October 2013

British man accused of hacking into US government systems

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24712214

Excerpt:

“A 28-year-old British man has been arrested on suspicion of hacking into US military and US government computer systems. Lauri Love, arrested in Suffolk under the Computer Misuse Act, has been released on bail until next February.”

 

Syrian Hackers Target Obama's Twitter, Facebook Posts

 

Fran Berkman

http://mashable.com/2013/10/28/syrian-electronic-army-obama/

Excerpt:

“The pro-Assad group Syrian Electronic Army claims it hacked the Twitter and Facebook accounts of U.S. President Barack Obama.”

 

7 Eastern Europeans Indicted in Multimillion-Dollar eBay Fraud Scheme

 

Kim Zetter

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/10/romanians-indicted-cyber-fraud

Excerpt:

“Six Romanians and one Albanian have been indicted on allegations that they operated a multimillion-dollar cyber fraud scheme selling nonexistent cars, boats and other high-value items through eBay and other sites.”

 

U.N. nuclear agency says malware infected some computers

 

Vienna

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/10/22/uk-nuclear-iaea-malware-idUKBRE99L08Q20131022

Excerpt:

“Malicious software infected some U.N. nuclear agency computers over the past few months but no data in its network has been compromised”

 

Tales from the Crypto Community: The NSA Hurt Cybersecurity. Now It Should Come Clean.

 

Nadia Heninger and J. Alex Halderman

http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/140214/nadia-heninger-and-j-alex-halderman/tales-from-the-crypto-community

Excerpt:

“Of all of the revelations about the NSA that have come to light in recent months, two stand out as the most worrisome and surprising to cybersecurity experts. The first is that the NSA has worked to weaken the international cryptographic standards that define how computers secure communications and data. The second is that the NSA has deliberately introduced backdoors into security-critical software and hardware. If the NSA has indeed engaged in such activities, it has risked the computer security of the United States (and the world) as much as any malicious attacks have to date.”

 

In cyberarms race, North Korea emerging as a power, not a pushover

 

Mark Clayton

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Security-Watch/2013/1019/In-cyberarms-race-North-Korea-emerging-as-a-power-not-a-pushover

Excerpt:

“Often dismissed as a laggard in the global cyberarms race, North Korea has long been seen as a chronic cyber-superpower wannabe. Its poverty, minimal Internet access, and paucity of malicious software to its credit together have indicated that the "hermit kingdom" has just not yet arrived.”

 

China no longer top source of cyber attacks

Warwick Ashford

http://www.computerweekly.com/news/2240207541/China-no-longer-top-source-of-cyber-attacks

Excerpt:

“Indonesia has overtaken China as the top source of cyber attacks, according to the latest study of internet traffic from content delivery firm Akamai. According to the firm’s State of the internet report, Indonesia’s share of observed attack traffic in the second quarter of 2013 increased to 38%, pushing China into second place with a 33% share.”

 

New Hacker Threat -- Targeting You Through Your Kids

David Kennedy

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-kennedy/new-hacker-threat_b_4101584.html

Excerpt:

“As adults get better at avoiding suspicious websites and fake email attachments, some hackers are shifting their strategy to go after a family's weakest link -- kids. With a growing number of kid-friendly websites, online games and mobile apps now on the market, children are becoming important consumers of online content -- and a perfect target for hackers.”

 

Mexico condemns US over alleged NSA hacking of ex-president's emails

 

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/21/mexico-condemns-us-nsa-hacking-presidents-emails

Excerpt:

“Mexico has criticised the United States over new allegations of spying after a German magazine reported that the US National Security Agency (NSA) had hacked Felipe Calderon's public email account while he was president.”

 

Laundering Money Online: a review of cybercriminals’ methods

 

Jean-Loup Richet

http://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1310/1310.2368.pdf

Excerpt:

“Money laundering is a critical step in the cyber crime process which is experiencing some changes as hackers and their criminal colleagues continually alter and optimize payment mechanisms.”

 

Top web firms urge more transparency over UK requests for user data

 

Rowena Mason

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/18/internet-firms-uk-transparency-surveillance-facebook-google-twitter

Excerpt:

“Britain needs to have a full public debate about the scale of internet surveillance to give confidence that state powers are not being abused, the world's five biggest internet companies have told MPs.”

 

'Project SHINE' Illuminates Sad State Of SCADA/ICS Security On The Net

 

Kelly Jackson Higgins

http://www.darkreading.com/vulnerability/project-shine-illuminates-sad-state-of-s/240162739

Excerpt:

“A global Internet-scanning project focused on finding SCADA/ICS equipment and systems accessible via the public Internet is discovering some 2,000 to 8,000 new exposed devices each day.”

