Facebook Donates $250,000 to University of Alabama at CIA|JFR to Fight Against Cybercrime

Facebook Donates $250,000 to University of Alabama at CIA|JFR to Fight Against Cybercrime 

All of us, who are associated or directly involved in this cyber domain know very well that its almost impossible to stand against the rising cyber crime & cyber criminals. Then the very first question will arise and that is, what is the solution? The answer will be tie-up collaboration, unity in diversity. That means if we stand together and help each other, then definitely we can control cyber crime, not only that but also we can have a safe and secure cyber space. While talking about co-operation and collaboration then a live instance is here for you. It is your favorite social network, Facebook who stand against cyber criminals and donate $250,000 to help fight cyber crime. According to UAB News - The Center for Information Assurance and Joint Forensics Research at the University of Alabama at Birmingham has received a $250,000 donation from Facebook in recognition of the center’s role in tracking international criminals behind social-media botnet Koobface as well as other spammers. The donation, which comes from money Facebook has recovered from spammers located around the world, will be used to expand the new CIA|JFR headquarters. 

“As a result of numerous collaborations over the years, Facebook recognizes the center as both a partner in fighting Internet abuse, and as a critical player in developing future experts who will become dedicated cybersecurity professionals,” says Joe Sullivan, chief security officer at Facebook. “The center has earned this gift for their successes in fighting cybercrime and because of the need for formal cybersecurity education to better secure everyone’s data across the world.”  

Here we want to remind our readers that 'Koobface' was the most dangerous malware ever made to infiltrate Facebook made by few Russian hacker. The hackers, known as the Koobface gang, sent Facebook users attractive invitations to watch a funny or sexy video. When the unsuspecting users clicked the link, the message appeared saying that their computer’s Flash software needed updating. The “update” was in fact malware that hijacked the user’s clicks and delivered them to advertisers, making the hackers money -to the tune of over $2 million annually. According to Kaspersky Labs the network of infected computers included between 400,000 and 800,000 PC. Earlier in this year the entire Koobface gang was exposed and the C&C server of Koobface has been stopped prenatally by few German Researchers. 

With this story here we, the entire VOGH Team would like to congratulate the team at the University of Alabama at Birmingham on the donation from Facebook. More power to them and similar experts around the world, helping investigate cybercrime and making the online world a safer place! 

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WikiLeaks Releases 'Detainee Policies' The Dark History of U.S. Post-9/11 Military Prisoners

WikiLeaks Releases 'Detainee Policies' The Dark History of U.S. Post-9/11 Military Prisoners 

The WikiLeaks website began publishing the 'Detainee Policies' on Thursday what it said more than 100 classified or otherwise restricted files from the United States Department of Defense covering the rules and procedures for detainees in U.S. military custody. “The Detainee Policies,” a collection of more than a hundred once-secret files outlining America’s military detainee practices from Guantanamo to Iraq since 2002. WikiLeaks says it plans to release the files in chronological order to paint a picture of the evolution of America’s military detainee practices since September 11th in prisons from Guantanamo to Iraq to Europe. Unlike other recent releases, with the Detainee Policies WikiLeaks seems to be focusing on history more than news: Its first release is the 2002 Guantanamo Camp Delta standard operating procedure manual, a kind of prequel to the 2003 and 2004 manuals from camp it’s already published in past years. Other documents in the collection, WikiLeaks says, will show American attempts to “disappear” detainees by delaying the process of entering them into the detainment system’s records, or detail psychological torture methods. According to WikiLeaks official site - "Over the next month, WikiLeaks will release in chronological order the United States’ military detention policies followed for more than a decade. The documents include the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) of detention camps in Iraq and Cuba, interrogation manuals and Fragmentary Orders (FRAGOs) of changes to detainee policies and procedures. A number of the ’Detainee Policies’ relate to Camp Bucca in Iraq, but there are also Department of Defense-wide policies and documents relating to Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay and European U.S. Army Prison facilities." 

According to the press release of WikiLeaks :-  The previously unpublished 2002 manual went on to shape successive years in the Guantanamo Bay prison complex and other U.S. military prisons around the world, such as Abu Ghraib. "This document is of significant historical importance. Guantanamo Bay has become the symbol for systematised human rights abuse in the West with good reason," said WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. "But how is it that WikiLeaks has now published three years of Guantanamo Bay operating procedures, but the rest of the world’s press combined has published none?"

