Author Archives: Shannon Vavra

Cyber Command, Microsoft take action against TrickBot botnet before Election Day

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TrickBot’s margin for success just got a lot smaller. The Pentagon’s offensive hacking arm, Cyber Command, has carried out an operation to hinder the ability of TrickBot, one of the world’s largest botnets, from attacking American targets, according to one U.S. government official who spoke to CyberScoop on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter. Microsoft also has sought to disrupt the TrickBot botnet, according to Tom Burt, the company’s corporate vice president of customer security and trust. The two operations represented distinct efforts to interrupt a pernicious threat that U.S. government officials say could be used to launch ransomware attacks against IT systems that support the voting process ahead of Election Day. Such an attack against voter registration systems, for instance, could result in confusion, delays or other uncertainties when Americans cast their ballots. As a result of the Microsoft operation, the people behind the TrickBot botnet — […]

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Researchers’ experience with Apple offers peek at ‘confusing’ vulnerability award process

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Five researchers who found 55 vulnerabilities in Apple’s online services and assets, some of which were critical vulnerabilities, received nearly $300,000 from the Silicon Valley giant Thursday – but it was a journey to get there. At first, the researchers were only paid a fraction of that, and the road to a larger payment — which appears to align more with typical Apple vulnerability research rewards — has been frustrating and confusing, according to one of the researchers involved. The experience offered a window into Apple’s relatively nascent bug bounty initiative, in its infancy compared to other major tech companies’ programs after just fully opening to the public just last year. The vulnerabilities, which the researchers investigated over the last three months, included 11 critical and 29 high-severity flaws. One would allow attackers to compromise victims’ iCloud accounts without any user interaction. Another would allow remote code execution via authorization and authentication bypass. Apple said it does not appear that […]

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Hacker-for-hire group leverages zero-days, disinformation in Middle East

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An “elusive” hacking-for-hire operation is behind a series of campaigns that exploit unknown software flaws, malicious applications, and disinformation efforts, according to BlackBerry research published Wednesday. The group, named “Baharat,” is responsible for dozens of malicious applications that have been available in the Google’s Play store and Apple’s iOS marketplace, according to the BlackBerry research. Researchers say they believe Baharat has used these applications to track surveillance targets, which are primarily located in the Middle East and South Asia, according to the report, which does not name the group’s suspected origins. Baharat’s targets could offer some clues about its clientele. Baharat has targeted government entities in the United Arab Emirates, Pakistani military officials, Sikh separatists in India, Indian business executives, and Saudi Arabian diplomats, according to a Reuters investigation. The independent journalism outlet Bellingcat also examined Baharat’s activities in 2017. BlackBerry’s findings on the mercenary group are a reminder that malicious actors who want to disguise their […]

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Chinese hackers suspected in cyber-espionage operation against Russia, India

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Chinese government-linked hackers are suspected to be behind an ongoing global cyber-espionage campaign that U.S. officials are actively tracking, CyberScoop has learned. Malicious software used in the campaign, which the departments of Defense and Homeland Security have dubbed “SlothfulMedia,” is linked with “high confidence” to the Chinese government, according to one U.S. government official. Another U.S. government source said the hackers are suspected of having ties to Beijing, while a third government official described the group as operating a concerted hacking campaign based in China. Each person spoke with CyberScoop on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. The advisory is part of a broader effort to expose foreign hacking, including from China, to help protect American companies, two of the U.S. officials said. “This was a high-value disclosure because it demonstrates China’s targeting of Russian targets,” said one U.S. government source. The revelation comes after U.S. Cyber Command, the Pentagon’s […]

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NSA director is in quarantine after potential coronavirus exposure

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The director of the U.S. National Security Agency, Gen. Paul Nakasone, has entered quarantine out of an abundance of caution after a potential exposure to the coronavirus. The news was first reported by CBS News. Nakasone has tested negative for the virus, according to CNBC. It was unclear when Nakasone’s last negative coronavirus test occurred. Nakasone’s status could raise questions about how he will be able to complete his duties as the director of the Defense Department’s foreign signals intelligence agency. Nakasone also leads Cyber Command, an offensive hacking outfit, which runs cyber-operations to disrupt and deter adversaries, including Russia, in cyberspace. The NSA and Cyber Command declined to comment on Nakasone’s health status. “As has been our policy since the start of the pandemic we don’t comment on the heath status or testing of our personnel, to include leadership,” an NSA spokesperson said. “Cyber Command and NSA maintain strict safety protocols in order to achieve our […]

