HostDime Hacked By 1337

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">HostDime Hacked By 1337</span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglzqBOU3FnegcYgET3p9dXDWy-BPbjO5TV-D0TqIK8Kb1PDoxJMrYF9njIQLT9RDBYwI2SVou6ureGehDVQgyisYFjNioKPBtDOdKfK8jLsolB4gdbkr-umkHfcb1L4Ywju_Aytwt-Nzg/s1600/Hostdime.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglzqBOU3FnegcYgET3p9dXDWy-BPbjO5TV-D0TqIK8Kb1PDoxJMrYF9njIQLT9RDBYwI2SVou6ureGehDVQgyisYFjNioKPBtDOdKfK8jLsolB4gdbkr-umkHfcb1L4Ywju_Aytwt-Nzg/s320/Hostdime.png" width="320" /></a></div><br />Official forum of HostDime has been Hacked by 1337. The Pakistani Hacker posted a message about there security on there forum by posting a thread. The hacker had told that the site was not able to be defaced due to the .htaccess file which was added in the admincp file. The .htaccess file had spasific I.P address to be accessed to the admincp. Therefor the site was not able to be defaced. If the hacker had gotten into the admincp, the story might have been totally different.<br />HostDime is one of largest web hosting company which provides web hosting. They have there own data centers around the world with over 2,000,000 websites hosted with them.<br /><br />Hacked URL: <a href="https://forums.hostdime.com/showthread.php?4045-Hacked-By-1337">https://forums.hostdime.com/showthread.php?4045-Hacked-By-1337</a><br />Mirror: <a href="http://zone-hc.com/archive/mirror/a76b4e7_forums.hostdime.com_mirror_.html">http://zone-hc.com/archive/mirror/a76b4e7_forums.hostdime.com_mirror_.html</a><br /></div>

HostDime Hacked By 1337

HostDime Hacked By 1337Official forum of HostDime has been Hacked by 1337. The Pakistani Hacker posted a message about there security on there forum by posting a thread. The hacker had told that the s…

Read more »

Latest Java software opens PCs to hackers: Experts

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #404040; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><b>Latest Java software opens PCs to hackers: Experts</b></span></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #404040; font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span> <img src="http://cybersaviours.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/hacking.jpg?w=549" /> <br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span> <span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">BOSTON: Computer security firms are urging </span>PC<span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"> users to disable </span>Java software<span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"> in their browsers, saying the widely installed, free </span>software<span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"> from </span>Oracle Corp<span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"> opens machines to hacker attacks and there is no way to defend against them. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">The warnings, which began emerging over the weekend from Rapid7, AlienVault and other cyber security firms, are likely to unnerve a PC community scrambling to fend off growing security threats from hackers, viruses and malware. Researchers have identified code that attacks machines by exploiting a newly discovered flaw in the latest version of Java. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Once in, a second piece of software called "Poison Ivy" is released that lets </span>hackers<span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"> gain control of the infected computer, said Jaime Blasco, a research manager with AlienVault Labs. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Several security firms advised users to immediately disable Java software - installed in some form on the vast majority of personal </span>computers<span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"> around the world - in their Internet browsers. Oracle says that Java sits on 97% of enterprise desktops. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">"If exploited, the attacker will be able to perform any action the victim can perform on the victim's machine," said Tod Beardsley, an engineering manager with Rapid7's Metasploit division. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Computers can get infected without their users' knowledge simply by a visit to any website that has been compromised by hackers, said Joshua Drake, a senior research scientist with the security firm Accuvant. Java is a computer language that enables programmers to write one set of code to run on virtually any type of machine. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">It is widely used on the Internet so that Web developers can make their sites accessible from multiple</span><a href="http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/browsers" style="background-color: white; color: #024e97; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;">browsers</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"> running on Microsoft Windows PCs or Macs from Apple. An Oracle spokesperson said she could not immediately comment on the matter. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Security experts recommended that users not enable Java for universal use on their browsers. Instead, they said it was safest to allow use of Java browser plug-ins on a case-by-case basis when prompted for permission by trusted programs such as GoToMeeting, a Web-based collaboration tool from Citrix Systems. Rapid7 has set up a Web page that tells users whether their browser has a Java plug-in installed that is vulnerable to attack: www.isjavaexploitable.com </span> </div>

Latest Java software opens PCs to hackers: Experts

Latest Java software opens PCs to hackers: Experts BOSTON: Computer security firms are urging PC users to disable Java software in their browsers, saying the widely installed, free software from Ora…

Read more »

Hackers release one million bank, web account details

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><h1 style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 2.142857em; margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px;">Hackers release one million bank, web account details</h1><div><br /></div><div><img alt="Hackers release one million bank, web account details" src="http://www.itp.net/images/content/589317/article/14177-fire-pc_article.jpg" /> </div><div><br /></div><div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 1.071429em; line-height: 1.4em; margin-bottom: 1.285714em; padding: 0px;"><strong class="seo" style="display: inline;">A hacking group has released one million records and accounts from banks, government agencies and other sources.</strong></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 1.071429em; line-height: 1.4em; margin-bottom: 1.285714em; padding: 0px;"></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 1.071429em; line-height: 1.4em; margin-bottom: 1.285714em; padding: 0px;">The group, calling itself Team GhostShell posted compromised <nobr>databases</nobr> from a Chinese mainframe, a US stock exchange mainframe and access points to three or four Department of Homeland Security servers among other sources.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 1.071429em; line-height: 1.4em; margin-bottom: 1.285714em; padding: 0px;"></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 1.071429em; line-height: 1.4em; margin-bottom: 1.285714em; padding: 0px;">Security analysts have confirmed that the data released includes at least 30,000 records, with data including credit histories from banks, administrator login information, usernames and passwords and files from content management systems.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 1.071429em; line-height: 1.4em; margin-bottom: 1.285714em; padding: 0px;"><nobr>Security company</nobr> Imperva said that a lot of the data appeared to have been taken using SQL injection attacks.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 1.071429em; line-height: 1.4em; margin-bottom: 1.285714em; padding: 0px;"></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 1.071429em; line-height: 1.4em; margin-bottom: 1.285714em; padding: 0px;">In a statement accompanying the records, Team GhostShell said that the ‘Project HellFire' release was its "final form of protest this summer against <nobr>the banks</nobr>, politicians and for all the fallen hackers this year".</div></div></div>

