Anons' FBI Phone Snooping Casts Long Shadow on Cybersecurity

technewsworld.com

Members of Anonymous managed to tap into an FBI conference call recently, after which they put a recording of the call on the open Web. The news has raised concern in many corners of the security industry. "The odds are that cybersecurity at the FBI and Scotland Yard is on par with, or superior to, security at most corporations," Abrams said.

The hacker community Anonymous on Friday landed another blow in its war with the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

It posted an internal memo from the law enforcement agency about an upcoming international call to discuss hackers. Anonymous also put up a recording of the call itself onYouTube.

The attacks are part of a concerted hacker effort against the FBI.

"The information was intended for law enforcement officers only and was illegally obtained," the FBI said in a statement sent to TechNewsWorld by spokesperson Jenny Shearer. "A criminal investigation is underway to identify and hold accountable those responsible." 

The recorded call was a conversation between the FBI and Scotland Yard regarding tracking Anonymous members and other digital activists. It also involved other details about the efforts against such groups.

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10 Sites Skewered by Anonymous, Including FBI, DOJ, U.S. Copyright Office

techland.time.com

By the time East Coasters were finishing dinner last night, 10 websites had fallen to what hacktivist group Anonymous calls its “low orbit ion cannon,” or LOIC — a public domain software tool named after a weapon in a popular sci-fi real-time strategy game that’s designed to stress test whether a network can handle a distributed denial of service attack.

According to Anonymous, 10 well-known governmental and corporate sites with ties to the entertainment industry were assaulted and knocked offline in retaliation for the FBI shutting down Megaupload.com, one of the world’s largest file-sharing sites. The FBI had closed Megaupload.com earlier Thursday afternoon, accusing the company of more than $500 million in revenue losses stemming from copyright violations, and arresting four people in connection with the indictment.

(MORE: Anonymous Claims DOJ, RIAA, MPAA Sites Hit for Megaupload Bust)

Dubbing its DDoS spree “OpMegaupload,” Anonymous claims it took down usdoj.govand justice.gov (the U.S. Department of Justice), universalmusic.com (Universal Music Group),RIAA.org (the Recording Industry Association of America), MPAA.org (the Motion Picture Association of America), copyright.gov (the U.S. Copyright Office), hadopi.fr (France’s copyright-enforcement agency), wmg.com (Warner Music Group), bmi.com (Broadcast Music, Inc.) andfbi.gov (the Federal Bureau of Investigation). The DOJ’s website was first to fall, about an hour after the Justice Department announced its indictment of Megaupload.com.

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Anonymous exposes 75,000 credit card numbers

washingtonpost.com

Hacker collective Anonymous has just dumped 200 GB of names, email addresses and passwords for around 860,000 Stratfor users. Anonymous also exposed credit card numbers for 75,000 paying customers of Stratfor.

Stratfor, a security think tank, provides reports on international security and related threats to government and military personnel as well as to the private sector. It is unknown whether Anonymous gained access to other, more sensitive information during the Stratfor hacks, which occurred on December 24.

“The time for talk is over,” wrote Anonymous last night on Pastebin.

“It’s time to dump the full 75,000 names, addresses, CCs and md5 hashed passwords to every customer that has ever paid Stratfor. But that’s not all: we’re also dumping ~860,000 usernames, email addresses, and md5 hashed passwords for everyone who’s ever registered on Stratfor’s site… Did you notice 50,000 of these email addresses are .mil and .gov?”

Anonymous’ motives for the attack are also somewhat hazy. In last night’s statement, representatives of the movement wrote, “All our lives we have been robbed blindly and brutalized by corrupted politicians, establishmentarians and government agencies sex shops, and now it’s time to take it back.”

In addition to the Stratfor attack and exposure, Anonymous is threatening a new action on New Year’s Eve, December 31.

