“For purposes of this United States Policy, we will consider Countries that use the VAT System, which is far more punitive than a Tariff, to be similar to that of a Tariff,” Trump wrote.

The post Trump Expands Reciprocal Tariff Policy to Include VATs, Non-Tariff Barriers appeared first on Breitbart.

Apple has resumed advertising on X for the first time since pausing ads more than a year ago, following the trend of major advertising "pausing" their spending on Elon Musk's platform due supposedly to concerns about "brand safety."

The post Apple Resumes Advertising on Elon Musk’s X After Year-Long Absence appeared first on Breitbart.

Elon Musk's X has agreed to pay approximately $10 million to settle a lawsuit filed by former President Donald Trump.

The post Elon Musk’s X to Pay Donald Trump $10 Million Settling Censorship Lawsuit appeared first on Breitbart.

In mid-March 2024, KrebsOnSecurity revealed that the founder of the personal data removal service Onerep also founded dozens of people-search companies. Shortly after that investigation was published, Mozilla said it would stop bundling Onerep with the Firefox browser and wind down its partnership with the company. But nearly a year later, Mozilla is still promoting it to Firefox users.

Mozilla offers Onerep to Firefox users on a subscription basis as part of Mozilla Monitor Plus. Launched in 2018 under the name Firefox Monitor, Mozilla Monitor also checks data from the website Have I Been Pwned? to let users know when their email addresses or password are leaked in data breaches.

The ink on that partnership agreement had barely dried before KrebsOnSecurity published a story showing that Onerep’s Belarusian CEO and founder Dimitiri Shelest launched dozens of people-search services since 2010, including a still-active data broker called Nuwber that sells background reports on people. This seemed to contradict Onerep’s stated motto, “We believe that no one should compromise personal online security and get a profit from it.”

Shelest released a lengthy statement (PDF) wherein he acknowledged maintaining an ownership stake in Nuwber, a consumer data broker he founded in 2015 — around the same time he started Onerep.

Onerep.com CEO and founder Dimitri Shelest, as pictured on the “about” page of onerep.com.

Shelest maintained that Nuwber has “zero cross-over or information-sharing with Onerep,” and said any other old domains that may be found and associated with his name are no longer being operated by him.

“I get it,” Shelest wrote. “My affiliation with a people search business may look odd from the outside. In truth, if I hadn’t taken that initial path with a deep dive into how people search sites work, Onerep wouldn’t have the best tech and team in the space. Still, I now appreciate that we did not make this more clear in the past and I’m aiming to do better in the future.”

When asked to comment on the findings, Mozilla said then that although customer data was never at risk, the outside financial interests and activities of Onerep’s CEO did not align with their values.

“We’re working now to solidify a transition plan that will provide customers with a seamless experience and will continue to put their interests first,” Mozilla said.

In October 2024, Mozilla published a statement saying the search for a different provider was taking longer than anticipated.

“While we continue to evaluate vendors, finding a technically excellent and values-aligned partner takes time,” Mozilla wrote. “While we continue this search, Onerep will remain the backend provider, ensuring that we can maintain uninterrupted services while we continue evaluating new potential partners that align more closely with Mozilla’s values and user expectations. We are conducting thorough diligence to find the right vendor.”

Asked for an update, Mozilla said the search for a replacement partner continues.

“The work’s ongoing but we haven’t found the right alternative yet,” Mozilla said in an emailed statement. “Our customers’ data remains safe, and since the product provides a lot of value to our subscribers, we’ll continue to offer it during this process.”

It’s a win-win for Mozilla that they’ve received accolades for their principled response while continuing to partner with Onerep almost a year later. But if it takes so long to find a suitable replacement, what does that say about the personal data removal industry itself?

Onerep appears to be working in partnership with another problematic people-search service: Radaris, which has a history of ignoring opt-out requests or failing to honor them. A week before breaking the story about Onerep, KrebsOnSecurity published research showing the co-founders of Radaris were two native Russian brothers who’d built a vast network of affiliate marketing programs and consumer data broker services.

Lawyers for the Radaris co-founders threatened to sue KrebsOnSecurity unless that story was retracted in full, claiming the founders were in fact Ukrainian and that our reporting had defamed the brothers by associating them with the actions of Radaris. Instead, we published a follow-up investigation which showed that not only did the brothers from Russia create Radaris, for many years they issued press releases quoting a fictitious CEO seeking money from investors.

Several readers have shared emails they received from Radaris after attempting to remove their personal data, and those messages show Radaris has been promoting Onerep.

An email from Radaris promoting Onerep.

