Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai

Real-time cyber historian of the late capitalist era @TechCrunch. Posts about infosec, surveillance by day. 🍕, ⚽️, 🎸, 🎮 by night. 
☎️ Signal: +1 917 257 1382
💻 Keybase/Telegram: @ lorenzofb
✉️ lorenzo@techcrunch.com
Previously: VICE Motherboard, Mashable, WIRED's Danger Room.

Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierailorenzofb@infosec.exchange
2025-07-03

NEW: The ransomware gang called Hunters International says it's shutting down and giving victims free decryption tools.

“This decision was not made lightly, and we recognize the impact it has on the organizations we have interacted with," the hackers wrote.

But according to a ransomware expert, the gang may be simply rebranding to the name World Leaks, and transitioning to new infrastructure, perhaps out of fear of law enforcement.

techcrunch.com/2025/07/03/rans

Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierailorenzofb@infosec.exchange
2025-07-03

I just scrolled the "For You" tab on X and out of 40 tweets only 4 were cybersecurity related. I do follow some sports accounts but damn, it's worse than it's ever been. Just random post after random post. How is this useful to anyone?

Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai boosted:
2025-07-02
Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai boosted:
[realhackhistory@home]#realhackhistory@chaos.social
2025-07-02

A devastating weapons called computer virus - New Straits Times, 9th of August, 1986 - written by Christopher Hanson.
#hacking #history

USCIENTISTS are struggling to protect computer networks vital in areas rang -
air traffic control - against a potentially devas. tating weapon called the "computer virus."
Computer security experts in the U.S.gov. ernment said the "virus" was a high-technology equivalent of germ warfare: a destructive elec tronic code that could be inserted Into a computer's programme, possibly over a telephone line, by a secret agent, terrorist or white collar criminal.
When a computer virus attacks, it wipes out cru- cial memory data or otherwise causes high-tech equipment to behave erratically, according to the sources who spoke on condition they not be identi- fied.
They said a computer virus attack might bring a major weapons system to a standstill, throw a com- puter-guided missile off course or wipe out com. puter-stored intelligence.
"The government is concerned and we are active. ly pursuing solutions," one security official said. Computer security experts had created experi mental viruses in a bid to find defences, but there had been no breakthroughs.
Vulnerable to
physical disruption
Both the military's computer nets and the highly- automated U.S. banking system are vulnerable to "catastrophic collapse", according to a recent Georgetown University report by a group of government and private counter-terror experts.
Urging that the pace of defensive research be quickened, it said the computer virus threat was "a matter of great concern.
Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierailorenzofb@infosec.exchange
2025-07-02

Since 2017 there have been 26 stalkerware operations that were either hacked, or inadvertently exposed user and victim data (often super sensitive stuff like chat messages and pictures) online.

Spying on your loved ones is creepy and illegal. Using crappy stalkerware apps to do it makes it even worse. Please stop.

techcrunch.com/2025/07/02/hack

Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai boosted:
Zack Whittakerzackwhittaker
2025-07-02

NEW: A security bug in an Android 'stalkerware' app called Catwatchful exposed its database of 60,000+ customers — including the site's administrator.

The exposed data is now with Have I Been Pwned.

By TechCrunch's count, this is the 5th stalkerware operation exposed *this year* alone.

techcrunch.com/2025/07/02/data

Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierailorenzofb@infosec.exchange
2025-06-30

NEW: The U.S. government has taken down a sprawling North Korean government operation to infiltrate American tech companies with remote workers.

The workers stole proprietary data, cryptocurrency, and laundered money for the regime, using laptop farms and other techniques to hide their provenance.

techcrunch.com/2025/06/30/us-g

Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierailorenzofb@infosec.exchange
2025-06-30

NEW: A U.S. government report says a Mexican drug cartel hacker spied on an FBI official to identify, track, and kill informants.

The hacker also hacked into Mexico City's camera network to follow the FBI official as they met with “people of interest” for the cartel, according to the report.

techcrunch.com/2025/06/30/mexi

Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierailorenzofb@infosec.exchange
2025-06-26

NEW: U.S. and French authorities announced the arrest of five hackers allegedly part of the notorious cybercrime forum BreachForums.

