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Chinese hackers defaced the website of the government owned Philippines News Agency (PNA) on Sunday.  Defaced page of the website was with the Chinese flag and the text: " China Hacker EvilShadow Team, We are evil shadow. We are the team. We have our own dignity China Hacker Lxxker. " The hackers shared news of the attack on Facebook. The site was back to normal after an hour. This last hacking incident comes days after the arrest of 12 Chinese fishermen suspected of poaching after their boat ran aground in a protected marine park. This was not the first time that the site was hacked. Last year , cyber attacks on several government websites were blamed on Chinese hackers during a standoff in Scarborough Shoal, a group of rocky outcrops in the South China Sea that is close to main Philippine island of Luzon.

An old vulnerability in Word for OS X is being used in increasing levels of attacks,  probably government-sponsored hacking programs  against Uyghur group, including Tibetans, NGOs and human rights organizations. A number of attacks have been seen directed at the World Uyghur Congress, a Munich-based organization that promotes human rights. Potential victims are often tricked by so-called spear phishing attacks, the targets receive an e-mail with a subject relevant to their interests, and a Word document attached.  When they open the document, TinySHell exploits a vulnerability and then infects the computer. Exploit allows long-term monitoring or even control of the compromised system though a backdoor it installs. The malware is configured to connect to command and control servers that have been used for years in APT attacks. All the attacks use exploits for the CVE-2009-0563 (Microsoft Office) vulnerability and The backdoor also includes hard-coded functionality to

The  ransomware industry surged in 2023  as it saw an alarming 55.5% increase in victims worldwide, reaching a staggering 5,070.  But 2024 is starting off showing a very different picture.  While the numbers skyrocketed in Q4 2023 with 1309 cases, in Q1 2024, the ransomware industry was down to 1,048 cases. This is a 22% decrease in ransomware attacks compared to Q4 2023. Figure 1: Victims per quarter There could be several reasons for this significant drop.  Reason 1: The Law Enforcement Intervention Firstly, law enforcement has upped the ante in 2024 with actions against both LockBit and ALPHV. The LockBit Arrests In February, an international operation named "Operation Cronos" culminated in the arrest of at least three associates of the infamous LockBit ransomware syndicate in Poland and Ukraine.  Law enforcement from multiple countries collaborated to take down LockBit's infrastructure. This included seizing their dark web domains and gaining access to their backend sys

The New York Times says Chinese hackers probably working for the military or Chinese government have carried out sustained attacks on its computer systems, breaking in and stealing the passwords of high-profile reporters and other staff members. For the last four months, Chinese hackers have persistently attacked The New York Times . On Thursday, The Wall Street Journal announced that it too had been hacked by Chinese hackers who were trying to monitor the company's coverage of China. It said hackers had broken into its network through computers in its Beijing bureau. " The hackers tried to cloak the source of the attacks on The Times by first penetrating computers at United States universities and routing the attacks through them " " Evidence shows that infiltration efforts target the monitoring of the Journal's coverage of China, and are not an attempt to gain commercial advantage or to misappropriate customer information, " the statement rea

According to reports, the hackers targeted personal computers retired Admiral Mike Mullen , the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The FBI is hunting for foreign hackers. Mullen is currently teaching WWS 318: U.S. Military and National and International Diplomacy and will teach an unnamed graduate seminar in the spring. According to Mullen's aides, however, he did not save or view classified information on his personal computers. Agents from an FBI cyber-security unit contacted Mullen in late October or early November, and asked that he surrender his computers in connection with the ongoing inquiry. Mullen agreed, and in early November at least one FBI agent collected the computers at his office at the U.S. Naval Institute. One official said that evidence gathered by the FBI points to China as the origin of the hacking, and that it appeared the perpetrators were able to access a personal email account of Mullen. Officials said that Mr. Mullen has had acce

A new trojan horse app called Dockster is targeting Mac users by exploiting a known Java vulnerability CVE-2012-0507. The trojan is apparently being delivered through a website (gyalwarinpoche.com) dedicated to the Dalai Lama and once installed can collect user keystrokes and other personal information. Mac in Danger ?  Earlier this spring, a Russian security firm discovered a trojan piece of malware which took advantage of a Java vulnerability on many computers, Macs and PCs alike. This trojan, known as "Flashback," was used to enlist some 600,000 infected computers into a botnet. Malware also provides an interface that allows attackers to download and execute additional malware. Dockster has been found to use the same exploit code as the previous SabPab virus to gain access through a backdoor. Dockster is also said to launch an agent called mac.dockset.deman, which restarts each time a user logs in to their Mac. Dockster is only the latest Mac-based threat to h