The New York State Department of Health issued a health advisory Wednesday about the emergence of a new strain of mpox (formerly monkeypox).

The first case of mpox clade Ib in New York State was confirmed in a symptomatic individual who had recently traveled from Africa.

The present risk to the public remains low, the department noted, and there are no additional known community cases of this strain in New York State currently.

IS MPOX THE NEXT COVID? INFECTIOUS DISEASE EXPERTS ADDRESS PANDEMIC POTENTIAL

State Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald shared that the infected individual is under the care of a physician and isolated "until the full resolution of symptoms."

"There is no known local transmission of mpox clade Ib in the community where the individual lives or anywhere within New York State," he said in a statement.

McDonald added that the JYNNEOS vaccine, which is a two-dose preventative vaccine series for mpox, is "expected to be effective" against this new strain.

"[It is] available for individuals at risk with the standing order I signed last year," he noted. "There is no immediate risk to the general public."

For more Health articles, visit www.foxnews.com/health

The health department added in its advisory that individuals should inquire with their local pharmacy or healthcare provider about vaccine availability as they continue to "monitor and maintain the situation."

Mpox is "rarely fatal," according to the department, but can be dangerous for people with immunocompromising conditions, as well as older adults, young children and pregnant women.

Symptoms can include rashes that progress to "painful skin lesions," in addition to swollen lymph nodes, fever, sore throat, headaches, back pain, low energy and muscle aches, the department listed.

There is a "high likelihood of transmission" until these lesions scab over, which means infected individuals are encouraged to isolate until new skin forms at the lesion site.

Mpox can spread through close, intimate contact with sores, scabs or rashes, the department stated, as well as through the respiratory droplets, saliva or mucus of an infected person.

Those who plan to travel to areas with reported cases of mpox should consider being vaccinated with the two doses of JYNNEOS, experts recommend.

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Dr. Myles Druckman, global medical director at International SOS in California, told Fox News Digital that there have been reports of this strain in several countries in Central and Eastern Africa.

"We’re finding that other countries have also reported travel-associated cases of clade I, including Belgium, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Oman, Pakistan, South Sudan, Sweden, Thailand, the United Kingdom and Zimbabwe," he noted.

"It's important to recognize that cases of this strain are expected due to the ongoing outbreak in multiple countries and the risks associated with global travel."

Mpox can be infectious for up to four days before symptoms occur, but it is most contagious from the time symptoms appear until about two to four weeks later, according to Druckman.

The expert emphasized that vaccination is recommended for high-risk individuals, such as healthcare workers with high exposure or people with weakened immune systems.

"Prevention of mpox is mainly through vaccination and avoiding skin-to-skin contact with others – especially those with symptoms or visible outbreaks – and observing good personal hygiene and washing hands well and frequently," he added.

Red Seat Ventures, which hosts the likes of former Fox News stars Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly and popular true crime podcasts, has been acquired by Rupert Murdoch's Fox.

The post Rupert Murdoch’s Fox Acquires Podcast Network of Former Fox News Stars Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly appeared first on Breitbart.

Rapper and fashion mogul Kanye West deactivated his X account on Sunday following a three-day long posting spree.

The post Kanye West Deactivates X Account Following Wild Posting Frenzy, Thanks the Public for ‘Participating In This Social Experiment’ appeared first on Breitbart.

Actress Hannah Einbinder -- who stars in the HBO Max series "Hacks" -- delivered a climate change lecture during her acceptance speech at the Critics Choice Awards in Santa Monica on Friday, pointing the finger of blame directly at oil and gas companies.

The post HBO’s ‘Hacks’ Star Hannah Einbinder Delivers Climate Alarmism Lecture: ‘Really Dark Era of Climate Denial’ appeared first on Breitbart.

Laverne Cox, a transgender actor and star of Amazon Prime Video’s newest comedy "Clean Slate," claims America is "going backwards in so many ways" and says it's going to take people rising up to fight President's Donald Trump's agenda, including an executive order protecting minors from sex change drugs and surgeries. 

The post Amazon’s ‘Clean Slate’ Star Laverne Cox: ‘Trans Identity Is Being Criminalized in This Country’ appeared first on Breitbart.

The FBI joined authorities across Europe last week in seizing domain names for Cracked and Nulled, English-language cybercrime forums with millions of users that trafficked in stolen data, hacking tools and malware. An investigation into the history of these communities shows their apparent co-founders quite openly operate an Internet service provider and a pair of e-commerce platforms catering to buyers and sellers on both forums.

