“Two of the largest dark web marketplaces have been shut down following a ‘landmark’ international law enforcement investigation. The AlphaBay and Hansa sites had been associated with the trade in illicit items such as drugs, weapons, malware and stolen data. Police in the US and Europe collaborated on the operation.

“There’s a spread of damages that Lloyds forsees. The best-case scenario for such a hack, if every company has robust backups and an intelligent security team, would see $4.6 billion in damages, resulting from lost work time and stolen company data. The worst-case scenario has damages pegged at $121 billion.

“The Army Research Lab is turning more of its attention to fighting land wars against far more technologically sophisticated adversaries than it has in the past several decades. In the coming months, the Lab will fund new programs related to highly (but not fully) autonomous drones and robots that can

“As part of its ongoing Vault 7 leaks, the whistleblower organisation WikiLeaks today revealed about a CIA contractor responsible for analysing advanced malware and hacking techniques being used in the wild by cyber criminals.” Source: WikiLeaks Reveals CIA Teams Up With Tech to Collect Ideas For Malware Development

“FedEx said that it may not be able to recover all the systems affected by the Petya cyberattack and that the financial hit is unknown but ‘it is likely that it will be material’ since the company didn’t have cyber insurance.” Source: FedEx said TNT Petya attack financial hit will

“WhatsApp users in China have reported problems with the messaging app sparking fears the service could have been blocked by authorities following Liu Xiaobo’s death in prison. “ Source: WhatsApp censorship fears as app features blocked in China

“The Department of Justice announced indictments against two Iranians for hacking a software company in Vermont.” Source: Justice Department: 2 Iranians charged with hacking into Vermont software companies

“U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer says New York state’s power plants are vulnerable to cyberattacks and that Washington must do more to ensure their security. The Democrat said Wednesday that he has written to the secretaries of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Energy seeking an update

“Social media giants like Facebook and Google will face new laws to compel them to help Australian security agencies get access to encrypted messages from suspected terrorists and other criminals. Key points: George Brandis says laws will help with investigations into paedophile networks, organised crime Security expert warns against ‘building

“Russia now appears to be using Ukraine as more than a testing ground for cyberwar — it is demonstrating its ability to disrupt faith in public institutions. While the resulting crises after a cyber-event risk inadvertent escalation, the real danger is the erosion of cyber norms. With each new cyber-disruption,