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Chinese Hackers Hacked Into U.S. Defense Contractors 20 Times In Just One Year

Chinese Hackers Hacked Into U.S. Defense Contractors 20 Times In Just One Year

Sep 18, 2014
Chinese hackers associated with the Chinese government have successfully infiltrated the computer systems of U.S. defense contractors working with the government agency responsible for the transportation of military troops and goods across the globe, a Senate investigators have found. The Senate Armed Services Committee has been investigating the issue for the past year and found that the U.S. Military's Transportation Command (TRANSCOM) has been infiltrated at least 20 times in a single year, out of which only two were detected. This is probably the most serious allegation yet against China. The successful intrusions attributed to an "advanced persistent threat," a term used to designate sophisticated threats commonly associated with governments. All of those intrusions were attributed to China, the report stated. The investigation was conducted in the 12 months period from June 2012 to June 2013 based on information provided by the Federal Bureau of Investigat
Warrant Authorized FBI to Track and Infect Computers with Malware

Warrant Authorized FBI to Track and Infect Computers with Malware

Aug 06, 2014
Tor has always been a tough target for law enforcement for years, but the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation ( FBI ) has found a way to successfully track users across the network. Just a few days back, Tor made a difficult announcement that an attack on its system likely exposed its users of anonymity. Now, a new report from Wired suggests that the FBI has been running a malware campaign to identify Tor users by infecting their computers for years on a large scale. FBI USES DRIVE-BY HACKING TO TRACK USERS Tor is generally thought to be a place where users come online to hide their activities and remain anonymous, but a court case has revealed an opposite story. FBI has been using a tactic called drive-by hacking to track computers using the Tor anonymous computing system. Security researchers call the tactic a " drive-by download " in which a hacker infiltrates a high-traffic website to deliver the malware to large swaths of visitors. That simply means t
Making Sense of Operational Technology Attacks: The Past, Present, and Future

Making Sense of Operational Technology Attacks: The Past, Present, and Future

Mar 21, 2024Operational Technology / SCADA Security
When you read reports about cyber-attacks affecting operational technology (OT), it's easy to get caught up in the hype and assume every single one is sophisticated. But are OT environments all over the world really besieged by a constant barrage of complex cyber-attacks? Answering that would require breaking down the different types of OT cyber-attacks and then looking back on all the historical attacks to see how those types compare.  The Types of OT Cyber-Attacks Over the past few decades, there has been a growing awareness of the need for improved cybersecurity practices in IT's lesser-known counterpart, OT. In fact, the lines of what constitutes a cyber-attack on OT have never been well defined, and if anything, they have further blurred over time. Therefore, we'd like to begin this post with a discussion around the ways in which cyber-attacks can either target or just simply impact OT, and why it might be important for us to make the distinction going forward. Figure 1 The Pu
FBI — Botnets Infecting 18 Computers per Second. But How Many of Them NSA Holds?

FBI — Botnets Infecting 18 Computers per Second. But How Many of Them NSA Holds?

Jul 17, 2014
Botnets - a secretly compromised networks of ordinary home and office computers with rogue software or "malware" that are controlled by an individual criminal or a group - has dramatically increased over the past several years and are considered to pose the biggest threat to the Internet. Cyber criminals have brushed-up their hacking skills and are using Botnets as a cyber weapon to carry out multiple crimes like DDoS attacks (distributed denial of service), mass spamming, page rank and advertising revenue manipulation, mining bitcoins, cyber espionage and surveillance etc. 18 BOTNET INFECTIONS PER SECOND According to the director of FBI's cyber division, Joseph Demarest, Botnet has become one of the biggest enemies of the Internet today, and therefore its impact has been significant. Yesterday during a hearing before a U.S. Senate committee, he says that every second 18 computers worldwide are part of botnet armies, which amounts to over 500 million comp
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To Tackle Cyber Crime, FBI Could Hire Hackers Who Smoke Weed