In this 2019 post from Cracked, a forum moderator told the author of the post (Buddie) that the owner of the RDP service was the founder of Nulled, a.k.a. “Finndev.” Image: Ke-la.com.

On Jan. 30, the U.S. Department of Justice said it seized eight domain names that were used to operate Cracked, a cybercrime forum that sprang up in 2018 and attracted more than four million users. The DOJ said the law enforcement action, dubbed Operation Talent, also seized domains tied to Sellix, Cracked’s payment processor.

In addition, the government seized the domain names for two popular anonymity services that were heavily advertised on Cracked and Nulled and allowed customers to rent virtual servers: StarkRDP[.]io, and rdp[.]sh.

Those archived webpages show both RDP services were owned by an entity called 1337 Services Gmbh. According to corporate records compiled by Northdata.com, 1337 Services GmbH is also known as AS210558 and is incorporated in Hamburg, Germany.

The Cracked forum administrator went by the nicknames “FlorainN” and “StarkRDP” on multiple cybercrime forums. Meanwhile, a LinkedIn profile for a Florian M. from Germany refers to this person as the co-founder of Sellix and founder of 1337 Services GmbH.

Northdata’s business profile for 1337 Services GmbH shows the company is controlled by two individuals: 32-year-old Florian Marzahl and Finn Alexander Grimpe, 28.

An organization chart showing the owners of 1337 Services GmbH as Florian Marzahl and Finn Grimpe. Image: Northdata.com.

Neither Marzahl nor Grimpe responded to requests for comment. But Grimpe’s first name is interesting because it corresponds to the nickname chosen by the founder of Nulled, who goes by the monikers “Finn” and “Finndev.” NorthData reveals that Grimpe was the founder of a German entity called DreamDrive GmbH, which rented out high-end sports cars and motorcycles.

According to the cyber intelligence firm Intel 471, a user named Finndev registered on multiple cybercrime forums, including Raidforums [seized by the FBI in 2022], Void[.]to, and vDOS, a DDoS-for-hire service that was shut down in 2016 after its founders were arrested.

The email address used for those accounts was f.grimpe@gmail.com. DomainTools.com reports f.grimpe@gmail.com was used to register at least nine domain names, including nulled[.]lol and nulled[.]it. Neither of these domains were among those seized in Operation Talent.

Intel471 finds the user FlorainN registered across multiple cybercrime forums using the email address olivia.messla@outlook.de. The breach tracking service Constella Intelligence says this email address used the same password (and slight variations of it) across many accounts online — including at hacker forums — and that the same password was used in connection with dozens of other email addresses, such as florianmarzahl@hotmail.de, and fmarzahl137@gmail.com.

The Justice Department said the Nulled marketplace had more than five million members, and has been selling stolen login credentials, stolen identification documents and hacking services, as well as tools for carrying out cybercrime and fraud, since 2016.

Perhaps fittingly, both Cracked and Nulled have been hacked over the years, exposing countless private messages between forum users. A review of those messages archived by Intel 471 showed that dozens of early forum members referred privately to Finndev as the owner of shoppy[.]gg, an e-commerce platform that caters to the same clientele as Sellix.

Shoppy was not targeted as part of Operation Talent, and its website remains online. Northdata reports that Shoppy’s business name — Shoppy Ecommerce Ltd. — is registered at an address in Gan-Ner, Israel, but there is no ownership information about this entity. Shoppy did not respond to requests for comment.

Constella found that a user named Shoppy registered on Cracked in 2019 using the email address finn@shoppy[.]gg. Constella says that email address is tied to a Twitter/X account for Shoppy Ecommerce in Israel.

The DOJ said one of the alleged administrators of Nulled, a 29-year-old Argentinian national named Lucas Sohn, was arrested in Spain. The government has not announced any other arrests or charges associated with Operation Talent.

Indeed, both StarkRDP and FloraiN have posted to their accounts on Telegram that there were no charges levied against the proprietors of 1337 Services GmbH. FlorainN told former customers they were in the process of moving to a new name and domain for StarkRDP, where existing accounts and balances would be transferred.

“StarkRDP has always been operating by the law and is not involved in any of these alleged crimes and the legal process will confirm this,” the StarkRDP Telegram account wrote on January 30. “All of your servers are safe and they have not been collected in this operation. The only things that were seized is the website server and our domain. Unfortunately, no one can tell who took it and with whom we can talk about it. Therefore, we will restart operation soon, under a different name, to close the chapter [of] ‘StarkRDP.'”

