Cyberattack

U.S. Slammed as Major Host for Cybercrime

While Russia and Ukraine are generally regarded as today's main cybercrime hubs, "a lot of their infrastructure is housed in the west, in the United States to be precise," writes Vincent Hanna of Spamhaus Project. "Without exception, all of the major security organizations on the Internet we know of agree that the 'Home' of cybercrime in the western world is a place known as Atrivo/Intercage. We ourselves have not come to this conclusion lightly but from many years of dealing with criminal operations hosted by Atrivo/Intercage, gangs of cybercriminals -- mostly Russian and East European but with several US online crime gangs as well -- whose activities always lead back to servers run by Atrivo/Intercage..." more

Security Researchers Uncover Cyber Espionage Network Invloving 103 Countries

A report released over the weekend by Information Warfare Monitor along with an exclusive story by the New York Times, revealed a 10-month investigation of a suspected cyber espionage network (dubbed GhostNet) of over 1,295 infected computers in 103 countries. 30% of the infected computers are labeled as high-value targets, including ministries of foreign affairs, embassies, international organizations, news media, and NGOs. Greg Walton, editor of Information Warfare Monitor and a member of the Toronto academic research team that is reporting on the spying operation, writes... more

Schneier: “Someone Is Learning How to Take down the Internet”

"Over the past year or two, someone has been probing the defenses of the companies that run critical pieces of the Internet," wrote renowned security expert, Bruce Schneier, in a piece published in Lawfare. more

Code Released by ‘Shadow Brokers’ Raises Alarming Concerns on Whether NSA Was Hacked

The release on websites this week of what appears to be top-secret computer code that the National Security Agency has used to break into the networks of foreign governments and other espionage targets has caused deep concern inside American intelligence agencies, raising the question of whether America's own elite operatives have been hacked and their methods revealed. more

EU and US Carry Out First Joint Cyber Security Exercise

The first joint cyber security exercise between the EU and US is being held today in Brussels, with the support of the EU's cyber security Agency ENISA and the US Department of Homeland Security. The day-long table-top exercise, named "Cyber Atlantic 2011", is using simulated cyber-crisis scenarios to explore how the EU and US would engage each other and cooperate in the event of cyber-attacks on their critical information infrastructures. more

Obama, Xi Reach ‘Common Understanding’ on Curbing Cyber Espionage

resident Obama announced today that he has reached a "common understanding" with Chinese President Xi Jinping on curbing economic cyber espionage, but threatened to impose U.S. sanctions on Chinese hackers who persist with cyber crimes. more

At Least One U.S. Voting Software Supplier Cyberattacked by Russians, According to Leaked Document

Russia's military intelligence agency launched a cyberattack just days before Election Day 2016 on a U.S. software supplier that provides voting services and systems, according to a top secret report posted Monday by The Intercept. more

New York’s Department of Financial Services Issues Cybersecurity Proposal

New York state is proposing new rules requiring banks and insurance companies to establish cybersecurity programs and designate an internal cybersecurity officer. more

Cyberattacks Listed as High-Impact Threat to North American Electric Grid

In a report released today by The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), cyber attacks are among the top high-impact risks -- "with potential to significantly affect the reliability of the North American bulk power system." Certain protections and mitigations are already in place to address these risks, and this study has been released to help public utility commissions, and the federal government to further prepare for these potential risks. more

Reports of Possible Cyberattack in Palestine

According to reports today, hackers have attacked Palestinian servers, cutting off phone and Internet service across the West Bank and Gaza. Foreign governments are accused to be behind the attack. "Since this morning all Palestinian IP addresses have come under attack from places across the world," said the Palestinian communications minister today. Reneys reports these outages are the largest observed all year for this country, which normally has a fairly stable Internet. more

Rising Ransomware Threats and a Record-Breaking $75M Payout

A recent report has revealed an alarming trend in ransomware attacks and a staggering $75 million ransom payout. The report by Zscaler ThreatLabz team indicates a 17.8% increase in ransomware attacks. more

Sophisticated Maleware Found Aimed to Target Energy Companies

"The threat uses sophisticated techniques to evade detection and prepares the ground for more malware components," Lucian Constantin reporting in CIO: "Security researchers have discovered a new malware threat that goes to great lengths to remain undetected while targeting energy companies." more

Energy Industry Number One Target by Cyber Criminals, According to New Study

Web security company, ScanSafe reports that, in the past quarter, companies in the Energy industry faced the greatest risk of Web-based malware exposure, at a 196% heightened risk compared to other verticals. The Pharmaceutical and Chemicals industry faced the second highest risk of exposure at 192% followed by the Construction & Engineering industry at 150%. The Media and Publishing industry were also among those at highest risk, with a 129% heightened risk compared to other verticals. more

Tactics for Responding to Cyber Attacks - Squeezing Your Cyber Response-Curve: Part 2

In part one of this post we introduced the cyber response curve. In this post, we have outlined some observations which illustrate how different level of maturity and approaches can affect your cyber response curve. more

Study Ranks Riskiest Online Cities in US

A recent study by Symantec Norton and Sperling's Best Places has ranked 50 cities in the United States by "Riskiest Online Cities". The study included investigation of a number of factors including... more