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Internet Crime Complaint Center's (IC3) Scam Alerts December 29, 2011

ic3.gov

This report, which is based upon information from law enforcement and complaints submitted to the IC3, details recent cyber crime trends, new twists to previously-existing cyber scams, and announcements.

POPULAR PASSWORDS

An Internet site who manages passwords recently posted an article pertaining to the lack of secure passwords being utilized which may be a factor in data breaches — past, present, and future. One reason for the lack of security is the amount of passwords a user is required to remember to access the many databases, applications, multiple networks, etc., used on a daily basis. Sharing passwords among users in a workplace is becoming a common theme to continue the flow of operations. Users have prioritized convenience over security when establishing passwords.

The article provided a list of millions of stolen passwords posted on-line by hackers and ranked the top 25 common passwords.

1. password
2. 123456
3. 12345678
4. qwerty
5. abc123
6. monkey
7. 1234567
8. letmein
9. trustno1

1. dragon
2. baseball
3. 111111
4. iloveyou
5. master
6. sunshine
7. ashley
8. bailey
9. passw0rd

1. shadow
2. 123123
3. 654321
4. superman
5. qazwsx
6. michael
7. football

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Chinese Computer Hackers Hit U.S. Chamber of Commerce

foxnews

WASHINGTON –  A group of hackers in China breached the computer defenses of America's top business-lobbying group and gained access to everything stored on its systems, including information about its three million members, according to several people familiar with the matter.

The break-in at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is one of the boldest known infiltrations in what has become a regular confrontation between U.S. companies and Chinese hackers. The complex operation, which involved at least 300 internet addresses, was discovered and quietly shut down in May 2010.

It isn't clear how much of the compromised data was viewed by the hackers. Chamber officials say internal investigators found evidence that hackers had focused on four Chamber employees who worked on Asia policy, and that six weeks of their email had been stolen.

It is possible the hackers had access to the network for more than a year before the breach was uncovered, according to two people familiar with the Chamber's internal investigation.

One of these people said the group behind the break-in is one that U.S. officials suspect of having ties to the Chinese government. The Chamber learned of the break-in when the FBI told the group that servers in China were stealing its information, this person said. The FBI declined to comment on the matter.

A spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, Geng Shuang, said cyberattacks are prohibited by Chinese law and China itself is a victim of attacks. He said the allegation that the attack against the Chamber originated in China "lacks proof and evidence and is irresponsible," adding that the hacking issue shouldn't be "politicized."

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Chinese hackers hit Boston Scientific

massdevice.com
Boston Scientific is one of 760 firms hit by China-based cyber attacks.
Med-tech titan Boston Scientific (NYSE:BSX) was one of 760 companies hit by Chinese cyber attacks that also targeted U.S. government agencies, research universities and Internet providers.

It's not clear whether the Natick, Mass.-based medical device maker lost any sensitive information in the attack.

"We're talking about stealing entire industries," Scott Borg, director of the U.S. Cyber Consequences Unit, told the news service. "This may be the biggest transfer of wealth in a short period of time that the world has ever seen."

The attacks were aimed at the medical device, biotechnology, clean energy, advanced semiconductor, high-end manufacturing and information technology industries, according toBloomberg. 

Along with BSX, Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) and pharmaceutical giant Pfizer's (NYSE:PFE) Wyeth subsidiary were victims. The Chinese government is denying responsibility for the attacks.

The cyber-warfare is just the latest item in a string of bad luck for Boston Scientific, which got hit with a half-billion-dollar tax bill from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service last week.

The latest tab, for $581 million plus interest and penalties, comes out of an IRS audit of Boston Scientific's 2006 acquisition of pacemaker firm Guidant Corp.

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China ‘Incredibly Aggressive’ in Cyber Theft

cnbc.com
China is stealing online information from the United States and feeding the data to homegrown companies for commercial benefit, Michael Hayden, Former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency said at the Black Hat Technical Security Conference in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.

He pointed out that as an intelligence officer, he was "impressed" with the sophistication of Chinese cyber espionage, although spying in cyber space is an activity that all states, including the United States, take part in.

