Friday, December 30, 2016

The Coming Cyber War #23

Cyber Warfare:

A US Air Force EC-130H has been attacking the Islamic State in Syria.

The USMC is looking for hackers, or as it has been put, "a few good nerds" for its cyber warfare section.

The US government is sorting out who is in charge of the cyber domain.

Mirai bot nets are now using TOR to hide its control network.

North Korea has denied launching a cyber attack on South Korea.

 OSCE, the group observing the 'cease fire' (or lack thereof) in Eastern Ukraine has been hit with a major cyber attack.

Russian hackers tracked Ukrainian artillery units through android malware.

Was the Russian hacking of the election system the first 'Russo-American cyberwar?'

How to deter Russian (and others) from attempting the cyber attack again.

A Turkish hacker is giving out prizes for conducting DDoS attacks.

Ukraine had another cyber attack on its power grid.

Ukraine has been hit by 3,500 cyber attacks and considers itself in a cyber war with Russia.

Cyber Security:

Airline entertainment system hacks are back.

This is how cellebrite works.

DARPA has given Raytheon a contract to find ways to protect the power infrastructure.

The US FDIC has released guidelines for medical software and hardware cyber security.

Google has released a tool to look for cyrpto bugs that can be exploited.

KillDisk malware has become ransomware.

McAffee has a security bug that has been unaddressed for months.

Netgear Wifi routers are VERY insecure: stop using!  Netgear has a beta patch.

Nevada accidentally revealed the personal details of all those applying for medical cannabis dispensary licenses.

PwC is threatening to sue security researchers.

North Korea's version of Android takes a screen shot every time an app is opened.

Numerous twitter accounts have been hacked by OurMine, a white hat hacker group.

Ubuntu has found customers are terrible at updating their IoT devices.

The UN has warned the threat of cyber attacks on nuclear power plants is rising.

A US think tank wants security built into all IoT devices, but how may be ... problematic.

The US DOT wants to mandate vehicle to vehicle communication: this is a bad idea, IMO.

Zero Day exploits for two diffferent linux distros' desktops have appeared.

Cyber Espionage:

ADUPS Malware infects new Barnes & Noble tablets, reporting data back to Shanghai.

The NSA's best are supposedly leaving in droves due to Trump's election.

Is the NSA pushing to redefine the interpretation of the 4th amendment?

The British 'Snooper's Charter' may give the government permission to lie in court.

The British Snooper's Charter took a blow in the EU court system, but will it matter with Brexit?

The Chinese have reaffirmed their commitment to cyber surveillance.

The EFF is monitoring the surveillance tech being used at the standing rock protest.

The FBI is probing a hack of the FDIC by the Chinese military.

There is a new search engine just for checking if news is fake.

The Russians made attempts to influence the US Presidential election. Trump denies this. Trump even took swipes at the intel agencies.  The intel agencies are feuding with the Republicans over the hacks. McCain states the facts are there. Obama has ordered a review to be done before he leaves office and is VERY sure Russia is behind the attacks while stating Trump won legitimately.. The review will go beyond the election.  Republicans in Congress disagree with Trump and want a probe. The top management of the intel agencies have not endorsed the report.  The FBI does now agree about the Russians.  Some are saying Putin is trying to 'hack' the confidence in the US system. The Germans are stated the Russians are just getting started. Russia says the claims it attempted to influence the election are just infighting between the two sides in US politics. A piece of legislation moving through congress is going to mandate countermeasures. A report claims Putin personally directed the attacks.

More information on the attack by the Russians on the US Presidential election  The election agency was hacked. Why there is a debate about the hack in the US at all?  The Russians are stating to prove they did the hack or shut up.  Obama is threatening to counterattack Russia.  The CIA head is advising against retaliation.  The Russian fake news bots are the same stuff done in Ukraine, but amped up for the globe.

The American retaliation is to ban several russians from the US, release info on Russian cyber activities and more.  Russia has vowed to attack in return.

A report released by Congress claims Snowden was in contact with Russian intelligence in 2013.

The Russians are trying to unlock the Iphone of the assassin of the Russian ambassador in Turkey.

Twitter is blocking intel agencies' access to its data.

The US Congress has concluded encryption backdoors won't work.

A US Court is demanding information on the collaboration between ATT and the police to spy.

The US House is urging the passage of a bill restricting and regulating the use of Stingray and other cell phone interception devices by the police.

What the US intelligence agencies think of Trump.

The US NIST is seeking help to protect computers from hacking by the up and coming quantum computers.

Did a typo lead to the Podesta email hack?

Cyber Crime:

In a bizarre twist on cyber "crime," Arkansas police are seeking the data from an Amazon Echo to help solve a murder.

Chinese stock traders have been arrested on suspicion of profiting based on hacked insider information.

The FBI has started arresting users of DDoS bot networks.

Here's a guide to hacks in 2016.

Hackers defaced Thai websites over restrictive internet laws.

IBM found most businesses pay when hit by ransomware.

The Leet botnet is bigger than Mirai.

New malicious advertising (malware hiding as advertising) is infecting users' routers rather than their desktop or tablets.

Malware has been found in 26 low cost android devices; resellers are suspected to be adding it.

A Nigerian man has been arrested and charged with hacking the Los Angeles County email system.

A new website found has all the NSA exploits for sale.

The Popcorn Time malware will give you the keys to get rid of it IF you spread it to your friends.  

Quest Diagnostics was hacked and 34,000 customers' data was exposed.

Ransomware infected an LG smart tv.

A Russian cybergang may have scammed millions through the use of fake websites and clicks.

A Swedish hacker posted the specs for a device to hack Mac passwords.

SWIFT was hacked again.

Twitter is cooperating with a journalist who is hunting for someone who sent him a video that induced a seizure.  

Uber is being sued by a former officer in the company allegedly stating employees stalked ex gf/bfs, celebrities and politicians using the data from the app.  Uber claims it has safeguards against that.

Occupied Ukraine has become a hot spot for cybercriminals.

A US citizen surrendered to face charges for a cyber attack.

The US Government is targeting the torrent sites like Pirate's Bay.

Yahoo has reported 1 billion of its accounts have been compromised.  Verizon is considering killing its acquisition of Yahoo.  The database of user information may have sold for as little as $300k.

 META:

The US attempted to and failed to get a change in a treaty to allow for cyber weapons export in a treaty.

No comments: