Russian Hacking Group 'Cozy Bear' has Been Using Reddit, Other Social Platforms Starting in 2013

Cyber-espionage operations from Cozy Bear, a threat actor believed to work for the Russian government, continued undetected for the past years by using malware families previously unknown to security researchers.

Relying on stealthy communication techniques between infected systems and the command and control (C2) servers, the group managed to keep their activity under the radar for a long time.

Cyber-espionage campaigns that likely started in 2013, collectively named "Operation Ghost," have been attributed to this group, and continued through 2019.

link.

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.

Coming Cyber War #22

Cyber Warfare:

The US Air Force's future war network just doubled in price.

How the use of enlisted personnel in cyberwarfare is helping in the US Army.

The US Army is building its electronic/cyber warfare teams.

The first ever electronic warfare strategy is headed for the US SecDef's desk.

A cyber attack on the British using the Mirai bot net left 100,000 homes without internet.

A device designed to destroy computers by plugging into the USB port is available online for $50.

The Japanese Ministry of Defense was hit with a serious cyber attack.

You can now rent a Mirai botnet of 400,000.

The Philippines is investing in cyber defenses.

The Russians are claiming foreign spies are attacking its banks.

Saudi Arabia has been cyber attacked, supposedly by Iran.

Cyber Security:

AirDroid can be hacked.

More than 1 million Android devices have been compromised by Googligan malware.

The US DOD is asking white hat hackers to take a crack at all its websites.

President-elect Trump's nominee for SecDef is advocating using analog systems to avoid hacking.

Dronejacking might become a threat.

How a hacker took over Tel Aviv's public wifi system. 

Insurance companies are grappling with cyber attacks that cause physical damage.

The IoT needs a lot more security.

A malicious video link can freeze IOS devices.  

San Francisco's Muni was hacked and gave free rides. 

Security flaws have been found in implantable medical devices.

Security researchers found a way to turn speakers into microphones.

The new Stegano exploit is worrisome.

The Wordpress autoupdate server had a flaw that allowed anyone to access any website in the world (using Wordpress) to do anything.

Cyber Espionage:

The US Navy reported personal information for over 134k sailors was compromised by hackers.

Tech firms in Britain are trying to frustrate compliance with the new onerous and 1984ish surveillance law there.

That British law apparently has an exemption for politicians in Parliament: you cannot snoop on them!

That same British law put in place a required encryotion backdoor for the police.

Many inexpensive Android phones have been found to have a secret Trojan built into their firmware updating software.  This provides data back to servers in China.  Originally, it was just Shanghai Adups Technology's system, but now also includes the Ragentek Group.

The FBI hacked over 8,000 computers in 120 countries with one warrant. 

The Feds can hack you anywhere now, legally.

Geofeedia laid off half its staff after losing its feeds from Twitter and Facebook.

Google has been sending notices to journalists (and others) of state sponsored hacking attempts on their accounts.

A journalist tied to Anonymous has been released from jail. 

Reuters developed a bot to spot fake news.

Russian propogandists helped make the fake news epidemic this last presidential cycle much worse.  Some dispute that.

The Sony hack may have encouraged Russian hackers according to one California Congressman.

Snowden can be asked to testify in the German probe of the NSA espionage, but cannot use Norway for safe passage.

Cyber Crime:

 Australia found their biggest software pirates were also their best purchasers of software.

 The Avalanche botnet has been taken down.

The Daily Motion was hacked, exposing millions of user accounts.

More than a dozen European countries have seen their ATMs hacked.

Hackers stole $131 million from the Russian Central Bank.

The Locky ransomware uses decoy images to hack linkedin and facebook accounts.

A sysadmin was sentenced to two years in jail for sabotaging a internet service provider.

Android malware was used to hack and steal a Tesla.

META:

The world needs a set of cyber norms.

Is a multilateral approach needed to curb the cyber threat from North Korea?

Coming Cyber War #21

Cyber Warfare:

The US was mulling a response to any cyber attacks on election day.

The best strategy for the US may not to have a cyber strategy?

US Army wargames have refined the use of cyber warfare teams.

The US Army is rushing to build up its cyber warfare corps.

The US Navy has outlined its cyber defense plans for its warships.  Amongst those plans are the last resort of unplugging the warship from the network in case of compromise.