Hackers release one million bank, web account details

Hackers release one million bank, web account details A hacking group has released one million records and accounts from banks, government agencies and other sources.The group, calling itself Team Gho…

Read more »

Hackers allegedly breached Saudi Aramco again

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Hackers allegedly breached Saudi Aramco again</span></span><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span> <img src="http://theroadtothehorizon.net/photo/hacker-1.jpg" /> <br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span> <span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Saudi Aramco, the national oil company of Saudi Arabia and the biggest oil company in the world, has issued a </span><a href="http://www.saudiaramco.com/content/www/en/home/news.html#news%257C%252Fen%252Fhome%252Fnews%252Flatest-news%252F2012%252Fsaudi-aramco-restores-network.baseajax.html" style="background-color: white; color: #0080b1; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" target="_new">statement</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> announcing that it has restored all its main internal network services that were impacted in a </span>recent cyber attack<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> which affected about 30,000 workstations - a number that corresponds with that shared by the Cutting Sword of Justice, the hacker group that took credit for the breach.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">The company's primary enterprise systems of hydrocarbon exploration and production were unaffected as they operate on isolated network systems, the statement confirmed. The production plants were also fully operational.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">“We addressed the threat immediately, and our precautionary procedures, which have been in place to counter such threats, and our multiple protective systems, have helped to mitigate these deplorable cyber threats from spiraling,” said Khalid A. Al-Falih, president and CEO of Saudi Aramco.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Published on Sunday, the statement doesn't contain any mention about further attacks by the hacker collective, despite one being </span>announced and scheduled<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> for the day before.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">But the group didn't remain silent.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">"We think it's funny and weird that there are no news coming out from Saudi Aramco regarding Saturday's night, they said in a new Pastebin </span><a href="http://pastebin.com/AtN7dLeW" style="background-color: white; color: #0080b1; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" target="_new">post</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">. "Well, we expect that but just to make it more clear and prove that we're done with we promised, just read the following facts -valuable ones- about the company's systems."</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">The post included the email and password of Khalid A. Al-Falih; information and access credentials of the company's core, backup and middle routers; and the security appliances used by the company and the fact that they all still have default passwords.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">If the leaked information is legitimate, the situation doesn't bode well for the company, as the hackers announced one last paste, and who knows what information will be revealed in it.</span> </div>

Hackers allegedly breached Saudi Aramco again

Hackers allegedly breached Saudi Aramco again Saudi Aramco, the national oil company of Saudi Arabia and the biggest oil company in the world, has issued a statement announcing that it has restored …

Read more »

Second accused LulzSec hacker arrested in Sony Pictures breach

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><h1 style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans; font-size: 32px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.1; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">Second accused LulzSec hacker arrested in Sony Pictures breach</h1><div><img src="http://a0.twimg.com/profile_images/1341989664/somehwat-mad-completely-mad-u-mad-MADAD.jpg" /> </div><div><br /></div><div><span class="focusParagraph" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans;"><div style="font-size: 20px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">(Reuters) - A second suspected member of the clandestine hacking group LulzSec was arrested on Tuesday on charges he took part in an extensive computer breach of Sony Pictures Entertainment, the FBI said.</div></span><span id="midArticle_1" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans;"></span><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">Raynaldo Rivera, 20, of Tempe, Arizona, surrendered to U.S. authorities in Phoenix six days after a federal grand jury in Los Angeles returned an indictment charging him with conspiracy and unauthorized impairment of a protected computer.</div><span id="midArticle_2" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans;"></span><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">If convicted, Rivera faces up to 15 years in prison.</div><span id="midArticle_3" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans;"></span><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">The indictment, unsealed on Tuesday, accuses Rivera and co-conspirators of stealing information from Sony Corp's Sony Pictures' computer systems in May and June 2011 using an "SQL injection" attack against the studio's website, a technique commonly employed by hackers.</div><span id="midArticle_4" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans;"></span><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">The indictment said Rivera then helped to post the confidential information onto LulzSec's website and announced the intrusion via the hacking group's Twitter account.</div><span id="midArticle_5" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans;"></span><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">While Rivera was the only person named in the indictment, the FBI said his co-conspirators included Cody Kretsinger, 24, a confessed LulzSec member who pleaded guilty in April to federal charges stemming from his role in the Sony attack.</div><span id="midArticle_6" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans;"></span><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">Following the breach, LulzSec published the names, birth dates, addresses, emails, phone numbers and passwords of thousands of people who had entered contests promoted by Sony, and publicly boasted of its exploits.</div><span id="midArticle_7" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans;"></span><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">"From a single injection we accessed EVERYTHING," the hackers said in a statement at the time. "Why do you put such faith in a company that allows itself to become open to these simple attacks?"</div><span id="midArticle_8" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans;"></span><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">Authorities have said the Sony breach ultimately cost the company more than $600,000.</div><span id="midArticle_9" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans;"></span><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">LulzSec, an underground group also known as Lulz Security, is an offshoot of the international hacking collective Anonymous and has taken credit for such cyber incursions on a number of government and private sector websites.</div><span id="midArticle_10" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans;"></span><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">The latest indictment says Rivera, who went by the online nicknames of "neuron," "royal" and "wildicv," is suspected of using a proxy server in a bid to conceal his Internet Protocol, or IP, address, and avoid detection.</div><span id="midArticle_11" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans;"></span><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">Court documents revealed in March that an Anonymous leader known as Sabu, whose real name is Hector Monsegur, had pleaded guilty to hacking-related charges and provided information on his cohorts to the FBI.</div><span id="midArticle_12" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans;"></span><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">That same month, five other suspected leaders of Anonymous, all them alleged to be LulzSec members as well, were charged by federal authorities with computer hacking and other offenses.</div><span id="midArticle_13" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans;"></span><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">An accused British hacker, Ryan Cleary, 20, was indicted by a federal grand jury in June on charges related to LulzSec attacks on several media companies, including Sony Pictures.</div><span id="midArticle_14" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans;"></span><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">Kretsinger, who pleaded guilty to the same two charges now facing Rivera, is slated to be sentenced on October 25. A federal prosecutor said he would likely receive substantially less than the 15-year maximum prison term carried by those offenses.</div><span id="midArticle_15" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans;"></span><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">Anonymous and its offshoots focused initially on fighting attempts at Internet regulation and the blocking of free illegal downloads but have since taken aim at the Church of Scientology, global banking and other targets.</div><span id="midArticle_0" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans;"></span><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">Anonymous, and LulzSec in particular, became notorious in late 2010 when they launched what they called the "first cyber war" in retaliation for attempts to shut down Wikileaks.</div><span id="midArticle_1" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans;"></span><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">(Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Lisa Shumaker)</div></div></div>

