Showing posts sorted by date for query cyberspace. Sort by relevance Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by date for query cyberspace. Sort by relevance Show all posts

Anonymous & RedHack Breached Israeli Intelligence Agency 'Mossad' Leaked Personal Data of 35K Officials

AnonymousRedHack Breached Israeli Intelligence Agency 'Mossad' Claimed to Have Personal Data of 35K Officials (#OpIsrael)

A week ago infamous hacker collective group Anonymous called for Operation Israel (#OpIsrael) second phase, where they vows to engage massive cyber attack against Israeli cyberspace in order to interrupt all the necessary service, which the hacker called a complete outage. The main phase of attack was planned at 7th April, but now it looks that those hacker collectives changed their strategy, or may be they can't wait till April, and as result anti-Israel hacking collective affiliated with Anonymous managed to breach several Israeli government servers, causing a big data leak of more than 35,000 Israeli government officials, including politicians, military leaders, and police officers. The hack was done under the banner of #OpIsrael, and from the twitter feed of Anonymous, the hacker group took responsibility of the cyber attack. A comprehensive spreadsheet purporting to include the information of all 35,000 Israeli officials was published by the website Cryptome, though it did not independently verify the information. The coalition of hackers appears to have ties to the Iranian government, Pakistan, Syria, Egypt, and the terror group Hezbollah, according to a report published by Cryptome. 
In our last report on this story we covered that, the attack will be organized as Anon ask other hackers and other underground communities to join the campaign. As expected, it happens; RedHack, a Turkey-based Marxist hacker group responded to Anonymous and they claimed to breach Israeli intelligence agency known as 'Mossad.' RedHack claimed to gain access inside Mossad's server; which lead them release personal information including phone numbers, emails and addresses of Mossad officials"Yes, we realize we are sailing in dangerous water but we like swimming,” said hackers of RedHack. From a report of RT we came to know that not only data breach but also hackers performed massive denial of service attack against Mossad. In spite of RedHack’s claims, some argue that the names and information do not belong to Mossad officers or informants. 
“Whatever they stole, it probably wasn’t secure details of top Israeli brass, either from the army or the Mossad,” internet researcher Dr. Tal Pavel told the media. “There is no doubt that they got some identification information about Israelis, but the claims that they hacked the Mossad site and got a list of Mossad agents is most likely psychological warfare, and not a hack into an important database,” Pavel added. 
Whether those leaks are not that classified, whether those data does not belongs to Mossad, but one thing is clear and that is in-spite of having precaution, Israel government yet again failed to protect themselves from massive attack which caused a massacre. And from this story it is also predictable that hackers around the globe came under one shade or one unity, in order to target Israel over Gaza issue. As 7th April is still a week away from today so lets wait for the time, and stay tuned with VOGH to get all the latest update on this story and also other cyber issues.







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President of Philippines Official Website Hacked By Anonymous

President of Philippines Official Website Hacked By Anonymous in Protest of "Sabah Issue"

After remaining silent for a certain period, the infamous hacker collective group Anonymous strikes again. As you all might know that normally this group targets high profile websites like government organization, federal authorities, defense, ministry and other giant organization. This time also the same strategy get repeated, as the hacker group targeted the official website of the President of Philippines. During this cyber attack the hacker group has breached the security system and managed to get access in side the website, and as expected they defaced the index page. In the news section of the website the hacker group calling them selves "Anonymous Philippines"; affiliated to one of the worlds most dangerous and largest hackers community going by the name "Anonymous";  left message for the President Benigno Aquino III. From the message left by the hacker, we came to know that the hacking was a part of protest against the Aquino administration’s mishandling of  the crisis in "Sabah issue" 

Message of Anonymous Philippines:- 
“Greetings, President Aquino! We have watched how you signed into law a bill that endangers and tramples upon the netizens’ freedom of speech and expression. Now, we are silent witnesses as to how you are mishandling the Sabah issue. We did not engage the Malaysian hackers who invaded our cyberspace since we expected you to appropriately and judiciously act on the same, but you failed us.
“You did nothing while our fellow brothers are being butchered by the Malaysian forces, and while our women and children become subject of human rights abuses. If you can’t act on the issue as the Philippine President, at least do something as a fellow Filipino. We are watching.” 