According to Hayden, "We steal secrets, you bet. But we steal secrets that are essential for American security and safety. We don't steal secrets for American commerce, for American profit. There are many other countries in the world that do not so self limit."

Despite the difficulty in tracing the origins of cyber attacks, Hayden believes China is the culprit behind various incidents of data theft.

"The body of evidence makes me quite comfortable and confident in saying that there's an incredibly large amount of this cyber activity coming from China," he told CNBC on the sidelines of the conference.

The retired general, who also served as the Director of the National Security Agency, added that, "I have come to the conclusion that the Chinese, the Chinese state and others in China are incredibly aggressive in the cyber domain, when it comes to the theft of property: state on state or against commercial targets."

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Cyber attack on water utility an 'eye-opener' for security professionals

securitydirectornews.com

YARMOUTH, Maine—A cyber attack that apparently originated in Russia and targeted a water utility in Illinois may be the purview of IT security specialists, but it should be of concern to all security professionals with responsibilities over vital infrastructure, say utility security experts who spoke with Security Director News.

The cyber attack, which targeted the Curran-Gardner Township Public Water District, apparently took place on Nov. 8 and was traced to an IP address in Russia. By taking remote control of the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems, the attackers were able to burn out a water pump. However, the event wasn't widely reported until Nov. 17, when Joe Weiss, a well-known expert on cyber security of utilities, wrote about the attack, citing a report from the Illinois Statewide Terrorism and Intelligence Center.

Though the cyber attack's only result was a burned-out pump at a small Illinois water utility, Allan Wick, security manager for the Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association and chairman of the ASIS Utilities Security Council, told Security Director News it's a very significant event. "This is the first documented instance in the United States of a SCADA system of a critical infrastructure being compromised," he said.

People have been talking about the potential for such an attack for years, Wick said, but not everyone in the utilities sector took the threat seriously. The event should be an "eye-opener" for security professionals with responsibility over vital infrastructure, Wick said. "Take the threat seriously," he said. "It's not someone crying wolf."

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Attackers Get Sneakier With Encrypted Malware

pcworld.com

Malware just got sneaky! Well, sneakier, that is. Attackers in Brazil have found a way to sneak around antivirus programs by using cryptography.

Recently Dmitry Bestuzhev, Kaspersky Lab's Head of Global Research and Analysis Team for Latin America, was looking over some potentially malicious links from Brazil when he discovered some files with .jpeg filename extensions. At first glance, Bestuzhev thought that they were some form ofsteganography--the art and science of hiding messages. But upon further inspection, the reseacher discovered that they were actually more like .bmp (bitmap) files, than JPEGs.

The data contained within the files themselves was obviously encrypted and contained some kind of malware; Bestuzhev later discovered that the data was in the form of block ciphers--a cryptographic method that encrypts 128-bit blocks of plain text in to 128-bit blocks of cipher text. Since block ciphers can only be composed of 128-bit blocks, they must break up the message into several blocks and encrypt each one individually. A process called modes of operationallows a cryptographer to repeatedly use block ciphers to encrypt an entire program--or piece of malware, in this case.

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Fox-IT and TNO to Work on System for Detecting Digital Espionage

digitaljournal.com

Delft, The Netherlands (PRWEB) November 16, 2011

The threat of targeted cyber attacks, especially digital espionage is increasing rapidly. The current security measures against cybercrime focus primarily on the detection of massive and indiscriminate attacks. To protect businesses and governments against cyber espionage Fox-IT and TNO are developing the Cyber Attack Detector (CAD).

Analyzing a large number of digital espionage indicators will allow users to be instantly alerted when there are activities that indicate fraud or espionage. The Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation in The Netherlands has granted €800,000 via the “Innovation for Public Security” program for the development of this joint solution.