The US military is looking to tap into its social media forces. 

The US military's attempts to recruit hackers were harmed in a significant way by Snowden.

Massive DDOS attacks are on the rise (*cough*IOT*Cough*)

Russians are accused of conducting massive post election hacks on US based think tanks, NGOs and even some parts of the US government. 

In turn massive DDOS attacks were launched on the top 5 Russian banks on November 10th through 12th.  It seems to be the Mirai software again.

Smaller nations will start employing cyber weapons.

 A DDOS attack took out the heating in two buildings in Lappeenranta, Finland.

Cyber Security:

Adult Friends Finder's websites have been cracked and expose 400 odd million user accounts.

A chess champion reached out to Microsoft to protect him from Russian hackers.

Columbia University has come up with new software to help foil cyber attacks.

China's new tough cyber security law has come into effect.

The cryptsetup bug allows for remote root shell access on linux systems.

The DIRTY COW exploit is still not patched in Android. 

A Google engineer has stated anti virus software is a waste of time and worse than useless.

 Malware detecting CPUs are being developed.

The OATH2.0 bug has left 1 billion mobile apps exposed.

PoisonTap is a new hacking device that can crack a machine in under a minute.

 Researchers successfully hacked a Phillips Smart bulb via a drone.

A security company showed how to hack a US voting machine.

A security company also showed how to create an untraceable rootkit for industrial equipment.

Trump's election to the US Presidency is adding fuel to the fire in the encryption debate.

 US lawmakers are considering a new agency for IoT security.

What would you give up for cyber security?  Apparently, a lot.  

Yahoo is revealing more details of its massive hack.  Some within Yahoo knew of the breach in 2014!

Z-Wave, an IoT device maker, is announcing new security standards for their devices.

Cyber Espionage:

A new, powerful Android malware is targeting executives at companies.

Assange claims Wikileaks never intended to influence the US Election (ha!).

The British have passed a law stating all data, including browsing histories and domains visited, must be kept for up to one year.

China is collecting information off of smart phones in the US.

The FBI has hired a firm with a real time scan & feed from twitter.

linkedin is now blocked in Russia because linkedin refused to house the data for Russian citizens in Russia physically.

The NSA stated a nation-state (see below) attempted to influence the election.

How Russia attempted to influence the US election.

Will Trump's win of the US Presidency greatly increase surveillance?

Cyber Crime:

10% of cloud based repositories have been compromised by malware.

The Chinese passed a very controversial cyber security law.

The FBI seized 23 child porn sites on torrent and then deployed malware from them.

Tesco Bank stopped online transactions after a massive wave of theft.

University of Calgary banned bittorrents and saw a massive drop in the complaints about online IP theft.

The Coming Cyber War #20

Cyber Warfare:

The next American President is predicted to face a cyber crisis within 100 days of taking office.

An American vigilante hacker defaced the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs' website and issued a warning if there is further cyber attacks on the US. 

The cyber attack against the DNS company Dyn that took down the internet in the US gets profiled.  A little more info here.

Dyn responded to the attack with a press release.

A nonstate actor is being pointed at currently for the cyber attack.

The attack was supposedly done by 'script kiddies.'

Mirai and Bashlight were the software bots used against the DNS company Dyn.

The Mirai software makes the DDOS attacks much easier. 

What were the lessons learned from the DDOS attack? 

Is there anything that can be done about the DDOS attacks?

How vigilante hackers could stop IoT botnets like the ones in the attack on Dyn.

The Mirai bot attackers are now trying to take down Liberia.

A new more powerful botnet infected 3,500 IoT devices in 7 days.

The British are investing over $2 billion in cyber defense.

Two British hospitals were taken out by a virus.

Here's a look at Russia's attack on the American election system.

Putin has stated cyber attacks are unacceptable and called the interference in the election system by Russia nothing more than hysteria.

The Rocky Mountain Cyberspace Symposium was held.

The Shadow Brokers, those hackers who attacked the NSA and tried (but failed) to sell those secrets, revealed more info.

US military cyber attack teams have reached initial operating capability.

Cyber Security:

The US is said to be boosting cyber defenses for the election.

Drones are now hackable.

Google revealed a Windows security flaw just 10 days after notifying Microsoft.  Hackers have pounced on the reported flaw.  Microsoft has stated Russians have especially.