As soon as this hack get spotted, the Philippine government took immediate step while closing the backdoor and removing the deface page. After an hour of maintenance the website get restored and came back in proper manner. Later in-front of press the Philippine government acknowledged the issue. In the official statement the Communications Secretary of Philippine Sonny Coloma said -“At around 1:30 a.m. today, we detected a breach when an errant sentence critical of the government on the Sabah issue was found to have been inserted in one of the news items within the website.” Coloma did assure the public that the site will be up and running “in a few hours.” 
“We expect to resume public display of the President's website in a few hours after needed protection measures have been put in place,” Coloma said, adding that the site was not compromised in any other way. “No further intrusions were made as the internal security protocols were activated,” he said. 
While covering the hack of President site, we must give you reminder that, this hack is not the first one, earlier half dozen of major government website of Philippine was targeted by the same hacker group, even in this year the official website of Senator Vicente C. Sotto III get hacked and defaced by Anonymous Philippines for the protest of "Cybercrime Prevention Act" 




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Official Website of Senator Vicente C. Sotto III Hacked By Anonymous Philippines

Official Website of Senator Vicente C. Sotto III Hacked By Anonymous Philippines

Philippines rampage of hacktivist Anonymous continues, as this hacker collective group strikes again and blown the official website of Senator Vicente C. Sotto III. This attack carried under the banner of 'OccupyPhilippines' where the hacker group hacked into server of Senator Tito Sotto and defaced the index page. According to the hacker, the cyber attack was to stand against the controversial "Cybercrime Prevention Act of Philippines" widely known as Republic Act No. 10175. The hacker group believed that, if this bill did not get revised, then the freedom of speech in cyber space will be restricted. During this attack the hacker tried to send his message to the Senator, and that is - 

"It's been a long time, Tito Sen! Deny us our freedom of speech and of expression through R.A. 10175 
and we will deny you your cyberspace. You cannot shut us up, you cannot shut us down. 
And you shall not see us rest until R.A. 10175 is revised.
We are all waiting, we are all ready.
We are Anonymous, we are legion.
We do not forgive and we do not forget.
Expect Us
Protect our Right to Freedom of Expression!..."

The attack took place in yesterday evening, as soon as the intrusion was spotted the site was sent offline for a certain period. And today morning, the whole thing get restored and it came back to its normal format. 




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India & Britain Enhancing Cooperation in Cyber Security to Reduce Cybercrime

IndiaBritain Enhancing Cooperation in Cyber Security to Reduce Cybercrime

Just a week ago on the sidelines of 3rd Worldwide Cybersecurity Summit, Telecom and IT Minister of India, Kapil Sibal said the Indian Government will invest $200 million in coming 4 years, in order to strengthen their cyber security infrastructure. Now another move has been taken by Indian Govt where India and the United Kingdom have decided to enhance cooperation for reduction of the risk of threats from cyberspace to international security and strengthen bilateral cooperation to tackle cyber crime. At a joint press conference with External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid, British Foreign Secretary William Hague supported India’s bid for membership in four export control regimes. Britain, Mr. Hague said, also looked “forward to the time when India will have a permanent seat in the UN Security Council.” The two nations also finalized strategies on collaborating on building skills and capacities to tackle threats from cyberspace and to use ICT (information and communication technologies) for the objective of economic and social development. They also held discussions on using existing cooperation between universities and business communities to develop synergy in research and development on cyber issues.
Besides the cyber issues, both sides discussed bilateral, regional and international issues of mutual interest.
Henceforth, India and the UK would conduct their Cyber Dialogue on a bi-annual basis to achieve these objectives, said an official release issued by Indian External Affairs Ministry. 
While talking about India-Bratain cooperation in Cyber Security, we would also like to remind you that in 2011, a Cyber Shield deal Between India & US was made. Also in this year India and Israel have agreed to launch a long-term joint program worth USD 10 million annually to facilitate research on Cyber-Security.


-Source (The Hindu)





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Indian Govt Investing $200 Million in Next 4 Years to Strengthen Cyber Security Infrastructure

Indian Govt Investing $200 Million in Next 4 Years to Strengthen Cyber Security Infrastructure

More cyber awareness and more emphasis on cyber security, now a days this line has almost became an agenda for Indian government. Few months ago the Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh himself confirmed that from now on wards India will pay as much attention as possible to make the cyber fence digitally safe and secured. So the govt is working on a robust cyber security structure. That cyber awareness program followed by another deceleration came from Indian ministry. Where the government said that they will invest around USD 200 million in next four years to strengthen their cyber security infrastructure. On sidelines of 3rd Worldwide Cybersecurity Summit, Telecom and IT Minister of India Kapil Sibal said “We have 1.2 billion people and will be largest in terms of population country in the world in years to come. This (cyber crime) affect us perhaps much more than any other country in the world,” 
The Minister added that priority for India at present is to protect its infrastructure like nuclear, aviation, banking infrastructure, among others. “I presume multi-dimensional and multi-sectoral infrastructure will be established in different area. In the Department of Electronics and IT (DEITy) itself we must have investment of USD 200 million in next four years to create necessary infrastructure. We are working on that,” DEITy Secretary J Satyanarayana said.
Sibal said global community must come together to resolve cyber security issues. Citing reports, the Minister said that threats to Cyberspace have increased dramatically in the past years affecting 431 million adult globally or 14 adults victims every second or one million cybercrime victims every day. The Minister said no nation can fight cybercrime or secure its cyberspace in isolation and called for urgent need to work on agreements on international standards. The Minister said that there is need to jointly work on devising standardised and coordinated response strategies along with comprehensive cyber security strategy. “Among this, it very important to build awareness among users for responsive use of cyber space,” he said. The Minister extended India’s support to global community in addressing cyber security challenge.



