What Risk We are Posing! Everyone Can Become Target of the Latest Cyber Security Threats

What Risk We are Posing! Everyone Can Become a Target of the Latest Cyber Security Threats

According to a report by the Washington Post, hackers may soon be setting up a plan to unfold in 2013 that will target 30 different U.S. banking institutions. McAfee Labs, who has compiled a new cyber security report, says that banks should be on the lookout for software that creates false online transactions or targets transfers tied to large dollar amounts.

Sources say that these threats can all be tied back to “Project Blitzkrieg”, which is a program that has been around since 2008. Within the past four years, it has already stolen $5 million and plans to continue for as long as possible. During the past few months, between 300 and 500 victims located within the U.S. have fallen victim to Project Blitzkrieg’s schemes. By the spring of 2013, McAfee says that things could get even worse for U.S. banks and their customers.

Experts note that this scheme may be tied to reports from back in October by security company RSA that mentioned how a hacker out of Russia named “vorVzakone” has been openly discussing his plan to recruit a team to plan the largest Trojan attack tied to banking. McAfee warns that these threats should be taken extremely seriously as the beginning of 2013 is soon to unfold. The software can become extremely dangerous to those doing their banking online because it can replicate transactions and even delete e-mail notifications about certain transfers.

While U.S. banks will no doubt be increasing their security protocols to protect themselves from any unnecessary attacks, most already know that they are continually being cited as targets from hacking groups around the globe. Back in September, both JP Morgan Chase and Bank of America saw their sites crash because of DDoS attacks.

Samsung Smart TV Dangers

The Register has recently reported that Samsung’s newest Smart TV is completely open and vulnerable to hacking because it gives hackers the ability to steal data very quickly. According to security company ReVuln, this vulnerability most notably affects consumers who own and use their Samsung 3D TVs for internet purposes.

Those who use their Smart TVs can rent movies, browse the web for a cheap line rental, go on Facebook, and more. ReVuln claims that they have found an exploit which allows hackers to see everything the user is doing while they are using their TV, retrieve and access information like web history, and hook up an external thumb drive to the TV to conveniently steal all of this information for future use. While ReVuln noticed this exploit while using a Samsung 3D TV, the true problem is that it seems to affect all of the latest Samsung TVs with internet capabilities, which includes many different makes and models.

As these TVs continue to act more as larger PCs, it is only a matter of time until we see even more security vulnerabilities tied to them in the very near future.

Gas Station Bluetooth Skimming

News site KRCA out of Sacramento notes that crooks are using Bluetooth devices in order to steal credit card information from those who are paying for gas at the pump. The biggest issue the cyber security experts noticed is that these thieves do not even have to be near the gas station in order to steal information.

Crooks are using skimming devices that utilize Bluetooth and contain a variety of common security keys that can be used to access gas pumps for maintenance. They don’t simply pull out their device and begin swiping information for oblivious consumers. Thieves will start by installing skimmers on the pumps to collect information from those pumping gas and then pick them back up. Detectives say that these types of devices are impossible to detect.

According to experts, thieves can be up to 100 yards away and continually collect credit card information from unsuspecting users. Because of this, these crooks are impossible to detect, and the problem may only grow larger in the near future.

Troublesome QR Codes

QR codes seem to be everywhere these days. They’re typically on everything from advertisements to products that we purchase on a daily basis. In the Netherlands, hackers are posting QR codes in heavily trafficked areas like airports and major streets. When these QR codes are scanned in by a user’s smart phone, they are taken to a malicious website that may attempt to phish information from the user or possibly infect their smartphone with malware.

Disclaimer:- Before perfection, on behalf of Team VOGH, I would like to personally thank Eve Halton  for sharing this magnificent article with our readers. Eve is a very much passionate Fleet Street, she  has done her graduation in International Business and Journalism. She gained decent experience in writing articles on several fields like global politics, economics, sustainability issues, cyber security & many more.