Yet Google hid a security flaw in Apple's IOS.

A google security engineer claims Android is now as secure as IOS.

A controversial Chinese cyber security law is closer to passing.

Chinese firm Hangzhou Xiongmai Technology had several of its products sold in the US hacked and is recalling them.

How hackable are your IoT devices? 

The Israeli company noted for being able to hack phone has had its firmware leaked online.

All LTE cell phone calls and messages can be intercepted and blocked.

The Rowhammer attack can now root Android devices. 

It might be possible to hack machines via ultrasound.

VeraCrypt has been found to be very flawed.

Cyber Espionage:

Apple has been sharing data with governments.

One of Putin's aides had his email account hacked by a supposed Ukrainian hacker.  It showed just how tight the relationship is between the supposed rebels in eastern Ukraine and Moscow.

The scan order for Yahoo's email is likely to never see the light of day.

Cyber Crime:

A member of Anonymous has been indicted for hacking Boston's Children Hospital.

An American bank regulator was 'hacked' by a former employee.

The Dark Web may not be as dark or as illegal as we think.

The Red Cross was hacked.

The Russian accused of hacking linkedin has been indicted.

A teenager supposedly launched an DDOS attack by accident?!

Weebly has been hacked and 43 million credentials stolen.

The Coming Cyber War #15

Cyber Warfare:

 DARPA had a hacking game of capture the flag for AI and 'Mayhem' won the $2 million prize.

The Chinese Info Warfare branch gets profiled.

A hacker group is claiming to have hacked the NSA's Equation Group and is offering to auction off the cyber weapons they discovered.

Snowden is speculating the leak of the cyber weapons is a threat by Russia against the US retaliating for the DNC hack.

There is a lot of panic at the NSA with the leak of the weapons.

Some unreleased Snowden documents confirm the reality of the NSA hack.

Cyber Surveillance:

The broad hacking powers of the British government are being challenged in a European court.

An unusually advanced malware has been detected and apparently has been resident for 5 years on numerous computers, even air gapped ones.

The Russians are being blamed by Pelosi for the DNC hack.

The hack was a lot worse than what people realize, too.  Even more data is being released.

The hacker got his twitter account reinstated.  It had been suspended.

Australia hacked TOR users' computers in the US.

Cyber Security:

A new malware has been devised to transmit data between air gapped computers...by using the sounds of their hard drives.

What are the threats to satellite operations?

NIST is seeking feedback on cryptography.

WADA is under attack by hackers.

Business groups are appealing China's new cyber security law.

Most people ignore 90% of cyber security warnings.

Russia claims to have developed a new, secure communications method that does NOT use satellites.

Cyber Crime:

Airlines are getting spoofed with fake boarding passes in their lounges.

Cisco has patched the ExtraBacon exploit.

Clinton Foundation hired a cyber security firm after the hack.

One cyber security expert turned the tables on some scammers and infected their computers with ransomware.

DDoSCoin is a cryptocurrency designed to reward someone for participating in DDoS attacks.

All of the Eddie Bauer stores in the US were infected by malware.

A fake login malware is spreading via google ads.

Hackers are aggressively attacking the Rio Olympics.

The Houston area hackers who were stealing Jeeps (30 of them!) using a computer were caught.

It should be called the Internet of Infected Things: ransomware for IOT thermostats has been discovered.

Kenya has acquitted accused hackers from China & Taiwan.

linkedin is under attack by bots stealing members' info.  

Nigerian scammers infected themselves with their own malware. 

Oracle's credit card readers have been infected.

The Russian hacker,  Roman Seleznev who is son of a member of the Russian Duma, is being prosecuted for cyber crimes.

Starwood Hotels had a malware breach in 20 US hotels.

Ukrainian nationalist hackers leaked personal info on journalists.

Serious or joking?  Julian Assange stated wikileaks is after Trump's tax returns.

The Coming Cyber War #14

Cyber Warfare:

Here's the Chinese Army's perspective on rules for the restricting hacking of each other's countries.

NATO is stating it needs to raise its game with respect to cyber warfare.

China's capabilities and plans are looked at in the article entitled 'The Cyber Dragon.'

Did the US pwn Iran with Nitro Zeus?

Raytheon is developing significant cyberwarfare capabilities.

