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Chinese Hackers Eavesdropping European Diplomats Before G20 Summit

Researchers At FireEye Found -Chinese Hackers Snitching  Europeans Before G20 Summit 
Story of cyber espionage by Chinese hackers used to remain one of most highest pick of breakneck. Yet again another breathtaking issue of  eavesdropping by Chinese hackers get spot light, when  California-based renounced computer security firm FireEye Inc have figured out that a group of Chinese hackers eavesdropped on the computers of five European foreign ministries before last September's G20 Summit, which was dominated by the Syrian crisis. From the detailed analysis we came to know that the hackers have infiltrated the ministries' computer networks by sending emails to staff containing tainted files with titles such as "US_military_options_in_Syria," which sells virus fighting technology to companies. Whenever the targeted recipients opened those documents, they loaded malicious code on to their personal computers. Researchers of FireEye said that they were able to monitor the "inner workings" of the main computer server used by the hackers to conduct their reconnaissance and move across compromised systems for about a week in the late August. But suddenly they lost access to the hackers after they moved to another server shortly before the G20 Summit in St. Petersburg, Russia
Though the company has declined in open press to identify the nations whose ministries were hacked, although it said they were all members of the European Union. But FireEye informed the FBI about the whole issue in details. FireEye also confirmed that the hackers where from China, but they did not find evidence which may link those hackers to the Chinese government. Not surprisingly and obviously like earlier the Chinese government has distanced itself from any claim that it might have hacked foreign governments for data. FireEye also successfully monitor several dozen hacking groups operating in China, most of which they suspect of having ties to the government. The firms also suspect the hacking groups of stealing intellectual property for commercial gain. The researchers had been following the hackers behind the Syria-related attack for several years, but this is the first time the group's activities have been publicly documented. The company calls the group "Ke3chang," after the name of one of the files it uses in one of its pieces of malicious software"The theme of the attacks was U.S. military intervention in Syria," said FireEye researcher Nart Villeneuv. 
On reaction Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said- "U.S. internet companies are keen on hyping up the so-called hacker threat from China, but they never obtain irrefutable proof, and what so-called evidence they do get is widely doubted by experts. This is neither professional nor responsible," 
While talking in this story of Chinese eavesdropping, I also want to dig some points from decent parts where we all became very habituated of seeing Europe & U.S. countries blaming China for engaging cyber attacks; and China also do the same for accusing U.S. like vice versa. I am reviving your memories of last few years where If you look at the story of major cyber attacks of this year we will find that the name of China has been involved several times for engaging cyber attacks against several high profile websites and organization of U.S. including New York TimesTwitterNBC and so on. And if you refresh our memory then then we will find the scenario of big cyber attack and espionage by Chinese hackers have been spotted several times. In 2012 Chinese hackers had  breached Telvent's corporate network & gained control of US Power Grid. Also in the middle of last year, we have seen that Chinese hackers have broken into Indian Navy's Computer System & stolen sensitive data. Few months before this hack, Tokyo based computer security firm Trend Micro confirmed that Chinese hackers were responsible for biggest cyber-espionage in India, Japan & Tibet. Also the director of National Security Agency (NSA) General Keith Alexander confirmed that hackers from China was responsible for the serious attack on one of the leading IT security & cyber security company RSA. Also in 2011 China was responsible behind the attack on US Chamber of CommerceSatellite System of U.SNortel Network & so on.  But few days ago National Computer Network Emergency Response Coordination Center of China (CNCERT/CC), China's primary computer security monitoring network claimed that China fallen victim of one of biggest cyber attacks originated from US, Japan & South Korea. We must have to say that this statement is truly irrelevant. Cyber crime investigator have found that China was directly responsible for the hack into Japan's Biggest Defense Contractor MitsubishiJapan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) & Parliament of Japan. In case of South Korea  more than 13 Million of MapleStory players data has been stolen, there also hackers from China was responsible.  