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British Spy Agency GCHQ Performed DDoS Attack Against Anonymous -Snowden Documents Transpired

British Spy Agency GCHQ Performed DDoS Attack Against Hacktivist Anonymous & LulzSec -Snowden Documents Transpired

While excavating the past, it was always found that cyber criminals, large hacker collective groups were the culprits for engaging voluminous denial of service attack. But this widely transfusing story get a one eighty degree reverse turn, when the former NSA contractor Edward Snowden revealed another trade secret. Recently a lurid story get spot lighted, as the whistle blower Snowden unfold yet another breathtaking stealthy  documents taken from the National Security Agency. The clandestine documents taken the mask from the so called good guys, unveiling British spy agency GCHQ had launched a secret war against the infamous hacktivist collective Anonymous and a splinter group known as LulzSec several years ago. Many of you guessed right, this was happened when Anonymous were targeting various UK companies and government websites. The documents disclose that GCHQ carried out seemingly illegal DDoS attacks against the collective, flooding their chatrooms with so much traffic that they would become inaccessible – and all with the approval of the British government. The revelations come less than a year after several LulzSec activists were jailed by a British court for carrying out similar DDoS attacks against targets including the CIA, the UK’s Serious Organized Crime Agency (SOCA), News International, Sony and the Westboro Baptist Church, among others. 

This sensational issue was made public by NBC News deferentially with the help of none other than Edward Snowden. In their exclusive report headed 'War on Anonymous: British Spies Attacked Hackers,' NBC said -The blunt instrument the spy unit used to target hackers, however, also interrupted the web communications of political dissidents who did not engage in any illegal hacking. It may also have shut down websites with no connection to Anonymous. According to the documents, a division of Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), the British counterpart of the NSA, shut down communications among Anonymous hacktivists by launching a “denial of service” (DDOS) attack – the same technique hackers use to take down bank, retail and government websites – making the British government the first Western government known to have conducted such an attack.

The documents, from a PowerPoint presentation prepared for a 2012 NSA conference called SIGDEV, show that the unit known as the Joint Threat Research Intelligence Group, or JTRIG, boasted of using the DDOS attack – which it dubbed Rolling Thunder -- and other techniques to scare away 80 percent of the users of Anonymous internet chat rooms. 

The existence of JTRIG has never been previously disclosed publicly. The documents also show that JTRIG infiltrated chat rooms known as IRCs and identified individual hackers who had taken confidential information from websites. In one case JTRIG helped send a hacktivist to prison for stealing data from PayPal, and in another it helped identify hacktivists who attacked government websites. 

As soon as this story getting all the spot lights, immediately the GCHQ responded to this saying all their movements and operations were lawful. “All of GCHQ’s work is carried out in accordance with a strict legal and policy framework which ensure[s] that our activities are authorized, necessary and proportionate, and that there is rigorous oversight, including from the Secretary of State, the Interception and Intelligence Services Commissioners and the Parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee. All of our operational processes rigorously support this position.” -GCHQ said the press. To know more detail about this story, don't forget to stay tuned with VOGH. 

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Security Breach Invaded 8,500 Recipients of Unemployment Insurance Agency Michigan (UIA)

Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency (UIA) Hacked! 8,500 Recipients Personal Data Leaked

A major security breach has invaded Unemployment Insurance Agency of Michigan, widely known as UIA. Sources revealed that the attack was placed in between mid of July to mid of September which affected more than 8,500 unemployment insurance recipients in Michigan with leak of social security numbers, bank account numbers, passwords, phone numbers & few other sensitive data. This security breach was first detected Sept. 17 by contractor JP Morgan Chase. In his reaction the director of the Unemployment Insurance Agency, Shaun Thomas said -“The UIA is deeply concerned about this incident.” But due to some untold reason state official were not notified until this December first week. Dan Lohrmann, the state’s chief security officer in the Department of Technology, Management and Budget, said he has “worked closely with JP Morgan Chase to share our concern about the delayed notification and to ensure that the state receives immediate notice of future problems. “We work around the clock to keep citizen information and data protected, and I feel confident that everyone involved in this event understands the importance of protecting personal information.” Chase, which handles the debit cards Michigan uses to pay unemployment insurance benefits to some recipients, said those who accessed the bank’s website between mid-July and mid-September may have been affected. The 8,500 claimants in Michigan are among about 465,000 cardholders nationwide who may have been affected, the bank said. So far the identity of the hackers & their reasons behind this attack is not been identified, but Chase has notified law enforcement and both the bank and the state will be notifying claimants whose information was potentially compromised. 