Second accused LulzSec hacker arrested in Sony Pictures breach

Second accused LulzSec hacker arrested in Sony Pictures breach (Reuters) - A second suspected member of the clandestine hacking group LulzSec was arrested on Tuesday on charges he took part in an exte…

Read more »

Hack on Saudi Aramco hit 30,000 workstations, oil firm admits

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div style="background-color: white;"><span class="trailer" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; padding-right: 0.25em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, FreeSans, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Hack on Saudi Aramco hit 30,000 workstations, oil firm admits </b></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, FreeSans, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><strong class="trailer" style="padding-right: 0.25em;"><img height="178" src="http://memrieconomicblog.org/images/uploaded/ARAMCO.jpg" width="400" /> </strong></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, FreeSans, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><strong class="trailer" style="padding-right: 0.25em;"><br /></strong></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, FreeSans, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><strong class="trailer" style="padding-right: 0.25em;">Analysis</strong> Saudi Aramco said that it had put its network back online on Saturday, 10 days after a malware attack floored 30,000 workstations at the oil giant.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, FreeSans, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">In a <a href="http://www.saudiaramco.com/content/www/en/home/news.html#news%257C%252Fen%252Fhome%252Fnews%252Flatest-news%252F2012%252Fsaudi-aramco-restores-network.baseajax.html" style="color: #dd0000; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">statement</a>, Saudi Arabia's national oil firm said that it had "restored all its main internal network services" hit by a malware outbreak that struck on 15 August. The firm said its core business of oil production and exploration was <em>not</em> affected by the attack, which resulted in a decision to suspend Saudi Aramco's website for a period of a few days, presumably as a precaution. Corporate remote access services were also suspended as a result of the attack.</div><div id="article-mpu-container" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, FreeSans, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-top: 1em;"><div class="ad-now" id="ad-mpu1-spot" style="float: right; height: auto; line-height: 1.2; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 2px 8px; text-align: center; width: auto;"><div id="ad-mpu1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"></div></div>Oil and production systems were run off "isolated network systems unaffected by the attack, which the firm has pledged to investigate. In the meantime, Saudi Aramco <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Saramcopage" style="color: #dd0000; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">promised</a> to improve the security of its network to guard against fresh assaults.</div><blockquote style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, FreeSans, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 21px; margin: 0.5em 1em; padding: 0px;">Saudi Aramco has restored all its main internal network services that were impacted on August 15, 2012, by a malicious virus that originated from external sources and affected about 30,000 workstations. The workstations have since been cleaned and restored to service. As a precaution, remote Internet access to online resources was restricted. Saudi Aramco employees returned to work August 25, 2012, following the Eid holidays, resuming normal business.The company confirmed that its primary enterprise systems of hydrocarbon exploration and production were unaffected as they operate on isolated network systems. Production plants were also fully operational as these control systems are also isolated.</blockquote><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, FreeSans, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">A previously unknown group called Cutting Sword of Justice <a href="http://pastebin.com/HqAgaQRj" style="color: #dd0000; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">claimed responsibility</a> for the attack, which affected three in four of the estimated 40,000 workstations used by the oil giant. The group said that it had hacked Saudi Aramco in retaliation against the Al-Saud regime for the "crimes and atrocities taking place in various countries around the world, especially in the neighboring countries such as Syria, Bahrain, Yemen, Lebanon [and] Egypt".</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, FreeSans, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">The group said it hacked Aramco after compromising systems in "several countries" before implanting malware to "destroy 30,000 computers" within Aramco's network. The infected machines claim was made days before Saudi Aramco confirmed the same number of machines had been hit, lending credibility to the hacker group's claims.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, FreeSans, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Neither victim nor perpetrator named the malware that featured in the attack but security researchers implicated the Shamoon malware in the security breach (analysis by Seculert <a href="http://blog.seculert.com/2012/08/shamoon-two-stage-targeted-attack.html" style="color: #dd0000; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">here</a>). <a href="http://www.symantec.com/connect/blogs/shamoon-attacks" style="color: #dd0000; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Shamoon</a>, which emerged days before the assault, has both the capability to over-write data on infected machines and to destroy Master Boot Record files, thus making infected Windows machines impossible to boot.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, FreeSans, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Over-written files were <a href="http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/24/among-digital-crumbs-from-saudi-aramco-cyberattack-image-of-burning-u-s-flag" style="color: #dd0000; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">reportedly</a> replaced by an image of a burning US flag.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, FreeSans, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">According to researchers, the malware also has the capacity to extract information from compromised before uploading it to the internet.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, FreeSans, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Core router names and admin passwords along with email address and supposed password of Saudi Aramco chief exec, Khalid A Al-Falih, were uploaded to Pastebin on Monday. The latest leak may be a result of the threatened follow-up attack, due to take place last weekend, rather than the fruits of the original malware-fuelled assault.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, FreeSans, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Rob Rachwald, director of security strategy at Imperva, described that Saudi Aramco attack as the first hacktivist-style assault to use malware.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, FreeSans, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">"In the past, hacktivists have typically used application or distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks - in which they clog a website with traffic until it goes offline. However, the attack on Saudi Aramco is the first significant use of malware in a hacktivist attack. Hacktivists rarely use malware, if other hacktivists jump on this trend it could become very dangerous," he said.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, FreeSans, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">A blog post by Imperva on the attack can be found <a href="http://blog.imperva.com/2012/08/the-significance-of-the-aramco-hack.html" style="color: #dd0000; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">here</a>.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, FreeSans, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Similar data-wiping malware disrupted systems at Iranian oil exploration facilities in May in an attack that led researchers at Kaspersky Lab to the discovery of the Flame cyber-espionage tool. US gas prospecting firms have been hit by previous attacks, most of which are suspected to have been state-sponsored.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, FreeSans, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">It seems wise to view claims that the Saudi Aramco assault was a case of politically motivated hacktivism with some skepticism, at least until a clearer picture of the previously unknown Cutting Sword of Justice group emerges. It could be the group is solely motivated at hitting back at Saudi's ruling royal family for the country's support in putting down Arab Spring-style revolts in other nations, such as Bahrain, but other motives are also possible.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, FreeSans, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">More commentary on the information security aspects of the attack can be found in a post on Sophos' Naked Security blog <a href="http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2012/08/27/saudi-aramco-malware" style="color: #dd0000; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">here</a>. ®</div></div>

