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Congress again wants the State Department to pay more attention to the internet

Posted on January 25, 2019 by Jeff Stone

Prominent House members are again seeking to create a high-level position within the State Department dedicated to advancing U.S. cybersecurity interests worldwide. The Cyber Diplomacy Act would require the department to open an Office of International Cyberspace Policy, whose top official would report directly to the secretary of State or deputy secretary of State. The office’s primary goals would be to advocate democratic ideals for cyberspace and push back against Russian and Chinese effects to “extort more control and censorship over the internet,” say the bill’s sponsors, House Foreign Affairs Chairman Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., and Michael McCaul, R-Texas, the panel’s ranking member. The legislation closely resembles a bill passed by the House and approved by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 2018. That version only specified that the head of the new office should be designated an assistant secretary of State. It also called for the office to have a broader purview that included the “digital economy.” The proposals surfaced last Congress after then-Secretary […]

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Two suspected Russian hacking groups share tools and techniques, Kaspersky says

Posted on January 24, 2019 by Jeff Stone

Multiple groups of suspected Russian hackers have a relationship with one another that includes sharing malicious software code and hacking techniques, according to new research. The Moscow-based security vendor Kaspersky Lab on Thursday released findings tying the espionage group GreyEnergy with Zebrocy. Zebrocy is the name researchers have given to a group affiliated with suspected Russian military hackers known as Sofacy (or Fancy Bear, or APT 28), the alleged perpetrator in the hacking the Democratic National Committee in 2016. Both groups used the same command-and-control servers — the infrastructure that allows hackers to maintain communications with compromised machines — to simultaneously to target the same organization, according to Kaspersky. They also sent similar phishing emails disguised as messages from the Ministry of the Republic of Kazakhstan within one week. Our research confirms #GreyEnergy and #Zebrocy shared the C2 server infrastructure and both targeted the same organization almost at the same time. It […]

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From the NSA to Silicon Valley, a new kind of encryption is going commercial

Posted on January 22, 2019 by Jeff Stone

Encryption as we know it is on the brink of a major advancement: Mathematics teams at IBM, Intel, Microsoft and a range of startup firms are pushing ahead with research that could make it possible for technology companies to encrypt data while it’s in use. This kind of security, known as homomorphic encryption, would mark a significant upgrade over current forms of encryption, which secure data while it’s stored or while it’s moving through a connection. Homomorphic encryption would better protect users who are using internet searches and accessing stored credit numbers as well as businesses that are sharing proprietary data as part of information sharing programs. The protocol was developed in part by U.S. National Security Agency researchers looking for a way to quickly search or transmit classified material without sacrificing security. It’s since become the focus of security-minded investors. “We think that whoever cracks homomorphic encryption is going […]

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Accused ‘Methbot’ ringleader extradited to U.S.

Posted on January 18, 2019 by Jeff Stone

The accused ringleader of “Methbot,” an alleged digital ad fraud scheme, is scheduled to appear in Brooklyn court Friday to be arraigned on charges related to defrauding companies out of tens of millions of dollars. Aleksandr Zhukov, a 38-year-old Russian national, was extradited to the U.S. from Bulgaria Thursday, according to a spokesman for the Eastern District of New York. Zhukov is the lead defendant in the case, in which he and four other men are accused of renting more than 1,900 computer servers to simulate humans viewing ads on fabricated web pages. The group developed relationships with ad networks, which paid the Methbot group roughly $7 million in the fraud scheme, prosecutors said in a November indictment. Zhukov worked as the CEO of that group, described in the indictment as “Ad Network #1,” and directed roughly $5.4 million from one account into a corporate account located in New Zealand, prosecutors […]

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Sneaky motion-detection feature found on Android malware

