Author Archives: Chris Bing

Experts warn Congress of ongoing Russian information warfare against Europe

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Russian intelligence forces are currently involved in an online disinformation campaign to undermine several crucial European elections, former Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves told lawmakers during a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing Thursday. IIves was one of four experts who spoke Thursday on Capitol Hill about Russian hacking and propaganda efforts designed to undermine The North Atlantic Treaty Organization and European Union. IIves was president of between 2006 and 2016, during a period in which Russian hackers launched a massive distributed denial of service-style attack on the country’s government agencies and private sector. “I would argue this will be the main battlefield over the next year,” IIves. “There are a number of key elections coming up among major countries … [and] in all cases we’ve seen significant meddling. The Dutch are so afraid they’ve decided to go back to paper balloting because of what might happen.” Lawmakers in Washington have […]

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WikiLeaks left key details unredacted in CIA leak

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Though editors working on behalf of WikiLeaks removed a vast majority of the technical details previously attached to CIA documents the group published on Tuesday, it appears that several documents revealed sensitive details to anyone who accessed the files, according to a confidential analysis obtained by CyberScoop. “The censoring appears to have been done by a highly knowledgeable team or individual, indicating deep knowledge into cyber espionage, opsec, ITSec and creating indicator of compromise,” Kaspersky Lab researchers wrote in a report released Wednesday. “Nevertheless some pieces of data allowed us to identify different artifacts … the editors made several mistakes by leaving behind several uncensored details.” Artifact is a term used among information security professionals to describe digital forensic evidence, which in some instances may be helpful to better understand how a breach occurred and who was responsible. Some of the artifacts found in the leaked CIA documents have given researchers […]

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Elite spies used leaked Hacking Team code to learn techniques and hide attacks

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Highly sophisticated hackers are poaching components from a leaked library of exploits originally created by infamous Italian spyware maker Hacking Team — even though tools built with this copied code could be detected by basic antivirus products. Cybersecurity experts are confounded by the decision to include this code in the elite hackers’ malware, especially given that some groups adopting the material are conceivably capable of developing more evasive and effective exploits on their own. “To be honest, it doesn’t really make much sense,” said Cylance Director of Threat Intelligence Jon Gross. “This one sort of puzzled us … while you might see the criminal underground doing this, I wouldn’t immediately suspect an APT.” A mysterious, self-described black hat hacker named Phineas Phisher breached Hacking Team in 2015 and posted a trove of internal company documents and other data online. Some of the company’s exploits — like those that can compromise more recent […]

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WikiLeaks releases supposed CIA documents detailing U.S. hacking operations

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WikiLeaks has published a cache of 8,761 files it claims provide insight into the CIA’s extensive computer hacking operations, including a description of tools and targeted technologies. In what is apparently the first in series of upcoming releases dubbed “Vault 7,” the controversial transparency organization claims that this will be the most comprehensive publication of confidential documents in CIA history. The series’ first installment is named “Year Zero.” It contains information related to dozens of supposed zero-day exploits developed for use against software and hardware created by prominent American technology firms like Apple, Google and Microsoft, among others. In theory, such capabilities would allow spies to compromise older operating systems found on iPhones and Android smartphones. WikiLeaks has yet to release any of the code behind these exploits, claiming that it will not do so “until a consensus emerges on the technical and political nature of the CIA’s program and […]

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U.S. oil and gas companies are ‘still trying to catch up’ on cybersecurity, experts say

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Digital systems and internet networks belonging to U.S. oil and gas companies have increasingly come under attack from hackers in recent years, experts tell CyberScoop. The Homeland Security Department received — between 2011 and 2015 — roughly 350 reports from domestic energy companies who were concerned about hackers probing or breaking into their systems, according to the Houston Chronicle, which cited data from the U.S. Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team (ICS-CERT). In this context, the term “incidents” refers to times people called the agency rather than actual breaches. Nearly 900 “security flaws” were discovered by DHS during that timeframe — a figure which some private sector cybersecurity experts claim appears low. Making sure that industrial control systems, or ICS, are secure has become an especially important mission for Gulf Coast oil, gas and petrochemical companies in addition to the local Coast Guard, the newspaper reported. Industrial equipment often used […]

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Shamoon 2.0 and StoneDrill are separate campaigns, but target the same country

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The complex, destructive cyberattacks launched against Saudi Arabian businesses and government organizations in recent months are likely coming from at least two separate groups with aligned interests, according to a group of cybersecurity intelligence and research professionals. Based on newly released forensic evidence unearthed by Kaspersky Lab’s Global Research and Analysis Team, data destroying malware known respectively as Shamoon 2.0 and StoneDrill has been located in computers stationed in Saudi Arabia. Beginning in Nov. 2016, researchers say there’s been three different “waves” of Shamoon 2.0 hitting computers in Saudi Arabia — executed twice in November and most recently on Jan. 23. According to the Saudi National Cyber Security Center, Shamoon 2.0 has so far infected 11 organizations. Multiple reports attribute Shamoon 2.0 to Iranian government hackers, though Kaspersky Lab does not provide attribution. “The Iranian attacks are probably a consequence of their incredibly strained relations,” said John Hultquist, iSight’s director of espionage analysis. “Tensions rose from a stampede which […]

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China looks to unseat U.S. as leader on global internet policy

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Chinese cyberspace affairs and foreign ministry officials drew a red line in the sand around the country’s internet during a speech from Beijing Thursday. A recently published, government-authored public policy paper — intended for an international audience — outlines the country’s position on internet sovereignty and cyber defenses, including an opinion that hacks into Chinese […]

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Former NSA director: It’s time to trash the federal cybersecurity hierarchy

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Former NSA Director Keith Alexander told senators Thursday that the government should undertake a massive reorganization effort that would consolidate some current cybersecurity responsibilities split between the FBI, Homeland Security Department, Defense Department and intelligence community, into a single entity. “When we talk to the agencies they don’t understand their roles and responsibilities,” said Alexander, […]

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FBI, DOJ join forces with foreign partners to bust international cybercrime ring

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More than 50 law enforcement agents based in the U.S., Bulgaria, Hungary, Germany and Israel, worked together over the last 24 hours to arrest 16 cyber criminals involved in a highly advanced, transnational cybercrime ring. From Washington, D.C., the Justice Department unsealed 19 indictments Wednesday, alleging that those arrested were involved in a sophisticated international […]

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