ThreatList: Fewer Big DDoS Attacks in Q3, Overall Rate Holds Steady
Meanwhile, Saturday now is the most “dangerous” day of the week for DDoS attacks. Continue reading ThreatList: Fewer Big DDoS Attacks in Q3, Overall Rate Holds Steady
Category Archives: Kaspersky Lab
ThreatList: Attacks on Industrial Control Systems on the Rise
The main source of infection on industrial control systems was the internet, researchers at Kaspersky Lab found in a new report. Continue reading ThreatList: Attacks on Industrial Control Systems on the Rise
NSA official: Foreign hackers have ‘pummeled’ U.S. by stealing IP
Hackers sponsored by foreign governments have chipped away at the United States’ global economic advantage through a steady campaign of intellectual property theft, according to a top National Security Agency official. “It pains me to see the core of how we’ve defined ourselves over the last century” – in terms of innovation and intellectual property – “be continuously pummeled by external nation-state and non-nation-state-sponsored malicious cyber activity,” NSA Deputy Director George Barnes said Tuesday at the Intelligence and National Security Summit (INSA) in National Harbor, Md. Rather than one, devastating cyberattack, Barnes said there has been a “slow drop” of “continual theft of intellectual property from our industries.” Former NSA director Keith Alexander has repeatedly called the theft of U.S. intellectual property “the greatest transfer of wealth in history.” In a New York Times op-ed last year, Alexander and Dennis Blair, a former Director of National Intelligence, said such theft costs the U.S. $600 billion per year. […]
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BusyGasper Malware Packs a Simple but Potent Punch
BusyGasper is rudimentary spyware with a bevy of novel twists that is highly effective at collecting and exfiltrating data from Android phones. Continue reading BusyGasper Malware Packs a Simple but Potent Punch
ThreatList: Financial-Themed Phishing Hooks Targets in Q2
In addition to traditional phishing, fraudulent cryptocurrency offers pose a rising trend. Continue reading ThreatList: Financial-Themed Phishing Hooks Targets in Q2
Economic cyber-espionage is here to stay, U.S. counterintelligence report says
A new report from a U.S. counterintelligence agency details persistent efforts by China, Iran, and Russia to steal U.S. trade secrets, warns that those campaigns are here to stay and raises concerns about the software supply chain as a vector for economic espionage. China, Iran, and Russia are “three of the most capable and active cyber actors tied to economic espionage,” and they will “remain aggressive and capable collectors of sensitive U.S. economic information and technologies, particularly in cyberspace,” the report from the National Counterintelligence and Security Center (NCSC) states. Last year was a “watershed” year in public reporting of big software supply-chain operations, with seven incidents reported compared to just four between 2014 and 2016, according to the NCSC, which is part of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI). The counterintelligence agency cites the seminal NotPetya attack, which U.S. officials blamed on Moscow, and the CCleaner backdoor, which […]
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DHS chief: We’re cracking down on hackers more than Obama did
The U.S. government is trying to more effectively deter cyberattacks by imposing clear consequences on nation-state-linked hackers, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said Thursday, casting the Trump administration as tougher on the issue than the Obama administration. “This is one of those areas where deterrence has to be clear,” Nielsen said Thursday at a Capitol Hill security event. “We will no longer stand by while nation-states attack the government or our private sector entities.” “For so long, we’ve had these attacks, it’s taken us over a year to attribute it in some cases,” she said. “Then you attribute it, nothing happens.” Under both presidential administrations, the U.S. has clamped down on hackers linked with the Chinese, Russian, and Iranian governments through indictments and sanctions. In 2014, Obama’s Department of Justice brought the first U.S. charges of cyber-espionage against a nation-state with the indictment of five Chinese military officers. In March, Trump’s DOJ indicted nine Iranian […]
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Olympic Destroyer Returns to Target Biochemical Labs
The threat actors appear to be in a reconnaissance phase, which could be a prelude to a larger cyber-sabotage attack meant to destroy and paralyze infrastructure. Continue reading Olympic Destroyer Returns to Target Biochemical Labs
Senate bill hopes to sort out supply-chain cybersecurity risks, prevent next Kaspersky drama
A new bipartisan Senate bill would try to get to the bottom of supply chain risks by setting up a new federal acquisition council that would include representation from the intelligence community and Defense Department. The goal of the bill is to help streamline coordination between agencies so that the government can avoid buying technology that’s bugged by foreign spies. The “Federal Acquisition Supply Chain Security Act” was introduced Tuesday by Sens. James Lankford, R-Okla., and Claire McCaskill, D-Mo. It tasks agencies across the government with creating a strategy to tackle supply chain threats embedded in federally procured technology systems. If a malicious piece of equipment enters the supply chain of government agencies, experts say it could be used for espionage or more destructive purposes. The announcement comes after a year in which top officials have repeatedly grappled with national security concerns surrounding Moscow-based Kaspersky Lab, an anti-virus software maker that […]
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This Chinese hacking group pwned a bunch of Mongolian government sites
A Chinese hacking group broke into a national data center in Mongolia late last year in an expansive cyber-espionage campaign that allowed the attackers to quietly plant malware into government websites, according to a new research report by Kaspersky Lab and supplemental analysis provided to CyberScoop. According to Kaspersky’s latest research, a known Chinese hacking group used watering hole-style attacks and spear phishing emails to breach specific employees of the Mongolian data center. After gaining individual access, they leveraged those accounts to gain additional control over the facility’s infrastructure. The episode began around October 2017. It was discovered by Kaspersky in March 2018. The Chinese speaking group that’s responsible is widely linked to Beijing. It’s tracked by the cybersecurity community under different names, including APT27, EmissaryPanda, IronPanda and LuckyMouse. They’ve been known to also target U.S. defense contractors. The Kaspersky report does not list Mongolia as the victim, but instead […]
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