-Source (eGov)




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McAfee Reveals Emma Watson as 2012’s Most Dangerous Cyber Celebrity & For India its Sunny Leone

McAfee Reveals Emma Watson as 2012’s Most Dangerous Cyber Celebrity & For India its Sunny Leone

In a research security software company McAfee figure out Sunny Leone as the most dangerous celebrity in the Indian cyber space for this year, followed by Katrina Kaif and Kareena Kapoor. For the sixth year in a row, McAfee researched popular culture’s most famous people to reveal riskiest celebrity sportsmen, actors and politicians across the Web to reveal the 2012 rendition of ‘Most Dangerous Celebrity’ research. In the India ranking this year, Sunny Leone displaced Katrina Kaif, who owned this title in the 2011 edition of this annual research. Lubna Markar, Sr. Marketing Manager India and South Asia, McAfee, said, “Cyber criminals continue to leverage top celebrities to lure people to websites with malicious software. This year too, we saw cyber crooks leveraging Bollywood stars whereby the maximum number of malicious software laden sites pertained to Sunny Leone. This testifies her top position as the most dangerous celebrity in Indian cyberspace in 2012.” 
The study for ‘Most Dangerous Celebrity’ used the McAfee SiteAdvisor site rating which indicates the sites that are risky to search for celebrity names on the Web and calculate an overall risk percentage. The top 10 celebrities in India from this year’s study with the highest risk percentages are: 

  1. Sunny Leone: This sexy Canadian model/actress who made headlines with her presence in the celebrity reality show BigBoss, ranks first with 9.95% chances of luring people into clicking on malicious links.
  2. Katrina Kaif: India’s ‘chikni chameli’ was the most dangerous Indian celebrity of 2011, but has slipped down to the 2nd position this year with a risk percentile of 8.25%.
  3. Kareena Kapoor: The 3rd Most Dangerous Celebrity and winner of six film fare awards has a 6.67% possibility of making users fall into a trap of malware laden Web sites.
  4. Priyanka Chopra: This former Miss World who has been the reigning queen of Bollywood occupies the 4th position on the Most Dangerous Celebrities list with a risk percentile of 6.5%.
  5. Bipasha Basu: With Raaz 3, this Bengali bombshell has moved up the ranking from 8th in 2011 to the 5th position in 2012. She has a 5.58% percentile of leading users to a malicious site.
  6. Vidya Balan: After her ‘Dirty Picture’, Vidya Balan has a 5.33 % chance of leading users to malicious sites. The versatile Indian actress has marked her presence even in the cyber space.
  7. Deepika Padukone: This sultry actress of ‘Cocktail’ fame, was the 2nd most dangerous celebrity in the year 2011, but has plummeted to 7th position this year, with a 4.92% chance of being led to a malicious Web site.
  8. Salman Khan: One of the most sought after stars in Bollywood, Salman Khan has redefined the trends of the Hindi film industry with his roles in movies such as Dabangg and Ek Tha Tiger. With a risk percentile of 4.83%, he is on the eighth position in our Most Dangerous Celebrities ranking.
  9. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan: Touted as ‘the most beautiful woman in the world’, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, is the ninth most dangerous celebrity in India with a risk percentile of 4.58%.
  10. Poonam Pandey: The Kingfisher calendar girl who was also amongst the top 8 contestants in ‘Gladrags 2010′, has a risk percentile of 4.25% and is the tenth most dangerous celebrity.


If you go thorugh the report of McAfee's 2012’s Most Dangerous Cyber Celebrity then you will come to know that Emma Watson has replaced Heidi Klum as McAfee's 2012 most dangerous celebrity to search for online. For the sixth times in a row, McAfee researched popular culture’s most famous people to reveal the riskiest Hollywood actors, athletes, musicians, politicians, designers, and comedians on the Web.  The McAfee Most Dangerous Celebrities™ study found that women are more dangerous than men with Jessica Biel taking the number two spot and Eva Mendes coming in third. Latina women have proven that they are on fire and make up five of the top ten spots. After Mendes, Selena Gomez, Shakira and Salma Hayek take the fourth, seventh and ninth spot and Sofia Vergara rounds out the top 10 list. Funnyman Jimmy Kimmel is the only male to make the top 20 list this year. 

