| CNN
cnn.com
By
Helen Regan
A prominent tycoon wanted by United States federal prosecutors for allegedly running one of Asia’s largest transnational criminal networks has been arrested and extradited to China, Cambodian authorities and Chinese state media said.
Chen Zhi, 38, a national of China and Cambodia, was extradited on Tuesday after a months-long investigation by the two countries, Cambodia’s Interior Ministry said in a statement a day later. Chen’s Cambodian citizenship had been revoked, the ministry added.
The operation was conducted at the request of the Chinese government, the ministry said, though it is unclear what charges Chen faces in China. He was arrested alongside two other Chinese nationals.
Chen is the founder and chairman of Prince Group, which bills itself as one of Cambodia’s biggest conglomerates, with investments in luxury real estate, banking services, hotels, and major construction developments.
But US federal prosecutors say his business empire was fueled by forced labor and cryptocurrency scams that conned victims the world over and at one point were allegedly earning Chen and his associates $30 million every day.
In October, the US Treasury Department and UK Foreign Office sanctioned Prince Group and dozens of its affiliates, designating them transnational criminal organizations. Chen was charged in absentia in New York with money laundering conspiracy and wire fraud conspiracy, along with several associates.
Prosecutors also seized $15 billion in cryptocurrency from Chen following a years-long investigation, in what the Justice Department said was the largest forfeiture action in its history.
Since the indictment was announced, several other jurisdictions including Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong and Taiwan announced seizures or freezes of hundreds of millions of dollars in assets linked to Chen.
CNN has reached out to lawyers representing Prince Group for comment on Chen’s arrest. Prince Group has previously denied engaging in unlawful activity, calling the allegations “baseless” and “aimed at justifying the unlawful seizure of assets,” according to a statement published on its website.
Chinese state media CCTV released footage Thursday of a handcuffed and hooded Chen being escorted from an airplane by Chinese security forces following his extradition.
“At present, Chen Zhi has been placed under compulsory criminal measures in accordance with the law, and the related cases are under further investigation,” the Ministry of Public Security said in a statement. It described Chen as “the ringleader of a major cross-border online gambling and fraud criminal syndicate.”
Chinese authorities will also issue wanted notices “for the first group of key members of the Chen Zhi criminal syndicate and will resolutely apprehend all fugitives and bring them to justice,” a ministry official said.
Cambodia has recently come under more pressure to act against the scam networks operating within its borders. In its statement, the interior ministry said Chen’s arrest was “within the scope of cooperation in combating transnational crime.”
The United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime has said the criminal networks that run the scam hubs are evolving at an unprecedented scale, despite highly publicized crackdowns last year.
“This arrest reflects sustained international pressure finally reaching a point where continued inaction became untenable for Phnom Penh,” said Jacob Sims, visiting fellow at Harvard University’s Asia Center and a transnational crime expert.
“It defused escalating Western scrutiny while aligning with Beijing’s likely preference to keep a politically sensitive case out of US and UK courts.”
What does arrest mean for US charges?
Analysts say Chen’s extradition to China will mean it is “highly unlikely” he will face justice in the US, at least in the short term. China does not have an extradition treaty with the US and the two countries are embroiled in a deepening geopolitical and economic rivalry.
“This outcome effectively shields Chen from US jurisdiction,” said Sims.
The global scam industry, much of it centered in Southeast Asia, is estimated to be worth between $50 billion and $70 billion. In 2023 it conned victims in the United States alone out of at least $10 billion dollars.
The massive industry relies on hundreds of thousands of people who have been trafficked or lured to work in heavily guarded scam compounds, where they are forced to carry out investment or romance scams known as “pig butchering,” to con ordinary people out of their life savings.
US prosecutors allege Chen and others operated at least 10 forced labor camps across Cambodia since 2015 to engage in cryptocurrency investment schemes under the threat of violence.
Authorities allege they laundered criminal proceeds through the business and bribed government officials to stay ahead of criminal investigations and raids on the compounds.
Prince Group, American and British authorities allege, was the umbrella for more than 100 shell companies and entities allegedly used to funnel laundered cash across 12 countries and territories from Singapore to St Kitts and Nevis.
Chen and others used the stolen money to buy Picasso artwork, private jets and properties in upscale neighborhoods of London, as well as supplying bribes to public officials, according to prosecutors in New York.
Analysts say Chen faces a number of outstanding legal issues in China, though the charges remain opaque and have not compelled his extradition until now.
