Items tagged with cyber security
Over the past week, it is suspected that Russia has been behind a massive, widespread attack against several private companies and government agencies within the United States. On the homefront, Microsoft has been at the tip of the spear when it comes to responding to this incident. Now, as more agencies come forward to report breaches, it seems that even Microsoft was susceptible to the attack. This all raises the question of “Is this an act of war on the nation as a whole?” Late last night, Microsoft reported on its blog that it too found evidence of malicious code embedded within its SolarWinds environment. That code has since been isolated and removed, but that does not mean Microsoft...
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On Monday, news broke that Russian hackers breached SolarWinds in an effort to compromise numerous organizations. While private companies are affected, the most significant targets seemed to be part of the U.S government. Now, Microsoft has swooped in to try and kill the SolarWinds breach with several steps that have rolled out over the past several days. When you have a breach as widespread as SolarWinds, which is rumored to be backed by hacker group APT29, or Cozy Bear, you must have an extreme response. Cozy Bear is likely to be a part of Russian intelligence and has been behind past DNC attacks and, more recently, COVID-19 research attacks. To stop Cozy Bear in its tracks with the “Sunburst”...
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Governments have long worried that foreign device manufacturers could use their products to spy on users, but proving that it’s actually happening has been notoriously difficult. The Taiwanese government is the latest to investigate claims of Trojan horse devices, after receiving complaints accusing Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi of selling phones that could collect user data and send the info to servers elsewhere in China. Xiaomi Mi4. Image Credit: Xiaomi The probe puts a spotlight on a growing vulnerability – not just for governments, but for citizens, as well – when it comes to the devices we carry. Your phone has two cameras and a mic, and your tablet is similarly equipped....
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Do you laugh at the skills of other geeks? Do you have tech knowledge that would make the typical hacker whimper? If so, you might be a candidate for a new government program aimed at battling cyber enemies of the state. The so-called Cyber Reserve is being likened to the military reserve: a force of tech experts who can mobilize to defend the nation in times of crisis. We would have gone with Cyber Avengers, but Cyber Reserve works. It’s about honor, not glory, right? Navy Reserve. Image Credit: Motherboard The Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate is handling the creation of the Cyber Reserve and is starting by recruiting tech experts who already...
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The Spanish National Police announced today that they've captured three individuals connected to the online hacktivist group Anonymous. According to the policía, the three are linked to attacks on multiple Spanish banks, one Italian energy company, Visa, MasterCard, and the governments of Egypt, Algeria, Libya, Iran, Chile, Columbia, and New Zealand. Additionally, the police originally stated that the group participated in the April attacks that crippled Sony's PlayStation Network, but later remarks from police chief Manuel Vazquez indicate this was untrue. Government officials are said to be investigating whether the trio has committed other crimes of international importance such as...
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