The top 10 celebrities from this year’s study with the highest percentages of risk are:-

  1. Emma Watson – Best known for her role as Hermione Granger in the “Harry Potter” franchise, the British actress tops the list as the 2012 Most Dangerous Celebrity. Watson continues to star in feature films including “My Week with Marilyn” and “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” and is an ambassador for Lancôme.
  2. Jessica Biel – The 2009 Most Dangerous Celebrity rose two spots this year from coming in at number 4 in 2011. Biel continues to be in the spotlight with fiancée Justin Timberlake and her role in 2012’s “Total Recall.”
  3. Eva Mendes – A new addition to the list,Mendes has starred in films including “2 Fast 2 Furious” and “Hitch.” She is currently in the news for her fling with Ryan Gosling.
  4. Selena Gomez – The tween musician and actress is best known for her role as Alex Russo on Disney’s “Wizards of Waverly Place” and for dating teen heartthrob Justin Bieber. She has been cast in the upcoming film “Parental Guidance Suggested” and was recently named one of Forbes’ Top 10 Best Social Media Superstars.
  5. Halle Berry – The Academy Award winning actress is famous for her stand out roles in action and horror films including “Catwoman” and “Gothika”. Berry is in the spotlight for her custody battle with baby daddy Gabriel Aubry.
  6. Megan Fox – The sexy actress rose 9 spots compared to her number 15 spot last year. She is currently in the news for her pregnancy with husband Brian Austin Green and will be seen in the upcoming film “This is 40”.
  7. Shakira – The belly-dancing singer/songwriter best known for her songs “Hips Don’t Lie” and “Whenever, Wherever” comes in at number 7. She was recently named one of Forbes’ World’s Most Powerful Women and was ranked number 6 on Forbes’ Top 10 Best Social Media Superstars.
  8. Cameron Diaz – 2010’s Most Dangerous Celebrity fell to eighth place, with searches resulting in slightly fewer risky sites this year. She was most recently in the spotlight for allegedly dating Alex Rodriguez. She is rumored to star in “Expendables 3.”
  9. Salma Hayek – The actress, producer and director received an Academy Award for her role as Frida Kahlo in “Frida” and recently starred in “Savages.” She is currently in the news for her controversial remarks about her Mexican heritage in a Vogue interview. She is married to billionaire François-Henri Pinault.
  10. Sofia Vergara – The Columbian actress and model best known for her comedic role as Gloria Delgado-Pritchett on ABC’s Emmy Award winning “Modern Family” rounds out the top 10 list. She also starred in the “The Three Stooges” film this year and was recently named one of Forbes’ World’s Most Powerful Women and highest paid TV actress. She recently announced her engagement to businessman Nick Loeb.



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US National Archives Has Blocked Search Containing 'WikiLeaks'

US National Archives Has Blocked Search Containing 'WikiLeaks'

The movement of WikiLeaks faced another bar, as the searches for “WikiLeaks” in the public search engine for the US National Archives have been blocked. Any search containing the word “WikiLeaks (like “Congress” and “WikiLeaks”; "Obama" and "WikiLeaks") turns up an error message saying "The page you have requested has been blocked, because the URL is banned" as shown the picture below.

The whistle blowing website of WikiLeaks already lashed out at the move, saying the Archives has  literally turned into “Orwell’s Ministry of Truth.” In a tweet the official twitter account of WikiLeaks said “The US state is literally eating its own brain by censoring its own collective memories about WikiLeaks.” And, in another tweet WikiLeaks said, “The US National Archives censoring searches for its records containing the word ‘WikiLeaks’ is absolutely absurd.” 
The block is likely to be in line with the “Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act,” a form of internet censorship the US adopted back in 2010. It did not become law, but it prompted various US government agencies such as the White House Office of Management and Budget and the US Air Force to advise their employees not to read or access classified documents being made available by sites like WikiLeaks. The Library of Congress went further by blocking access to WikiLeaks content from its server in 2010. According to the official blog post of  Library of Congress “The Library decided to block Wikileaks because applicable law obligates federal agencies to protect classified information.  Unauthorized disclosures of classified documents do not alter the documents’ classified status or automatically result in declassification of the documents.” The White House’s Office of Management and Budget today provided the guidance that “federal agencies collectively, and each federal employee and contractor individually, are obligated to protect classified information pursuant to all applicable laws, as well as to protect the integrity of government information technology systems.” -said Matt Raymond in the blog post of LOC. 
Though it is unknown when the Archives began blocking searches, but according to diplomatic cables released over the past months the US Justice Department’s investigation targeting of both Assange and WikiLeaks is real. So may be this block has connection or may be a return from the U.S. Govt of the last release of WikiLeaks that is  'Detainee Policies'  in 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. At the moment WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London as the UK has forcefully asserted that it will deny him safe passage to Ecuador. Ecuador granted Assange political asylum in August over fears that if extradited to Sweden, Assange could be transferred to the US and once there, face execution.