To Tackle Cyber Crime, FBI Could Hire Hackers Who Smoke Weed

May 21, 2014
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has been authorized by U.S Congress to hire 2,000 new employees this year, and many of those will be young hackers and Programmers in order to built-up its cyber crime division, but FBI's Director 'James B. Comey' is facing some difficulties. Apparently, FBI's Strict Anti-Drug Policy is making it very difficult for them to go after real criminals because most of the hackers have a fondness of smoking weeds, illicit drug. According to US agency policy, they won't hire anyone who used marijuana in the last three years, but it seems that now the law enforcement agency has to think about deviating from its own policy to get right talent to tackle cybercrimes over the Internet which has become a first priority for the agency. Recently, During an annual conference held at Manhattan's New York City Bar Association, One attendee asked James B. Comey that -- One of his friend who considered an FBI job but ultimately did not apply becaus
FBI Arrests 100 Hackers linked to Blackshades Malware

FBI Arrests 100 Hackers linked to Blackshades Malware

May 19, 2014
On Friday, we reported about the large-scale operation of International raids launched by the FBI and other law enforcement officials in countries around the world to arrest the targeted customers of a popular Remote Administration Tool (RAT) called ' Blackshades ,' which is designed to take over the remote control of the infected computers and steal information. The news broke when various announcements on underground forums by hacking group members claimed that FBI especially going after all of them who purchased the hacking tool using PayPal as payment option. Today, the UK's National Crime Agency announced that the raids took place in more than 100 of countries and they have arrested more than 100 people worldwide involved in the purchasing, selling or using the Blackshades malware. More than half million computers in more than dozens of countries were infected by this sophisticated malware that has been sold on underground forums since at least 2010 to seve
FBI raids BlackShades RAT Malware Customers in Europe and Australia

FBI raids BlackShades RAT Malware Customers in Europe and Australia

May 16, 2014
When it comes to crime, whether it's an online or offline, FBI doesn't spare anyone. According to the French media reports and various announcements on underground forums by hacking groups, the FBI has started a large-scale operation of International raids with the help of local law enforcement authorities to arrest a particular group of cyber criminals and Hackers. The FBI has targeted the customers of a popular Remote Administration Tool (RAT) called ' blackshades ', which allows them to connect and manage thousands of remotely infected computers over the Internet. WHAT IS BLACKSHADES RAT?? ' Blackshades ' is a remote administration tool (RAT) which allows an attacker to control several clients from around the world.  Blackshades  malware   is fully equipped with Drive-by attacks, Java exploits, keylogger and it allows an attacker to steal usernames and passwords for email and Web services, instant messaging applications, FTP clients and lots more. In worst
New Guidelines Explain How Apple will Legally Process Law Enforcement Data Requests

New Guidelines Explain How Apple will Legally Process Law Enforcement Data Requests

May 10, 2014
Despite the contrary regarding NSA's DROPOUTJEEP program, Apple had always denied working with the NSA in the creation of any backdoors used to spy on its users and also claimed that the NSA doesn't have backdoor access to its data. But, Apple could legally share your phone data with the law enforcement agencies if asked for. Being a secretive company, Apple is very clear at its point of sharing its users' data with the government when U.S. law enforcement agencies request data relating to the company's users. With the release of a set of new guidelines late Wednesday regarding requests for customer data from the U.S. law enforcement agencies, Apple specifies what information can and cannot be lifted from its users devices upon the receipt of disclosure requests, search warrants, or legal orders. " These guidelines are provided for use by law enforcement or other government entities in the U.S. when seeking information from Apple Inc. about users of Apple
U.S Federal Agencies Want To Secretly Hack Suspects' Computers for Criminal Evidence

U.S Federal Agencies Want To Secretly Hack Suspects' Computers for Criminal Evidence

May 10, 2014
The US Justice Department (DOJ) is seeking a transition in the criminal rules that would make the authorities to have more leeway to secretly hack into the suspected criminals' computer during criminal investigations at any times in bunches. The proposed [ PDF ] change in the rules would make FBI to easily obtain warrants to secretly access suspects' computers for the evidence when the physical location of the computer is not known to them. The problem FBI and government agents increasingly face as more and more crime carried out is online, and with the help of online tools, it is easy to conceal identity of the criminal. " This proposal ensures that courts can be asked to review warrant applications in situations where it is currently unclear what judge has that authority ," Justice Department spokesman Peter Carr told Bloomberg . " The proposal makes explicit that it does not change the traditional rules governing probable cause and notice. " This new U.S. proposal
Silk Road Dealer Plead Guilty For Selling Illegal Drugs for Bitcoins