Hack on Saudi Aramco hit 30,000 workstations, oil firm admits

Hack on Saudi Aramco hit 30,000 workstations, oil firm admits  Analysis Saudi Aramco said that it had put its network back online on Saturday, 10 days after a malware attack floored 30,000 workstation…

Read more »

Cambridge University Investigates Hacking Claim

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><h1 class="story-header" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #505050; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 2.461em; letter-spacing: -1px; line-height: 34px; margin: 3px -160px 13px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; width: 623px;">Cambridge University investigates hacking claim</h1><div class="caption body-narrow-width" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #505050; display: inline; float: right; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px -160px 16px 16px; position: relative;"><img alt="Cambridge" height="171" src="http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/62546000/jpg/_62546761__53929227_cambridge_afp-1.jpg" style="-webkit-user-select: none; border: 0px; font-style: italic; letter-spacing: 0px; position: relative;" width="304" /><span style="display: block; width: 304px;">The university says it is taking preventative measures against the claims</span></div><div class="story-feature related narrow" style="background-color: white; clear: right; color: #505050; display: inline; float: right; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px -160px 16px 16px; overflow: hidden; position: relative; width: 144px;"><a class="hidden" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-19409510#story_continues_1" style="color: #4a7194; font-weight: bold; left: -5000px; position: absolute; text-decoration: none; top: -5000px;">Continue reading the main story</a><h2 style="border-bottom-color: rgb(216, 216, 216); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(216, 216, 216); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; font-size: 1.231em; margin: 0px 0px 8px; padding: 11px 0px 12px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">Related Stories</h2><ul class="related-links-list" style="border-top-style: none; clear: both; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 8px 0px 0px;"><li style="background-image: none; font-size: 1em; margin: 0px 0px 8px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-rendering: auto;"><a class="story" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19409774" rel="published-1346232048758" style="color: #4a7194; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">Journalist held in hacking probe</a></li><li style="background-image: none; font-size: 1em; margin: 0px 0px 8px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-rendering: auto;"><a class="story" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19385458" rel="published-1345989523506" style="color: #4a7194; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">Ecuador: UK Assange 'threat' over</a></li></ul></div><div class="introduction" id="story_continues_1" style="background-color: white; clear: left; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 1.077em; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: auto;">The University of Cambridge has launched an investigation after a group claimed to have hacked into its software systems.</div><div style="background-color: white; clear: left; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: auto;">The group named NullCrew said it had targeted several university departments and broken into databases.</div><div style="background-color: white; clear: left; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: auto;">The network is linked to the computer hacking network Anonymous and supports the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.</div><div style="background-color: white; clear: left; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: auto;">Mr Assange, who faces extradition to Sweden, is currently taking shelter at the Ecuadorean embassy in London.</div><div style="background-color: white; clear: left; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: auto;">The NullCrew group published details of what appear to be university user names and passwords <nobr style="color: #505050; line-height: 16px;">online</nobr> with the message: "There is much more where this came from, and don't think this is the end.</div><div style="background-color: white; clear: left; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: auto;">"NullCrew, along with the whole Anonymous movement, isn't near finished with you. And we never will be, until the right thing is done with Julian Assange.</div><div style="background-color: white; clear: left; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: auto;">"Next time it will be worse, we guarantee it."</div><div style="background-color: white; clear: left; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: auto;">A spokesman for Cambridge University said: "A group calling itself NullCrew claims to have obtained login details for some web-based resources hosted on university systems.</div><div style="background-color: white; clear: left; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: auto;">"As a preventative measure these have been taken offline while IT staff investigate the claims.</div><div style="background-color: white; clear: left; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: auto;">"The hacking group itself has not claimed to have compromised the email login details of members of the university, and there is no evidence to substantiate such a suggestion."</div></div>

Cambridge University Investigates Hacking Claim

Cambridge University investigates hacking claimThe university says it is taking preventative measures against the claimsContinue reading the main storyRelated StoriesJournalist held in hacking probeEc…

Read more »

