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Report: Cyber Ring Stole Data To Game Stock Market | Reuters

December 1, 2014 Paul Roberts

Reuters has the story this morning about a new report out from the folks at FireEye about a cyber espionage ring that targets financial services firms. The campaign, dubbed FIN4 by FireEye, stole corporate secrets for the purpose of gaming the stock market. FireEye believes that the extensive cyber operation compromised sensitive data about dozens of publicly held companies. According to FireEye the victims include financial services firms and those in related sectors, including investment bankers, attorneys and investor relations firms. Rather than attempting to break into networks overtly, the attackers targeted employees within each organization. Phishing e-mail messages led victims to bogus web sites controlled by the hackers, who harvested login credentials to e-mail and social media accounts. Those accounts were then used to expand the hackers reach within the target organization: sending phishing email messages to other employees. The criminals behind FIN4 sought data that could be useful to stock traders, including Securities and […]

Customer Support A Weak Link In Two Factor | Ars Technica

November 4, 2014 Paul Roberts

Ars Technica has an interesting write-up on an apparently successful compromise of Google’s two-factor authentication technology. Though in this case, the culprit wasn’t any system Google deployed or managed, but a gullible customer support representative working for the victim’s cell phone carrier. According to this post over at Facebook-for-hipsters site Ello.co, Grant Blakeman woke up on a recent Saturday morning to find that his Google account had been hijacked – despite the fact that he used Google’s two-factor authentication to protect access to the account. How? Blakeman enlisted the help of none-other than Mat Honan, whose own struggles with account hijacking became the subject of a much-cited Wired feature article. As with Honan, Blakeman’s valuable three-character Instagram account, @gb, appears to have been the lure for hackers. (Honan’s @mat Twitter account was what lured his attackers.) Read “Researchers sidestep Paypal Two-Factor Authentication.” After a conversation with Honan, Blakeman contacted his cell provider and […]

White House Cyber Chief: JP Morgan Underscores Critical Infrastructure Risk

October 9, 2014 Paul Roberts

The White House’s cyber security czar, Michael Daniel, said the Obama Administration is deeply concerned about the reported hack of systems belonging to banking giant JP Morgan Chase & Co. but sees the incident as part of a larger trend of attacks against U.S. critical infrastructure. Asked about the targeted attack against JP Morgan and other banks and financial institutions, Daniel said that the White House was concerned, but not surprised by the incident. “We have watched for several years the trend of malicious actors in cyber try to figure out how to target critical infrastructure,” he said. “Financial services is critical infrastructure.” The White House was concerned that a major U.S. bank would fall victim to hackers, but sees it in the context of a “broad trend,” rather than an isolated incident, he said. Speaking with Michael Farrell, the Cybersecurity Editor at Christian Science Monitor, Daniel hit on many of the now-common talking […]

For Cyber Security Awareness Month: Change Your Passwords, Or Ditch Them?

October 1, 2014 Paul Roberts

October has arrived. And while that means colorful foliage and Halloween for many of us, it is also a special time in the information security industry: cyber security awareness month – or NCSAM. Security Ledger will be supporting NCSAM this month with banner ads and other content that highlight NCSAM events. Cyber Security Awareness Month – in its 11th year- is a public-private effort to raise public awareness about online security and safety. It’s best known for the “Stop. Think. Connect.” meme, but also is an occasion for elected officials and private sector firms to highlight cyber security issues. In a Presidential Proclamation released on Tuesday, President Obama called cyber threats “one of the gravest national security dangers the United States faces.” “They jeopardize our country’s critical infrastructure, endanger our individual liberties, and threaten every American’s way of life. When our Nation’s intellectual property is stolen, it harms our economy, […]

Online Authentication Group FIDO Alliance Grabs A Big Bone: Alibaba

September 23, 2014 Paul Roberts

The FIDO Alliance, an up-and-coming industry consortium aimed at simplifying online identity and doing away with passwords added IPO darling Alibaba to its Board of Directors, according to a statement on Tuesday. The FIDO (or “Fast IDentity Online”) Alliance announced that Alibaba Group’s payments business, Alipay will be among the first to deploy FIDO technology for secure payments authentication. On September 17, the company announced that it will use Nok Nok Labs’ FIDO-compliant NNL™ S3 Authentication Suite to enable secure online payments via the Fingerprint Sensor (FPS) technology on the Samsung Galaxy S5. Alipay customers will be able to make payments and transfers using Alipay’s mobile application, Alipay Wallet by applying their fingerprint to the Galxy’s fingerprint sensor. “We look forward to participating on the FIDO Alliance board, and assuring that commerce and authentication are uniquely cooperative and seamlessly compatible,” said Ni Liang, Alibaba group, senior director, department of security, in a statement. Mobile payments […]