Before I conclude, I request you to closely look at the above mentioned stories, you will find China majorly responsible for eavesdropping & security breach. On the same side China also been effected by the same way. So in conclusion, we cant put a full stop in this chain of cyber attacks, hackingeavesdropping, as it comes from both end. So this exciting episode will be continued like it does. If you want to stay updated then don't forget to stay tuned with VOGH



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White House Calls China to Stop Hacking & Cyber Espionage Against U.S.

White House Calls China to Stop Hacking & Cyber Espionage Against U.S.

The story of cyber espionage by Chinese hackers used to remain on the spot light due to its consistency, but now the situation get nasty and takes a new way as the national security adviser of U.S. President Obama directly pointed his finger to China. Many of our readers might take this issue lightly as earlier China has been blamed for engaging cyber attacks against different countries for many times. But this time there is a twist as the U.S. government vows to take the issue in a very serious manner. In his speech the national security advisory Tom Donilon said that "The international community cannot afford to tolerate such activity from any country," Like earlier China has denied any type of involvement and condemned the report for lack of hard evidence. But this time such reaction will not at all be entertained as the president said in the State of the Union, "we will take action to protect our economy against cyberthreats." The above two statements can be taken in both friendly warning or also in a serious threat. The White House already warned China to end the campaign of cyber espionage against U.S. companies, saying in its toughest language yet on the issue that the hacking activity threatens to derail efforts to build stronger ties between the two countries. 
Donilon did not directly accuse the Chinese government of launching the attacks on U.S. computer systems, only noting that the attacks are coming from inside the country. "Increasingly, U.S. businesses are speaking out about their serious concerns about sophisticated, targeted theft of confidential business information and proprietary technologies through cyber intrusions emanating from China on an unprecedented scale," he said. Another important message came from the Obama administration saying United States “will not accept North Korea as a nuclear state” and called on Chinese leaders to get serious about cracking down on cyber-related crimes. 
While covering this story we would like to remind you that couple of weeks ago Chinese officials issued a same complain against United States where they blamed U.S. for engaging massive cyber attacks against Chinese military and defense system. If you look at the story of major cyber attacks of last few days we will find that the name of China has been involved several times for engaging cyber attacks against several high profile websites and organization of U.S. including New York TimesTwitterNBC and so on. And if you refresh our memory then then we will find the scenario of big cyber attack and espionage by Chinese hackers have been spotted several times. In 2012 Chinese hackers had  breached Telvent's corporate network & gained control of US Power GridAlso in the middle of last year, we have seen that Chinese hackers have broken into Indian Navy's Computer System & stolen sensitive data. Few months before this hack, Tokyo based computer security firm Trend Micro confirmed that Chinese hackers were responsible for biggest cyber-espionage in India, Japan & Tibet. Also the director of National Security Agency (NSA) General Keith Alexander confirmed that hackers from China was responsible for the serious attack on one of the leading IT security & cyber security company RSAAlso in 2011 China was responsible behind the attack on US Chamber of Commerce, Satellite System of U.S, Nortel Network & so on.  But few days ago National Computer Network Emergency Response Coordination Center of China (CNCERT/CC), China's primary computer security monitoring network claimed that China fallen victim of one of biggest cyber attacks originated from US, Japan & South Korea. We must have to say that this statement is truly irrelevant. Cyber crime investigator have found that China was directly responsible for the hack into Japan's Biggest Defense Contractor Mitsubishi, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) & Parliament of Japan. In case of South Korea  more than 13 Million of MapleStory players data has been stolen, there also hackers from China was responsible. 


-Source (The Hill, Cnet & WT)




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China Claiming Their Defense & Military Sites are Serially Attacked By U.S. Hackers

China Claiming Their Defense & Military Sites are Serially Attacked By U.S. Hackers 