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Pirate Bay Co-Founder Svartholm Warg Accused For Hacking, Fraud & Attempt to Steal Money From Bank

Pirate Bay Co-Founder Svartholm Warg Accused For Hacking, Fraud & Attempt to Steal Money From Swedish Bank 

The Pirate Bay also known as TPB is the most infamous website providing torrent files and magnet links to facilitate peer to peer file sharing. It is fact that many of us love the website, but it is also undeniable that if you are in the core team to run TPB then you are definitely sitting on the edge of legality. Many of you have already started terrifying! But I have the news which will not frighten you but surely will surely frighten Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, the co-founder of Pirate Bay. Gottfrid might get mercy if he could limited himself only into Pirate Bay, but in reality he did not and crossed all the lines. The 27-year-old’s Gottfrid widely known as 'Anakata' has been charged for hacking several Swedish companies and stealing their personal data. He and three others are also accused of attempting to make illegal online money transfers. Prosecutors claim Warg  along with three others—hacked IBM mainframes belonging to tax firm Logica and the bank to transfer money from various bank accounts. In total, the four men reportedly attempted to transfer just over US$900,000. Warg has also been accused of hacking into the databases of several Swedish businesses and the government’s federal taxing agency.

In his statement prosecutor Henrik Olin said - "A large amount of data from companies and agencies was taken during the hack, including a large amount of personal data, such as personal identity numbers (personnummer) of people with protected identities. I'd say that Svartholm Warg is the main person and brains behind the hacker attack. We've had a lot of theories but I can't find a motive in the evidence. What I can say is that we're talking about an incredibly technically advanced hack against a large server environment considered to have very high security and that can boost one's status in certain circles" 

Three other people have been indicted along with Svartholm Warg. They are all charged with serious fraud, attempted aggravated fraud, and aiding attempted aggravated fraud. According to the indictment, authorities seized a computer and chat transcripts of Svartholm Warg and the other suspects. Olin claims that it is the biggest investigation into a data intrusion ever conducted in the country. 

Here we want to remind you that Svartholm Warg, 27, was arrested in Cambodian and deported to Sweden in September last year due to an arrest warrant issued for him in relation to his conviction in the Pirate Bay trial. Since December, Svartholm Warg has been held in a prison in Mariefred in central Sweden where he is serving out a prison sentence related to his activities with The Pirate Bay.

-Source (The Local, RT)

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Israel Hit By Demolishing Cyber Attack From Anonymous Caused $3 Billion Damage (#OpIsrael)

VOGH Exclusive: Israel Hit By Demolishing Cyber Attack From Anonymous Caused $3 Billion Damage (#OpIsrael) 

The past 7th April will be unforgettable for Israeli cyber space, yes it was no doubt the black day for Israel, when the World's largest hacker group "Anonymous" with help of several other hackers communities caused ruin while bringing down almost all the Israeli Government websites, along with more that 100,000 other important Israeli websites, 40,000 Facebook pages, 5,000 Twitter accounts and 30,000 bank accounts belonging to Israeli people. The hacker group not only demolished the cyber space of Israel, but also caused a loss of 3 billion USD. This never forgettable hacking rampage dubbed Operation Israel became the most devastating and venturesome hacking rampage ever happened to the Israeli cyber space. In the last week of March, it was dangerous hacker collective group Anonymous who called the operation widely known as #OpIsrael, where the hacker group vows to erase Israel from the Internet. And indeed the hacker group did that, According to several Israeli source, leading media outlets it has been confirmed that almost all the important sites owned by the Government of Israel have been  either hacked and paralyzed. These sites include the site of the Israeli Police, Israeli Prime Minister, Bureau of Statistics, Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, Stock Market and the Israel Ministry of Defense and many more. Regardless of the amount of damage done, the scale of the attack is bound to be embarrassing for the Israeli government. This is the second time that Anonymous has successfully taken down Israeli government websites. The first #OpIsrael attack happened last November and affected Israeli cyber fence heavily. Like the last November, this time also the reaction of Israel Government was indifferent and unconcerned. Despite of what Anonymous's claims of massive damage to Israel, the country's cyber security officials say that the attack caused minimal damage. "So far it is as was expected, there is hardly any real damage," Yitzhak Ben Yisrael from the government's National Cyber Bureau told the press. "Anonymous doesn't have the skills to damage the country's vital infrastructure. And if that was its intention, then it wouldn't have announced the attack ahead of time. It wants to create noise in the media about issues that are close to its heart." This is more or less what Anonymous always does, often with varying levels of success.

