This week, the FBI, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and the Department of the Treasury released a joint advisory report on HIDDEN COBRA — the cyber threat North Korea poses to cryptocurrency — and provided mitigation recommendations for addressing this ongoing threat.

Read our full article on our Subject to Inquiry blog for highlights…

For the third time in less than a month, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a major enforcement action against an international cybercriminal organization that infiltrated public and private computer networks, fundamentally compromised these systems, and sought to obtain over a billion dollars from this illicit access. This past week’s indictment, which was obtained by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, is particularly notable in that it: (1) shines a spotlight on the operations of a decade-long effort by a North Korean state sponsored cybercriminal organization to inflict monetary and reputational harm on targeted government agencies and contractors, financial institutions, cryptocurrency platforms, online casinos and entertainment industry companies; and (2) and highlights the broad array of methods utilized by this organization to evade network cybersecurity protections, exploit computer networks, and steal intellectual property and corporate secrets, while also conducting cyber-extortions, ransomware attacks, and cyber-enabled heists of bank-held funds, ATMs, and cryptocurrency. The threat posed by this organization is sufficiently acute that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and the Department of Treasury (Treasury) simultaneously released a joint advisory addressing one of the organization’s most invasive tools, the Applejeus malware, that has been used to conduct large-scale cyber-intrusions, including in this case.

This past week the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and the Department of Treasury (Treasury) released a joint advisory report on HIDDEN COBRA—the cyber threat to cryptocurrency posed by North Korea—and provided mitigation recommendations for addressing this ongoing threat. This report was issued in conjunction with the unsealing of a wide-ranging indictment by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California that charged three North Korean hackers for their participation in a broad criminal conspiracy to conduct destructive cyberattacks that targeted the financial and entertainment industries, government contractors, and government agencies, including the U.S. Departments of State and Defense.

On Feb. 15, Rep. Fiona McFarland (R-Sarasota) filed HB 969, following a press conference in which Gov. Ron DeSantis and House Speaker Chris Sprowls made clear their intent to crack down on “big tech.” A Senate companion bill is expected to be filed shortly, and the issue has support from Senate President Wilton Simpson. McGuireWoods Consulting expects a version of this bill will pass by the time Florida’s legislative session ends on April 30.

As discussed in a previous McGuireWoods alert, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published final rules that significantly amend the regulations to the Physician Self-Referral Law (Stark Law), the federal Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) and the Civil Monetary Penalties (CMP) Law. This client alert, the final in McGuireWoods’ summary series on these…

McGuireWoods has long been an avid supporter of the advancement of professional women. As part of our initiative seeking to expand the leadership of women in private equity, we are continuing our  series of profiling women leaders in private equity. We are hopeful that this series will serve to inspire other women to pursue their…

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) recently issued its annual press release summarizing fraud-related recoveries from False Claims Act (FCA) matters in the prior fiscal year. While the headline number for FY 2020 of $2.2 billion in settlements and judgments involving fraud and false claims against the government is down about $900 million from the average annual recoveries over the prior three years, a deeper look at the underlying statistics and macro trends suggests an upswing in False Claims Act matters, particularly non qui tam (whistleblower) cases, and suggests that an increase in government fraud-related recoveries are likely in future years.

Cornell Capital and Trilantic North America have acquired trustaff Management and CardioSolution, according to a news release.

As part of the transaction, the firms will also acquire Stella.ai in a plan to combine the companies to create a healthcare staffing platform with a technology-driven approach.

trustaff, based in Cincinnati, Ohio, is a provider…

On Jan. 15, 2021, a New York state court judge issued an opinion denying an insurer’s motion to dismiss a claim for coverage under a representations and warranties insurance (RWI) policy in WPP Group USA, Inc. v. RB/TDM Investors, LLC et al. More specifically, the court rejected the insurer’s argument that the claim was subject to certain exclusions under the policy and ordered the parties to proceed with discovery.

The court’s decision is interesting in several respects — not the least of which is that judicial opinions relating to RWI policies are quite rare. RWI policies are generally purchased by transactional buyers seeking to guard against misrepresentations made by sellers during the acquisition process without having to seek recourse against the sellers themselves for any potential losses. Typically, these policies provide that any disputes concerning an insurer’s coverage or payment obligations are to be resolved in confidential arbitration proceedings that do not generate public opinions. The RWI policy at issue in WPP Group, however, provided the insured with the option of bringing claims regarding the policy in either confidential arbitration or in New York state or federal courts.