Author Archives: Chris Bing

In the opaque world of government hacking, private firms grapple with allegiances

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Private sector cybersecurity companies are increasingly stuck with difficult decisions when it comes to publicizing research into malware. Over the past few years, nation-states have increasingly devoted time, money and man-hours to creating sophisticated weapons that wreak havoc once they are unleashed on the internet. When private companies find these nation-state tools and break them apart for examination, the dynamic gets complicated very quickly: No longer are they just trying to figure out who is responsible — they have to tiptoe around the ramifications of how a public report could impact relationships with governments around the world. Beyond merely attributing sophisticated malware, large-scale cybersecurity firms are often left with tough questions: Should those based in the United States avoid publicly releasing research on cyber-espionage campaigns if they look to be conducted by allied governments? What does a company owe its clients when handling homegrown digital threats? Do these companies have a plan of action for […]

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Trump calls Putin’s plan for investigating 2016 DNC breach an ‘incredible offer’

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In a stunning exchange Monday during a press conference between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, the former KGB agent offered to host American law enforcement officials who are currently investigating foreign meddling in U.S. elections. The proposal comes after the Department of Justice last week indicted 12 active Russian military intelligence officers for allegedly hacking the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) before selectively leaking stolen material through a collage of websites during the 2016 presidential campaign. Trump appeared to approve of the idea, calling it “an incredible offer” for members of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team to travel to Russia as part of their broad investigation into Russian interference in the elections. “[Putin] offered to have the people working on this case come and work with their investigators with respect to the 12 people,” Trump said. Putin also said he would expect “reciprocity,” with Russian investigators allowed to […]

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Russian hackers struck Clinton server hours after Trump called for emails

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On the same day that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump encouraged Russia to hack into Hillary Clinton’s emails, a group of Russian military intelligence officers began launching cyberattacks aimed at computer severs used in her personal office, based on an indictment filed by the Department of Justice. The timing, which was first made apparent through a series of criminal charges disclosed Friday against 12 Russian nationals, reveals the complex and apparently reactionary nature of the now infamous foreign hacking operation. “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,” Trump said at a press conference on July 27, 2016. “I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.” “On or about July 27, 2016, the conspirators attempted after-hours to spearphish for the first time email accounts at a domain hosted by a third-party provider and used by Clinton’s personal office,” the […]

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Justice Department charges 12 Russian intel officers in hack of DNC

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The Department of Justice has charged 12 Russian military intelligence officers for allegedly hacking into the Democratic National Committee (DNC), the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), an unnamed U.S. election technology company and individuals affiliated with Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign. The conspirators were also allegedly behind two websites that facilitated the release of hacked material, named DCLeaks.com and Guccifer 2.0. The Guccifer 2.0 blog was also tied to a social media account that was known to directly communicate with journalists, political consultants and, according to the indictment, at least one U.S. lawmaker. Friday’s announcement comes three days before President Donald Trump sits down with Russian President Vladimir Putin for diplomatic talks on a range of issues, including the Syrian conflict, the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the threat of future election meddling. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said at a press conference Friday that he had briefed Trump on the matter […]

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Lawmakers, tech vendors fight over election cybersecurity efforts

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Amid ongoing reports of foreign digital meddling in domestic elections, U.S. lawmakers are butting heads with the nation’s largest voting technology companies. Lawmakers ratcheted up the pressure Wednesday, criticizing the companies’ perceived disconnect from federal agencies and shining a spotlight on a diverse and historically unregulated industry. In emails to CyberScoop, the companies pushed back against those statements, highlighting their new and apparently ongoing partnerships with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). In December, DHS and the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) launched a non-binding, public-private working group with some of the top vendors involved, called the Sector Coordinating Council. The group is tasked with helping government and industry quietly collaborate on election security efforts. A spokesperson for Nebraska-based Elections Systems and Software (ES&S) said nothing is more important to the company  “than ensuring elections are secure and accurate, and any conjectures to the contrary are simply false.” “We welcome conversations about our practices,” the spokesperson […]

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Stolen U.S. drone documents found for sale on dark web