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Gang of Cyber Criminals Arrested For Stealing $7 Million From Exchange Companies in Dubai

Gang of Cyber Criminals Arrested For Stealing $7 Million From Exchange Companies in Dubai 

Yet again another infamous gang of cyber criminals who were behind the hack of more than $7 Million from exchange companies in Dubai get busted by the Dubai Police. The special Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Dubai Police were behind these criminals for a long time, and after a certain period they successfully managed to track down and crack the cyber crime ring. Major General Khamis Matter Al Mazeina, acting chief of Dubai Police, said on last Sunday that a gang of Asians and Africans work with hackers in order to enter different websites and systems of different companies here in Dubai in order to transfer money inside and outside the country. “Cheques worth more than Dh6 billion have been found with the gang after their arrest,” he said. He also said that the gang was able to transfer more than Dh7 million from exchange companies in Dubai to their own accounts. From an exclusive report of Gulf News we came to know that the deputy director of the General Department of Criminal and Investigation for research, Colonel Salem Khalifa Al Rumaithi said the incident happened early this month when police received complaints about a scam and transfer of $2 million from a company’s account. “This was done through hacking the e-mails of this company by someone outside the UAE,” he said.

He said the hackers used to change the data of the transactions, billing, and then transfer the money into their accounts.

He said the first accused, an Asian identified as Kh. Q., used to receive the transferred funds. “He owns three luxury cars which he bought from the proceeds of such crimes,” he said. 

He said the role of the second suspect, another Asian identified as U.K., was to provide the gang with bank account numbers by creating fake companies on the internet and dealing with the victims’ accounts. “After the process of converting the money credited to the first accused U.K. used to take 3 per cent of the money and give the remaining to an African man who was the mastermind. According to Lt Colonel Saeed Al Hajeri, director of the electronic investigation department, the third suspect was identified as D.Q. from Africa.

“The role of this suspect was as a mediator between the gang members and manipulating the business processes and changing the bank accounts to any other account,” he said. The suspect admitted that he was part of the Dh4 billion scam and another Dh6 million scam.

Lt Col Al Hajeri said Dubai Police had taken the necessary measures to obtain sufficient information from the rest of the gang members who operate outside the country in African countries through Interpol. Brigadier Khalil Ebrahim Al Mansouri, director of CID, said the police team worked on arresting the gang quickly.

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Ambedkar Institute of Telecom Training India (BRBRAITT) Hacked By Hitcher

Ambedkar Institute of Telecom Training India  (BRBRAITT)Hacked By Hitcher

He was noiseless since his last massive attack against Israel, with the banner of #OpIsrael for Muslim Liberation Army. He was mum but not passive, and it shows when well known Pakistani hacker going by the name of "Hitcher" come back again. The name of Hitcher is common to us for defacing high profile websites, his last few high profile hack was HP Training Center, Bank of Punjab, Kingfisher Airlines, Central Statistical Agency of Ethiopia & 100+ Chinese Govt Websites, again ensue the same path. This time the target was the official website of Bharat Ratna Bhim Rao Ambedkar Institute of Telecom Training India (BRBRAITT) also known as India Premier National Level Telecommunication Training Center. As per sources the hacker managed to breach the server security and get administrative access into the BBBRAITT system. He not only hacked and defaced the index page, but also stolen sensitive data like employ details, course curriculum,  student details, several ongoing project information, and few more confidential tidings. Immediately after the hack, webmaster of BBBRAITT noticed the issue and patched those security holes and back doors from which the hacker get in. Also he restored the site to its normal format. But still the deface mirror can be found on an archiving site called Th3Mirror.com, though the reason of this hack is still a mystery. 

Brief About BRBRAITT:- 

BRBRAITT is one of the premier institutes of BSNL India, imparting training in various fields like latest technologies in field of telecommunications, computer networking, accounting, management, providing competency and skills to meet the ever changing needs of esteemed customers. 

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3 Russian Cyber Criminal Who Was The Master Mind of Banking Trojan 'Gozi' Charged in New York

3 Russian Cyber Criminal Who Was The Master Mind of Banking Trojan 'Gozi' Charged in New York 

Yet again another serious issue of cyber crime get resolved when the FBI tracked and figured out the master mind of infamous 'Gozi banking Trojan' which effected more than millions of system world wide, including a handful at NASA, leading to tens of millions of dollars in lost banking funds and damages to computer systems and networks. Three alleged international cyber criminals from Russia, responsible for creating and distributing 'Gozi' that infected over one million computers and caused tens of millions of dollars in losses charged in Manhattan Federal Court. Mihai Ionut Paunescu aged 28, a Romanian, Deniss Calovskis, 27, a Latvian, and Nikita Vladimirovich Kuzmin, 25, of the Russian Federation, are charged with computer intrusion, conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud and access device fraud. Federal authorities said the three were arrested last week; Kuzmin is being held in New York, while Paunescu is in custody in Romania and Calovskis in Latvia. 

