The week opened with more information on the Korean attacks. It seems the number of people may have been larger than some earlier reports. Of course, this is actually more about a breach than it is about an actual attack. A breach being the exposure of information and or information assets and an attack being an action that causes harm and or damage through the information infrastructures. The argument that a breach is an attack is an interesting one, but “if you have no expectation of privacy on the Internet”, and that privacy is violated “then there is no violation” is also a valid argument. I’m not saying I agree but these two positions are an interesting juxtaposition in the discussion of the breach versus attack.
By Tuesday more information on the release of a video by the Chinese showing an attack on a United States University was making the rounds. The Chinese would later take down the video but once on the Internet it was here to stay and copies of the video are still on YouTube. There are a couple of ways to look at the Chinese exposure of an attack on the United States in this manner. It could be argued that it shows a complete lack of comprehension of the ramifications of the issue (clueless) and it could be argued that they simply don’t care (arrogance). It would be interesting to argue that point back and forth based on other incidents that have occurred.
The article by Harry Harrison of BAE systems on the term cyber attack Wednesday is interesting. He bemoans the use of the word cyber attack instead of cyber infiltration. Here I was worried about the use of cyber warfare and trying to kill that off unless there was an article 5 violation and he’s worried about attack which could classify espionage. This is an interesting turn of events for me. To see somebody arguing for a reduction in the threat language and communication style to even less than I normally argue for…
The week closed out with more stories on medical device hacking and the criticism of the “cyber dragon” reports dealing with remote access tools in what McAffee researchers are calling advanced persistent threat scenarios. The remote access tools have been around for a long time and do not show anything new. The volume and character of the organizations that were attacked are interesting from patterns analysis view. All in all it was a pretty quiet week. If you don’t count the DC earthquake, impending hurricane and other associated horribleness like Congress returning to town.
Monday August 22nd
| Review: ‘Counterstrike’ details US intelligence agencies’ cyberwar efforts in Iraq San Jose Mercury News By Tony Capaccio and Brendan McGarry The US military has hacked and temporarily disabled Iraqi insurgent and terrorist-based websites, a little-known tactic that’s part of a government “counterstrike” capability, according to a new book. … See all stories on this topic » |
| Cyber attack affected 350000 customers: Epson Korea Straits Times … Korea Communications Commission alleged were from China attacked the Nate Internet portal and the Cyworld blogging site, both run by SK Comms, accessing the personal information of up to 35 million users in the country’s biggest cyber attack so far. See all stories on this topic » |
| Businessman charged for hacking Hong Kong stock exchange website Monsters and Critics.com The 29-year-old suspect, whose name was not released, was arrested after the cyber attack on the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing website, which led to trading in some blue-chip shares including HSBC being suspended for half a day. … See all stories on this topic » |
| PMO faces largest strategically targeted cyber attack Daily News & Analysis This was perhaps the most strategically targeted cyber attack on India’s key ministries, as officials from the ministries of home affairs, defence, external affairs and the armed forces began to receive similar calls asking them to shut down systems. … See all stories on this topic » |
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| SOMEONE ELSE’S WINDOWS: IHL and cyber warfare Minda News Below is the first installment of the transcript: Q: What do you mean by “cyber warfare” and why is it of concern to the ICRC? CD: The concept of cyber warfare is somewhat nebulous and different people appear to mean different things when they refer to … See all stories on this topic » |
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| Security beefed up to save CAO website Herald.ie By Cormac Murphy A NEW website security system installed by the CAO will repel any attempted repeat of last year’s cyber attack, it is hoped. Tens of thousands of Leaving Cert students will log on to the site on Monday to see what third-level courses … See all stories on this topic » |
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| DNA investigation: PMO fights largest cyber attack Daily News & Analysis The attachment, unknown to the mail’s sender and the recipient, was a cyber attack carrying a malware designed to hack into as many systems as possible. As investigators from the National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO), India’s technical … See all stories on this topic » |
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| SOMEONE ELSE’S WINDOWS: IHL and cyber warfare (Second of two parts) Minda News The means and methods of cyber warfare are still incompletely understood, except presumably by the technical experts who develop and apply them. The development of new technologies is frequently classified. That being said, to determine whether and to … See all stories on this topic » |
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| Exchanges defend against cyber attack Financial News In July last year, a cyber attack using an advanced computer code called the Stuxnet worm targeted the Iranian nuclear programme. Security experts said the worm’s design was unprecedented in nature and the European Network and Information Security … See all stories on this topic » |
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| Hong Kong stock exchange website hacked Memeburn By Staff Reporter Honk Kong police have arrested a 29-year old man following a cyber attack on the city’s stock exchange website. The attack, the second in two days, halted the trading of shares in seven different companies. … See all stories on this topic » |
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| Ron Paul’s birthday ‘money bomb’ nets $1.6 million Los Angeles Times This happened despite a cyber-attack on the campaign Website, announced on Paul’s Facebook page, that shut it down for a few hours. A press release quoted campaign chairman Jesse Benton as saying, “Our campaign is surging, and today’s money bomb … See all stories on this topic » |
Tuesday August 23rd
| China lets attack slip iAfrica.com A Chinese military TV show has inadvertently included a screenshot of a computer engaged in acyber-attack, using a US IP address. The screenshots appear for six seconds as stock footage, showing a cyber-attack against the website of the Falun Gong … See all stories on this topic » |
