Lazy Hacker and Little Worm Set Off Cyberwar Frenzy
Quote:
Originally Posted by
marct
Dark Reading just published a report on the recent DDOS attacks on US and South Korean systems.
Unlike the unnamed South Korean intelligence official in the report who attributes this to sophisticated state action, the view in most of the tech community seems to be that this is pretty primitive stuff:
Lazy Hacker and Little Worm Set Off Cyberwar Frenzy
By Kim Zetter
Wired, July 8, 2009
Quote:
Talk of cyberwar is in the air after more than two dozen high-level websites in the United States and South Korea were hit by denial-of-service attacks this week. But cooler heads are pointing to a pilfered five-year-old worm as the source of the traffic, under control of an unsophisticated hacker who apparently did little to bolster his borrowed code against detection.
Nonetheless, the attacks have launched a thousand headlines (or thereabouts) and helped to throw kindling on some long-standing international political flames — with one sworn enemy blaming another for the aggression.
...
Security experts who examined code used in the attack say it appears to have been delivered to machines through the MyDoom worm, a piece of malware first discovered in January 2004 and appearing in numerous variants since. The Mytob virus might have been used, as well.
...
In the recent attack, experts say the malware used no sophisticated techniques to evade detection by anti-virus software and doesn’t appear to have been written by someone experienced in coding malware. The author’s use of a pre-written worm to deliver the code also suggests the attacker probably wasn’t thinking of a long-term attack.
That, of course, doesn't exclude an unsophisticated NORK recycling some stale hacker tools, but it does perhaps place it in context.
Sam, any thoughts on this one?
Biggest-ever series of cyber attacks uncovered, U.N. hit
Quote:
BOSTON (Reuters) - Security experts have discovered the biggest series of cyber attacks to date, involving the infiltration of the networks of 72 organizations including the United Nations, governments and companies around the world.
Security company McAfee, which uncovered the intrusions, said it believed there was one "state actor" behind the attacks but declined to name it, though one security expert who has been briefed on the hacking said the evidence points to China.
The long list of victims in the five-year campaign include the governments of the United States, Taiwan, India, South Korea, Vietnam and Canada; the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN); the International Olympic Committee (IOC); the World Anti-Doping Agency; and an array of companies, from defense contractors to high-tech enterprises.
http://in.news.yahoo.com/biggest-eve...041202195.html
Exclusive: Operation Shady rat—Unprecedented Cyber-espionage Campaign and Intellectual-Property Bonanza
http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/fe...ady-rat-201109
U.S. water plant malfunction, not a cyber attack (amended title)
Quote:
Foreign hackers caused a pump at an Illinois water plant to fail last week, according to a preliminary state report. Experts said the cyber-attack, if confirmed, would be the first known to have damaged one of the systems that supply Americans with water, electricity and other essentials of modern life.
Companies and government agencies that rely on the Internet have for years been routine targets of hackers, but most incidents have resulted from attempts to steal information or interrupt the functioning of Web sites. The incident in Springfield, Ill., would mark a departure because it apparently caused physical destruction.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...TZYN_blog.html
2 Attachment(s)
'hacking' and chinese 'cuisine'
Quote:
UPDATE1-US commander cannot pin down satellite anomaly
The command responsible for U.S. military space operations lacks enough data to determine who interfered with two U.S. government satellites, anomalies behind perhaps the most explosive charge in a report on China sent to the U.S. Congress on Wednesday.
"What I have seen is inconclusive," General Robert Kehler, commander of the U.S. Strategic Command, said in a teleconference from Omaha, Nebraska, home to the military outfit that conducts U.S. space and cyberspace operations.
[...]
China's military is a prime suspect, the bipartisan, 12-member commission made clear, though it added that the events in question had not actually been traced to China.
US Commander cannot pin down satellite anomaly - Reuters - Nov 16, 2011.
How does the excerpt in bold translate to the geek.com headline of "Chinese hackers took control of NASA satellite for 11 minutes"? Are they saying that the USAF General in charge of US Strategic Command is engaging in 'political correctness', incompetent, or worse, lying? Or is geek.com part of the re-activated Grill Flame program?
I did enjoy this comment on the geek.com article, however:
Quote:
You have obviously never been to china...they will eat each other before they become a "super power"
May help with the water 'attack'?
Not my field, but I think some clues and understanding is found here:http://www.schneier.com/blog/archive....html#comments
anything that lies on anything that moves
Quote:
Originally Posted by
carl
After watching other Generals and high ranking State and Defense Dept. people pretend that what is isn't for the past decade in various parts of the world, I think it very plausible that the USAF General in question is doing all three at the same time.
Dang, and I thought I was cynical.:)
