SAN FRANCISCO: Microsoft on Wednesday said it has taken coordinated legal action in the United States and Britain to disrupt a low-cost subscription service called RedVDS that helps cybercriminals carry out lucrative scams.&nbsp;RedVDS charges as little as $24 monthly for access to disposable virtual computers that enable large-scale fraud that is difficult to trace, according to the company.&nbsp;&quot;Services like these have quietly become a driving force behind today&#39;s surge in cyber-enabled crime,&quot; Digital Crimes Unit Assistant General Counsel Steven Masada said in a blog post.&nbsp;Microsoft said RedVDS has been used primarily for payment diversion fraud, where attackers intercept legitimate business communications and redirect funds by impersonating trusted parties.&nbsp;Two victims joined Microsoft as co-plaintiffs: an Alabama pharmaceutical company that lost more than $7.3 million, and a Florida condominium association defrauded of nearly $500,000 in resident funds.&nbsp;Real estate transactions have been particularly vulnerable, Microsoft said.&nbsp;Generative AI tools are often paired with RedVDS services to help identify prime targets quickly and generate more authentic-appearing messages to victims, according to Masada.&nbsp;Microsoft reported finding hundreds of cases in which scammers used AI tools for face-swapping, voice cloning or video manipulation to trick victims.&nbsp;RedVDS did not respond to a request for comment.&nbsp;Microsoft estimated that <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/google-says-hackers-are-sending-extortion-emails-to-executives" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">cybercrime</a> involving RedVDS services is linked to some $40 million in US fraud losses since March of last year.&nbsp;Microsoft coordinated the legal action against RedVDS with Britain as part of a broad effort to thwart the growing trend of &quot;cybercrime-as-a-service,&quot; according to Masada.&nbsp;RedVDS provides inexpensive access to effective virtual computers running unlicensed software, allowing criminals to operate quickly, anonymously and across borders, Masada said.&nbsp;The US tech giant said the effort includes prosecutors and police in Germany, where a critical computer server used to power RedVDS was seized, according to Masada.&nbsp;Microsoft said it is also working with Europol&#39;s European Cybercrime Centre and law enforcement agencies elsewhere to disrupt the RedVDS server and payment networks.

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Artificial Intelligence

Microsoft launched coordinated legal action in the US and Britain against RedVDS, a low-cost service enabling large-scale cyber fraud, often paired with AI tools, linked to $40 million in losses and disrupted with international law enforcement support.

Microsoft disrupts cybercrime service linked to AI-enabled fraud

Web Desk

WASHINGTON: Alphabet&#39;s Google said hackers are sending extortion emails to an unspecified number of executives, claiming to have stolen sensitive data from their Oracle business applications, Reuters reported.&nbsp;In a statement, Google said a group claiming affiliation with the ransomware gang cl0p was sending emails to &quot;executives at numerous organizations claiming to have stolen sensitive data from their Oracle E-Business Suite.&quot;&nbsp;Google cautioned that it &quot;does not currently have sufficient evidence to assess the veracity of these claims definitively.&quot;&nbsp;Messages seeking comment from cl0p and Oracle were not immediately returned. Google described the email campaign as &quot;high-volume&quot; but declined to share further details. What is cl0p? Cl0p is a&nbsp;cybercriminal group notorious for targeting major corporations using advanced malware designed to encrypt files and demand ransoms for their release or deletion. In 2023, Cl0p was implicated in a widespread cyberattack exploiting vulnerabilities in MOVEit &mdash; a file transfer software widely used by companies and institutions to handle sensitive data.&nbsp; The group claimed to have accessed data from hundreds of organizations through this exploit. Prominent victims of the attack included Shell Plc, IAG SA&rsquo;s British Airways, and the BBC. In June 2023, the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued a public advisory warning about Cl0p, describing it as &quot;one of the largest distributors of phishing and malspam globally.&quot; The agency estimated that the group had breached over 3,000 organizations in the United States and more than 8,000 worldwide. With input from wires.

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Google cautions it "does not currently have sufficient evidence to assess the veracity of these claims definitively."

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Microsoft disrupts cybercrime service linked to AI-enabled fraud

Google says hackers are sending extortion emails to executives