Digital espionage threat is increasing, protection lagging
The social and economic impact of cybercrime is increasing, as is the demand for an effective protection against cybercrime. The attack methods of the digital spy have become more sophisticated, with increasing reports of very specific and targeted attacks. Traditional protective equipment such as intrusion detection systems, firewalls, virus scanners, and log analyzers offer inadequate protection.

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Facebook Hacked: Porn and Graphic Material Floods Users' Accounts

christianpost.com

Facebook has been under heavy attack the last two or three days as the popular social networking site has become the victim of a severe hacking spree affecting nearly every user on the site.

The hacks do not seem to have specific targets but happen at random with some user’s newsfeeds being littered with objectionable content and others not seeing anything.

Some of the hacks happen in the form of "click' spam being sent out. A popular spam involves Kim Kardashian with a link to a video. It will say something like "After watching this video I lost all respect for Kim." Upon clicking, the link takes the unsuspecting person nowhere, and hacks the account sending the same spam to all of the user’s friends.

Other spams include mass messages and tagged photos leading people to believe they are in the link or involved with it because it is not personalized. Those will also have the same result, and continue the spamming of others walls.

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U.S. Calls Out China and Russia for Cyber Espionage Costing Billions

foxnews

Hey, China and Russia, get off of our clouds.

That's the warning from a new U.S. national intelligence director's report to Congress released Thursday that states China and Russia are the biggest perpetrators of economic espionage through the Internet. 

The report, Foreign Spies Stealing U.S. Economic Secrets in Cyberspace, also warns that the efforts to calculate the cost of lost research and development is nearly impossible to calculate but could be costing up to $398 billion. As mobile devices proliferate, it's only going to get easier for spies to steal.

Analysts note that this is the first time the U.S. government report has so openly blamed countries that support cyber attacks and espionage at the national and state level.

"The computer networks of a broad array of U.S. government agencies, private companies,
universities, and other institutions -- all holding large volumes of sensitive economic information -- were targeted by cyber espionage; much of this activity appears to have originated in China," reads the report.

Drawing on data from 13 agencies, including the CIA and FBI, over the past two years, the report concludes that attacks against U.S. government networks and military contracts are on the rise. But one of the most worrying trends is the growing number of attacks on businesses that are smaller than the Fortune 500 companies.

Additionally, the report states that China's intelligence services -- as well as private companies and other entities -- are exploiting Chinese citizens or others with family ties in China who have "insider access to corporate networks to steal trade secrets using removable media devices or e-mail."

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Note: Worried about Cyber Espionage? Contact us, we can help. ~JDL

Cyber spy campaign targets chemical industry: Symantec

(AFP)

SAN FRANCISCO — US Internet security firm Symantec on Monday exposed a cyber spying campaign targeting trade secrets at top chemical firms and linked the industrial espionage to a man in China.

At least 48 companies, including some that make advanced materials for military vehicles, were targeted in a campaign Symantec dubbed "Nitro" given the type of information at risk.

"Attacks on the chemical industry are merely their latest attack wave," Symantec security response team members Eric Chien and Gavin O'Gorman said in a report released on Monday.

The attacks targeted NGOs supporting human rights from late April to early May before switching to the motor industry, according to the report.

Major chemical firms, mainly in the United States, Britain, and Bangladesh, came under fire by cyber spies from late July to mid September, Symantec said.

Nitro was aimed at stealing intellectual property for competitive advantage, according to Chien and O'Gorman.

Attackers researched firms, sending selected workers booby-trapped emails that, once opened, secretly infected computers with malicious "Poison Ivy" software designed to steal information.

While various ruses were used to trick workers into opening email attachments to unleash spy software in machines, a typical pretext was to fake a meeting invitation from an established business partner.

Another tactic used by cyber spies was to send employees email purporting to be a security software update that needed to be installed in computers, according to Symantec.

Poison Ivy code was written by a Chinese speaker and Nitro attacks were traced to a server located in the United States but owned by a "20-something male" in the Hebei region of China, the report said.