We all are very much familiar of hearing the story of cyber espionage and cyber attacks originated from China by Chinese hackers. Where many countries across the globe have fallen victim like U.S. India, JapanSouth Koreamany European countries and many more. But today a complete reverse story came under light where the Chinese government are claiming that several top secrete government sites like defense, army, military were targeted and hit by hackers from United States. According to some classified sources it came that Chinese government websites are routinely hacked from IP addresses originating within the United States. In a news conference, spokesman of Defense Ministry of China; Mr. Geng Yansheng said that - more than 144,000 hacking attempts per month are targeted at the China Military Online and Defense Ministry websites. According to Chinese defense ministry a close to two-thirds of those attacks (62.9 percent) originated in the United States. Geng said he had noted reports that the United States planned to expand its cyber-warfare capability but that they were unhelpful to increasing international cooperation towards fighting hacking.
"We hope that the U.S. side can explain and clarify this." The U.S. security company, Mandiant, identified the People's Liberation Army's Shanghai-based Unit 61398 as the most likely driving force behind the hacking. Mandiant said it believed the unit had carried out "sustained" attacks on a wide range of industries. Yansheng did not mention a direct link between the cyber attacks and the U.S. government only that the attacks originated in the United States. He did note, however, that China is concerned with reports that the United States is planning to expand its cyber warfare capabilities. 
In the last month China was blamed for engaging cyber attacks against several high profile websites and organization of U.S. including New York Times, Twitter, NBC and so on. And if you refresh our memory then then we will find the scenario of big cyber attack and espionage by Chinese hackers have been spotted several times. In 2012 Chinese hackers had  breached Telvent's corporate network & gained control of US Power GridAlso in the middle of last year, we have seen that Chinese hackers have broken into Indian Navy's Computer System & stolen sensitive data. Few months before this hack, Tokyo based computer security firm Trend Micro confirmed that Chinese hackers were responsible for biggest cyber-espionage in India, Japan & Tibet. Also the director of National Security Agency (NSA) General Keith Alexander confirmed that hackers from China was responsible for the serious attack on one of the leading IT security & cyber security company RSAAlso in 2011 China was responsible behind the attack on US Chamber of Commerce, Satellite System of U.S, Nortel Network & so on.  But few days ago National Computer Network Emergency Response Coordination Center of China (CNCERT/CC), China's primary computer security monitoring network claimed that China fallen victim of one of biggest cyber attacks originated from US, Japan & South Korea. We must have to say that this statement is truly irrelevant. Cyber crime investigator have found that China was directly responsible for the hack into Japan's Biggest Defense Contractor Mitsubishi, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) & Parliament of Japan. In case of South Korea  more than 13 Million of MapleStory players data has been stolen, there also hackers from China was responsible. 
After keeping in mind all the above facts, we can not conclude the matter very easily, but what we can say that, whether China is responsible or not is neither been proved so far. In spite of looking at the situation we can only say, the entire matter is foggy; where the original truth has either been manipulated or been still untold. But it is sure that those untold or manipulated issues will some day came in front, till that time we have to keep patience and don't forget to stay tuned with VOGH for all kind of cyber related topics and expert reviews.



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'Data Theft' A Serious Issue! Be Watch Full, Be Safe

Hidden Costs of 'Data Theft' A Serious Issue! What You Need to Know to Be Safe 

Sitting at the edge of technology, we the people of this century are blessed with all the required equipment  which makes our work so easy that one could have even imagined three hundred years ago. Along with these positive sides, we must have to keep in mind that, these technologies not only elaborating our effort  making life easier, but also posing  high level of threat. As the main concern of VOGH is cyber domain, so here w would like to share a fact which will make you think and even make your cyber life and your personal life too uncanny. Yes, I am talking about the rising cyber threats; the more we are shedding with technologies, the more we are involving our lives with some dangerous threats and challenges. Now a days cyber criminals are every where, you don't even know, what trap has already been set for you, that can ruin your happy life. One of the big example is "Data Theft" which becoming boomerang for us. In an age of fully digitized data, consumers and businesses can lose thousands of dollars in the blink of a hacker’s eye. The costs of data theft are well known to anyone who has ever found themselves victim to financial identity or medical record fraud. What few of us realize is that the procedures required to right a financial wrong are often costlier than the crimes themselves. Lets share some interesting statistic, which will surely put terror in your mind - the economy loses an average of $22,346 for every time an identity is stolen. And to fully recuperate losses, repair credit and prosecute fraudsters, consumers, accountants, lawyers and IRS officials can spend up to 5,000 hours, the equivalent of two years of full-time work on a single case. Even so, 60% of medical record fraud victims admit that they don’t monitor their medical statements for inconsistencies. 