Cyber Security:

Google is trying to protect its Chrome browser from quantum computing encryption crackers.

Anti virus software is becoming increasingly useless and even makes computers more vulnerable.

There are nodes listening as spies on the TOR network.

Cyber security needs to be beefed up for 3d printing.

The FDIC was hacked multiple times between 2010 and 2013 by China.  The employees covered this up.

DARPA's Grand Cyber Challenge aims to improve cyber security.

Cyber Crime:

1,000 Wendy's restaurants were hacked and customer info stolen by malware.

The Baton Rouge police department was hacked.

Hackers have already been attacking the Republican Party Convention.

Wikileaks has also been under attack since they released Turkey related documents.

The OSCE has trained Ukrainian cyber security police.

Cyber crime has overtaken traditional crime in the UK.

The Coming Cyber War #13

Cyber Warfare:

The 'not so secret' history of cyber warfare in the Pentagon.

Here's a proposed approach to cyber warfare.

An NSA hacker was interviewed by the Intercept.

Cyber warfare is a major domain for the NATO summit.

Cyber Espionage:

How India was targeted by Pakistani hackers (warning, video).

Cyber Crime:

One Congressman wants to have randsomware attacks to be reported to those potentially affected.

Nations & Terrorists are teaming up with organized crime to do cyber thefts.

There is a new malware that is pretending to be different apps like Google Play & Uber.

US Healthcare records are being offered for sale online by hackers.  Why are the hackers doing so?

A massive botnet built out of online CCTV cameras was used in a DDOS attack.

Ten million android devices have been infected by a Chinese malware.  Just imagine the IOT.

The EU has passed its first cyber security law. 

There is a Mac malware out in the wild disguising itself as a file converter on reputable download sites.

Coming Cyberwar #9

Cyberwarfare:

The US military has been conducting cyber attacks on ISIS/Daesh. We reported the attacks earlier, but others are now catching up.

DARPA wants new ways to attribute cyber attacks.

Northrop is looking to develop AI for cyber defense.

Can the US & China back away from their cyber conflict?

Germany just stood up its own cyberwarriors.

Thinking 'slow' on cyber warfare.

Cybercrime:

Some are threatening to DDOS sites and demanding a ransom or else...even when they have never conducted a DDOS. And the businesses pay up!

Toy Maker Maitso's website had ransomware being served to customers.

Cisco has found backdoors installed on 12 million PCs.

Cyber Security:

There is a critical hole in our cell phone networks.

Critical infrastructure is vulnerable to cyberattack.

A nuclear power plant in Germany was found to be infected by computer viruses.

Coming Cyber War #8

Cyber Warfare:

US enemies can cyber attack US satellites. 

The US has been using cyber weapons against ISIL/Daesh.

Congress has set up an independent Cyber Command for the US military.

Cyber operations are being advocated as a way to offset the rise of China's power.

Israel & Singapore are working more closely together on cyber operations.

Cyber Security:

Australia has launched a major cyber hardening initiative.

The US government really sucks at cyber security.

The US DOD is prioritizing cyber hardening.

MIT has developed an AI that is 85% effective in detecting cyber attacks.  I wonder how it compares to BRO.

Cyber crime:

Cyber criminals have started adopting corporate best practices.

British Aerospace is warning of the QBOT malware.

Swedish military systems were hacked and used to attack US banking systems.

The Coming Cyber War #7

Cyber warfare:

Obama and Xi will be discussing cyber war at their summit.

The Pentagon's "Hack the Pentagon" initiative does not allow for many real hackers to participate.

Russia and China are the greatest cyber threats, but Iran is rising.

A new Cold War is underway in cyberspace.

Senate leaders are expanding Cyber Command.

In the event of Cyber war, its not feasible to shut down the Internet.

ISIS may cyber attack the US.

GAO has concerns over Pentagon cyber policy.

Hacking:

The hackers that attacked the US hospital have picked another to attack.  More details on the original hospital hack have become available.  VERY belatedly the US DHS has released a CERT as a warning about the hospital hacks.  Medstar claims to be 90% recovered from the attack.

Over 1,400 vulnerabilities (ways to hack in) have been found in an automated medical supply chain software.

Hackers are using Google to find their prey.

The FBI says a group has penetrated US government computers for years.