According to the press release of FBI -Deniss Calovskis, a/k/a “Miami,” a Latvian national who allegedly wrote some of the computer code that made the Gozi virus so effective, was arrested in Latvia in November 2012. Mihai Ionut Paunescu, a/k/a “Virus,” a Romanian national who allegedly ran a “bulletproof hosting” service that enabled cyber criminals to distribute the Gozi virus, the Zeus trojan, and other notorious malware and to conduct other sophisticated cyber crimes, was arrested in Romania in December 2012. 

The cases are being handled by the Complex Frauds Unit of the United States Attorney’s Office. Assistant United States Attorneys Sarah Lai, Nicole Friedlander, and Thomas G.A. Brown, along with Trial Attorney Carol Sipperly of the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section of the Department of Justice on the Paunescu case, are in charge of the prosecution. The charges contained in the Indictments are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

Defendant	Age and Residence	Charges	Maximum Penalty
Nikita Kuzmin	25; Moscow, Russia	Conspiracy to commit bank fraud; bank fraud; conspiracy to commit access device fraud; access device fraud; conspiracy to commit computer intrusion; computer intrusion	95 years in prison
Deniss Calovskis	27; Riga, Latvia	Conspiracy to commit bank fraud; conspiracy to commit access device fraud; conspiracy to commit computer intrusion; conspiracy to commit wire fraud; conspiracy to commit aggravated identity theft	67 years in prison
Mihai Ionut Paunescu	28; Bucharest, Romania	Conspiracy to commit computer intrusion; conspiracy to commit bank fraud; conspiracy to commit wire fraud	60 years in prison

Brief About Gozi:-
The Gozi virus is malicious computer code, or “malware,” that steals personal bank account information, including usernames and passwords, from the users of affected computers. It was named by private sector information security experts in the U.S. who, in 2007, discovered that previously unrecognized malware was stealing personal bank account information from computers across Europe on a vast scale, while remaining virtually undetectable in the computers it infected. To date, the Gozi virus has infected over one million victim computers worldwide, among them at least 40,000 computers in the U.S., including computers belonging to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), as well as computers in Germany, Great Britain, Poland, France, Finland, Italy, Turkey, and elsewhere, and it has caused tens of millions of dollars in losses to the individuals, businesses, and government entities whose computers were infected.

The Gozi virus was distributed to victims’ computers in several different ways. In one method, the virus was disguised as an apparently benign .pdf document which, when opened, secretly installed the Gozi virus on the victim’s computer. Once installed, the Gozi virus—which was intentionally designed to be undetectable by anti-virus software—collected data from the infected computer in order to capture personal bank account information including usernames and passwords. That data was then transmitted to various computer servers controlled by the cyber criminals who used the Gozi virus. These cyber criminals then used the personal bank account information to transfer funds out of the victims’ bank accounts and ultimately into their own personal possession.

For Detailed Information Click Here

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Citi Bank & Bank of America Faced Sent Offline After Massive DDoS Attack (Operation Ababil)

Citi Bank & Bank of America Faced Sent Offline After Massive DDoS Attack (Operation Ababil)

Late in last year we have reported that major banking and finical sector of America faced massive cyber attack. The attack came just after 'anti Islamic' video was posted online. During the time of attack the hacker group named 'Izz ad-Din al Qassam Cyber Fighters' said "these series of attacks will continue until the Erasing of that nasty movie from the Internet". But now its seems that, the earlier deceleration of the hacker collective group was fake, as they again engaged denial of service attack against large banking sector, where Citi Bank and Bank of America fallen victim. Several website of those above banks were reported offline for a certain period of time. "Just moments ago Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Cyber Fighters attacked CitiBank and made all the parts out of reach. This was the 2nd attack this day. Banks could not stop al-Qassam Cyber fighters this week" - said the hacker group in their blog. In thier blog Hilf-ol-Fozoul reports that on Thursday several domains of Citi Bank such as citicards.com, citibank.com and citi.com were inaccessible during the pick hours. "In the 3rd week from Operation Ababil, Bank of America faced technical difficulties due to heavy traffic made by al - Qassam Cyber Fighters and users can no more reach the site." said the hackers. 

