The Mirai botnet has resurfaced. Attacks were reported over the weekend in Africa and South America, with Argentina particularly affected. Reaper, the evolved botnet based on Mirai, has yet to live up to its much-feared potential, but researchers at CenturyLink and reports in Cybrary warn that Reaper is a loaded and cocked weapon, ready to fire at the Internet.

PayPal users are receiving phishing emails warning them that their payments aren't going through. Those who swallow the bait will be directed to a page that asks them to enter their PayPal credentials and user information. (What the criminals will do with that information we leave to the readers as an exercise.)

A variant of the familiar Microsoft tech support scam displays a phony blue screen of death and then offers to sell you a cut-rate security product to solve the non-existent problem.

Google is working to clamp down on applications and websites that ask for too much information: at the end of January Mountain View will warn proprietors of apps and sites that violate Google's privacy-related terms of service. How violators will be punished beyond this good talking-to remains unclear.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is cracking down on Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) it determines to be fraudulent.

An international police operation has taken down the Andromeda botnet (a.k.a. Gamarue, Avalanche, and Wauchos) with cooperation of companies like ESET and Microsoft. Recorded Future believes the arrests, centered in Belarus, included cybercriminal "mastermind" Ar3s, a very big fish indeed.