The FBI and authorities in The Netherlands this week seized dozens of servers and domains for a hugely popular spam and malware dissemination service operating out of Pakistan. The proprietors of the service, who use the collective nickname “The Manipulaters,” have been the subject of three stories published here since 2015. The FBI said the main clientele are organized crime groups that try to trick victim companies into making payments to a third party.

One of several current Fudtools sites run by the principals of The Manipulators.

On January 29, the FBI and the Dutch national police seized the technical infrastructure for a cybercrime service marketed under the brands Heartsender, Fudpage and Fudtools (and many other “fud” variations). The “fud” bit stands for “Fully Un-Detectable,” and it refers to cybercrime resources that will evade detection by security tools like antivirus software or anti-spam appliances.

The Dutch authorities said 39 servers and domains abroad were seized, and that the servers contained millions of records from victims worldwide — including at least 100,000 records pertaining to Dutch citizens.

A statement from the U.S. Department of Justice refers to the cybercrime group as Saim Raza, after a pseudonym The Manipulaters communally used to promote their spam, malware and phishing services on social media.

“The Saim Raza-run websites operated as marketplaces that advertised and facilitated the sale of tools such as phishing kits, scam pages and email extractors often used to build and maintain fraud operations,” the DOJ explained.

The core Manipulaters product is Heartsender, a spam delivery service whose homepage openly advertised phishing kits targeting users of various Internet companies, including Microsoft 365, Yahoo, AOL, Intuit, iCloud and ID.me, to name a few.

The government says transnational organized crime groups that purchased these services primarily used them to run business email compromise (BEC) schemes, wherein the cybercrime actors tricked victim companies into making payments to a third party.

“Those payments would instead be redirected to a financial account the perpetrators controlled, resulting in significant losses to victims,” the DOJ wrote. “These tools were also used to acquire victim user credentials and utilize those credentials to further these fraudulent schemes. The seizure of these domains is intended to disrupt the ongoing activity of these groups and stop the proliferation of these tools within the cybercriminal community.”

Manipulaters advertisement for “Office 365 Private Page with Antibot” phishing kit sold via Heartsender. “Antibot” refers to functionality that attempts to evade automated detection techniques, keeping a phish deployed and accessible as long as possible. Image: DomainTools.

KrebsOnSecurity first wrote about The Manipulaters in May 2015, mainly because their ads at the time were blanketing a number of popular cybercrime forums, and because they were fairly open and brazen about what they were doing — even who they were in real life.

We caught up with The Manipulaters again in 2021, with a story that found the core employees had started a web coding company in Lahore called WeCodeSolutions — presumably as a way to account for their considerable Heartsender income. That piece examined how WeCodeSolutions employees had all doxed themselves on Facebook by posting pictures from company parties each year featuring a large cake with the words FudCo written in icing.

A follow-up story last year about The Manipulaters prompted messages from various WeCodeSolutions employees who pleaded with this publication to remove stories about them. The Saim Raza identity told KrebsOnSecurity they were recently released from jail after being arrested and charged by local police, although they declined to elaborate on the charges.

The Manipulaters never seemed to care much about protecting their own identities, so it’s not surprising that they were unable or unwilling to protect their own customers. In an analysis released last year, DomainTools.com found the web-hosted version of Heartsender leaked an extraordinary amount of user information to unauthenticated users, including customer credentials and email records from Heartsender employees.

Almost every year since their founding, The Manipulaters have posted a picture of a FudCo cake from a company party celebrating its anniversary.

DomainTools also uncovered evidence that the computers used by The Manipulaters were all infected with the same password-stealing malware, and that vast numbers of credentials were stolen from the group and sold online.

“Ironically, the Manipulaters may create more short-term risk to their own customers than law enforcement,” DomainTools wrote. “The data table ‘User Feedbacks’ (sic) exposes what appear to be customer authentication tokens, user identifiers, and even a customer support request that exposes root-level SMTP credentials–all visible by an unauthenticated user on a Manipulaters-controlled domain.”

Police in The Netherlands said the investigation into the owners and customers of the service is ongoing.

“The Cybercrime Team is on the trail of a number of buyers of the tools,” the Dutch national police said. “Presumably, these buyers also include Dutch nationals. The investigation into the makers and buyers of this phishing software has not yet been completed with the seizure of the servers and domains.”

U.S. authorities this week also joined law enforcement in Australia, France, Greece, Italy, Romania and Spain in seizing a number of domains for several long-running cybercrime forums and services, including Cracked and Nulled. According to a statement from the European police agency Europol, the two communities attracted more than 10 million users in total.

Other domains seized as part of “Operation Talent” included Sellix, an e-commerce platform that was frequently used by cybercrime forum members to buy and sell illicit goods and services.