Poland implicates Russia in cyberattack, info op aimed at undercutting U.S. relations

Polish security services on Thursday suggested the Russian government could be behind a cyberattack against an elite Polish military academy and an ensuing effort to undermine U.S.-Polish relations. Stanislaw Zaryn, a spokesman for Minister-Special Services Coordinator, which oversees Polish security agencies, announced that hackers had breached the website of Poland’s War Studies University. The attack was followed by a disinformation campaign, Zaryn said, in which attackers posted a letter where the head of the university purportedly described the U.S. troop presence in Poland as an “American occupation.” The fake letter was picked up by at least three Polish websites, one with a history of pushing disinformation, Polish officials said. Poland’s government did not conclusively blame the Russian government for the information operation. However,  Zaryn said the effort, apparently meant to sow discord between the U.S. and a key ally in Central Europe, would be “congruent with disinformation activities carried out by the Russian Federation against Poland.” “Poland’s special services are […]

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Inside the NSA’s CDX, a high-tech competition pitting cadets against elite attackers

Professional hackers from the NSA, U.S. Cyber Command and foreign militaries are launching a barrage of simulated cyberattacks this week as part of a training exercise to help teach students at the service academies for the Navy, Army, Coast Guard, U.S. Merchant Marine and Canadian Royal Military how to better defend sensitive computer networks. The annual NSA-led event, named the Cybersecurity Defense Exercise, or CDX, brings together rising talent with seasoned cyber-warriors in a simulated war games environment, where the undergraduates must monitor, identify and ultimately defend against a wide array of remote computer intrusions. The intrusions themselves are engineered with open-source, commercially available exploits and other hacking tools. “We don’t use anything homegrown,” said CDX Technical Lead James Titcomb, a full-time NSA employee in the spy agency’s information assurance directorate. “We don’t hit them with anything on the level of a nation-state,” Titcomb said. “The idea is that they should […]

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Inside the NSA’s CDX, a high-tech competition pitting cadets against elite attackers

Professional hackers from the NSA, U.S. Cyber Command and foreign militaries are launching a barrage of simulated cyberattacks this week as part of a training exercise to help teach students at the service academies for the Navy, Army, Coast Guard, U.S. Merchant Marine and Canadian Royal Military how to better defend sensitive computer networks. The annual NSA-led event, named the Cybersecurity Defense Exercise, or CDX, brings together rising talent with seasoned cyber-warriors in a simulated war games environment, where the undergraduates must monitor, identify and ultimately defend against a wide array of remote computer intrusions. The intrusions themselves are engineered with open-source, commercially available exploits and other hacking tools. “We don’t use anything homegrown,” said CDX Technical Lead James Titcomb, a full-time NSA employee in the spy agency’s information assurance directorate. “We don’t hit them with anything on the level of a nation-state,” Titcomb said. “The idea is that they should […]

The post Inside the NSA’s CDX, a high-tech competition pitting cadets against elite attackers appeared first on Cyberscoop.

Continue reading Inside the NSA’s CDX, a high-tech competition pitting cadets against elite attackers