Customers still 'in the dark' on cyber crime, warns EU agency

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Cyber crime worth billions of euros is going unreported because companies are failing to admit to security breaches, according to a paper released Tuesday (28 August) by the EU's internet security agency.</div><div class="image clear" style="background-color: white; border: none; float: right; padding: 10px 0px 0px 20px; width: 220px;"><ul class="browse" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><li style="color: #505050; display: block; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; height: 239px; line-height: 18px; list-style-type: none; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://euobserver.com/media/src/2e3ce069aca36f80c68c7cef25de84b4.jpg" style="color: #666666;" title="View full size."><img alt="" height="165" src="http://euobserver.com/media/4/2e3ce069aca36f80c68c7cef25de84b4.png" style="border: none; display: block;" width="220" /></a><div class="caption" style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 10px;">Cyber-crime worth billions is going unreported, says the EU's internet agency </div></li></ul><ol class="browse-controls horizontal" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 10px 0px 0px;"><li class="selected" style="color: #505050; float: left; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://euobserver.com/justice/117359#" rel="1" style="background-color: #aeaeae; color: #ff7f00; display: block; height: 7px; width: 14px;"></a></li></ol></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin-top: 20px;">In "Cyber incident reporting in the EU" the European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA) highlighted a series of regulatory gaps in EU cyber laws. In its conclusions, ENISA admitted that although "large outages and large data breaches receive extensive media coverage.... many breaches, however, remain undetected and if detected, are not reported to authorities and not known to the public."</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin-top: 20px;">The report highlighted five major cyber incidents which all went unreported, including an 'IP hijacking' case in April 2010 where China Telecom fed incorrect routing information instructing US and other international Internet traffic to feed through Chinese servers, swallowing 15% of global Internet use in less than 20 minutes.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin-top: 20px;">In a press statement accompanying the report, co-authors Dr Marnix Dekker and Chris Karsberg admitted that “cyber incidents are most commonly kept secret when discovered, leaving customers and policymakers in the dark about frequency, impact and root causes.”</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin-top: 20px;">Commenting that the "lack of transparency and lack of information about incidents makes it difficult for policy makers to understand the overall impact", the report added that this, in turn, "complicates the effort in the industry to understand and address cyber security incidents."</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin-top: 20px;">Under the EU Telecoms directive adopted in 2009, service providers are required to report "all significant security breaches" to ENISA and national data supervisors. Meanwhile, provisions of the recently adopted e-privacy directive requires service providers to report all security lapses compromising personal data.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin-top: 20px;">ENISA revealed that it had received 51 incident reports for 2011-2012, the first year of mandatory reporting requirements, saying that it would publish an overview of cyber-security breaches in September and annual reports from spring 2013 onwards.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin-top: 20px;">However, the data was incomplete, with a number of member states yet to implement the directive in to national law, it said. ENISA executive director, Professor Udo Helmbrecht insisted that EU cyber policy should extend the reporting provisions for companies describing it as "essential to obtain a true cyber security picture."</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin-top: 20px;">A Eurobarometer in July revealed that one in ten Europeans had been victims of data theft, while online security firm McAfee estimated that cyber-crime cost businesses $750bn (€600bn) in lost income across the world in 2011.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin-top: 20px;">EU Digital Agenda Commissioner Neelie Kroes has repeatedly promised plans for a detailed cyber security strategy, including a European Cyber-Crime Centre based in Europol's Dutch headquarters which will start work in 2013. Speaking in January at the World Economic Forum, Kroes called for concerted action on cyber-crime claiming that there was a 10% chance of a major break-down of the worldwide computer network.</div></div>

Customers still 'in the dark' on cyber crime, warns EU agency

Cyber crime worth billions of euros is going unreported because companies are failing to admit to security breaches, according to a paper released Tuesday (28 August) by the EU's internet security age…

Read more »

Rising Complexity of Cyber Crimes Puts MSSPs under the Spotlight, Finds Frost & Sullivan

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><h1 class="entry-title" id="story_headline" style="background-color: white; color: #024a82; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; line-height: 1em; margin: 0px;">Rising Complexity of Cyber Crimes Puts MSSPs under the Spotlight, Finds Frost & Sullivan<div style="color: black; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: normal; height: 1px; line-height: normal; overflow: hidden; width: 1px;"><br />Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/08/28/4763387/rising-complexity-of-cyber-crimes.html#storylink=cpy</div><div style="color: black; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: normal; height: 1px; line-height: normal; overflow: hidden; width: 1px;"><br /></div><div style="color: black; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: normal; height: 1px; line-height: normal; overflow: hidden; width: 1px;"><br /></div><div style="color: black; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: normal; height: 1px; line-height: normal; overflow: hidden; width: 1px;"><br /></div></h1></div>

Rising Complexity of Cyber Crimes Puts MSSPs under the Spotlight, Finds Frost & Sullivan

Rising Complexity of Cyber Crimes Puts MSSPs under the Spotlight, Finds Frost & SullivanRead more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/08/28/4763387/rising-complexity-of-cyber-crimes.html#storylink=cpy…

Read more »

Cyber-disclosure norms become rule

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div class="column half intexp7 " style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #444444; display: inline; float: left; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 475px;"><div style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><h1 style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 3.1em; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1em; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Cyber-disclosure norms become rule</h1><div><br /></div><div><div class="leadContainer" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="synopsis" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; font-size: 1.3em; line-height: 1.3em; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Six companies were asked to reveal security threats they face</div></div><div><br /></div></div><div><img height="248" src="http://blogwillis.zippykidcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/virus_645x400.jpg" width="400" /> </div><div><br /></div><div><div class="articleBody" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; font-size: 1.3em; line-height: 1.4em; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">New York: Securities and Exchange Commission guidelines on when companies should disclose cyber-attacks have become de facto rules for at least six companies, including Google and Amazon.com, agency letters show.</div></div><div class="articleBody" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; font-size: 1.3em; line-height: 1.4em; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The six companies were asked to break silence and tell investors in future filings that intruders had breached their computer systems, according to the SEC letters. Companies such as Amazon argued that the attacks weren’t important enough to reveal. Hacking admissions can hurt reputations, give competitors useful information and trigger investor litigation.</div></div><div class="articleBody" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; font-size: 1.3em; line-height: 1.4em; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Before the requests, Seattle-based Amazon, the largest internet retailer, hadn’t said in its reports that cyber-thieves had raided its Zappos.com unit, stealing addresses and some credit card digits from 24 million customers in January. In April, Amazon was asked by the SEC to disclose the cyber-raid in its next quarterly filing, which it did.</div></div><div class="articleBody" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; font-size: 1.3em; line-height: 1.4em; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Google, the world’s biggest search engine, agreed in May to put its previously disclosed cyber-assault in an earnings report. American International Group, Hartford Financial Services Group, Eastman Chemical Co and Quest Diagnostics were also prodded to improve disclosures of cyber-risks, according to SEC letters available on the regulator’s website.</div></div><div class="advert" id="article-ad" style="border: none; clear: both; margin: 10px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline; width: auto !important;"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /></div></div></div></div></div>

Cyber-disclosure norms become rule

Cyber-disclosure norms become ruleSix companies were asked to reveal security threats they face New York: Securities and Exchange Commission guidelines on when companies should disclose cyber-attacks …

Read more »