In relation to Iraq, the release includes Operation Orders (OPORD) regarding policies for screening and interrogating detainees. The documents also include routine instructions relating to staffing, scheduling of legal visitation, procedures for administering medical treatment, how medical records and daily staff journals are to be kept, cigarette rationing and what items are "authorised for detainee possession".

A number of what can only be described as ’policies of unaccountability’ will also be released. One such document is the 2005 document ’Policy on Assigning Detainee Internment Serial Numbers’. This document is concerned with discreetly ’disappearing’ detainees into the custody of other U.S. government agencies while keeping their names out of U.S. military central records – by systematically holding off from assigning a prisoner record number (ISN). Even references to this document are classified "SECRET//NOFORN". Detainees may be disposed of in this manner without leaving a significant paper trail.

Another formal policy of unaccountability is a 2008 Fragmentary Order that minimises the record-keeping surrounding interrogations. Following revelations of torture tapes and pictures from Abu Ghraib and the political scandal over the destruction of Central Intelligence Agency interrogation tapes, the FRAGO eliminates "the requirement to record interrogation sessions at Theatre Internment Facilities". Although the FRAGO goes on to state that interrogations that take place at Division Internment Facilities and Brigade Internment Facilities must be recorded, it then states that these should be "purged within 30 days". This policy was subsequently reversed by the new Obama administration.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said: "The ’Detainee Policies’ show the anatomy of the beast that is post-9/11 detention, the carving out of a dark space where law and rights do not apply, where persons can be detained without a trace at the convenience of the U.S. Department of Defense. It shows the excesses of the early days of war against an unknown ’enemy’ and how these policies matured and evolved, ultimately deriving into the permanent state of exception that the United States now finds itself in, a decade later."

A number of documents relate to the policies surrounding the interrogation of detainees (2004, 2005, 2008). Direct physical violence is prohibited, in writing, but a formal policy of terrorising detainees during interrogations, combined with a policy of destroying interrogation recordings, has led to abuse and impunity. We learn of policies that apply to international forces: a 13-page interrogation policy document from 2005 relates to all personnel in the Multi-National Force–Iraq (MNF–I). It details "approved" "interrogation approaches". The documents detail the promotion of exploitative techniques such as the "Emotional Love Approach: Playing on the love a detained person has for family, homeland or comrades". In the "Fear Up (Harsh)" approach, by contrast, "the interrogator behaves in an overpowering manner with a loud and threatening voice in order to convince the source he does indeed have something to fear; that he has no option but to co-operate".

The ’Detainee Policies’ provide a more complete understanding of the instructions given to captors as well as the ’rights’ afforded to detainees. We call upon lawyers, NGOs, human rights activists and the public to mine the ’Detainee Policies’ and investigate important issues such as the denial of access to the ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross) to detainee facilities, as well as to research and compare the different generations of SOPs and FRAGOs to help us better understand the evolution in these policies and why they have occurred. Publicise your findings using the hashtag #WLfindDP

Here we want to give you reminder that earlier in this year we got several leaks from WikiLeaks, among them -SpyFiles, GI Files (Global Intelligence Files & Five Million E-mails From Stratfor) & The Syria Files Containing 2.5 Million Emails of Syrian Politicians, Govt, Ministries & Companies.  

For detailed information & to download to latest release by WikiLeaks on 'Detainee Policies' Click Here

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Microsoft Surface RT Available For Pre-order & Priced $599 With Touch Cover

Microsoft Surface RT Available For Pre-order & Priced $599 With Touch Cover

Near about four months ago Microsoft announced that they will introduce a tablet computer of its own design that runs a new version of its Windows operating system, and that tablet was named 'Surface'. After this announcement Microsoft’s Surface tablet has generated a massive buzz over the last few weeks, culminating in the lowest priced option. After the long wait finally the software giant Microsoft has now unveiled the pricing for both of its ARM-based Surface RT tablets at its Microsoft online stores. The 10.6-inch Surface, powered by Windows RT, will go on sale on October 26th and will be priced starting at $499 for the 32GB version without Touch Cover and a 32GB version with the Touch Cover for $599. Microsoft is also offering 64GB model for $699 with a Touch Cover included. The 9.3mm thin tablet weighs just 1.5lbs and includes a built-in kickstand and vapor-deposited (PVD) magnesium case. Microsoft listed its Surface pricing at its online Microsoft Store this morning, indicating that pre-orders will be available shortly. The company has also listed the prices for its Touch Cover, at $119.99 each, and Type Cover for $129.99. The Touch Cover appears to be available in white, red, black, blue, and purple colors – while the Type Cover is listed as a single item in black. 