| Has RSA hack sown seeds of token resistance? Computing by Stuart Sumner In February this year RSA, the security arm of information infrastructure firm EMC, announced that it had been the victim of a cyber attack and that critical information may have been stolen from its servers. At the time it was thought … See all stories on this topic » |
| Cloud computing: If hackers want access, they’ll get it Director of Finance online Cloud providers that store client data on shared or virtual servers must ensure that private customer information cannot be accessed in the event of a cyber attack or a server being hacked, according to search specialists, Simplexo. … See all stories on this topic » |
| Ron Paul’s website attacked during fundraising drive Naked Security However, a statement on Ron Paul’s Facebook page said that the website was under “cyber attack“, and that as a result people had not been able to make donations to the campaign’s war chest. The RonPaul2012.com website is under cyber attack. … See all stories on this topic » |
| McAfee says criminal hackers will sell a million email addresses for $25 VentureBeat The report also logs important details on the cybercrime underground, such as “price books” that determine the going rate for the purchase of large email address lists, acts of hacktivism, andcyberwar. In the US, a batch of 1 million email addresses … See all stories on this topic » |
Wednesday August 24th
| Chinese PLA video shows cyber-attack software Register By Richard Chirgwin • Get more from this author It’s being called an accident, but it could also be a show of force: a piece of state propaganda from China shows an attack being launched against Falun Gong computers. New York-based newspaper The Epoch … See all stories on this topic » |
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| Medical-device users worry they could face cyber-attack | The Republic The Republic By Janet Moore Star Tribune (Minneapolis) MINNEAPOLIS — Hundreds of cyber-security geeks watched recently as Jay Radcliffe stood on a Las Vegas stage and hacked into his own insulin pump, disabling its life-saving therapy. … See all stories on this topic » |
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| “Cyber Attack” — Why It’s Not a Great Phrase (But We’re Stuck With It) Huffington Post One of the phrases that I’ve been noticing more and more — particularly outside of the security world — is “cyber attack.” For example, in the past week the Chinese cyber security watchdog has claimed China was attacked nearly half a million times … See all stories on this topic » |
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| Ron Paul’s website comes under cyber-attack during fund-raiser 100gf | Politics and Computers Ron Paul’s 2012 presidential campaign website came under cyber-attack at the weekend, coincidentally (or not?) just as he launched a major fund-raising drive. However, Paul still managed to raise $1.8m during the ‘Money Bomb’ weekend, suggesting that … See all stories on this topic » |
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| HSBC South Korea Hit by Cyber Attack eSecurity Planet By eSecurityPlanet Staff A Turkish hacking group called Turkguvenligi recently defaced the Web site of HSBC South Korea. “Judging by the group’s stats in the Zone-H defacement database, it has previously attacked many popular South Korean websites and … See all stories on this topic » |
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| Geeks are the future of warfare Defense Systems Those geeks will be a critical part of the shift to cyber warfare that’s occurring as military forces become more networked. As the opening speaker today after Army CIO Maj. Gen. Susan Lawrence, Viola focused on the need for technologists who can … See all stories on this topic » |
Thursday August 25th
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| Malicious Codes Concealed in Digital Images: Shady RAT Attacks SPAMfighter News Symantec researchers explored a massive cyber attack designed behind the “Operation Shady RAT”, where hackers concealed harmful viruses behind digital images and HTML files, reported InformationWeek on August 12, 2011. Operation Shady RAT can be … See all stories on this topic » |
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| Rival security firm cast doubt on McAfee’s report Philippine Star MANILA, Philippines – A rival internet security firm is questioning the credibility of security software company McAfee’ August 3 claim that it has uncovered the biggest, five-year cyber attack against international organizations. … See all stories on this topic » |
Friday August 26th
| Experts: China TV programme shows government cyber-attack The National BEIJING // Producers of a Saturday evening show on China’s state televison may have inadvertently provided proof that the country’s military engages in cyber-attacks on foreign targets, an accusation that the government has always strenuously denied. … See all stories on this topic » |
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| Cyber Attack Targets Ron Paul Web Site eSecurity Planet By eSecurityPlanet Staff Ron Paul’s campaign Web site was recently targeted by a distributed denial of service attack that interrupted a fundraising drive. “This past weekend’s fundraising drive, organized on his RonPaul2012.com website, was supposed … See all stories on this topic » |
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| Medtronic insulin pumps vulnerable to hackers Reuters But company officials said that the about 200000 diabetes patients who use those devices need not worry about their safety because the risk of a cyber attack is extremely low. “This would have to be a premeditated activity by somebody trying to cause … See all stories on this topic » |
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| Pentagon warns India of Chinese build-up Times of India From deadly long-range nuclear missiles and an expanding blue-water Navy to potent space andcyber warfare abilities, China will have a “modern” military capable of prolonged high-intensity combat operations by the end of this decade. … See all stories on this topic » |
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| China’s state broadcaster shows 10-year-old army-labelled hacking software: report Computer Business Review The US security experts say that if the six-second clip is genuine, it could be a proof that China has been involved in cyber warfare for over 10 years, according to The Guardian. According to the report, CCTV showed the clip as part of a cybersecurity … See all stories on this topic » |
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| Further reading: enter the Cyber-dragon Financial Times (blog) Friday’s best picks from the beyondbrics team: examining how India’s primary education is now on par with Afghanistan and a glimpse at China’s involvement in the raging Cyber-war and why Washington is slow to fight back. bb is the FT’s emerging markets … See all stories on this topic » |