“What is clear, however, is that Beijing has strong incentives to handle this quietly and internally, given the political sensitivities surrounding his business empire, its regional ties, and in particular, a number of reported ties to various Chinese government officials,” Sims said.
The activist website called “ICE List” was offline after a massive DDoS attack. The crash followed a leak of 4,500 federal agent names linked to the Renee Nicole Good shooting.
The website ICE List, also known as the (ICE List Wiki), was crippled by a major cyber attack after it prepared to publish the identities of thousands of federal agents in the United States, particularly those associated with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE.
The site’s founder, Netherlands-based activist Dominick Skinner, confirmed that a massive DDoS attack began flooding their servers on Tuesday evening last week.
For your information, a DDoS attack works by flooding a website with so much fake traffic that it eventually crashes. Skinner told reporters that the length and intensity of this attack suggest a deliberate, organised effort to keep the leaked information from reaching the public.
The Shooting That Sparked the Leak
According to The Daily Beast, the data at the centre of this battle was provided by a whistleblower from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The leak reportedly includes the names, personal phone numbers, and work histories of roughly 4,500 employees from ICE and Border Patrol.
Further probing revealed that the whistleblower was moved to act following the death of Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, who was fatally shot by an ICE agent in Minneapolis on January 7, 2026.
Within hours of the shooting, activists managed to identify the agent involved as Jonathan E. Ross. Skinner noted that for the whistleblower, this tragic incident was the “last straw,” leading them to hand over a dataset full of work emails, job titles, and résumé-style background info.
Identifying the Attackers
While the site is back online, Skinner observed that much of the malicious traffic appeared to originate from a bot farm in Russia. However, it is nearly impossible to track the true source, as in the world of hacking, proxies are often used to bounce signals through different countries to hide a person’s tracks. Skinner described the attack as “sophisticated,” suggesting that the attackers are highly determined to keep the names hidden.
Skinner’s team continues to operate out of the Netherlands to stay beyond the immediate reach of US authorities. Despite the crash, they remain committed to the project with plans to move to more secure servers. They plan to publish most of the names, though they intend to omit certain staff members, such as nurses or childcare workers.
digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu
DIGIBYTE
Publication 12 January 2026
The European Commission has launched a call for evidence on the upcoming European Open Digital Ecosystem Strategy - an initiative that will support EU ambitions to secure technological sovereignty.
The European Commission has launched a call for evidence on the upcoming European Open Digital Ecosystem Strategy - an initiative that will support EU ambitions to secure technological sovereignty.
A person in front of a laptop, with icons related to data analysis and open-source data hovering above.
GettyImages © Khanchit Khirisutchalual
Boosting European technological sovereignty is a key priority for the Commission with the open source sector considered particularly important to European ambitions. The Commission plans to set out a strategic approach to the open source sector in the EU and present a review of the 2020-2023 open source software strategy.
While across the EU there are thriving communities of open source developers whose work is aligned with EU digital rights and principles, European governments and companies are heavily dependent on non-EU digital technologies, hampering choice, competitiveness and creating challenges for cybersecurity. Open source software underpins 70-90% of all code in the digital economy, yet of the value generated by European open-source communities flows outside the EU, often benefiting tech giants elsewhere. With the importance of open source only growing, such as in key sectors such as high-performance computing and edge computing, a strategic approach is critical.
However, EU stakeholders face significant barriers including limited access to growth capital, and essential infrastructure. Supporting communities through research programmes alone has proven insufficient for successful scaling of open source solutions.
The forthcoming strategy will complement the forthcoming Cloud and AI Development Act and builds on successful EU initiatives such as the Next Generation Internet programme and the recently launched Digital Commons European Digital Infrastructure Consortium (EDIC).
The Commission invites input from open source communities, developers, companies, public administrations, industry, and research institutions. Stakeholders are specifically asked to identify barriers to open source adoption, demonstrate the added value of open source and share suggestions for concrete EU level measures to strengthen the ecosystem.
The final strategy, expected in Q1 2026, will establish a comprehensive framework supporting the entire open source lifecycle from development to market integration.
The consultation will close on 3 February 2026. Feedback can be submitted on the Commission Have Your Say platform.
| TechCrunch
techcrunch.com/
Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai
12:01 PM PST · January 16, 2026
Nicholas Moore pleaded guilty to stealing victims’ information from the Supreme Court and other federal government agencies, and then posting it on his Instagram @ihackthegovernment.