India to widen scope of cyber-security coordinator

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">India to widen scope of cyber-security coordinator<br /><img alt="hacker.jpg" src="http://www.ndtv.com/news/images/gadgets/hacker.jpg" /> <br /><br /><span style="color: #4e4e4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">India is to widen the scope of its cyber-security coordinator in the wake of incendiary internet data that swept the country earlier this month and forced an exodus of northeastern people from Pune and Bangalore but there is no move to take up the issue with Pakistan, a senior official said Tuesday.</span><br /><div style="color: #4e4e4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">India has also reiterated a demand made three years ago to toughen cyber laws to prevent such hate campaigns, the official said.</div><div style="color: #4e4e4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">"We already have a cyber-security coordinator in the National Security Council Secretariat. But since this is more of a think thank, this individual will take a more holistic view and look at other options before suggesting additional counter measures," the official said.</div><div style="color: #4e4e4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">He, however, split hairs on Indian Home Secretary R.K. Singh suggesting a Pakistani angle to the hate campaign.</div><div style="color: #4e4e4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">"Mr. Singh never said Pakistan was involved. What he said was that some Pakistanis were involved. Our investigations show that 28-30 percent of the uploads were done from Pakistan. Suppose we take this up with Pakistan. They could well ask: 'Oh, so where did the balance 70 percent come from?'" the official said.</div><div style="color: #4e4e4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">"This is not a state-to-state issue. We are dealing with a domain where there are no boundaries. This is all the more reason for international rules of the road that we have been pressing for since the past three years," the official added.</div><div style="color: #4e4e4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">To that extent, this issue will not figure when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh meets Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari on the sidelines of the Non-Aligned Summit in Tehran on Thursday.</div><div style="color: #4e4e4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Till that time tighter laws are in place, how did the government propose to deal with future attacks?</div><div style="color: #4e4e4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">"We'll have to work at multiple levels. We have to put in filters. Now that we know what we are dealing with we are better equipped to deal with it. But then, who owns the Internet? The whole world owns it. It's a new domain. It's a whole new ball game," the official said.</div></div>

India to widen scope of cyber-security coordinator

India to widen scope of cyber-security coordinator India is to widen the scope of its cyber-security coordinator in the wake of incendiary internet data that swept the country earlier this month and f…

Read more »

Hackers Claim to Have Breached Saudi Aramco Again on August 25

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><h1 id="htitle" style="background-color: white; color: #001f5b; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 34px; letter-spacing: -2px; line-height: 34px; margin: 3px 0px 5px;">Hackers Claim to Have Breached Saudi Aramco Again on August 25</h1><div><br /></div><br /><img alt="Hackers claim to have breached Saudi Aramco once again" height="206" src="http://i1-news.softpedia-static.com/images/news2/Hackers-Claim-to-Have-Breached-Saudi-Aramco-Again-on-August-25-2.png?1346142856" width="400" /> <br /><strong style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;"><br /></strong> <strong style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;">Right after they attacked the systems of oil giant Saudi Aramco, <span style="color: #0054a6; font-family: inherit !important; font-size: inherit !important; font-weight: inherit !important; position: static;"><span class="kLink" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: none; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-style: none !important; border-left-width: 0px !important; border-right-style: none !important; border-right-width: 0px !important; border-top-style: none !important; border-top-width: 0px !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; font-family: inherit !important; font-size: inherit !important; font-weight: inherit !important; padding: 0px 0px 1px !important; position: static; width: auto !important;">the </span><span class="kLink" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: none; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-style: none !important; border-left-width: 0px !important; border-right-style: none !important; border-right-width: 0px !important; border-top-style: none !important; border-top-width: 0px !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; font-family: inherit !important; font-size: inherit !important; font-weight: inherit !important; padding: 0px 0px 1px !important; position: static; width: auto !important;">hackers</span></span> promised to breach the company’s networks once again on August 25 and, according to a statement published on Pastebin, they succeeded.</strong><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;">While initially the company insisted that the damage was contained, in a recent statement they admitted that 30,000 workstations were affected by a malicious virus (just as </span><span style="color: #0054a6; font-family: inherit !important; font-size: inherit !important; position: static;"><span class="kLink" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: none; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-style: none !important; border-left-width: 0px !important; border-right-style: none !important; border-right-width: 0px !important; border-top-style: none !important; border-top-width: 0px !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; font-family: inherit !important; font-size: inherit !important; padding: 0px 0px 1px !important; position: static; width: auto !important;">the </span><span class="kLink" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: none; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-style: none !important; border-left-width: 0px !important; border-right-style: none !important; border-right-width: 0px !important; border-top-style: none !important; border-top-width: 0px !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; font-family: inherit !important; font-size: inherit !important; padding: 0px 0px 1px !important; position: static; width: auto !important;">hackers</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;"> said).</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;" /><br /><div align="center" class="article_ad" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; float: right; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; margin: 10px 0px 10px 15px; padding: 0px;"><ins style="border: none; display: inline-table; height: 250px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; visibility: visible; width: 300px;"><ins id="aswift_2_anchor" style="border: none; display: block; height: 250px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; visibility: visible; width: 300px;"><iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="250" hspace="0" id="aswift_2" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" name="aswift_2" replaced="true" scrolling="no" style="left: 0px; position: absolute; top: 0px;" vspace="0" width="300"></iframe></ins></ins></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;">The firm’s representatives claimed that everything was restored to normal and that operations were resumed on August 25.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;">“We addressed the threat immediately, and our precautionary procedures, which have been in place to counter such threats, and our multiple protective systems, have helped to mitigate these deplorable cyber threats from spiraling,” explained Khalid A. Al-Falih, president and CEO of Saudi Aramco.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;">“Saudi Aramco is not the only company that became a target for such attempts, and this was not the first nor will it be the last illegal attempt to intrude into our systems, and we will ensure that we will further reinforce our systems with all available means to protect against a recurrence of this type of cyber-attack,” Al-Falih added.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;">There’s no mention of another attack on August 25, but according to a group of hackers, they did penetrate the organization’s networks once again.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;">“We think it's funny and weird that there are no news coming out from Saudi Aramco regarding Saturday's night. Well, we expect that but just to make it more clear and prove that we're done with we promised, just read the following facts -valuable ones- about the </span><span style="color: #0054a6; font-family: inherit !important; font-size: inherit !important; position: static;"><span class="kLink" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: none; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-style: none !important; border-left-width: 0px !important; border-right-style: none !important; border-right-width: 0px !important; border-top-style: none !important; border-top-width: 0px !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; font-family: inherit !important; font-size: inherit !important; padding: 0px 0px 1px !important; position: static; width: auto !important;">company's </span><span class="kLink" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: none; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-style: none !important; border-left-width: 0px !important; border-right-style: none !important; border-right-width: 0px !important; border-top-style: none !important; border-top-width: 0px !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; font-family: inherit !important; font-size: inherit !important; padding: 0px 0px 1px !important; position: static; width: auto !important;">systems</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;">,” they wrote.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;">They published the details of core routers, backup routers, and middle routers, along with their access credentials which included clear text passwords.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;">They also made available Khalid Al-Falih’s email address and associated password (in clear text), and the </span><span style="color: #0054a6; font-family: inherit !important; font-size: inherit !important; position: static;"><span class="kLink" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: none; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-style: none !important; border-left-width: 0px !important; border-right-style: none !important; border-right-width: 0px !important; border-top-style: none !important; border-top-width: 0px !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; font-family: inherit !important; font-size: inherit !important; padding: 0px 0px 1px !important; position: static; width: auto !important;">security </span><span class="kLink" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: none; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-style: none !important; border-left-width: 0px !important; border-right-style: none !important; border-right-width: 0px !important; border-top-style: none !important; border-top-width: 0px !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; font-family: inherit !important; font-size: inherit !important; padding: 0px 0px 1px !important; position: static; width: auto !important;">appliances </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;">utilized by the company to protect its infrastructures. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;">“We think and truly believe that our mission is done and we need no more time to waste. I guess it's time for SA to yell and release something to the public. However, silence is no solution,” the hackers concluded.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;">It’s uncertain at this point if this hacker collective – which signed the file with “angry internet lovers #SH” – is connected in any way to “Cutting Sword of Justice,” the group which has taken credit for the previous attack.</span> </div>