Shocking!! Why not?

For one, most consumers don’t have time every month to file through complex medical or financial statements and check for accuracy. And secondly, the image of thousands of evil savants working around the clock to hack BOA databases sure makes a consumer feel helpless. Identity theft seems random and unpreventable–a stroke of bad luck like getting struck by lightning. If we are struck, we tell ourselves, banks, credit agencies and insurance companies are legally bound to recover our funds and correct our records. 

Now lets check out a fascinating video in our Hidden Costs Series to get a deeper look at how our high-cost, high-risk data management systems really work.



Hidden Costs of Data Theft (Statistic At a Glance):-


Data theft includes financial identity theft, identity cloning, and medical identity theft. The average cost per victim was $22,346 in 2012. And the total national cost of just medical identity fraud was $41 billion in 2012. The worst part – nearly 60% of reported victims say they don’t ever check their medical records for fraud. Depending on the severity of the case, it can take over 5,000 hours (the equivalent of working a full-time job for two years) to correct the damage.
Since 1935, over 435 million social security cards have been issued. That’s over 2,175 tons of paper issued as cards, or 52,200 trees and 5 million new cards are issued every year. 
Worldwide, digital warehouses storing private information, like banking and personal history, use about 30 billion watts of electricity, which equals roughly the output of 30 nuclear power plants. Data centers in the US make up almost a third of that usage, and waste 90% of the electricity they pull off the grid.
On average, 47% of victims encounter problems qualifying for a new loan and 70% have difficulty removing the negative information from their credit reports.
Over the next five years, the IRS stands to lose as much as $21 billion in revenue due to identity theft, and worldwide, businesses lose close to $221 billion a year with the US, UK, Canada and Australia ranking the highest in reported fraudulent activity.


After reading the above story carefully, many of you will feel insecure and panic. But I would like to inform you that the main purpose of sharing such important information, is to enhance carefulness, to rise cyber awareness. Many people became victim, not because of less knowledge, but of less information, less awareness. So from now onward before connecting your self into the digital world make sure that the significant & the emergent knowledge and information you have gathered from the article, should remain intact inside your brain. Trust me, if you became a bit cautious, you can easily get rid of all those cyber threats, and can enjoy the bless of technologies to make your life prosperous and happy. 

So stay tuned with VOGH and also be canny, be attentive and be safe inside the digital world. 

We the Team VOGH heartily thanks one of our invaluable reader and friend Emily Stewart of Insurance Quotes for the statistic and the awesome video. We love you Emily :) 







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Pentagon Assigning More Experts to Boost Cyber Security & Protect U.S. Computer Networks

Pentagon Assigning More Experts to Boost Cyber Security & Protect U.S. Computer Networks

Cyber security has become one of the most sophisticated area of National security and defense, and in order to implement that Pentagon has increased their estimated expense on cyber security. And this deceleration has been made while publishing the budget late in last year. Now that implementation is getting executed as the Pentagon is moving toward a major expansion of its cyber security force to counter increasing attacks on the nation’s computer networks, as well as to expand offensive computer operations on foreign adversaries. This confirmation has came from defense officials. The expansion would increase the Defense Department’s Cyber Command by more than 4,000 people, up from the current 900, an American official said. Defense officials acknowledged that a formidable challenge in the growth of the command would be finding, training and holding onto such a large number of qualified people. The Pentagon “is constantly looking to recruit, train and retain world class cyberpersonnel,” a defense official said Sunday.
As part of the expansion, officials said the Pentagon was planning three different forces under Cyber Command: “national mission forces” to protect computer systems that support the nation’s power grid and critical infrastructure; “combat mission forces” to plan and execute attacks on adversaries; and “cyber protection forces” to secure the Pentagon’s computer systems. Cyber Command’s connections to the NSA are also leading some officials to ask how much of the expansion will be focused domestically, especially considering the opening of the NSA’s new, $2 billion Utah Data Center, scheduled to go live later this year. An unnamed "senior defense official" said that the agency’s efforts would remain focused outside US networks, unless it were asked to assist "another agency with domestic authority, such as the FBI." There is significant overlap between Cyber Command and the NSA — until recently, some employees of the former had nsa.gov email addresses, for instance — and there is some doubt that the nascent offshoot of US Strategic Command will be able to achieve true independence under NSA Director Alexander.