Silk Road Dealer Plead Guilty For Selling Illegal Drugs for Bitcoins

Apr 26, 2014
Last October, the ' Silk Road ' story broke when its owner Ross William Ulbricht , a 29-year-old who allegedly created and managed the Silk Road underground website, was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The police seized the website that was considered one of the most popular Underground places on the Internet for buying drugs and other illicit goods and services. Just some days after the Shutdown of Silk Road , Authorities in Britain, Sweden, and the United States arrested eight more vendors who dedicatedly used to sell illegal drugs on Silk Road. Yesterday, Cornelis Jan Slomp , a 22-year old Dutch man who allegedly used the Silk Road underground black market website to sell illegal drugs for bitcoins worth millions of dollars has agreed to plead guilty in Chicago federal court to federal drug conspiracy charge filed against him, according to a statement issued by U.S. Attorney Zachary T. Fardon in Chicago and Slomp's lawyer. FBI CASHING OUT  SEI
Microsoft charges FBI for your Information; Syrian Electronic Army leaks Invoices

Microsoft charges FBI for your Information; Syrian Electronic Army leaks Invoices

Mar 21, 2014
Till now we all were aware about the truth that tech companies gave legal access to user data on the government's request, but we were unaware that well known tech companies also charge the government for providing data. Syrian Electronic Army (SEA) , the pro-hacker group, who had compromised Microsoft's Twitter account and blog, earlier this year and Microsoft did announce a breach on its blog earlier this year. " It appears that documents associated with law enforcement inquiries were stolen ,". It seems that they have achieved something bigger than we expected by once more targeting Microsoft. This time the SEA hacking group has managed to successfully get into the FBI's super-secret Digital Intercept Technology Unit (DITU), where they found the actual invoices from Microsoft; detailing how much each request for data cost, which means that the company charges for every document they provide to the FBI agents, Daily Dot reported. The invoic
FBI seized entire database of TorMail service; using it to catch Criminals

FBI seized entire database of TorMail service; using it to catch Criminals

Jan 27, 2014
Using Tormail Email service for being Anonymous online while conversations and mail exchange?? There is a very disappointing news for all   current and past users, US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has a complete copy of Tormail server and they are using it to catch the Criminals & Hackers. According to court documents that recently surfaced, the FBI  have cloned the entire email database while investigating Freedom Hosting. In August 2013, when the FBI seized the Tor network's top web host, Freedom Hosting , that gave the feds access to every record of every anonymous site hosted by Freedom Hosting , including TorMail , a service that allowed to send and receive email anonymously . New evidence uncovered by Wired suggests those archives are now being used in completely unrelated investigations, but possibly now the FBI is mining the information from that database to track cyber criminals. Remember the shutdown of the Silk Road black market?? A
CBI arrests Indian mastermind behind Hire-a-Hacker service on FBI tip-off

CBI arrests Indian mastermind behind Hire-a-Hacker service on FBI tip-off

Jan 25, 2014
For the first time in history, Indian Law Enforcement Agency 'Central Bureau of Investigation' (CBI) has arrested a Cyber criminal after getting a tip-off from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). 33-Year-old Amit Vikram Tiwari , son of an Indian Army colonel and an engineering dropout, who allegedly ran two websites offering services for hacking into email accounts was arrested on Friday from Pune city. According to the details submitted by FBI, he had compromised more than 1,000 Accounts around the world and offering illegal services for cracking email account login for $250 - $500 via two websites www.hirehacker.net and www.anonymiti.com hosted on U.S. Based servers. Amit received most of the payments from his Clients via Western Union Money Transfer or PayPal. During the investigation, police found several fictitious names of clients and bank account numbers in his computer. Initial investigation clarifies that he has clients in China, Romania, an
U.S. Judge ordered the largest Ever Forfeiture of 29,655 Bitcoins seized from Silk Road

U.S. Judge ordered the largest Ever Forfeiture of 29,655 Bitcoins seized from Silk Road

