Category Archives: Treasury Department

North Korean government hackers sanctioned by U.S. Treasury

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Add the U.S. Treasury to the list of government agencies going after North Korean hackers. The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced Friday it is sanctioning three North Korean hacking groups it says are backed by Kim Jong-un’s regime, including the well-known Lazarus Group. The office also identifies two sub-groups of Lazarus Group, Bluenoroff and Andariel. Bluerunoff has targeted foreign financial institutions in Bangladesh, India, Mexico, Pakistan, Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, Turkey, Chile, and Vietnam, as well as the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) monetary transfer system to conduct cyber-enabled financial heists in response to prior sanctions, according to OFAC. Andariel has been more focused on stealing cash and customer information from ATMs as well as targets in government agencies and in the defense industry, including those in South Korea to gather intelligence, according to OFAC. The U.S. government has previously linked Lazarus Group with the North […]

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Executive order creates system for ‘automatic’ sanctions on foreigners interfering with U.S. elections

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President Donald Trump has signed an executive order authorizing sanctions against foreign individual, entity or country attempting to interfere in U.S. elections, the White House announced Wednesday. The order is not public yet, so the exact details remain unknown. The text was outlined by the White House in a phone call with reporters on Wednesday morning. Some sanctions would be “automatic” in cases where federal investigators identify meddling, White House officials said. “It’s a further effort among several that the administration has made,” national security adviser John Bolton said. “It includes not just interference against election or campaign infrastructure, but it also covers the distribution of propaganda and disinformation.” The executive order requires the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) to make regular assessments about potential foreign interference in the election. It also asks for reports by the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security in cases interference with election […]

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Possible Kaspersky sanctions meet resistance inside U.S. government

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A White House plan to sanction Kaspersky Lab has met resistance from senior U.S. government officials who are worried that it could set a dangerous precedent for global behavior on the internet, according to two officials familiar with the matter. The plan to sanction the Moscow-based anti-virus maker has largely been pioneered by the National Security Council, CyberScoop previously reported. A source with knowledge of the effort recently said that Treasury Department head Steve Mnuchin has “OK’d” sanctions against Kaspersky, although several of his advisers are against it. A plan to make the sanctions official has no immediate timetable. The final decision rests with the executive branch; which is home to the NSC. When reached for comment, a spokesperson for the Treasury Department said the agency “does not telegraph sanctions or comment on prospective actions.” The NSC previously declined to comment on possible Kaspersky sanctions. Some in government worry about the impact such sanctions […]

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Trump administration says China broke Obama-Xi hacking agreement

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The Trump administration explicitly called out the Chinese government Thursday for having hacked U.S. companies to steal business secrets in recent years. The disclosure means the U.S. government believes China broke a 2015 agreement reached by then-President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping that was aimed at curbing cyber economic espionage between the two countries. A Department of the Treasury investigation detailed in a 215-page report published Thursday finds multiple cases where China had continued to conduct economic cyber espionage after the 2015 arrangement was announced. The report does not, however, explain these incidents with any specifics. “After a major debate in the private sector cybersecurity community over the past three years about the level of Chinese cyber activity directed against U.S. organizations and its meaning related to China’s commitments, the 301 report can be read as effectively ruling that China is in violation of the 2015 Obama-Xi accord on cyber […]

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Watchdog: Despite progress, IRS needs to improve electronic fraud detection

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A Treasury Department watchdog says the Internal Revenue Service has made progress in improving its identity management controls for people filing their taxes online, but still has some work to do when it comes to identifying fraudulent profiles and activity. The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA), which audits the IRS, released a report Thursday appraising the agency’s implementation and improvement of authentication controls. TIGTA credited the IRS for requiring taxpayers to use two-factor authentication to log on to use the IRS’s online services. The auditor also said the IRS improved its ability to automatically to monitor activity across different systems and detect any anomalies. “Using this tool, the Cyber Fraud Analytics group identified fraudulent activity in which fraudsters improperly used data stolen from sources outside of the IRS to successfully perpetrate a small number of targeted attacks,” TIGTA said. However, the auditor added that those monitoring tools need […]

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Cybersecurity is U.S. bank regulator’s top priority

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Cybersecurity is the top priority for the office charged with regulating and supervising all banks in the U.S., according to the newly released bank supervision operating plan for 2018 from the Treasury Department’s Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. The declaration comes amid an environment where attackers are multiplying and the threat surface is rapidly expanding. Experts expect the reaction from banks to be greater focus and spending on cybersecurity. “Cyber threats are increasing in speed and sophistication,” Comptroller of the Currency Keith Noreika said earlier this year in an OCC Risk Perspective. “These threats target large quantities of personally identifiable information and proprietary intellectual property and facilitate misappropriation of funds at the retail and wholesale level. Phishing is a primary method for breaching data systems and is often the entry mechanism to perpetrate other malicious activity, such as installing ransomware, accessing confidential information, compromising internal systems to effect payments, or conducting espionage.” One area sure […]

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Treasury Department sanctions Iranians for cyberattacks

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The U.S. Treasury Department on Thursday announced sanctions against 11 entities for supporting Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guard Corps and alleged attacks against the U.S. financial system. The targets of the sanctions are the Sadid Caran Saba Engineering Company (SABA) which is accused of providing support for Iran’s ballistic missile program, the Khors Aircompany and Dart Airlines, which are accused of illegally procuring American airplanes, individuals from ITSec Team for roles in denial of service attacks against U.S. financial institutions and individuals from Mersad Co. for “causing a significant disruption to the availability of a computer or network of computers.” “Treasury will continue to take strong actions to counter Iran’s provocations, including support for the IRGC-Qods Force and terrorist extremists, the ongoing campaign of violence in Syria, and cyber-attacks meant to destabilize the U.S. financial system,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a release. ITSec Team and Mersad Co. are private […]

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