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Sensitive U.S. military drone blueprints and training documents were recently posted for sale on the dark web, according to Boston-based data analytics and intelligence firm Recorded Future. Analysts with Recorded Future say the stolen drone documents appear to be legitimate, having come from an airman who is currently stationed at a Nevada-based U.S. Air Force facility. The information was apparently breached through a known, outdated router vulnerability that affects a product made by computer networking company NetGear. The stolen documents include the names of active Air Force personnel in addition to other technical information, Recorded Future said. Leaks containing such information — about people involved in a specific military unit — would typically be considered a counterintelligence threat. The drone blueprints provided unclassified yet sensitive information about the MQ-9 Reaper, a drone that is currently used for both surveillance and armed combat operations by the U.S. and its allies. The MQ-9 was originally developed by defense […]

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Chinese hackers breach Cambodian government ahead of country’s general election

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In the run up to Cambodia’s general election on July 29, a hacking group tied to China has been breaking into multiple organizations that share a connection to either the country’s main opposition party, voting process or human rights movement, according to new research and additional analysis provided by U.S. cybersecurity firm FireEye. The findings — made possible through a glaring operational security mistake where hackers left their attack servers exposed on the open internet — help illustrate how governments are leaning on cyber-espionage capabilities to learn about foreign elections. FireEye collected this intelligence by directly accessing the attack servers, which weren’t protected with a password. The firm was able to identify breaches through established lines of communication that existed between the servers and victims. The hacking group in question, known as “TEMP.Periscope,” has been tied multiple times to Chinese-linked cyber operations that used a suite of unique tools to […]

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Two Democratic campaigns hit with DDoS attacks in recent months

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Hackers have launched distributed denial-of-service attacks against at least two municipal-level Democratic campaigns in 2018, according to two people familiar with the matter. These incidents, which occurred as the campaigns were focused on primary elections, were publicly unknown prior to this report. The malicious cyber-activity did not appear random, sources told CyberScoop. The attacks hit specific campaign websites at important moments, including during online fundraising periods. In another case, a website was hit while a candidate was receiving good publicity after a public speaking event. The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss privately held information, say that news of the incidents has already reached the Democrats’ largest campaigning bodies, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC). Sources said they were told about the attacks by campaign officials and not cybersecurity experts, leaving a gap in their understanding of the events. Raffi Krikorian, the […]

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DNC pushes employees, campaigns to embrace email security habits ahead of midterms

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Staffers at the Democratic National Committee are getting better at spotting phishing emails, a skill that became a top priority after Russian-linked hackers breached the DNC during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign, according to Chief Technology Officer Raffi Krikorian. Krikorian and his team have been challenging their colleagues to spot fake malicious emails. Since September of last year — primarily through a phishing simulation platform named Wombat — the DNC’s tech team has been targeting co-workers as part of a broad effort to evaluate internal cybersecurity risks. Staffers are graded on their ability to spot, report and avoid emails that in a real-world scenario might carry malware. The ongoing exercise is helping Krikorian and DNC Chief Information Security Officer Bob Lord learn how often any person in the organization is likely to click a suspicious email attachment. “People have such PTSD about what happened in 2016 that there’s a real desire to improve [security] here,” Krikorian […]

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DOJ Cyber Task Force expected to release first-ever report in late July

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The Department of Justice’s internal “Cyber-Digital Task Force,” created by Attorney General Jeff Sessions in February, will release its first-ever public report later this month at the Aspen Institute’s annual Security Forum, a department spokesperson told CyberScoop. The report is expected to detail a series of security recommendations that the government should consider to protect future U.S. elections from a myriad of different threats, including foreign hacking attempts. A statement by the DOJ previously explained that the Task Force will “prioritize its study of efforts to interfere with our elections; efforts to interfere with our critical infrastructure; the use of the Internet to spread violent ideologies and to recruit followers; the mass theft of corporate, governmental, and private information; the use of technology to avoid or frustrate law enforcement; and the mass exploitation of computers and other digital devices to attack American citizens and businesses.” When Sessions launched the group earlier this year, […]

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