Jan 20, 2014
In last October, the Feds told they would probably just  liquidate the bitcoins  seized from the online black market Silk Road, once they were legally free to do so. Finally the United States District Judge  J. Paul Oetken   signed off  on the forfeiture order for the Bitcoins, clearing the government to sell the assets. Last September, the FBI had seized  29,655 Bitcoins from the online black market Silk Road after its alleged 29-year-old mastermind, Ross William Ulbricht , aka ' Dread Pirate Roberts ' was arrested and charged with possessing controlled substances and committing or conspiring to commit computer hacking offenses, among other charges. This new ruling represents the largest-ever forfeiture of Bitcoins . The assets include the Silk Road hidden website and 29,655 Bitcoins , worth more than $28 Million according to current exchange rates. Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said: "With today's forfeiture of $28 million worth of Bitcoins fr
Your MacBook Camera could Spy on You without lighting up the warning light

Your MacBook Camera could Spy on You without lighting up the warning light

Dec 20, 2013
If you own Apple's MacBook, you should cover up it's webcam, because there's a possibility someone could be watching you. Like most webcams, the MacBook also has a tiny green light lets you know that the webcam is active, but it's possible for malware to disable this important privacy feature on older Mac computers ( models released before 2008 ). Matthew Brocker and Stephen Checkoway , students from Johns Hopkins University created a proof-of-concept app called " iSeeYou " that confirmed that MacBook iSight webcams can spy on their users without the warning light being activated. A young man recently pleaded guilty in court to extortion after he performed a remote hack on Miss Teen USA's webcam to secretly collect nude photos. It was revealed through court papers that the FBI has the ability to do the same thing with a variety of current laptops including Apple products. To make it possible, they created a modified version of the iSight firmware and t
Microsoft's Digital Crimes Unit successfully disrupted the ZeroAccess Botnet

Microsoft's Digital Crimes Unit successfully disrupted the ZeroAccess Botnet

Dec 07, 2013
Microsoft today announced that its Digital Crimes Unit ( a center of excellence for advancing the global fight against cybercrime ) has successfully disrupted the ZeroAccess botnet, one of the world's largest and most rampant botnet .The Botnet is " disrupted ," not "fully destroyed" , Microsoft itself admits that " do not expect to fully eliminate the ZeroAccess botnet due to the complexity of the threat. " This is the Microsoft's 8th botnet takedown operation in the past three years. With the help of U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation  ( FBI ) and Europol's European Cybercrime Centre (EC3), Microsoft led to the seizure of servers that had been distributing malware which has infected nearly 2 million computers all over the world, and with that, ZeroAccess botnet's masters are earning more than $2.7 million every month. ZeroAccess was first identified in 2011 by Symanetc, being used for click fraud, the malware can also be used to illicitly mine the v
The Silk Road Founder financially linked to Bitcoin Creator Satoshi Nakamoto

The Silk Road Founder financially linked to Bitcoin Creator Satoshi Nakamoto

Nov 25, 2013
Two most important moments in the history of Bitcoin are : Its creation by Satoshi Nakamoto , and the burst of The Silk Road's Founder  Ross William Ulbricht . The silk Road's black market was a Bitcoin economy. According to a report published by two Israeli computer scientists,  Ross William Ulbricht , aka Dread Pirate Roberts , may be financially linked to Satoshi Nakamoto. Even if the Bitcoin buyers and sellers remained anonymous, but the transactions themselves are public, So the scientists were able to trace the interactions. The Scientists, Ron and Shamir were exploring the connection between the operator of Silk Road who was recently arrested by the FBI for running the Internet blackmarket Silk Road and the entity that invented the bitcoin. The bitcoin network was established in 2008 and it has been popularly believed that the first accounts in the early days of the bitcoin were of Satoshi Nakamoto , accumulated some 77,600 BTC as a result of 'mining' Bitcoins
FBI warns that Anonymous Hackers has been hacking US Government for almost a year

FBI warns that Anonymous Hackers has been hacking US Government for almost a year

Nov 17, 2013
The FBI is warning that members of the hacktivist group Anonymous hacking collective have secretly accessed US Government computers and stolen sensitive information in a campaign that began almost a year ago. The Hacktivists have exploited a flaw in Adobe applications to compromise the target systems and install software backdoors to maintain the control of the victims computers over the time, the facts dated back to last December, according to a Reuters report. The hacking campaign affected the U.S. Army, Department of Energy , Department of Health and Human Services, and other government agencies,  FBI reveals.  The Federal Bureau of Investigation memo called the hacking campaign " a widespread problem that should be addressed. " and provided useful information for system administrators that how to determine if their networks were compromised. Government investigators are investigating the scope of the hacking, believed that hackers are still operatin
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