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Facebook hack attacks strike 600,000 times per day, security firm reports

nydailynews.com

Social media company admits to massive lapse in security

Facebook accounts are hacked 600,000 times daily during users’ log-in, the social networking site conceded this week.

The Internet powerhouse said that it records more than 1 billion log-ons each day, and that .06% of those log-ons are compromised.

The shocking lapse in security was first reported by UK-based computer security firm Sophos.

Facebook could not be reached late Friday, although a note that accompanied the startling statistic said, “At Facebook, we take the privacy and safety of the people who use our site very seriously.

“Using a combination of technological innovations...we’re working 24/7 to ensure everyone’s information is safe and secure.”

The scary scope of the security breach was conceded by Facebook on a hard-to-find graphic accompanying a note dilating on its newest efforts to combat Internet piracy.

The post, authored by “Facebook Security” is entitled, “National Cybersecurity Awareness Month Updates,” and can be found on the site.

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Over 700 Companies Infiltrated by Cyber-Attack

mobiledia.com

At least 760 companies' networks were compromised by the same breach that affected security firm RSA, elevating concern over data security.

Bedford, Mass.-based RSA, the security division of EMC, provides security, risk and compliance solutions to major corporations and disclosed a data breach in March.

Security analyst Brian Krebs' blog identifies hundreds of business and organizations, including 20 percent of Fortune 500 companies, believed to be affected by the RSA security breach.

Krebs' list includes Abbott Labs, Cisco Systems, eBay, the European Space Agency, Facebook, Google, IBM, Intel, the IRS, Motorola, Research in Motion and Wells Fargo.

His list reveals the RSA attack was greater than previously understood, underscoring the challenges of detecting a breach and identifying the parties behind it, especially when the intrusion goes unnoticed until activated.

Shortly after hackers compromised RSA's network, it became clear the security firm wasn't the only corporation victimized in the attack, as dozens of other multinational companies were infiltrated using many of the same tools.

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U.S. DHS expects Anonymous to attack infrastructure

net-security.org
Anonymous is eyeing industrial control systems for future attacks, says the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, but its members have yet to demonstrate a capability to inflict damage to these systems.

"The information available on Anonymous suggests they currently have a limited ability to conduct attacks targeting ICS," says in thesecurity bulletin recently compiled by DHS' National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center. "However, experienced and skilled members of Anonymous in hacking could be able to develop capabilities to gain access and trespass on control system networks very quickly."

Aware that vulnerabilities in industrial control systems are plentiful, the DHS warns that common penetration testing software already uses control system exploits and packet inspection tools now support industrial protocols, so they can be taken advantage of for mounting attacks.

"In addition, there are control systems that are currently accessible directly from the Internet and easy to locate through internet search engine tools and applications," says the DHS experts. "These systems could be easily located and accessed with minimal skills in order to trespass, carry out nefarious activities, or conduct reconnaissance activities to be used in future operations."

Anonymous has still not targeted industrial control systems, but the DHS expects them to start in the near future as the collective has already made it known that its members should be targeting energy companies that don't seem to make an effort towards a "greener" production.


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Welcome to the World of Cyber-Terror Vulnerability

foxnews.com
Did you open your BlackBerry Wednesday or even Thursday morning and find – nothing? No new e-mails, or tweets. No new text messages. Just blackness and that familiar screen saver photo of your child, spouse or dog? Welcome to the world of cyber-terrorism vulnerability.

The mysterious, world-wide virus that crippled BlackBerrys this week and spread like the plague – more on that threat later – across crossing oceans and five continents may spell financial catastrophe for the struggling Research In Motion aka RIM, whose stock shares have lost 60 percent of their value since the start of the year.

An RIM spokesman has said that the outage was caused by what Security Week called “a core switch failure within RIM’s infrastructure,” and not by a deliberate disabling attack. But the outage highlights the threat that determined cyber-warriors could pose to the nation’s communications systems if they target them.

