Cyber Warfare Archives

Cyber Warfare

Podcast: Project Prism – Has Uncle Sam Gone Rogue?

June 8, 2013 Paul Roberts

It was hard to escape the big news this week: revelations from The Guardian and The Washington Post about a program of widespread surveillance of online social networks and mobile phone use. The news, both the result of high-level leaks of classified information, has embroiled the Obama Administration in the most serious questions about domestic spying since the Nixon administration. To discuss the week’s events, Paul sat down with Ron Gula, the CEO of Tenable Network Security (and a former NSA security ninja) and Rick Forno, director of the University of Maryland Baltimore County’s Graduate Cybersecurity Program and a Junior Affiliate Scholar at the Stanford Law School’s Center for Internet and Society (CIS). While neither guest was surprised to read about the government’s monitoring of cell phone activity or data from social networks, the latest reports lay bare the dimensions of the U.S. government’s domestic spying post 9/11, and raise serious […]

Report: Chinese Hackers Pinch Advanced Weapons Designs

May 28, 2013 Paul Roberts

A Washington Post story on Sunday cited a confidential report prepared by the Pentagon that claims “Chinese hackers” have compromised systems storing data on the design of more than two dozen major U.S. weapons systems. The report, prepared for the Pentagon’s senior brass by the Defense Science Board, warns that the intrusions have given China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) a leg up on the U.S., and a boost in efforts to modernize its own military for use in a possible, future conflict, The Post reported. Many of the breaches that led to theft of sensitive data occurred at private defense contractors, or at firms that acted as subcontractors to them, the report said. No specific incidents or companies are named in the report. However, the main outlines of it echo reports of leaks of classified information on weapons systems going back more than three years. In April, 2009, for example, […]

Update: Hack Investigation At Dept. of Labor Turns Up Internet Explorer 8 Zero Day Hole

May 5, 2013 Paul Roberts

A hack of the U.S. Department of Labor web site that was revealed late last week is being described as a “watering hole” style attack aimed at compromising the systems of other government workers, in part using an exploit for a previously unknown (or “zero day”) security vulnerability in some versions of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer web browser.(*) Multiple reports last week indicated that a security breach of the Department of Labor web site had occurred. Accounts indicated that visitors to the site using versions of Internet Explorer were being attacked using exploits for a known vulnerability. Over the weekend, however, researchers analyzing the attacks say that it used an exploit for a zero day hole in IE8, and that details of the attack tie it to a China-based hacking group known as “DeepPanda.” In a blog post on Friday, researchers at the security firm Invincea said that they believed that the […]

Messy And Loud Hack In South Korea Doesn’t Look State Sponsored

March 22, 2013 Paul Roberts

A researcher who has studied the malicious software used in the attacks on media outlets and banks in South Korea this week said the attacks were coordinated, but messy and loud, without many of the hallmarks of a state sponsored hacking operation. Richard Henderson, a Security Strategist at Fortilabs at Fortinet Inc. said that the malware used in the attack was programmed to begin operating at 2:00pm local time, suggesting that those behind it had planned their operation for weeks or months before launching it. Still, Henderson said many details of the attack make it dissimilar from so-called “advanced persistent threat” or APT-style hacks that are carried out by foreign governments or groups working on their behalf. Henderson said that Fortinet analysts first obtained a copy of the malware on March 19, a day before the attacks. Researchers there had already identified the “time bomb” hidden in the code, which was […]

DPRKurious: Is North Korea Really Behind Cyber Attacks On The South?

March 21, 2013 Paul Roberts

The news keeps coming out of South Korea, where a mysterious rash of hacks and virus infections early Thursday compromised tens of thousands of machines running at banks, broadcasters and other firms, erasing data and causing widespread disruption. Here’s the latest: South Korean Officials “Strongly Suspect” North Korea South Korean government officials made their most direct statements to date (albeit anonymously) on the possible source of the attack, saying that they had a “strong suspicion” that the government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) was responsible. Speaking to the YonHap News Agency, the official, identified as a “high ranking official in the office of President Cheong Wa Dae,” refused to elaborate. However, he may have been referring to the preliminary results of the Korea Communications Commission (KCC) which traced the malicious code responsible for crippling computers at broadcasters and banks to an IP address in China. South Korean […]