For Pre-Order & get Surface Within 3 weeks Click Here. If you are from outside of U.S. and you want to book Surface then Click Here. 

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Anonymous Say They've Track down Amanda Todd’s Tormentor & Publishes Online

Anonymous Say They've Track down Amanda Todd’s Tormentor & Publishes Online 

Everyday we are increasing cyber security, to stand against any sort of cyber harassment and attacks. But still its very unfortunate to say that the whole system failed to protect a teenager named Amanda Todd from Canada. She has been fallen a victim of cyber bullying, 15-year-old Amanda, described with the aid of a series of flashcards - the horrific treatment she had received at the hands of bullies in her video entitled "My Story: Struggling, bullying, suicide and self harm". Amanda was bullied viciously on Facebook where her schoolmates were invited to join a page which included topless photographs of her, causing Amanda to suffer from anxiety and depression.

Despite her family moving house and her changing schools, the bullying continued and Amanda fell into drug-taking and alcohol.  After a violent encounter with another girl, Amanda drank bleach and attempted to kill herself. "It killed me inside and I thought I actually was going to die." Amanda admitted in the video that she had deliberately cut herself, and ends the movie by holding a card which reads: "I have nobody. I need someone. My name is Amanda Todd." Finally after facing so many horrific treatment, she committed suicide. on 10th of October, it was just one week before her 16th birthday.

Here is the video, where Amanda tried to describe what she faced:- 

Amanda's tragic death has stirred a national debate about cyberbullying, but the sad story has now developed a new twist, when hacker collective group Anonymous claimed that hey have tracked down a man they say is Amanda Todd’s tormenter. The hacktivists say they have found a man in his early 30s from New Westminster, B.C., who allegedly blackmailed the 15-year-old girl for pictures over the Internet. In their move Anonymous have published a video (later removed by YouTube) and documents on pastebin, naming the person that they believe to have allegedly relentlessly harrassed Amanda Todd. 

Police told The Canadian Press they were aware of the Anonymous claim. “I'm not going to speak to anything beyond the fact that we are aware of what has been put on social media in regards to that name,” said Sgt. Peter Thiessen, spokesman for the RCMP. Amanda’s mother, Carol Todd, has said police have been investigating leads about the Web stalker. “Police investigated and investigated, it got traced to somebody in the United States,” Carol Todd was quoted saying by the press. “But they never found him. Those people are very good at hiding their tracks.”

-Source (Naked Security & thestar) 

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Iran Accused For Engaging Cyber Attacks Against Persian Gulf Oil & Gas Companies in U.S. (Full Story)

Iran Accused For Engaging Cyber Attacks Against Persian Gulf Oil & Gas Companies in U.S. (Full Story)

The conflict and tussle between Iran and United States continues, as U.S. authorities believe that Iranian-based hackers were responsible for cyberattacks that devastated Persian Gulf oil and gas companies. Just hours later the attack was discovered, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said the cyberthreat from Iran has grown, and he declared that the Pentagon is prepared to take action if American is threatened by a computer-based assault.

The former government official, who is familiar with the investigation, said U.S. authorities believe the cyberattacks were likely supported by the Tehran government and came in retaliation for the latest round of American sanctions against Iran. Before Panetta's remarks on Thursday, U.S. officials had said nothing publicly about the Gulf attacks or the investigation. But Panetta described them in a speech to business leaders in New York City, saying they were probably the most destructive cyber assault the private sector has seen to date. A current U.S. official acknowledged Thursday that the Obama administration knows who launched the cyberattacks against the Gulf companies and that it was a state actor. U.S. agencies have been assisting in the Gulf investigation and concluded that the level of resources needed to conduct the attack showed there was some degree of involvement by a nation state, said the former official. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is classified as secret. While Panetta chose his words carefully, one cybersecurity expert said the Pentagon chief's message to Iran in the speech was evident.  