-Source (NY Times, Washington Post)







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Chinese Hackers Breached New York Times & Stolen Employee's Password

Chinese Hackers Breached New York Times & Stolen Employee's Password 

Yet again the story of cyber espionage by Chinese hackers spotted in the wild, when the famous and one of the most popular American news daily reported that their system has been compromised by a round of sophisticated cyber attack generated from China. After the hack of White House unclassified network, it is the second time in last six month; when Chinese hackers have targeted the American cyber spaceThe New York Times has reported that for the last four months Chinese hackers have been infiltrating its networks, broken into the email accounts of senior staff, stolen the corporate passwords for every Times employee and used those to gain access to the personal computers of  more than 50 employees
According to a blog post of NYT - The timing of the attacks coincided with the reporting for a Times investigation, published online on Oct. 25, that found that the relatives of Wen Jiabao, China’s prime minister, had accumulated a fortune worth several billion dollars through business dealings. Security experts hired by The Times to detect and block the computer attacks gathered digital evidence that Chinese hackers, using methods that some consultants have associated with the Chinese military in the past, breached The Times’s network. They broke into the e-mail accounts of its Shanghai bureau chief, David Barboza, who wrote the reports on Mr. Wen’s relatives, and Jim Yardley, The Times’s South Asia bureau chief in India, who previously worked as bureau chief in Beijing. 
“Computer security experts found no evidence that sensitive e-mails or files from the reporting of our articles about the Wen family were accessed, downloaded or copied,” said Jill Abramson, executive editor of The Times. The hackers tried to cloak the source of the attacks on The Times by first penetrating computers at United States universities and routing the attacks through them, said computer security experts at Mandiant, the company hired by The Times. This matches the subterfuge used in many other attacks that Mandiant has tracked to China.

Cyber Espionage of China (2011-2012) at a Glance:-
While talking about this cyber attack, we would like to refresh your memory last two years, where the scenario of big cyber attack and espionage by Chinese hackers have been spotted several times. In 2012 Chinese hackers had  breached Telvent's corporate network & gained control of US Power GridAlso in the middle of last year, we have seen that Chinese hackers have broken into Indian Navy's Computer System & stolen sensitive data. Few months before this hack, Tokyo based computer security firm Trend Micro confirmed that Chinese hackers were responsible for biggest cyber-espionage in India, Japan & Tibet. Also the director of National Security Agency (NSA) General Keith Alexander confirmed that hackers from China was responsible for the serious attack on one of the leading IT security & cyber security company RSAAlso in 2011 China was responsible behind the attack on US Chamber of Commerce, Satellite System of U.S, Nortel Network & so on.  But few days ago National Computer Network Emergency Response Coordination Center of China (CNCERT/CC), China's primary computer security monitoring network claimed that China fallen victim of one of biggest cyber attacks originated from US, Japan & South Korea. We must have to say that this statement is truly irrelevant. Cyber crime investigator have found that China was directly responsible for the hack into Japan's Biggest Defense Contractor Mitsubishi, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) & Parliament of Japan. In case of South Korea  more than 13 Million of MapleStory players data has been stolen, there also hackers from China was responsible. 
All those above stories it has been clearly identified that China was the point of those said attacks, but it doesn't necessarily prove that it the operation is backed by the Chinese government or intelligence services. It could just as easily be a patriotic group of skilled, independent Chinese hackers upset with how the Western media is portraying their country's rulers. For all kind of cyber related topics and expert reviews on those matters just stay tuned  with only VOGH




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NASSCOM-Data Security Council of India Announces Annual Information Security Summit 2012

NASSCOM-Data Security Council of India Announces Annual Information Security Summit 2012