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DOD, DHS expose hacking campaign in Russia, Ukraine, India, Malaysia

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The Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security are calling out an unspecified “sophisticated cyber actor” Thursday for using malware to launch cyberattacks against targets in India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Russia and Ukraine. The malware, which the military’s Cyber Command has dubbed “SlothfulMedia,” is an information-stealer capable of logging keystrokes of victims and modifying files, according to an analysis shared early with CyberScoop. The agencies shared the malware sample on the malware-sharing repository on VirusTotal Thursday afternoon. The malware “is in use in successful ongoing campaigns,” a Cyber Command spokesperson told CyberScoop. The DOD and DHS did not say what threat group or nation-state might be running the malware campaign. The report does not mention specific targets, either. It’s the latest Pentagon effort to expose malware used by well-resourced hackers around the world. Cyber Command, which first began exposing state-backed hacking campaigns by sharing malware samples with the public in 2018, has previously exposed foreign […]

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US Army combines fake hacks, natural disaster simulation to test municipal responses

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Cybersecurity experts from the U.S. military and the private sector have spent recent weeks working with two American cities to test their ability to respond during a simulated cyberattack layered with several simulated physical disruptions. The virtual exercise, which has feigned malware and ransomware attacks against targets in Charleston, S.C., and Savannah, Ga., over the last several weeks, is aimed at testing participants’ ability to defend against digital threats while simultaneously facing an array of emergency scenarios in the physical realm. While grappling with seeming malicious software attacks, participants also have needed to deal with a fictional cargo ship accident, a flood and the failure of 911 systems. The U.S. Army, alongside private sector and municipal partners, is wrapping up the exercise, known as Jack Voltaic 3.0, this week. By assessing municipal and commercial responses to such blended crises, officials aim to understand and mitigate any shortfalls in response that could impact the U.S. military’s ability to deploy out of […]

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Nigerian scammer sentenced for defrauding targets out of $1 million in office supplies

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Olumide Ogunremi, a Nigerian national, was sentenced Wednesday to three years in prison for his role in a hacking operation aimed at U.S. government employees, the Department of Justice announced Wednesday. Ogunremi, along with other alleged co-conspirators, targeted government employees with spoofed email pages that imitated U.S. government agencies’ email systems in order to steal their access credentials, prosecutors said. After government personnel visited the pages and fell for the trick, the fraudsters used the stolen usernames and passwords to then fraudulently order office products from General Services Administration vendors, according to the DOJ. The operation, which lasted from approximately July 2013 through December 2013, convinced government vendors to send office products, such as printer toner cartridges, to New Jersey. The products would then be repackaged and shipped overseas to locations controlled by Ogunremi and co-conspirators, the Justice Department said. In some cases, the co-conspirators leveraged web pages that imitated the U.S. Environmental Protection […]

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Secret Service looks to outsiders to boost financial cybercrime probes

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The U.S. Secret Service is pulling in outside expertise from the private sector and U.S. Cyber Command as it weighs changes to its investigative methods in an attempt to keep pace with international hackers. The engagement with Cyber Command, the Pentagon’s offensive cyber unit, is focused on learning from the military’s experience with transnational cybercriminals, a Secret Service official told CyberScoop. The Secret Service’s efforts to consult with private sector experts, meanwhile, is focused on specifically overhauling the agency’s investigative practices. The effort to consult with outside expertise comes as part of a recognition that the Secret Service lacks the latest techniques needed to root out financially motivated hackers. To formalize its interest in tapping into the private sector’s understanding of scammers’ latest tactics, the agency earlier this year established an advisory group composed of cybersecurity practitioners from the private sector, academia, and U.S. government, as CyberScoop first reported. Known as the Cyber Investigations Advisory Board (CIAB), the group met last week […]

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Trump officials hint at update for US maritime cybersecurity

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The White House hopes to update U.S. government’s approach to its maritime cybersecurity strategy in coming months, according to two senior administration officials. The Trump administration’s priorities are to enhance and secure the United States’ ability to project power at sea and defend against adversarial cyberattacks, two senior administration officials told reporters during a call Tuesday. The plan involves re-examining the national approach to information sharing and better emphasizing the use of operational technologies in ports, according to one senior administration official. The two officials on the call declined to reveal any specific information about the administration’s plans, saying more information would soon become available. But hackers have long targeted shipping firms and the maritime supply chain to steal data involving the U.S. government or interrupt cargo operations. Hackers using a strain of ransomware known as Ryuk compromised computer networks at a maritime transportation facility last year, disrupting operations for 30 hours, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. Nation-state hackers also have […]

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