It was all about what U.S. Authorities are claiming or in other word blaming, but like earlier; this time also Iran completely denies the whole matter, besides they blamed Israel & America for engaging cyber attacks on Iran's Nuclear System. Iranian officials denied any role in recent cyberattacks against oil and gas companies in the Persian Gulf and said they welcomed a probe of the case.  Mahdi Akhavan Bahabadi, secretary of the National Center of Cyberspace, denounced as "politically motivated" American allegations of an Iranian link to the Shamoon virus that hit Saudi Arabian state oil company Aramco and Qatari natural gas producer RasGas, according to remarks carried by ISNA. "We interpret the issue politically and in light of U.S. domestic issues as well as the (U.S. presidential) election," he said. The Iranian official said Tehran has already offered help to boost the companies' cybersecurity, asIran has itself recently been the victim of cyberattacks on its offshore oil platforms. Iran periodically reports the discovery of viruses and other malicious programs in government, nuclear, oil and industrial networks. On Monday, Tehran said it had successfully blocked a cyberattack on the computer network of its offshore drilling platforms. It briefly shut down part of its oil facilities because of a cyberattack in May. Iran blames Israel and the United States for the attacks. Israel has done little to deflect suspicion it uses viruses against Iran.

While talking about the cyber attacks on  Persian Gulf oil and other gas companies, we like to remind you that couple of weeks ago U.S. Authorities also blamed Iran for engaging cyber attacks on U.S. leading banking and financial sector. There also Iran official denies the attack and said "We officially announce that we haven't had any attacks,". So far its not clear whether these two attacks are linked or not. Whatever, for all the latest update on stories like this & also other updates on cyber domain stay tuned with VOGH. 

-Source (MPR News & Yahoo) 

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Facebook Outage in Many European Countries Not Caused By Anonymous But DNS Problem

Facebook Outage in Many European Countries Not Caused By Anonymous But DNS Problem 

World's most popular and largest social network Facebook faced another downtime. This time the outage effected millions of users in European countries including Denmark, France, Norway, Germany and Italy. After June this is the second outage which effected large number of Facebook users. Last time Facebook users faced disturbance while using their favorite social network. Facebook users across the globe experienced log-in difficulties for several hour. But this time, the social networking giant remain down for a decent time. The outage may have caused Facebook’s share price to go down. For a site with 900 million users worldwide, even a minor outage has a huge effect. Like the June issue, here also hacker collective came first and took credit of the outage. According to a twitter account of the hacktivist group named  Anonymous Own3r, took responsibility of the outage, In his tweet he claimed to figure out several vulnerabilities in Facebook, which causes the outage. In a pastebin note, the hacker publishes those so called vulnerabilities. Also in his tweet the hacker claimed to have control in many servers owned by Facebook. 

But Facebook completely denies the hacker attack & said the cause of the outage was nothing but DNS issue, neither hacker attack nor DDoS.  Here we want yo give you reminder that in 2011 Anonymous openly declared to take down Facebook. The operation was dubbed #Op-Facebook and Anonymous told that they will hit FB on the 5th of November last year. But in reality it was just a threat and as expected Anonymous failed to execute Operation Facebook. Later in June this year, Anonymous took credit for a couple of hours outage of Facebook, and here again Anonymous affiliated member repeated the same story, which again proves completely baseless, and in short it was nothing but a publicity stunt. 

In case of large social network like Facebook, such kind of DNS issues can be happened. Whatever immediately after this outage Facebook released a statement saying -

"There has not been a hack of Facebook. We have investigated these claims, and they are not valid. The evidence cited was produced by an automated vulnerability scanner that alerts developers of potential vulnerability, and we have found these all to be false alerts.

We expect Anonymous just like we expect any other attack on any other day. Due to our size, we face the same threats as seen everywhere else on the Web, but we have developed partnerships, back-end systems, and protocols to confront the full range of security challenges we face. Facebook has always been committed to protecting our users’ information, and we will continue to innovate and work tirelessly to defend this data.

Earlier (Thursday), we made a change to DNS as part of a traffic-optimization test, and that change resulted in some users being temporarily misrouted. We detected and resolved the issue immediately, but a small number of users located primarily in Western Europe experienced issues accessing the site while the DNS addresses repopulated. We are now back to 100 percent, and we apologize for any inconvenience..."