-Source (RT)





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"Project Blackstar" Team Ghostshell Leaks 2.5 Million Records From Russian Govt & Individual

"Project Blackstar" Team Ghostshell Leaks 2.5 Million Records From Russian Govt & Individual 

A hacker group calling them selves "Team Ghostshell" who was recently behind the attack several top universities called an open operation declaring war on Russia's cyberspace. The operation is dubbed “Project Blackstar”. In the first phase of the operation  the hacking collective Team Ghostshell posted approximately 2.5 million accounts/records leaked, from governmental, educational, academical, political, law enforcement, telecom, research institutes, medical facilities, large corporations (both national and international branches) in such fields as energy, petroleum, banks, dealerships and many more. The hacker group also claimed to have access "to more russian files than the FSB and we are very much  eager to prove it." - said Ghostshell. The rest of the Pastebin post goes on to call out the Russian government and is littered with references to corruption, capitalism and social injustice. Judging by some of the records released, the Russian Police, along with Novatek, Russia's largest independent natural gas producer, the Alfa Group, an investment consortium and JINR, the country’s Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, all appear to have been implicated in the alleged leak. Some records appear to include individuals’ usernames and passwords while other documents almost read like resumes, complete with individuals’ names, IP addresses, education and job history.
Above I have discussed the last hack by Team Ghostshell where they had published 120,000 records from some of the world’s top universities. That leak, dubbed “Project WestWind,” sought to “raise awareness towards the changes made in today’s education,“ spilling student and faculty email addresses, passwords and IDs. Now this “Project Blackstar” with a leak of 2.5 million records from several Russian cyber space,  again arising a big doubt, that how much secure our cyber world is? 



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DHS & Public Safety Canada Started Joint Cybersecurity Action Plan

DHS Public Safety Canada Started Joint Cybersecurity Action Plan

A joint venture Cyber Security plan has been announced by US Department of Homeland Security and Canada. According to the official website of Public Safety Canada - PS Canada along with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) are pursuing a coordinated approach to enhance the resiliency of our cyber infrastructure. The Cybersecurity Action Plan (the Action Plan) between PS and DHS seeks to enhance the cybersecurity of our nations through increased integration of PS' and DHS' respective national cybersecurity activities and improved collaboration with the private sector. This Action Plan represents just one of many important efforts between Canada and the United States to deepen our already strong bilateral cybersecurity cooperation.
As the Internet knows no borders, all countries have a responsibility to prevent, respond to, and recover from cyber disruptions and to make cyberspace safer for all citizens across the globe. Due to a shared physical border, Canada and the United States have an additional mutual interest in partnering to protect our shared infrastructure. This Action Plan aims to articulate a shared approach to fulfill PS' and DHS' vision of working together to defend and protect our use of cyberspace and to strengthen the resiliency of our nations. These efforts, combined, advance the objectives articulated by President Obama and Prime Minister Harper in the February 2011 declaration, Beyond the Border: A Vision for Perimeter Security and Economic Competitiveness.
This Action Plan outlines three goals for improved engagement, collaboration, and information sharing at the operational and strategic levels, with the private sector, and in public awareness activities, for activities conducted by PS and DHS. The Action Plan establishes lines of communication and areas for collaborative work critical to enhancing the cybersecurity preparedness of both nations. The Action Plan's goals and objectives are to be conducted in accordance with the June 2012 Statement of Privacy Principles by the United States and Canada. This Action Plan is intended to remain a living document to be reviewed on a regular basis and updated as needed to support new requirements that align to the Plan's key goals and objectives. It intends to support and inform current and future efforts to advance the goals of Beyond the Border, which ultimately seeks to enhance broad bilateral cooperation on cybersecurity efforts across both governments.

Goals and Objectives:-

1. Enhanced Cyber Incident Management Collaboration between National Cybersecurity Operations Centers

PS' Canadian Cyber Incident Response Centre intends to work jointly with DHS' United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team and Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team towards the following objectives:
  • 1.1 Increase real-time collaboration between analysts by improving existing channels for remote communication and arranging in-person visits;
  • 1.2 Enhance information sharing at all classification levels and collaborate on training opportunities, while promoting inter-agency coordination, as appropriate, as well as the proper protections for information, as outlined in the Statement of Privacy Principles;
  • 1.3 Coordinate on cybersecurity incident response management, relating to defense, mitigation, and remediation activities and products, including with other public and private entities consistent with each country's laws and policies;
  • 1.4 Align and standardize cyber incident management processes and escalation procedures; and
  • 1.5 Enhance technical and operational information sharing in the area of industrial control systems security.

2. Joint Engagement and Information Sharing with the Private Sector on Cybersecurity

Due to the shared nature of critical infrastructure between Canada and the United States, PS and DHS intend to collaborate on cybersecurity-focused private-sector engagement for cybersecurity activities for which they are responsible through the following objectives:
  • 2.1 Share engagement approaches for private sector;
  • 2.2 Exchange and collaborate on the development of briefing materials for the private sector;
  • 2.3 Jointly conduct private sector briefings;
  • 2.4 Review approaches and align processes for private sector engagement through requests for technical assistance and non-disclosure agreements; and
  • 2.5 Standardize protocols for sharing information.