Posted on January 18, 2019 by Jeff Stone

A strain of malicious software was activated on Android smartphones only when the infected phone was moved, according to research published by security vendor Trend Micro. The malware came embedded in seemingly legitimate apps Currency Converter and BatterySaverMobi, which were available in the Google Play Store, Trend Micro said Thursday. Once downloaded, the malware sought to avoid detection by monitoring the motion sensor on victims’ devices. The logic seems to be that if a hacked phone was moving, the device probably wasn’t a research tool being used by a security company trying to detect malware, researchers said. “As a user moves, their device usually generates some amount of motion sensor data,” the company explained in a blog post. “The malware developer is assuming that the sandbox for scanning malware is an emulator with no motion sensors, and as such will not create that type of data. … If it senses that […]

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Nearly 773 million email addresses leaked, spelling trouble for people who re-use passwords

Posted on January 17, 2019 by Jeff Stone

The numbers just seem to keep getting bigger. Nearly 773 million email addresses and almost 22 million unique passwords were discovered on the cloud storage service MEGA, researcher Troy Hunt announced in a blog post Thursday. The 87-gigabyte database is spread across 12,000 files and appears to have originated from many different sources dating back to 2008, Hunt said. Some 140 million email addresses and 10 million passwords are new to Hunt’s Have I Been Pwned website, the free service that tracks whether user credentials have been made available in data dumps. Users can enter their email address in the Have I Been Pwned service to check if their information was included. The data, since removed, is known as Collection #1. “What I can say is that my own personal data is in there and it’s accurate; right email address and a password I used many years ago,” Hunt wrote. […]

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Cybercriminals ‘hide in plain sight’ to shake down West African financial players

Posted on January 17, 2019 by Jeff Stone

Cybercriminals are using a combination of hacking techniques to target financial institutions throughout West Africa, according to research published Thursday by Symantec. Firms in Cameroon, Congo, Ghana, Equatorial Guinea and Ivory Coast have been hit with cyberattacks that combine known forms of malicious software with “living off the land” techniques to infiltrate organizations. “Living off the land” is industry jargon that refers to hackers’ exploitation of otherwise benign tools already installed on a computer. In this case, attackers used PowerShell scripts, remote desktop protocols and Microsoft administration tools in gaining access to their targets, researchers found. Symantec identified four types of such cyberattacks but did not attribute them to any specific hacking group. Instead it described the research as an example the globalization of cybercrime. “Until now, Symantec has seen relatively little evidence of these kinds of attacks against the financial sector,” the company said in a blog post. “However, it now appears […]

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System restore: How stressed security bosses unwind from the daily grind

Posted on January 16, 2019 by Jeff Stone

Nothing will take your mind off work like reading about humanity’s possible extinction. Just ask Jim Motes. As the chief information security officer for video game retailer GameStop, Motes spends most of his daylight hours thinking about new security training techniques, which emerging technologies offer the best return on investment and how to automate as many tasks as possible. When it’s time to decompress after a long day, though, Motes chills out by reading books like “Our Final Invention.” The nonfiction book by James Barrat examines quantum computing, artificial intelligence and the possible implications for mankind should the singularity become a reality. “The assessment is that if a quantum computer becomes sentient, it would take about 30 days before it decided it didn’t need humans anymore,” Motes said. “It’s interesting, but maybe I’m weird.” Not weird at all. Cybersecurity professionals are saddled with stress, thanks to a desperate shortage of […]

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Huawei’s reclusive founder emerges to deny espionage allegations, flatter Trump

Posted on January 15, 2019 by Jeff Stone

Ren Zhengfei, the billionaire founder of Chinese telecommunication giant Huawei, has denied that the Chinese government uses his company to conduct espionage. In his first interview with foreign media in nearly four years, Ren told reporters Huawei does not have regular contact with Beijing and that he would decline any request to provide sensitive information about the company’s clients. Ren’s defense of Huawei coincides with recent arrest of his daughter, Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou, for allegedly violating U.S. sanctions. Western lawmakers and intelligence officials have long warned Huawei represents a possible national security threat. “I love my country, I support the Communist Party. But I will not do anything to harm the world,” said Ren. “I don’t see a close connection between my personal political beliefs and the business of Huawei.” Ren, 74, is a former People’s Liberation Army officer who founded Huawei in 1987. The company started as […]

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