-Source (All Facebook)

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Hacker Stolen 300K Student Information From Florida College Computer

Hacker Stolen 300K Student Information From Florida College Computer 

While fighting against the rising amount of cyber threats, the cyber security domain is getting stronger and developed everyday. But till today its not as up-to dated as it should be, and that is why every day the news of security breaches are being spotted in the wild. In the last few months we have been a slew of attacks against the following sites: Guild Wars 2, Gamigo, Blizzard, Yahoo, LinkedIn, eHarmony, Formspring, Android Forums, Gamigo,  Nvidia, Blizzard, Philips and Adobe. And it was the turn for Florida Panhandle College. According to sources, a massive security breach hit the main system of Florida Panhandle college, which effected the records of more than 300,000 students, faculty & other employees. Education officials said that the computer hackers accessed confidential information of staff and students in a massive security breach. A breach that at first involved employees at Northwest Florida State College was much larger than suspected and now potentially involves student records from across the state, state and college officials said. The Department of Education said hackers stole 200,000 records including names, Social Security numbers and birth dates for any student statewide who was eligible for Florida’s popular Bright Futures scholarships for the 2005-06 and 2006-07 school years. 

The hackers also stole more than 3,000 employee records, including some that contained confidential financial information. Some 76,000 records containing personal identification information from students who attended the college was also hacked. “We speculate this was a professional, coordinated attack by one or more hackers,” said Northwest Florida State College President, Ty Handy, in a memo that went out to employees in this week. According to Florida College System Chancellor Randy Hanna in a statement. “While some of the contact information is dated, we will be trying to reach every student whose records may have been captured.” Because of the scope of the breach, Federal Authorities have joined the local and state investigation that got under way last week, confirmed the authority.

The breach occurred sometime between late May and late September. College officials said in a news release that 50 employees to date have reported issues with identity theft, including the college president, faculty and staff. The information has been used to either obtain personal loans or to take out a Home Depot credit card. 

-Source (CBS)

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Email Account of Press Information Bureau's PMO Unit Hacked

Email Account of Press Information Bureau's PMO Unit Hacked

Hackers targeted Press Information Bureau (PIB), and they managed to hack and get access in an email account of PIB's PMO unit. After the hack, the hacker sent many distress message  to several journalists. The recipients got the distress message from the account with a subject 'My  Terrible Situation'. The email account is used by the PMO unit of PIB to send speeches delivered by the Prime Minister and other information related to him to correspondents and news organisations. Immediately after this incident took place, the PIB authorities  take proper counter measure and regain control of that hacked email account. Later, an email sent by the unit to correspondents asked to ignore the distress message. 

According to the Mail:- 

"It has come to our notice that emails have been received by some email accounts from an email ID that impersonates the genuine email ID of PM Unit, PIB (dpr_pm@yahoo.com). The fake email comes with the subject line 'My Terrible Situation.' The said email may kindly be ignored,"

-Source (Hindustan Times) 

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WikiLeaks Launches Vote WikiLeaks 2012 Donation Campaign (Presidential Election Intervention)

WikiLeaks Launches Vote WikiLeaks 2012 Donation Campaign (Presidential Election Intervention)

While Barack Obama and Mitt Romney are both rising their chances for the 2012 election as their respective party’s candidates who stood  in the coming US president election. In the mean time  WikiLeaks has launched "Vote WikiLeaks: 2012 Donation Campaign". Through this campaign WikiLeaks has threatened the pentagon once again.  According to the press release of WikiLekas on last Friday - Pentagon spokesman George Little demanded WikiLeaks destroy its publications, including the Iraq War logs which revealed the killings of more than 100,000 civilians. Little said: “continued possession by WikiLeaks of classified information belonging to the United States government represents a continuing violation of law”. The Pentagon also again “warned Mr Assange and WikiLeaks” against “soliciting” material from U.S. military whistleblowers. In response, WikiLeaks has decided to intervene in the U.S. election campaign.

The United States government claims Mr Assange and the WikiLeaks organization are within its jurisdiction. In reply, we place the Obama administration within our jurisdiction. All American school children are taught that being subject to laws without representation is an injustice. This is the backbone of the American Revolution. We claim our representation and now initiate a campaign to transform Democratic and Republican votes into economic and political support for WikiLeaks and its First Amendment values. This election day, do not vote for the Republican or Democratic parties. Instead, cast the only vote that matters. Vote with your wallet – vote for WikiLeaks.