3. Continued Cooperation on Ongoing Cybersecurity Public Awareness Efforts

Cybersecurity is a shared responsibility and everyone, including our citizens, has a role to play. With increased media attention devoted to cybersecurity incidents and with the continuing growth of electronic commerce and social media, it is imperative that citizens receive clear and trustworthy information on how to manage cyber threats to themselves and their families. Ensuring that government's cybersecurity awareness messages are consistent across our border helps to deliver that information effectively and consistently. PS Communications, the DHS Office of Public Affairs, and the National Protection and Program Directorate's Office of Cybersecurity and Communications (CS&C) intend to continue to work together as they:
  • 3.1 Collaborate on public awareness campaigns (websites, social media activities, education material, etc.);
  • 3.2 Collaborate on Cybersecurity Awareness Month (October); and
  • 3.3 Share and coordinate messaging on issues of common interest.

Governance of the Joint Action Plan:-

Senior officials within PS and CS&C intend to review and provide additional guidance in order to update this Action Plan on a quarterly basis. This Action Plan is intended to be a part of broader inter-governmental coordination across government agencies in both the United States and Canada.


To Download The Full Cybersecurity Action Plan Between Public Safety Canada and the Department of Homeland Security Click Here



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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 companiesJust 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 SystemIranian 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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Indian Air Force (IAF) Issued Strict Rules & Discipline to Avoid Hacking

Indian Air Force (IAF) Issued Strict Rules & Discipline to Avoid Hacking

Last month in a report we said Indian Govt is working on a robust cyber security structure, and parallely now the Indian Govt is emphasizing its security structure to fight against cyber threats. As a result of this ongoing cyber awareness, a very strict order have been issued by Indian air force to tackle and avoid cyber attacks. From now and onward every officer of the Indian Air Force (IAF) will now have to sign a declaration that they will not save or view any official document on personal computers. Failure to adhere to this directive will lead to a court marshal and prosecution. In a recent case, operational documents were found on the personal computer of a young pilot posted at an airbase in Tamil Nadu. A court of inquiry has been initiated. Over the years, cyberspace has emerged as a critical frontier for espionage as the use of computers and dependence on the internet has grown. Thus, document security has emerged as one of critical areas of concern for the government. It is perhaps alluding to these increasing instances of the cyberspace being used by foreign agencies to collect critical information. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, while addressing top cops of the country at the annual security conference hosted by the Intelligence Bureau earlier this month, said, "Our country's vulnerability to cybercrime is escalating... Large-scale computer attacks on our critical infrastructure and economy can have potentially devastating results. The government is working on a robust cyber security structure."
As a general rule, computers in which sensitive information are stored or prepared are never connected to the internet. "The IAF internal communication network, for instance, is not only a stand-alone network with no connection to the net, but also has the system configured in such a way that it doesn't allow external storage devices like pen drives or CDs," a senior MoD official told the press. Nonetheless, some officers have been found "keeping copies or preparing documents using critical information in their personal computers, which have subsequently passed out by malwares in the system or hacked," the officer added.

Beside of developing a robust cyber security structure, there is another reason behind this decision, and that is Couple of months ago we have seen that Chinese hackers have broken into Indian Navy's Computer System & stolen sensitive data. Later, inquiries revealed that a few naval officers had, against the rules, taken copies of the plans in pen drives from a naval computer, to study. The Chinese-made pen drives allegedly had malwares which transmitted the data back to IP addresses in China once they were used on computers connected to the internet. So the Indian Govt is now very strict about data privacy, so the implemented this new rule. Such bold decisions will surely make security tight and also reduce the probability of data theft & cyber espionage. 


-Source (NDTV)






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NSA Calls Defcon The "World's Best Cybersecurity Community" & Asks for Their Help

NSA Calls Defcon The "World's Best Cybersecurity Community" & Asks for Their Help

A week ago DEFCON confirmed the presence of National Security Agency Director General Keith B. Alexander at DEFCON 20 in Las Vegas.  “I’ve spent 20 years trying to get someone from the NSA” to speak at Defcon, said Defcon founder Jeff Moss, who serves on the U.S. Homeland Security Advisory Council and is chief security officer for ICANN. Moss added “On the NSA’s 60th anniversary and our 20th anniversary this has all come together.” Here comes a double boom, Mr. Alexander not only attended the world's largest annual party but also greets Defcon the "world's best cybersecurity community" and asks for their help to secure cyberspace. Hackers can and must be part, together with the government and the private industry, of a collaborative approach to secure cyberspace, he said. Hackers can help educate other people who don't understand cybersecurity as well as they do, the NSA chief said. "You know that we can protect networks and have civil liberties and privacy; and you can help us get there."
Gen. Alexander congratulated the organizers of Defcon Kids, an event dedicated to teaching kids how to be white-hat hackers, and described the initiative as superb. He called 11-year-old Defcon Kids co-founder CyFi to the stage and said that training young people like her in cybersecurity is what the U.S. needs.
He encouraged hackers to get involved in the process. "We can sit on the sidelines and let others who don't understand this space tell us what they're going to do, or we can help by educating and informing them" of the best ways to go forward. "That's the real reason why I came here. To solicit your support," he said. "You have the talent. You have the expertise." The hacker community has built many of the tools that are needed to protect cyberspace and should continue to build even better ones, he said during his keynote at Defcon. He gave the example of Metasploit and other penetration testing tools. 
VOGH Reaction:-
On behalf of VOGH team I personally thanks Mr. Keith B. Alexander for his presence at DEFCON. I do believe that such approach will encourage young hackers, and will surely give them extra enthusiasm, by which in coming future we will get a better and much secured cyber space. 


