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A Ukrainian man accused of using the Conti ransomware for cryptocurrency extortion was extradited from Ireland to the US yesterday to begin legal proceedings in Tennessee, according to the US Justice Department. Oleksii Oleksiyovych Lytvynenko was arrested and charged in 2023 for conspiring to infect people’s computers, encrypt their data, and hold it for ransom.  The 43-year-old and his co-conspirators allegedly extorted over $500,000 worth of crypto from two victims in Tennessee and shared a third victim’s stolen data online.  Lytvynenko’s alleged role involved managing the stolen data and helping out with the ransom notes given to Conti victims.  Europol bounty for Russian crypto ransomware gang wasn’t real Read more: LockBit ransomware gang sends ‘friendly advice’ to new FBI Director Kash Patel Conti is a ransomware-as-a-service tool created by Russian hacking collective “Wizard Spider” in 2019. The FBI claims that, as of January 2022, Conti ha...

Just over a year after suffering a $55 million hack, Turkish crypto exchange BtcTurk has been attacked again, this time losing tokens worth $49 million. BtcTurk has acknowledged the suspicious withdrawals via an announcement on X, assuring users that their funds will not be affected. Blockchain security firm Cyvers flagged losses across seven blockchain networks, including Ethereum, Avalanche, and various ETH L2s. ALERT$48M worth of digital assets have been detected in unusual activity across multiple chains involving Turkish exchange @btcturk About 30 minutes ago, our system detected multiple alerts across $ETH, $AVAX, $ARB, $BASE, $OP, $MANTLE, and $MATIC networks. Most funds were… pic.twitter.com/ss4a7O2hUd — Cyvers Alerts (@CyversAlerts) August 14, 2025 Read more: Crypto exchange WOO X suspends withdrawals, users hacked for $14M The stolen funds are currently spread across three addresses, identified by fellow security firm SlowMist; 0xa041 holds appro...

The US Office of Foreign Assets Control has removed the crypto mixer Tornado Cash from its sanctions list today.  The US Treasury Department claims it removed the Tornado Cash sanctions after reviewing “novel legal and policy issues” that were raised in response to sanctioning financial activity “occurring within evolving technology and legal environments.” The Treasury claims to, “remain deeply concerned about the significant state-sponsored hacking and money laundering campaign aimed at stealing, acquiring, and deploying digital assets for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the Kim regime.” OFAC ‘overstepped’ on Tornado Cash sanctions, court orders reversal Read more: Tornado Cash funds ‘at risk’ after hacker injects malicious code Indeed, the Tornado Cash website was removed from the Specially Designated Nationals List along with various crypto addresses associated with the project. Sanctions remain against Tornado...

According to a report by Hacken, almost half of the crypto hacks in 2023 occurred due to access control issues. The crypto market faced losses totaling $1.9 billion due to hacks in 2023, reflecting a significant 93.6% decline compared to 2022, primarily influenced by the Terra collapse, as per a research report from Hacken, a blockchain security auditor. Despite this decrease, analysts express concern about the dynamics of 2023, emphasizing the quantity and nature of incidents. While the scale of attacks may appear smaller than in 2022, Hacken highlighted a 14% increase in attacks over the past year, identifying access control issues as the most damaging vulnerability in 2023. “Unauthorized access to hot wallets by hackers or insiders accounted for half of all stolen funds, averaging $31 million per incident.” Hacken Other types of attacks, including rug pulls and flash loan attacks, still enriched hackers with hundreds of millions of dollars worth of crypto, as in...