For over a decade cyber-experts have urged the U.S. to upgrade critical infrastructure to protect vital dams, power plants, and communications systems from cyber-crime or cyber-attacks from rival countries. But the country remains complacent and highly vulnerable, as the BlackBerry outage shows.

During a recent cyber-security summit in New York, numerous experts warned that cyber-attacks could not only cause billions of dollars in damage to such vital systems, but endanger national security.

Read more: http://nation.foxnews.com/blackberry-outage/2011/10/13/welcome-world-cyber-terror-vulnerability#ixzz1amzsvuvp

Florida Man Arrested in “Operation Hackerazzi” for Targeting Celebrities with Computer Intrusion, Wiretapping, and Identity Theft

fbi.gov

LOS ANGELES—A man accused of targeting the entertainment industry by hacking into the personal e-mail accounts of celebrities was arrested today after being charged with a range of cyber-related crimes, announced André Birotte Jr., the United States Attorney in Los Angeles; and Steven Martinez, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office.

Christopher Chaney, 35, of Jacksonville, Florida, was arrested this morning by FBI agents without incident. A federal grand jury in Los Angeles returned a sealed indictment yesterday charging Chaney with violations under Title 18 of the U.S. Criminal Code, including: accessing protected computers without authorization; damaging protected computers without authorization; wiretapping; and aggravated identity theft.

According to the indictment, which was unsealed this morning, Chaney used several aliases while illegally obtaining personal information of numerous celebrities through a series of computer intrusions. The aliases used include: “trainreqsuckswhat,” “anonygrrl,” and “jaxjaguars911.”

Investigators believe that Chaney used publicly available sources to mine for data about his female and male victims, all of whom are associated with the entertainment industry. Once Chaney gained access and control of an e-mail account, he would obtain private information, such as e-mails and file attachments, according to the indictment. In addition, investigators believe that Chaney was led to new victims by accessing the address books of victims whose computers he already controlled.

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In face of massive cybersecurity threat, government security dawdles

networkworld.com

Despite efforts to improve, GAO report says most government agencies are at risk of security attack.

At a time when the cyberthreat level is at its peak, many federal agencies continue to struggle with IT security.

Weaknesses in information security policies and practices at 24 major federal agencies continue to place the confidentiality, integrity and availability of sensitive information and information systems at risk. Consistent with this risk, reports of security incidents from federal agencies are on the rise, increasing more than 650% over the past five years, concluded a report from the watchdogs at the Government Accountability Office this week.

"Each of the 24 agencies -- including the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security and the IRS -- reviewed had weaknesses in information security controls. An underlying reason for these weaknesses is that agencies have not fully implemented their information security programs. As a result, they have limited assurance that controls are in place and operating as intended to protect their information resources, thereby leaving them vulnerable to attack or compromise," the report stated.

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Pentagon seeks probe of the cost of hacking

washingtontimes.com

The Pentagon is asking the nation’s 16 spy agencies to investigate the cost of theft of commercial secrets by foreign computer hackers, a loss some analysts say could be costing the U.S. economy hundreds of billions of dollars a year.

“We expect it is very substantial — substantial in monetary terms, substantial in security terms,” said James N. Miller, principal deputy undersecretary of defense for policy. “The nation has a substantial interest in protecting intellectual property.”

The Pentagon’s request for an estimate went to the National Intelligence Council, which produces National Intelligence Estimates (NIEs), said Deputy Secretary of Defense William J. Lynn, adding that its report will likely be classified when the assessment is complete.

Security specialists say that hackers, many thought to be operating on behalf of communist China, are stealing vast quantities of proprietary data from U.S. defense, energy and other firms every year, compromising the nation’s security and economic advantage.

“It is a massive transfer of wealth,” said Phyllis Schneck, chief technology officer for public-sector business at computer security firm McAfee Inc.“Things that would have created money and jobs for one company in one country are instead creating them for other companies in another country.”

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