Category Archives: SOCOM

Eugene Kaspersky defends publishing ‘Slingshot’ report

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The founder and current CEO of Kaspersky Lab is defending the Moscow-based company after it published a research report that ultimately exposed an active U.S. cyber-espionage operation against ISIS and Al-Qaeda terrorists. In an interview with Australian press, Eugene Kaspersky said his company’s anti-virus engine does not discriminate based on nationality or the malware authors’ intent. Prior reporting by CyberScoop showed that the research report in question, which looked at a malware framework dubbed “Slingshot,” was in fact connected to an expansive U.S.-led counterterrorism effort. “Don’t blame our X-ray,” he told The Australian after speaking at a Formula One event in Melbourne. “It rings on any kind of gun. It doesn’t matter who’s wearing the gun, a terrorist or a policeman. We provide the world’s best X-ray … Maybe days after we find that it’s a criminal searching for money, or it’s espionage looking for information. Our X-ray is made to ring […]

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Kaspersky’s ‘Slingshot’ report burned an ISIS-focused intelligence operation

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The U.S. government and Russian cybersecurity giant Kaspersky Lab are currently in the throes of a nasty legal fight that comes on top of a long-running feud over how the company has conducted itself with regard to U.S. intelligence-gathering operations. A recent Kaspersky discovery may keep the feud alive for years to come. CyberScoop has learned that Kaspersky research recently exposed an active, U.S.-led counterterrorism cyber-espionage operation. According to current and former U.S. intelligence officials, the operation was used to target ISIS and al-Qaeda members. On March 9, Kaspersky publicly announced a malware campaign dubbed “Slingshot.” According to the company’s researchers, the campaign compromised thousands of devices through breached routers in various African and Middle Eastern countries, including Afghanistan, Iraq, Kenya, Sudan, Somalia, Turkey and Yemen. Kaspersky did not attribute Slingshot to any single country or government in its public report, describing it only as an advanced persistent threat (APT). But current and […]

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