 

NSA collects millions of e-mail address books globally

 

Barton Gellman and Ashkan Soltani

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/nsa-collects-millions-of-e-mail-address-books-globally/2013/10/14/8e58b5be-34f9-11e3-80c6-7e6dd8d22d8f_story.html

Excerpt:

“The National Security Agency is harvesting hundreds of millions of contact lists from personal e-mail and instant messaging accounts around the world, many of them belonging to Americans, according to senior intelligence officials and top-secret documents provided by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.”

 

 

Hackers target patient records

James Fielding

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/434636/Hackers-target-patient-records

Excerpt:

“They frequently target the rich and powerful who they see as having most to lose, according to Professor Carsten Maple, a member of the Information Assurance Advisory Council. His warning came as the Sunday Express reveals that on average one patient a day has their medical records and personal data either lost or stolen.”

 

BlackHole Exploit Kit Author Reportedly Arrested in Russia

 

Eduard Kovacs

http://news.softpedia.com/news/BlackHole-Exploit-Kit-Author-Reportedly-Arrested-in-Russia-388949.shtml?

Excerpt:

“Rumor has it that Paunch, the author of the notorious BlackHole exploit kit, and his partners have been arrested in Russia. Maarten Boone, security analyst at Dutch IT security company Fox-IT, was the first to break the news on Twitter. So far, there aren’t any additional details”

 

The FBI busted Silk Road, but not the 'dark web' behind it

 

Adrianne Jeffries

http://mobile.theverge.com/2013/10/2/4795502/the-fbi-busted-silk-road-but-not-the-dark-web-behind-it

Excerpt:

“Silk Road, the underground website where dealers sold illegal drugs, was supposed to be safe. The site was nestled deep in the dark web, accessible only through the anonymizing network Tor. All transactions were done in the anonymizing virtual currency Bitcoin. Its owner-operator, Dread Pirate Roberts, was said to be a criminal mastermind and technical wunderkind who never left a trail. It was all very hackerish and clandestine.”

 

U.S. indicts 13 alleged members of Anonymous in DDoS attacks

 

Steven Musil

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-57605991-83/u.s-indicts-13-alleged-members-of-anonymous-in-ddos-attacks/

Excerpt:

“A federal grand jury has indicted 13 alleged members of the hacktivist collective Anonymous in connection with online attacks targeting financial institutions, trade groups, and government entities.”

 

FBI brings down Silk Road underground market

 

Adam Greenberg, Reporter

http://www.scmagazine.com/fbi-brings-down-silk-road-underground-market/article/314691/

Excerpt:

“The Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) shutdown this week of Silk Road – a black market existing on the Deep Web and accessible through the Tor network – also led to the arrest of its 29-year-old operator, Ross Ulbricht, also known as Dread Pirate Roberts, DPR, or Silk Road.”

 

Tor and the Silk Road takedown

 

Arma

https://blog.torproject.org/blog/tor-and-silk-road-takedown

Excerpt:

“In this case we've been watching carefully to try to learn if there are any flaws with Tor that we need to correct. So far, nothing about this case makes us think that there are new ways to compromise Tor (the software or the network). The FBI says that their suspect made mistakes in operational security, and was found through actual detective work. Remember: Tor does not anonymize individuals when they use their legal name on a public forum, use a VPN with logs that are subject to a subpoena, or provide personal information to other services.”

 

Iranian cyber warfare commander shot dead in suspected assassination

 

Damien McElroy, and Ahmad Vahdat

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/10350285/Iranian-cyber-warfare-commander-shot-dead-in-suspected-assassination.html

Excerpt:

“The head of Iran’s cyber warfare programme has been shot dead, triggering further accusations that outside powers are carrying out targeted assassinations of key figures in the country’s security apparatus.”

 

Silent Circle ditches NIST cryptographic standards to thwart NSA spying

 

Lucian Constantin

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2051380/silent-circle-moves-away-from-nist-cryptographic-standards-cites-uncertainty.html

Excerpt:

“The U.S. National Security Agency's reported efforts to weaken encryption standards have prompted an encrypted communications company to move away from cryptographic algorithms sanctioned by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).”

 

Could the EU cyber security directive cost companies billions?

 

http://www.net-security.org/secworld.php?id=15694

Excerpt:

“Many of the world’s largest enterprises are not prepared for the new European Union Directive on cyber security, which states that organizations that do not have suitable IT security in place to protect their digital assets will face extremely heavy fiscal penalties.”