The Citi Bank’s representatives acknowledged the cyber attack while saying “Currently we are aware & are working on technical issues with Citi websites. We will let you know when service is fully restored. We apologize for the inconvenience. Please call the number on the back of your card if you need immediate assistance,” on Twitter. But the representatives of Bank of America have not issued any statements on the matter.

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Two Nigerians Arrested For Hacking into Mail Servers of Ghana Armed Force & Stealing $13,978

Two Nigerians Arrested For Hacking into Mail Servers of Ghana Armed Force & Stealing $13,978

Two middle aged Nigerians have been arrested for hacking into mail server of Ghana Armed Force (GAF). The suspects, Peter Okechukwu, 32, and Emmanuel Ifedi, 31, were arrested by officials of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service at a branch of the United Bank of Africa (UBA). In a report Ghana Business News said-  these two cyber criminal get busted in Accra  while attempting to divert $13,978 belonging to, Ghanaian peacekeepers after they had succeeded in hacking into the e-mails of GAF. According to the Director-General of the CID, Commissioner of Police Mr Prosper Agblor, in November this year the two suspects managed to enter the e-mails of Continental African Trading Limited (CATAL) and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) GHANBATT 76 and intercepted all electronic communications between the two parties. CATAL, an international organisation, had been supplying home appliances' to Ghanaian peacekeeping troops on various missions at different locations in the world. 

Recently, CATAL was contacted, as usual, by the GAF to supply home appliances to UNIFIL GHANBATT 76 peacekeeping troops in Lebanon. Mr Agblor said there was correspondence concerning the supply of the items between CATAL and the military through the Internet. Along the line, he said, the e-mails between the GAF and CATAL were hacked into by the two Nigerians, who intercepted all mails from both ends and replied them as if the replies were coming from the rightful receivers of the e-mails. 

He said the two suspects, using the identity of CATAL, sent an e-mail to the GAF instructing it to pay $13,978 into a UBA account number 01011651102235 as part payment for the supply of the goods. Upon receipt of the information, the GAF transferred $13,978 into the account as instructed by the two suspects.

Mr Agblor said CATAL realized that the GAF had suddenly stopped communicating with the company on matters relating to the transfer of the money and so it followed up with a phone call and detected that the GAF had paid $13,978 into an account number supplied by CATAL. 

He said it was at that stage that the two organisations realised that someone had hacked into their e-mails and quickly reported the issue to the Documentation and Visa Fraud Unit of the CID. Mr Agblor said the Business Development Manager of CATAL reported the case to the police and checks at the bank revealed that the money had not yet been cashed by the suspects. The police quickly mounted surveillance at the bank, awaiting the arrival of the suspects to cash the money. 

According to the CID boss, on November 11, 2012, Okechukwu, who happened to be the owner of the said account, was arrested when he turned up at the bank to cash the amount. Upon interrogation, the police said, Okechukwu admitted to the offence but mentioned Ifedi as the master brain behind the whole deal and led the police to Ifedi's house at Ashaley Botwe, an Accra suburb. Mr Agblor said investigations were still ongoing, after which the two would be put before court.

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UK Announces Plans for ‘Cyber Reserve’ Online Crime Defence Force

UK Govt. Announces Plans for ‘Cyber Reserve’ Online Crime Defense Force

Earlier this week, the UK government announced that it was planning on setting up a ‘cyber reserve’ force aimed at dealing with security threats brought about by online crime. The proposed force will be run by the country’s ministry of defense and is going to allow the armed forces to draw on the nation’s computer-related talents in order to ward off online attacks and stem the tides of cyber crime. Minister for the Cabinet Office Francis Maude claims that ‘critical’ work is required in order to combat online lawbreaking. He says that nine tenths of large British corporations and three quarters of small British businesses have reported experiencing a cyber breach within the last year, meaning that this force has now become a necessity.

Cyber Crime in the UK

Research conducted by a team of academics recruited by the UK Ministry of Defense earlier this year concluded that the country spends a billion US dollars per year on protecting against and cleaning up after instances of cyber crime. This includes the cost of measures taken to safeguard bank account security and reduce computer-related fraud, the money forked out by businesses purchasing anti-virus software and the cost of removing viruses from computers. In addition to criminals, terrorists and rogue states have also targeted computers in the UK, meaning that it is not difficult to see why the country would consider setting up such a force.