The Democratic Party promised to open government. But instead it is building a state within a state, placing nearly five million Americans under the national security clearance system. It has classified more documents than any previous administration, classifying even the process used to decide who will live and who will be killed. The U.S. administration hurtles towards dystopia: secret laws, secret processes, secret budgets, secret bailouts, secret killings, secret mass spying, secret drones and secret detention without charge. The collapse of the Soviet Union could have led to the withdrawal of the U.S. security state, but without moral competition from another system it has grown unchecked to influence almost every American policy. Four more years in the same direction cannot be tolerated.

Watch WikiLeaks’s Campaign Video below:-

You can donate to WikiLeaks using a variety of easy methods, including workarounds for Visa, MasterCard and PayPal. These donations go to fund WikiLeaks’ publishing and infrastructure costs and our legal costs to fight the financial blockade. For Detailed information about the campaign click Here. 

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Former Senate & MPAA Chief Said -SOPA & PIPA "are dead, they're not coming back"

Former Senate & MPAA Chief Said -SOPA & PIPA "are dead, they're not coming back"

It seems that the mass protest against controversial act SOPA & PIPA finally succeed. Former Senate Christopher Dodd, now chairman of the Motion Picture Association of America, said the Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect IP Act aren’t going to be floated again in Congress. In an interview after an appearance at San Francisco’s Commonwealth Club Tuesday night, Dodd told  “My own view, that legislation is gone. It’s over. It’s not coming back,”  Still, he said the massive protest against the measures, which included online petitions and massive e-mail campaigns, “was over the top.” SOPA, the more draconian of the two failed bills, would have required ISPs to prevent Americans from visiting blacklisted sites by altering the system known as DNS that turns site names like Google.com into IP addresses such as 174.35.23.56. Instead, for the blacklisted sites, ISPs would have had to lie to their customers and tell their browsers that the site doesn’t exist. 

SOPA and its sister bill PIPA were both definitively killed off earlier this year after an overwhelming campaign of online action by citizens and tech companies. Dodd sounded chastened, with a tone that was a far cry from the rhetoric the MPAA was putting out in January. "When SOPA-PIPA blew up, it was a transformative event," said Dodd. "There were eight million e-mails [to elected representatives] in two days." That caused senators to run away from the legislation. "People were dropping their names as co-sponsors within minutes, not hours," he said.

"These bills are dead, they're not coming back," said Dodd. "And they shouldn't." He said the MPAA isn't focused on getting similar legislation passed in the future, at the moment. "I think we're better served by sitting down [with the tech sector and SOPA opponents] and seeing what we agree on."

Dodd also continued to laud the "six strikes" plan that US Internet providers have agreed to enforce on behalf of the entertainment industry, insisting that it's an "educational" program aimed at illegal downloads. "If people are aware they're downloading illegal content, they'll go to a legal service," he said. "It's an experiment to see if we can get cooperation. It's not a law—you don't go to jail."

The MPAA won't have any kind of back-door to subscriber records at Verizon or other ISPs, Dodd said.

-Source (WIRED & ars technica)

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White House Unclassified Network Hacked By Chinese Hackers Using Spear Phishing

White House Unclassified Network Hacked By Chinese Hackers Using Spear Phishing

Another cyber espionage generated from China targeted the White House. U.S. government computers reportedly including systems used by the military for nuclear commands were breached by Chinese hackers. The White House it self confirmed the breach, while saying that hackers indeed made an attempt to infiltrate its computer system, but says it thwarted the effort and that no classified networks were threatened. Also the security breach did not appear to have stolen any data. White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters the White House is equipped with mitigation measures that identified the attack, isolated it and prevented its spread. He said there was no indication that any data was removed. “There are distinctions between those networks that contain classified information and those that don’t, and the attack was against an unclassified network,” Carney said. 

The hackers breached the network by using a technique known as spear phishing, in which they target victims who have access to sensitive computer networks by sending personalized emails that appear to come from trusted sources. Once the victims click on the bogus attachment or link, the hackers can install malicious software on the PCs to spy on users and steal data.  A law enforcement official who works with members of the White House Military Office confirmed the Chinese attack to press on Monday, but it remains unclear what information, if any, was taken or left behind. But still The White House officially did not say whether the recent attack was linked to China or not. 

