaysian and Abu Dhabi officials to obtain lucrative business.

The U.S. judiciary has charged 10 Russian nationals in a scheme to smuggle mostly stolen iPhones, iPads and Apple watches worth an estimated US$50 million into Russia.

Police in several European countries, the U.S. and Canada on Tuesday arrested 179 suspected vendors and buyers who allegedly engaged in tens of thousands of sales of illicit goods on the dark web, Europol said in a statement on Tuesday.

Former FBI director Louis J. Freeh, whom Tallinn hired to help prove to U.S authorities that Estonia was a victim in the Danske Bank money laundering scandal, has previously negotiated a settlement with the U.S. on behalf of a major Russian client accused of large-scale money laundering.

TheU.S. Justice Department charged on Tuesday two Chinese hackers with targeting U.S. companies involved in the development of COVID-19 vaccines, testing technology, and treatments, with the intention of probing for vulnerabilities in their computer networks.

A recently leaked document from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) reveals the agency is aware that criminals have “ever-increasing opportunities” to launder money through the country’s several trillion dollar private investment fund industry.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel confirmed last week that hackers tied to the Russian military intelligence, GRU, have compromised her email accounts and those of other Bundestag lawmakers back in 2015.

US authorities have arrested a former agent with the FBI for accepting more than US$200,000 in bribes and gifts from the Armenian mafia in exchange for sensitive legal information.

The FBI has opened an investigation into possible corruption related to Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration’s issuance of permits for construction on a multibillion-dollar natural gas pipeline project, the Associated Press reported Tuesday.