-Source (PCW)




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Apple Supplier Foxconn Hacked By SwaggSec

Apple Supplier Foxconn Hacked By SwaggSec

Apple's controversial Chinese electronics manufacturer Foxconn under cyber attack. A hacker group named Swagg Security claimed the responsibility of the attack on Foxconn. In a posting on Pastebin, the group took credit for penetrating the systems, noting that "Foxconn did have an appropriate firewall, but fortunately to our intent, we were able to bypass it almost flawlessly". The posting pointed to a 6.5 MB torrent on The Pirate Bay which contained what appears to be CSV file dumps of database tables and other text files. The files included lists of what look like customer names, accounts and plain text passwords though many of those passwords are "foxconn" or "foxconn2".

In Their Press Release Swagg Sec Said:-
"Users of Cyberspace,
So Foxconn thinks they got 'em some swagger because they work with the Big Boys from Intel, Microsoft, IBM, and Apple? Fool, You don't know what swagger is. They say you got your employees all worked up, committing suicide 'n stuff. They say you hire chinese workers 'cause you think the taiwanese are elite. We got somethin' served up good...real good. Your not gonna' know what hit you by the time you finish this release. Your company gonna' crumble, and you deserve it. 
Upon switching the radio from Nicki Minaj's self-enforcing, lack of content, stereotypical song, "Stupid Hoe"; We switched on BBC Radio, the leading source of unbiased material. A short segment on the manufacturer giant Foxconn, came up reporting on the inhuman conditions the workers experience. A few days later an almost viral rumor about an Iphone 5 with a 4-inch screen being manufactured, as claimed by an employee from the infamous Foxconn. Now as a first impression Swagg Security would rather not deceive the public of our intentions. Although we are considerably disappointed of the conditions of Foxconn, we are not hacking a corporation for such a reason and although we are slightly interested in the existence of an Iphone 5, we are not hacking for this reason. We hack for the cyberspace who share a few common viewpoints and philosophies. We enjoy exposing governments and corporations, but the more prominent reason, is the hilarity that ensues when compromising and destroying an infrastructure. How unethical right? Perhaps for the layman who has conformed to a society raised by the government that actively seeks to maintain power and quell threats to their ventures. But to us and many others, the destruction of an infrastructure, the act of destruction that does not affect an individual, brings a sense of newfound content, a unique feeling, along with a new chance to start your own venture.
This is Swagg Security, we aim to to reshape your perspectives, our perspectives, by the inducing of entertainment. A unique approach to spreading a unique philosophy which brings the sought after tranquility. In a way we are "hacktivist", but in our own views we are Greyhats. We believe there is no reality in hacktivism, even with good intentions. We know those who claim to be "hacktivists" that inside of you, a suppressed part of you, enjoys playing a part in the anarchist event of hacking of an infrastructure. One which at the same time presents a challenge, upon completing reveals an almost unknown feeling of a menacing satisfaction. We encourage not to continue quelling such a natural emotion but to embrace it. Only when embracing what society has taught you to hinder, is when you realize your own identity.
We encourage media, security experts, and other interested individuals to explore our leaks. Foxconn did have an appropriate firewall, but fortunately to our intent, we were able to bypass it almost flawlessly. Of course with funding ourselves we did have our limitations. But with several hacking techniques employed, and a couple of days in time, we were able to dump most of everything of significance. We now appropriately give consent to other individuals reading this release, to scavenge through the leaks acquiring usernames and passwords; while attempting to find if they use the passwords anywhere else. Remember damage is bliss. Without further undue, the leaks."




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Philippine Govt Sites Hacked By PrivateX (#OpSecure)


A hacker group named PrivateX launched massive cyber attack on the very 1st day of 2012 & temporarily shut down several Philippine government websites including the office of the vice-president. This group has also hacked into the Philippine Nuclear Research Institute website and redirect the users to Pastehtml.com and and called for intensified information security in the country.
Vice President Jejomar Binay said hackers calling themselves the PrivateX group brought down his official website for 15 hours Sunday and denied access to mostly migrant Filipinos checking on his office's activities.
Though PrivateX assured that "nothing was lost during the process of this defacement."