More Students Trained in Tackling Cyber Crime Needed

Maude has promised to make the UK one of the safest places in the world to conduct online business. He added that further details of the ‘cyber reserve’ plans would be revealed in 2013 and said that British government agencies and departments are working with professional bodies in order to ensure that the consideration of internet security becomes an integral component of corporate governance and the risk management process. He stated that UK officials want more students in the country trained in the skills required for tackling cyber crime and pointed out that the nation’s ministry of defense is examining new methods for attracting talented cyber security specialists, as they are required for critical areas of work.

Cyber-Spying by Hostile Nations

The UK Ministry of Defence’s announcement came in the wake of revelations that hostile foreign states had carried out ‘mapping’ of the systems that control the country’s power and water supplies. Officials refused to name the nations that were believed to have carried out this mapping but there have been reports in the United States that China and Russia have conducted similar reconnaissance exercises there, which suggests that they could be the countries that are responsible for this cyber-spying activity. With this in mind, it is little wonder the UK is stepping up its security, as it wishes to safeguard vital information.

Cyber Confidence Tracker

Francis Maude stated that the increasing number of threats posed to the UK’s online security is partly down to the growth of the internet economy. He said that the country’s government cannot take sole responsibility for fighting cyber crime and emphasized the fact that individuals and businesses would also have to play their part. Next spring the UK will be taking steps to improve online security for consumers and small businesses. The nation plans on launching a ‘cyber confidence tracker’, which will keep tabs on online behaviors and perceptions about internet security in an effort to ensure that the advise that they are delivering to the public about this subject is being conveyed in the best possible way.

Implications

It appears that the UK is now taking the threat of cyber attack extremely seriously, which it is wise to do considering the increasing trend of nations targeting the infrastructures of those that they are hostile towards via the internet. This is a sign that the web is becoming the new battleground in the international struggle for power. The full extent of the country’s plans for its ‘cyber reserve’ are not yet known. It is also questionable whether it will be used solely for defense purposes. Espionage is no longer dominated by spies being physically placed in another country. It is now evidently moving online, meaning that countries are being forced to adapt and develop cyber spies of their own.

Special article by 

Evelyn Anderson of International Business and Journalism

Guest Editor VOGH

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Google Pakistan Hacked & Defaced By Turkish Hacker

Google Pakistan Along With Microsoft  HP, HSBC, Apple, PayPal, Blogspot Hacked & Defaced By Turkish Hacker

Today was most probably the worst day in the history of Pakistan cyber space. Ten big domains of Pakistan has been stroked very badly. Many of you are guessing that it was Indian hackers who cost this damage. But in reality the attack was not generated from India, Bangladesh or such any other native countries,  but it was a Turkish hacker who have reportedly taken down the home and search page of Google Pakistan while leaving an image of two penguins walking across a bridge for million of users. I think now you got that, yes it was Google Pakistan which has been hacked and defaced by a Turkey hacker code named "KriptekS". In the deface page the hacker left several messages in Turkish language, the translation of the text, written on the website, is: "eboz. My homies in a friend always there for me. Have not shot by me with every breath." Also the hacker left a message saying "Pakistan Downed" which is indicating that the home page of Google Pakistan is indeed take down. According to deface mirror on Zone-H, the attack took place around 02:17 in the afternoon, but still, when I am writing this article, the home page of Google Pakistan is still offline. 

May be you are thinking that the story is over, but no; as I told earlier it was the worst day for Pakistani cyber fence, trust me indeed it was. As along with Google, KriptekS, the Turkish hacker also targeted Pakistani domain of Blogger, HSBC, Coca-Cola, Fanta, Paypal, Microsoft, HP & Apple. Also it has been reported that Pakistani domain of Sony, Yahoo & Windows has also been allegedly hacked. And all those hacked domains are still offline. 

List of Hacked Sites:-

http://www.google.com.pk
http://www.google.pk
http://www.hp.com.pk
http://www.apple.pk
http://www.hsbc.pk
http://www.blogspot.pk
http://www.coca-cola.pk
http://www.fanta.pk
http://www.paypal.pk
http://www.microsoft.pk
www.visa.com.pk
www.ebay.pk
www.msn.org.pk
www.sony.pk
www.windows.com.pk
www.yahoo.pk