Hackers Claim to Have Breached Saudi Aramco Again on August 25

Hackers Claim to Have Breached Saudi Aramco Again on August 25 Right after they attacked the systems of oil giant Saudi Aramco, the hackers promised to breach the company’s networks once again on Aug…

Read more »

New Java Zero-Day Exploit Added to Metasploit and BlackHole Exploit Kit

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><h1 id="htitle" style="background-color: white; color: #001f5b; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 34px; letter-spacing: -2px; line-height: 34px; margin: 3px 0px 5px;">New Java Zero-Day Exploit Added to Metasploit and BlackHole Exploit Kit</h1><div><br /></div><div><img alt="Java zero-day exploit added to Metasploit and BlackHole" height="219" src="http://i1-news.softpedia-static.com/images/news2/New-Java-Zero-Day-Exploit-Added-to-Metasploit-and-BlackHole-Exploit-Kit-2.jpg?1346139757" width="400" /> </div><div><br /></div><div><strong style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;">Soon after the world learned about the existence of a new zero-day that affects all the latest Java run-time environment (<span style="color: #0054a6; font-family: inherit !important; font-size: inherit !important; font-weight: inherit !important; position: static;"><span class="kLink" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: none; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-style: none !important; border-left-width: 0px !important; border-right-style: none !important; border-right-width: 0px !important; border-top-style: none !important; border-top-width: 0px !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; font-family: inherit !important; font-size: inherit !important; font-weight: inherit !important; padding: 0px 0px 1px !important; position: static; width: auto !important;">JRE</span></span>) versions, researchers started analyzing the exploit, trying to figure out a solution to protect computers against it.</strong><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;">Security experts from Deep End Research have come up with a </span><a href="http://www.deependresearch.org/2012/08/java-7-0-day-vulnerability-information.html" rel="nofollow" style="background-color: white; color: #0058bb; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">patch</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;"> that they’re willing to share with anyone who’s in charge of administrating company networks. In the meantime, until Oracle comes up with a permanent patch, users are advised to disable Java in their web browsers. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;" /><div align="center" class="article_ad" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; float: right; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; margin: 10px 0px 10px 15px; padding: 0px;"><ins style="border: none; display: inline-table; height: 250px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; visibility: visible; width: 300px;"><ins id="aswift_2_anchor" style="border: none; display: block; height: 250px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; visibility: visible; width: 300px;"><iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="250" hspace="0" id="aswift_2" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" name="aswift_2" replaced="true" scrolling="no" style="left: 0px; position: absolute; top: 0px;" vspace="0" width="300"></iframe></ins></ins></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;">In case they need Java, internauts are recommended to use two different browsers, but only one of them with Java enabled. The one with Java should be utilized for operations that require the component, and the browser without Java should be used for regular tasks, such as reading emails (the malicious exploit might arrive via email).</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;">These pieces of advice are very important for the following reasons: the exploit has become public and it has been added to Metasploit. Furthermore, </span><a href="http://krebsonsecurity.com/2012/08/attackers-pounce-on-zero-day-java-exploit/" rel="nofollow" style="background-color: white; color: #0058bb; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">according to</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;"> Brian Krebs, it’s about to be added to the infamous BlackHole exploit kit as well.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;">The developer of the BlackHole has told Krebs that the price for such an exploit would be around $100,000 (€80,000).</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;">There is one more noteworthy thing about the new exploit. According to Deep End Research, it doesn’t affect Chrome, but Rapid 7 experts – the ones who contributed to adding the exploit to Metasploit – </span><a href="https://community.rapid7.com/community/metasploit/blog/2012/08/27/lets-start-the-week-with-a-new-java-0day" rel="nofollow" style="background-color: white; color: #0058bb; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">claim</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;"> that on Windows XP it works not only on Internet Explorer and Mozilla, but also on Google’s web browser.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;">“Don't know, maybe Rapid 7 'improved' the exploit and you can send them your thanks if you wish, but the original exploit does not work on Chrome,” Andre M. DiMino and Mila Parkour of Deep End Research wrote in a post.</span> </div></div>

New Java Zero-Day Exploit Added to Metasploit and BlackHole Exploit Kit

New Java Zero-Day Exploit Added to Metasploit and BlackHole Exploit Kit Soon after the world learned about the existence of a new zero-day that affects all the latest Java run-time environment (JRE) v…