A hacker posted the personal data of several of his hacking victims on his Instagram account, @ihackthegovernment, according to a court document.
Last week, Nicholas Moore, 24, a resident of Springfield, Tennessee, pleaded guilty to repeatedly hacking into the U.S. Supreme Court’s electronic document filing system. At the time, there were no details about the specifics of the hacking crimes Moore was admitting to.
On Friday, a newly filled document — first spotted by Court Watch’s Seamus Hughes — revealed more details about Moore’s hacks. Per the filing, Moore hacked not only into the Supreme Court systems, but also the network of AmeriCorps, a government agency that runs stipend volunteer programs, and the systems of the Department of Veterans Affairs, which provides healthcare and welfare to military veterans.
Moore accessed those systems using stolen credentials of users who were authorized to access them. Once he gained access to those victims’ accounts, Moore accessed and stole their personal data and posted some online to his Instagram account: @ihackthegovernment.
In the case of the Supreme Court victim, identified as GS, Moore posted their name and “current and past electronic filing records.”
In the case of the AmeriCorps victim, identified as SM, Moore boasted that he had access to the organization’s servers and published the victim’s “name, date of birth, email address, home address, phone number, citizenship status, veteran status, service history, and the last four digits of his social security number.”
And, in the case of the victim at the Department of Veterans Affairs, identified as HW, Moore posted the victim’s identifiable health information “when he sent an associate a screenshot from HW’s MyHealtheVet account that identified HW and showed the medications he had been prescribed.”
According to the court document, Moore faces a maximum sentence of one year in prison and a maximum fine of $100,000.
securityweek.com
By Eduard Kovacs| January 13, 2026 (12:09 PM ET)
The law firm Fried Frank seems to be informing high-profile clients about a recent data security incident.
PMorgan Chase is informing some investors about a data breach stemming from a recent cybersecurity incident at an outside law firm. The same incident triggered a similar data breach notice from Goldman Sachs in December 2025.
The Maine Attorney General’s Office requires companies that have suffered a data breach impacting the state’s residents to submit a report and a copy of the notification letter sent to affected individuals.
JPMorgan Chase submitted such a notification to the Maine AGO on Tuesday, revealing that investors in a private equity fund have been impacted by a data breach linked to an incident at the law firm Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP.
The notification letters reveal that an “unauthorized third party” copied files from a Fried Frank shared network drive. Some of the files contained the personal information of individuals who invested in the JPMorgan fund.
The compromised information includes names, contact information, account numbers, SSNs, and passport or other government ID numbers.
JPMorgan told the Maine AGO that a total of 659 individuals are affected by the data breach.
The banking giant’s disclosure mirrors a similar warning issued by Goldman Sachs in late 2025.
According to Goldman’s notification to impacted investors, Fried Frank told the company that “based on the steps it has taken to date, it believes that any data exposed in the incident is unlikely to be distributed or used improperly”.
Both Wall Street titans highlighted that their own systems were not compromised.
Fried Frank is facing lawsuits over the data breach.
It’s unclear who is behind the intrusion. SecurityWeek has not seen any ransomware group taking credit for an attack on Fried Frank. If it was indeed a ransomware attack, the law firm may have paid a ransom, which would be consistent with its statement about the unlikely abuse of the data.
SecurityWeek has reached out to Fried Frank for additional information and will update this article if the company responds.
The Brussels Times
Tuesday, 13 January 2026
By
The Brussels Times with Belga
The AZ Monica hospital in Antwerp was targeted by a cyberattack on Tuesday, with a full-scale investigation now launched.
The hospital detected a serious IT system disruption around 6:30 am and, as a precaution, shut down its servers at both the Deurne and Antwerp campuses. It is not yet clear whether patient data has been compromised.
All scheduled procedures were postponed on Tuesday, impacting a minimum of 70 surgeries across both campuses. Seven patients were proactively transferred to another hospital.
The motives behind the cyberattack remain unknown. Unconfirmed reports within the hospital suggest the hackers may be demanding ransom, but neither the public prosecutor nor the hospital’s CEO has confirmed these claims.
Access to AZ Monica remains possible, and its emergency department is operational, albeit in a limited capacity.
However, MUG and PIT emergency services are temporarily unavailable. The hospital emphasised that its primary focus continues to be patient safety and care continuity.