"This [White House Communications Agency] guy opened an email he wasn't supposed to open," the source said. That email contained a spear phishing attack from a computer server in China, the law enforcement source told the press. The attack was first reported by the conservative blog Free Beacon. Spear phishing involves the use of messages disguised to appear as valid; in fact, they contain targeted, malicious attempts to access sensitive or confidential information. 

While talking about this breach, we would like to remind you that just few days ago Chinese hackers breached Telvent's corporate network & gained control of US Power Grid. Couple of months ago we have seen that Chinese hackers have broken into Indian Navy's Computer System & stolen sensitive data. Few months before this hack, Tokyo based computer security firm Trend Micro confirmed that Chinese hackers were responsible for biggest cyber-espionage in India, Japan & Tibet. Also the director of National Security Agency (NSA) General Keith Alexander confirmed that hackers from China was responsible for the serious attack on one of the leading IT security & cyber security company RSA. Also in 2011 China was responsible behind the attack on US Chamber of Commerce, Satellite System of U.S, Nortel Network & so on.  But few days ago National Computer Network Emergency Response Coordination Center of China (CNCERT/CC), China's primary computer security monitoring network claimed that China fallen victim of one of biggest cyber attacks originated from US, Japan & South Korea. We must have to say that this statement is truly irrelevant. Cyber crime investigator have found that China was directly responsible for the hack into Japan's Biggest Defense Contractor Mitsubishi, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) & Parliament of Japan. In case of South Korea  more than 13 Million of MapleStory players data has been stolen, there also hackers from China was responsible. 

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FBI Started National Cyber Security Awareness Month 2012

FBI Started National Cyber Security Awareness Month 2012

Last week the  Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has issued a report based on information from law enforcement and complaints submitted to the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) detailing recent cyber crime trends and new twists to previously-existing cyber scams. As you all know that the Month of October is celebrated as National Cyber Security Awareness Month for last nine years. This year also FBI declared the October as National Cyber Security Awareness Month 2012. According to the official blog of FBI - the threat has continued to grow even more complex and sophisticated. Just 12 days ago, in fact, FBI Director Robert Mueller said that “cyber security may well become our highest priority in the years to come.” 

For its part, the FBI is strengthening its cyber operations to sharpen its focus on the greatest cyber threats to national security: computer intrusions and network attacks. We are enhancing the technological capabilities of all investigative personnel and hiring additional computer scientists to provide expert technical support to critical investigations. We are creating two distinct task forces in each field office: Cyber Task Forces, focused on intrusions and network attacks that will draw on our existing cyber squads; and Child Exploitation Task Forces, focused on crimes against children. We are also increasing the size and scope of the National Cyber Investigative Joint Task Force—the FBI-led multi-agency focal point for coordinating and sharing cyber threat information to stop current and future attacks.

The FBI also runs several other cyber-related programs, including the Innocent Images National Initiative—which combats online child predators—and the Internet Crime Complaint Center—a partnership between the Bureau and the National White Collar Crime Center that serves as a clearinghouse for triaging cyber complaints and provides an easy-to-use online tool for reporting these complaints.

Because of the interconnectedness of online systems, every American who uses digital technologies at home or in the office can—and must—play a part in cyber security. For example, if you open a virus-laden e-mail attachment at work, you could infect your entire company’s computer network. Don’t be the weakest link: get educated on cyber safety.

Here are a few basic steps you can take to be more secure:

• Set strong passwords, and don’t share them with anyone.
• Keep a clean machine—your operating system, browser, and other critical software are optimized by installing regular updates.
• Maintain an open dialogue with your family, friends, and community about Internet safety.
• Limit the amount of personal information you post online, and use privacy settings to avoid sharing information widely.
• Be cautious about what you receive or read online—if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Visit the links below for more tips on protecting your computers and other electronic devices, information on cyber threats, and details on how to report cyber crimes or scams:

- Report Cyber Crime

- How to Protect Your Computer

- Emerging E-Scams | Internet Fraud

- Keep Safe on Social Networking Sites

For more information:

- FBI Cyber Crime Webpage

- Department of Homeland Security Stop.Think.Connect. Campaign

- Department of Homeland Security’s National Cyber Security Awareness Month Website

- StaySafeOnline Website

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