The Coming Cyberwar #6

Cyber Security:

Was there a big breakthrough in cyber security?

Does NASA also have a cybersecurity breakthrough called Gryphon-X?  And why is it at NASA?

The Internet of Things is a security nightmare.

Cyberwarfare:

Cybercommand is looking to work closer with industry.

The wrap up of the series about how the US Navy will fight a war with cyberwarfare being a component.

Cyber attacks can even have effect at the tactical level in the US Army.

Three have been charged for having ties to the Syrian Electronic Army.

Hacking:

In a real cyberwar, unlike in a physical war, hospitals are likely to be some of the major targets.  For hackers, they already are.  Hospitals are being targeted by ransomware.

healthcare.gov has reported 316 cybersecurity incidents.

The US has indicted 7 Iranians on hacking the dam and financial institutions.  A Senator is calling the New York dam hack a wake up call.

The FBI is warning car hacking is a very real threat.

Dozens of Russians banks were hacked.

A security researcher has disappeared while digging into a Bangladesh bank hack.

Some are saying not to panic over the new iphone hack.

There is a new malware targeting air gapped systems called 'USB Thief.'

A Q&A About Cyberwarfare

A hacking attack on a Las Vegas hotel company. A power grid blackout in the Ukraine. A series of industrial accidents at an Iranian nuclear enrichment lab.

What do all these things have in common? They were likely the work of foreign governments with a political ax to grind.

Welcome to cyberwar. You likely will soon hear more about this new weapon, as the US government becomes more open about its ability to hack targets in other countries, damaging their power grids, dams, factories and key computer systems.

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The Coming Cyberwar #5 (mini update): Which Nations are the Most Vulnerable to Cyberattack?

Damaging cyberattacks on a global scale continue to surface every day. Some nations are better prepared than others to deal with online threats from criminals, terrorists and rogue nations.

Data-mining experts from the University of Maryland and Virginia Tech recently co-authored a book that ranked the vulnerability of 44 nations to cyberattacks. Lead author V.S. Subrahmanian discussed this research on Wednesday, March 9 at a panel discussion hosted by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington, D.C.

The United States ranked 11th safest, while several Scandinavian countries (Denmark, Norway and Finland) ranked the safest. China, India, Russia, Saudi Arabia and South Korea ranked among the most vulnerable.

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The Coming Cyberwar #4

Cyberwar:

NATO is adding more partners for its cyber capabilities.

The F-35 Lightning's logistics support system may be vulnerable to cyberattack (paywall).

The Pentagon's cyberweapons are online (paywall).

Here's a bit more on the US military's cyber warfare operations against IS/Daesh.

Cyberwarefare is being dragged out of the shadows.

Hacking:

The Pentagon is inviting hackers to attack and offering bounties for success.

Pirates are hacking cargo companies to find the most valuable ships to attack.

Here is a lot more information about the attack on Ukraine's power infrastructure.

Business bank accounts are vulnerable to hackers.

UCLA researchers think the mere sound of 3d printers could be a cyber security threat. 

The U8 smart watch has been caught sending encrypted data back to China.  What and why is unknown.

The computer age is a paradox, or so some say, making everything more vulnerable, even if easier.

Cambridge and MIT will be spending the weekend hacking each other's computers in a sanctioned contest.

Ransomware is now being sold as a service.

Dubious Claims:

The latest gambit for trying to force apple to unlock the San Bernardino terrorist's IPhone is the claim its contains a 'cyberpathogen.'

Media:

Here's a suggested guide for journalists about reporting hacks.

The Coming Cyber War #3

Cyberwar:

The dangerous diffusion of cyber operations.

The US is intending to use cyber attacks to expose Islamic State/Daesh's communications and is significantly expanding it's operations against IS.  Its being called a massive attack now. 

The US cyber ops against IS/Daesh are honing skills for use against other nations, namely Russia and China.

Obama wants to renegotiate the 1996 Wassenaar Agreement to allow for easier export of cyber weapons and hacking tools.

The US Defense Secretary draws parallels between China's behavior online and its actions in the South China Sea.

Putin has options using cyber attacks to escalate the Donbass War.

Espionage:

The Chinese are being formally accused by Norway of hacking and stealing military secrets.

Hacking:

The hackers that took down the Ukrainian electrical system, at least in part, were very sophisticated.