Read more »

Facebook Help Center Flooded with “Online Streaming” Spam

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><h1 id="htitle" style="background-color: white; color: #001f5b; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 34px; letter-spacing: -2px; line-height: 34px; margin: 3px 0px 5px;">Facebook Help Center Flooded with “Online Streaming” Spam</h1><br /><img alt="Facebook Help Center flooded with spam" height="167" src="http://i1-news.softpedia-static.com/images/news2/Facebook-Help-Center-Flooded-with-Online-Streaming-Spam-2.png?1346232369" width="400" /> <br /><strong style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;">Facebook’s Help Center is once again flooded with all sorts of shady messages which advertise live online streaming services.</strong><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;">Posts such as “Barcelona vs Real Madrid Live Stream Online EL Classico 2012 On HDTV” are all over the help center, but the </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;">Search </em><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;">section of the </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;">Community Forum</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;"> appears to be the most affected.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;" /><br /><div align="center" class="article_ad" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; float: right; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; margin: 10px 0px 10px 15px; padding: 0px;"><ins style="border: none; display: inline-table; height: 250px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; visibility: visible; width: 300px;"><ins id="aswift_2_anchor" style="border: none; display: block; height: 250px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; visibility: visible; width: 300px;"><iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="250" hspace="0" id="aswift_2" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" name="aswift_2" replaced="true" scrolling="no" style="left: 0px; position: absolute; top: 0px;" vspace="0" width="300"></iframe></ins></ins></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;">Legitimate posts are almost impossible to identify among the tens of shady posts which attempt to lure users to website that allegedly offer free streaming for sporting events.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;">The promoted sites try to trick unsuspecting users into purchasing subscriptions for live streaming services that can worth as much as $50 (€40).</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;">The payments are done via ClickBank Marketplace, a secure online retail outlet, and the payment page is actually well protected, vouched for by Symantec, McAfee and TRUSTe. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;">However, this doesn’t mean anything else but the fact that the payment will safely make it to the crooks’ accounts. Users should know that a secure payment method doesn’t necessarily vouch for a service’s legitimacy. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;">A similar campaign was recorded </span><strong>back in November 2011</strong><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;"> and judging by the fact that the same types of websites were advertised, it would be safe to say that the same group of spammers was behind the</span><em style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;">flood</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;">.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;">Unfortunately, such incidents demonstrate that Facebook is still a long way from offering its customers a spam-free environment. Of course, in an era in which such campaigns can earn impressive amounts of money for those who launch them, the task is nearly impossible to accomplish. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;">On the other hand, this particular spam campaign has been active for almost 24 hours now and Facebook representatives still haven’t managed to contain it.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;">While this is sorted out, customers of the social media network are advised to be cautious when navigating the Help Center’s Community Forum.</span> </div>

Facebook Help Center Flooded with “Online Streaming” Spam

Facebook Help Center Flooded with “Online Streaming” Spam Facebook’s Help Center is once again flooded with all sorts of shady messages which advertise live online streaming services.Posts such as “Ba…

Read more »

US Air Force Wants to Enhance Its Cyber Warfare Capabilities

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><h1 id="htitle" style="background-color: white; color: #001f5b; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 34px; letter-spacing: -2px; line-height: 34px; margin: 3px 0px 5px;">US Air Force Wants to Enhance Its Cyber Warfare Capabilities</h1><div><img alt="The US Air Force wants some serious cyber weapons" src="http://i1-news.softpedia-static.com/images/news2/US-Air-Force-Wants-to-Enhance-Its-Cyber-Warfare-Capabilities-2.png?1346230858" /> </div><div><strong style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;"><br /></strong></div><div><strong style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;">The US Military has been successfully using cyber weapons for quite some time now, a speech held by Marine Lieutenant General Richard P. Mills at the AFCEA TechNet Land Forces conference revealed the other day. As it turns out, the US Air Force is also looking to enhance its cyber capabilities.</strong><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;">On August 22, 2012, the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC) posted an announcement, inviting researchers to submit research papers which could help the organization in enhancing its cyberspace warfare capabilities.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;" /><div align="center" class="article_ad" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; float: right; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; margin: 10px 0px 10px 15px; padding: 0px;"><ins style="border: none; display: inline-table; height: 250px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; visibility: visible; width: 300px;"><ins id="aswift_2_anchor" style="border: none; display: block; height: 250px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; visibility: visible; width: 300px;"><iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="250" hspace="0" id="aswift_2" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" name="aswift_2" replaced="true" scrolling="no" style="left: 0px; position: absolute; top: 0px;" vspace="0" width="300"></iframe></ins></ins></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;">“This Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) solicits concept papers with the potential to enhance Air Force operations focused on Cyberspace Warfare capabilities access, position, maneuver, and strike within the adversary cyberspace domain in support of the Combatant Commanders (CCDR) and national objectives,” reads the </span><a href="https://www.fbo.gov/utils/view?id=48a4eeb344432c3c87df0594068dc0ce" rel="nofollow" style="background-color: white; color: #0058bb; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">technical description.</a><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;">Last week we learned that DARPA was </span><strong>seeking help</strong><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;"> with a program called Plan X. While Plan X appears to be more about strategies than creating cyber weapons, the picture is a whole lot different as far as the Air Force is concerned.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;">They explicitly say that they’re interested in cyberspace technologies that could help them destroy, deny, degrade, disrupt, deceive, corrupt or usurp the enemy’s ability to “use the cyberspace domain for his advantage.”</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;">The concepts and technologies should address issues such as network mapping, accessing of information and systems, denial of service attacks, data manipulation, and the ability to control cyberspace effects at specified times.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;">They also seek the ability to search, intercept, identify, locate and localize access points or vulnerabilities that could help them in conducting operations in cyberspace.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify;">Of course, the US government is more than willing to pay for information that could help it achieve these goals. The total value of the awards – most likely split between multiple concept papers – can be as high as $10 million (€8 million).</span> </div></div>

US Air Force Wants to Enhance Its Cyber Warfare Capabilities

US Air Force Wants to Enhance Its Cyber Warfare Capabilities The US Military has been successfully using cyber weapons for quite some time now, a speech held by Marine Lieutenant General Richard P. Mi…

Read more »