U.S. accused Kai West of being behind the hacker name IntelBroker and a long series of breaches. France said it arrested four hackers suspected of running BreachForums.

techcrunch.com/2025/06/26/us-f

Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierailorenzofb@infosec.exchange
2025-06-20

NEW: Iran's government has now admitted that it took down the internet in the country, arguing that it did to protect against Israeli cyberattacks.

I spoke to two Iranians who live abroad and can't communicate with their loved ones back home because of the blackout.

"I haven’t heard from them in two days, but someone is supposed to update me. I hope everything is okay," Amir Rashidi told me.

techcrunch.com/2025/06/20/iran

Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierailorenzofb@infosec.exchange
2025-06-18

NEW: The internet has collapsed in Iran on Wednesday, with one web monitoring firm saying the country is “now in the midst of a near-total national internet blackout.”

“We can only see that the traffic dropped — the data doesn’t tell us why it dropped,” said David Belson, the head of data insight at internet infrastructure company Cloudflare.

techcrunch.com/2025/06/18/inte

Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai boosted:
Zack Whittakerzackwhittaker
2025-06-18

New: Iran’s largest crypto exchange Nobitex said it was hacked and funds drained.

Pro-Israel hacking group Predatory Sparrow claimed responsibility for the hack, which saw the group steal and destroy some $90 million in cryptocurrency from the Iranian exchange.

techcrunch.com/2025/06/18/hack

Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierailorenzofb@infosec.exchange
2025-06-17

NEW: Predatory Sparrow, a group that fashions itself as pro-Israel hacktivists, claimed to have hacked Bank Sepah, a large financial institution in Iran.

While we can't confirm that the group did indeed take down Bank Sepah, the group has in the past made credible claims over several high-profile hacks in Iran.

techcrunch.com/2025/06/17/pro-

Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai boosted:
Zack Whittakerzackwhittaker
2025-06-17

New: U.K.'s data protection watchdog has fined 23andMe for failing to protect U.K. residents’ personal and genetic data prior to its 2023 data breach. The ICO said over 150,000 U.K. residents had data stolen in the cyberattack.

23andMe's bankruptcy hearing is expected later Wednesday (corrected).

techcrunch.com/2025/06/17/uk-w

Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai boosted:
Jagmeet Singhjagmeets13
2025-06-16

Indian car-sharing marketplace Zoomcar has revealed that a hacker accessed the personal data of at least 8.4 million customers, including their names, phone numbers, and car registration numbers.

techcrunch.com/2025/06/16/car-

Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai boosted:
Zack Whittakerzackwhittaker
2025-06-13

Holy shit. AP reports that the Trump admin. provided deportation officials with personal data and immigration status on millions of Medicaid enrollees. Data includes "addresses, names, social security numbers and claims data for enrollees" in California, Illinois, Washington state and Washington DC.

apnews.com/article/medicaid-de

Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierailorenzofb@infosec.exchange
2025-06-12

NEW: Four months after releasing iOS 18.3.1, Apple has published details about a zero-day that it fixed at the time, but did not publicize.

This is the iPhone zero-day used against the two European journalists targeted with Paragon spyware, according to Citizen Lab.

It's unclear why Apple did not publish information about this zero-day until today.

techcrunch.com/2025/06/12/appl

Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierailorenzofb@infosec.exchange
2025-06-12
Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierailorenzofb@infosec.exchange
2025-06-12

UPDATE: COPASIR, the Italian parliament committee that investigated the Paragon scandal referred to a section in its report that says it could expand its inquiry, including into "the alleged mobile device intrusions disclosed by two other journalists in recent weeks."

Obviously one of those two journalists is Pellegrino. The other...I am not sure. (Can't be this new European journalist since the report was published last week).

techcrunch.com/2025/06/12/rese

Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierailorenzofb@infosec.exchange
2025-06-12

Client Info

Server: https://mastodon.social
Version: 2025.04
Repository: https://github.com/cyevgeniy/lmst