NASSCOM-Data Security Council of India (DSCI) announced that the Annual Information Security Summit 2012 will be held on 11-12 December at Taj Lands End, Mumbai. The NASSCOM-DSCI Annual Information Security Summit this year will focus on the national cyber security elements- Framework, Machinery, Responsibility & Operations for all the critical information sectors like power, energy and finance where deliberation will take place on operating technologies like smart grid and industrial control system; the security and privacy imperatives of eCommerce, mCommerce and eGovernance application and platforms. The Summit will provide an opportunity to have focused discussions with government leaders along with global experts who will talk about the security ramifications at the global level. Special features such as celebrating the success of women leaders in the field of security, Workshop on IT Act and release of DSCI assessment frameworks will also be part of the annual summit. The addition of DSCIExcellence Awards 2012 to Corporate and LEAs this year along with Annual summit will truly make this as a platform where India Meets for Security. 

Who Should Attend:-

Organizations:
  • User Organization – Banks, Finance, Telecom, Manufacturing, Energy
  • Government & PSUs
  • Technology & Service Providers
  • Security Product/ Services Companies
  • Academia
Individuals:
  • Business Leaders
  • IT Leadership
  • Security & Privacy Leadership
  • Security Professionals
  • Security Implementer | Administrator | Officer

Participation benefits:
  • Learn about new challenges, threats and vulnerabilities
  • Gain Strategic direction & practical guidance
  • Explore new approaches, practices, technologies and services
  • Discover market developments and get a feel of technology products
  • Discuss on public policies for cyber security and privacy
  • Interact with national, government and global leadership
Agenda:- 
 
Tentative Agenda Topics for Annual Information Security Summit’12 : Day 1
Time
Session
0930 to 1015
Inaugural + Key Note
1015 to 1115
National Imperatives of Securing Operational Technologies … Smart Grids, Oil & Gas, & Public Utilities
1115 to 1140
Tea Break
1140 to 1200
Platinum Session 1 by Verizon
1200 to 1250
Protecting Key Economic Assets, Securing Financial Backbone
…. Stock Exchange, Payment Infrastructures & Financial Switches
1250 to 1310
Platinum Session 2 by TCG
1310 to 1415
Lunch Break
1415 to 1430
Special feature
1430 to 1520
Architecting Security for New Age Banking
… Business Models, Technology Transformations & Channel Revolutions in the midst of Organized, Focused, Advanced & Persistent Cyber Threats
1520 to 1540
Special feature by HP
1540 to 1640
Revolution named Clobile, Nightmare for Security? … Enterprise Mobility, Mobile Apps and Cloud Enablement Data driven Businesses
1640 to 1700
Tea Break
1700 to 1800
Data driven Businesses – Data reason for Empowerment and Concern
… Big Data, Context Computing & Social Media Computing
1800 to 1900
Networking and Exhibition
1900 to 2030
DSCI Excellence Awards 2012
  • Corporate
  • Law Enforcement
2030 Onwards
Cocktail Dinner
Day 2
Time
Session
0930 to 1030
Cyber Security, from National Responsibility to Global Accountability
… Cyber diplomacy, converging national and international interests
1030 to 1100
Special Feature by CISCO
1100 to 1130
Tea Break
1130 to 1230
Securing Technology Transformation of Governance … eGovernance projects, Security Challenges & Solutions
1230 to 1315
Rendezvous with Women Security Leaders: Special Interaction …. Security, Challenges and Opportunities for Women
1315 to 1415
Lunch Break
1415 to 1515
Security Enablement of Growing Electronic & Mobile Commerce
… Rising Volume & Growth of Commerce, Security as Enabler
1515 to 1600
Securing core, edge, access & connect: reappearance of network on agenda of security
… Finding the role of network security: Infrastructure Core, Hyer-extensive organizations, Access complexities, Mobility & External exposures
1600 to 1630
Tea Break
1630 to 1730
Consumer Behaviors and Business Responsibilities In the Information Age … Responsible Behaviors, Fair Business Practices & Enabling Technologies

To Get Yourself Registrar For the Event Click Here


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