Message Of The Hacker On The Deface Page:-
"Greetings World, Happy New Year!
Months had passed when we first wired our sentiments and growing passion of concern to intensify the Information Security here in the Philippines. Occupants of the west are still on the move and in no such time, Manila, will be the center of unethical activities in Asia. For some reasons that is untold, they choose the Philippines to organize a legion
that will nullify the entire Philippine Cyberspace. This is what we are afraid of.
The medium of our emphasis in calling out the government's action toward cyber security, and our actions in which this defacement is performed. A change in our society pointing out the role to authorize each and every Filipino citizen through education that is recognizable by its function to contrive in the economy and innovating more concepts in Information Security.
We lay our hands on the fight against corruption and the call of the #InfoSec. In as much as we offer our wants to oversee every Filipino people have their knowledge to produce and live productively in which the people become other than themselves, and others may discover the Philippines that contain potentials other than it appears.
This is a Note of Understanding from the crew and its assurance that nothing was lost during the process of this defacement.


We are Anonymous, 
We are legion, We don't forgive, 
We don't forget, United as one, Divided by zero,
Expect us."







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"Operation Schmooze Hackers" DARPA, NSA, DoD Asking For Hackers Help


The Pentagon can't defend its own defense networks, what with them being "as porous as a colander," according to Richard Clarke. Clarke is the former White House counterterrorism chief who's turned into what Wired calls a cybersecurity Cassandra. Wired quoted Clarke as he addressed a packed ballroom at the first-ever DARPA Cyber Colloquium on Monday. At the conference, officials of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency pleaded with hackers to help them out and said that the agency plans to boost spending as it battles unnamed adversaries in cyberspace.
Regina Dugan, DARPA director, addressed an audience that comprised what the agency called "visionary hackers," academics and othersIn its unending effort to find more technologically innovative ways to accomplish things most of the government agencies that are its clients can't do at all, DARPA called a conference this week to ask for help security military and government networks against hackers. To solve a cyber-security problem the General Accountability Office reported had been so low on the Dept. of Defense's agenda during the past 21 years that the DoD had no coherent central policy, procedures or even identified leaders in the process of stopping the leak of information from its servers and those of its defense contractors. Did DARPA get the fresh ideas and offers of help it was hoping for when it put the colloquium together? Will the $208 million it is asking that Congress give it for cybersecurity research next year do any good?
Probably. You can't wave that much cheese around – while promising it will continue to grow – without getting a few rodents sniffing after it.



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London is Hosting Major International Cyber-Security Conference


London is hosting a major international conference on the threat from cybersecurity attacks. Representatives of 60 nations are gathering to discuss how to tackle the rising levels of cybercrime. Foreign Secretary William Hague convened the London Conference on Cyberspace, and urged a "global co-ordinated response" on policy.
However, Wikipedia founder, Jimmy Wales, warned that ill-advised interventions posed their own risks. The event comes a day after intelligence agency GCHQ warned that cyberattacks on the UK were at "disturbing" levels.
Experts attending the two-day conference include EU digital supremo Neelie Kroes, Cisco's vice-president Brad Boston and Joanna Shields, a senior executive at Facebook. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had been due to attend, but cancelled the trip on Monday night after her 92-year-old mother fell ill. Mr Hague led the opening session. "We want to widen the pool of nations and cyberusers that agree with us about the need for norms of behaviour, and who want to seek a future cyberspace based on opportunity, freedom, innovation, human rights and partnership, between government, civil society and the private sector," he said. However Mr Wales, who also took part in the first event, urged caution. "The biggest threat to the internet is not cybercriminals, but misguided or overreaching government policy," he said.
Prime Minister David Cameron appeared to agree that politicians should resist the temptation to be heavy-handed. "Governments must not use cyber security as an excuse for censorship," he said.

For details information Click Here


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DARPA Is Planning Future Cyber Security Strategies


The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Information Innovation Office (I2O) in Arlington, Va., is asking companies and colleges for ideas on technologies to safeguard U.s. Department of Defense (DOD) computer systems in the event of a cyber attack.
DARPA issued a request for information (DARPA-SN-11-55) this week entitled Future Directions in Cyber Security that poses three fundamental questions related to national information security:

1. At present, attackers in cyberspace seem to have the initiative and hence the advantage. What specific technologies should DARPA develop to address the imbalance?

2. Attacks on embedded computing systems have received much attention. What specific technologies should DARPA develop to secure embedded computing systems?

3. If DARPA could only invest in one cyber-security research area, what should that be and why?

 
DARPA is inviting the nation's cyber security experts to offer answers to these questions, and based on their answers, DARPA experts may invite them to a meeting on 7 Nov. 2011 called the DARPA Colloquium on Future Directions in Cyber Security, at which the DARPA director will give a keynote address, and leaders from government and industry, as well as DARPA program managers, will discuss current and future cyber research directions.

Attendance at the DARPA Colloquium is by invitation only and space is limited, officials say.

To respond to DARPA questions and become candidates for the DARPA Colloquium, e-mail answers as an attachment in a commonly used format to cybercolloquium@darpa.mil no later than Friday, 9 Sept. 2011. Representatives of DARPA and DARPA support contractors will review answers they receive.
 
For More information Click Here

-News Source (Military Aerospace)

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