Deface Mirrors:-

http://zone-h.com/mirror/id/18639529
http://zone-h.com/mirror/id/18639530
http://zone-h.com/mirror/id/18639528
http://zone-h.com/mirror/id/18639527
http://zone-h.com/mirror/id/18638930
http://zone-h.com/mirror/id/18638890
http://zone-h.com/mirror/id/18638879
http://zone-h.com/mirror/id/18638866
http://zone-h.com/mirror/id/18638824
http://zone-h.com/mirror/id/18638825
http://zone-h.com/mirror/id/18638826
http://zone-h.com/mirror/id/18638827
http://zone-h.com/mirror/id/18638828
http://zone-h.com/mirror/id/18638820
http://zone-h.com/mirror/id/18638822
http://zone-h.com/mirror/id/18638823


While talking about this dangerous cyber attack, we would like to remind you that few days ago couple of Pakistani hackers defaced several big Israeli domains including MSN, Bing, Live, Skype, Microsoft Store, BBC, CNN, Coca-Colla, XBOX, Windows, Intel, Philips, Israeli Parliament, Citi Bank and so on. Whether it is not clear that this attack on Pakistan has nay relation with that attack on Israel. But what we can say is that "KriptekS" exactly followed the same path, which Pak hackers shown the world few days ago. 

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Israeli Domain of MSN, Bing, Skype, Microsoft Store, BBC, CNN & Many More High Profile Israeli Sites Hacked

Israeli Domain of MSN, Bing, Skype, Microsoft Store, BBC, CNN & Many More High Profile Israeli Sites Hacked

More hackers taking part in the Israeli rampage dubbed Operation Israel. As soon as the story of bombing and air strike in Gaza get spotted on the social networks, we have seen immediate protest coming from almost every part of the world. In case of digital bombing, then it was first Anonymous who called Operation Israel, then hackers from different part of the world joined and contributed in this combined protest. So far we have seen along with Anon, Pakistani hacker Hitcher from Muslim Liberation Army, Indian hacker Godzilla, & Kosovo Hackers Security have played vital role in this rampage. But now the scenario is going from bad to worse for Israeli cyber space, as a group of Pakistani hackers hit a large number of high profile Israeli domain. Those big giants who have fallen victim in this round of cyber attack from Pakistan are MSN, Bing, Live, Skype, Microsoft Store, BBC, CNN, Coca-Colla, XBOX, Windows, Intel, Philips, Israeli Parliament, Citi Bank and few more. According to sources more than 44 million hacking attempts have been made on Israeli government web sites since Wednesday. Attempts on defense related sites have been the highest, while 10 million attempts have been made on the site of Israel's president, 7 million on the Foreign Ministry and 3 million on the site of the prime minister.

Complete List:-

pm.parliament.co.il

www.skype.co.il 

www.cnn.co.il 

intelcore.co.il 

www.msn.org.il 

passport.org.il 

www.microsoftstore.co.il 

intelatom.co.il 

www.opel.co.il 

philips.co.il 

bing.co.il 

bbc.org.il 

pantene.co.il 

paypass.co.il 

amazonunbox.co.il 

windowslive.co.il 

windows.co.il 

www.nbcuni.co.il 

citibank.co.il 

blog.fanta.co.il 

blog.sprite.co.il 

sprite.org.il 

xbox360.co.il 

www.xboxfusion.co.il 

cocacola.co.il 

coke.co.il 

www.xboxignite.co.il 

www.intelappup.co.il 

www.intel.co.il 

live.co.il 

solarwinds.co.il 

live.org.il 

www.msn.co.il 

Both the screen shot of the deface page and Zone-H mirror is saying that four hackers from Pakistan named 1337, H4x0rL1f3, ZombiE_KsA & Invectus were behind this massive cyber attack. Though a post on popular hackers forum named Sec4ever we came to know that ZombiE_KsA denied his relation with this hack. As usual self claimed famous security news blog, The Hacker News, tried to do a publicity stunt, while morphing the original news. Chasing fake publicity and money, the ready made source of news, also known as The Hacker News forgot the importance of  the situation in Gaza.

According to the view of VOGH, it hardly matters who take part in this hack, but what matters is that, a few human stand for humanity & humanity is beyond any religion, any cast and any color. So far the world have seen an instance of cruelty and inhumane of Israeli army, where the people of Gaza have been tortured brutally. The peace loving people across the world have already stood against this relentless practice. And when Anonymous called Operation Israel, that protest became a digital bombing. We the entire VOGH team salute those people across the globe, who have actively taken part in this protest. Its our world, its our home, and all the people in it are our family, so its our foremost responsibility to take care those members and stand with them. 

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