Chinese Hackers Breached Telvent's Corporate Network & Gained Control of US Power Grid

Chinese Hackers Breached Telvent's Corporate Network & Gained Control of US Power Grid

Telvent - the maker of power-grid control systems and smart meters and whose software and services remotely administers and monitor large sections of the US energy industry has began warning its customers about a sophisticated hacker attack originated from China. Telvent, a division of Schneider Electric, has admitted hackers breached its corporate network, implanted malicious software and lifted sensitive project files. The raid spanned Telvent systems in the US, Canada and Spain, according to a letter sent to the company's customers this month. Criminals can now study the documents for vulnerabilities in the systems, and potentially devise attacks to sabotage nations' electricity distribution networks. It looks like the hackers managed to get past the company firewall and security systems. In letters sent to customers last week, Telvent Canada said the attack happened on September the 10th.

The attackers installed malicious software and stole project files related to one of its core offerings — OASyS SCADA — a product that helps energy firms mesh older IT assets with more advanced “smart grid” technologies. The company said it was disconnecting the usual data links between clients and affected portions of its internal networks. Meanwhile it is looking for virus or malware files. Telvent has cut data links between at-risk portions of its internal network and clients' systems as a precaution while it probes the breach. Police have been called in to investigate the attack. 

In a report The Register said -Dale Peterson, founder and chief of industrial control security specialist Digital Bond, spelled out the kinds of information present in the lifted documents. "Some project files contain the 'recipe' for the operations of a customer, describing calculations and frequencies at which systems run or when they should be turned on or off," He told press. "If you're going to do a sophisticated attack, you get the project file and study it and decide how you want to modify the pieces of the operation. Then you modify the project file and load it [onto a company's control system], and they're not running what they think they're running." 

While talking about US power grid, we would like to remind you that, earlier researcher have warned about several security holes in power which could even allow an attacker to shutdown the entire system. Soon after  this story made public, National Security Agency (NSA) suspected that hacktivist Anonymous may target the Entire U.S. Power Grid. What ever such massacre did not happen, and Anon said they are not interested to hit power industry. 

Chinese Hackers Behind Some Biggest Cyber Espionage:- 

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

The above phenomena are clearly indicating that hackers from China was directly linked and responsible for all those biggest cyber espionage. Still it is not clear that whether these cyber criminals are supported by the Govt. or not!!

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Researcher Security Hole Found in US Power Plants, DHS is Investigating

Researcher Security Hole Found in US Power Plants, DHS is Investigating  

Security researcher figure out seirous flaws in software for specialized networking equipment from Siemens could enable hackers to attack US power plants and other critical systems. A security expert said that he had found a backdoor in hardware from a Siemens subsidiary. The alleged flaw was made public by security researcher Justin W Clarke at a conference in Los Angeles. The equipment is widely used by power companies mainly based on US. Clarke said that the discovery of the flaw is disturbing because hackers who can spy on communications of infrastructure operators could gain credentials to access computer systems that control power plants and other critical systems. "If you can get to the inside, there is almost no authentication, there are almost no checks and balances to stop you," Clarke said.

The Department of Homeland Security said it was in contact with the firm to assess the claim. After this issue came in-front, the US Govt immeditely taken stpes & investigating the whole scenario. RuggedCom, a Canadian subsidiary of Siemens that sells networking equipment for use in harsh environments such as areas with extreme weather, said it was investigating Clarke's findings, but declined to elaborate. This is the second bug that Clarke, a high school graduate who never attended college, has discovered in products from RuggedCom, which are widely used by power companies that rely on its equipment to support communications to remote power stations.

In May, RuggedCom released an update to its Rugged Operating System software after Clarke discovered that it had a previously undisclosed "back door" account that could give hackers remote access to the equipment with an easily obtained password. The Department of Homeland Security's Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team, which is known as ICS-CERT, said in its advisory on Tuesday that government analysts were working with RuggedCom and Clarke to figure out how to best mitigate any risks from the newly identified vulnerability. "According to this report, the vulnerability can be used to decrypt SSL traffic between an end-user and a RuggedCom network device," Read the full advisory. 

This is not the first time, earlier in 2011 - researcher found vulnerability in the security system of US Power Grid, form which NSA suspected that hacktivist Anonymous may even shutdown the entire US Power Grid. later The White House introduced an Electric Sector Cybersecurity Risk Maturity Model. For these kind of cyber security updates & news, just stay tuned with VOGH. 

-Source (Reuters & BBC)

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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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Director of National Security Agency Will Join DEFCON 20 Hacking Conference

Director of National Security Agency Will Join DEFCON 20 Hacking Conference

Great news for hackers and security professionals who will attend the most awaited & the world's largest annual hacking party "DEFCON 20" in Las Vegas next week will have a rare chance to rub shoulders with the head of the U.S. National Security Agency. The Defcon 20 official page is saying that the director of the spy agency, Mr. General Keith Alexander will speak at the Defcon conference, marking the highest-level visit to date by a U.S. government official to the colorful gathering. 

The founder of Defcon and renouned hacker Mr. Jeff Moss said who is known as the Dark Tangent said "We're going to show him the conference. He wants to wander around". Still, Moss said he expect there could be some controversy over Alexander's presence among the diverse hacker crowd that attends the conference. The NSA plays both offense and defense in the cyber wars. It conducts electronic eavesdropping on adversaries, in addition to protecting U.S. computer networks.

"I expect some people will say 'You are a sellout for having someone from the NSA speak" Mossed added.

He said he's spent a decade trying to get the head of the NSA to speak at Defcon, but he never imaged it would actually happen: "To me this is really validating of the whole culture."

Defcon offers a side conference for children, Defcon Kids, which Alexander will likely visit. It also trains hackers to pick locks and has an annual contest to measure who is best at persuading corporate workers to release sensitive data over the phone. Moss said he invited federal agents to the first Defcon conference, but that they politely declined. They showed up anyway, incognito. They kept coming, in bigger numbers, sometimes in uniform. "We created an environment where the feds felt they could come and it wasn't hostile," Moss said. "We could ask them questions and they wanted to ask the hackers about new techniques."

-Source (Huffington Post)

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Chinese Hackers Broke Into Indian Navy's Computer System & Stolen Sensitive Data (VOGH Exclusive)

VOGH Exclusive:- Chinese Hackers Broke Into Indian Navy's Computer System & Stolen Sensitive Data

Again cyber criminals from China targeted Indian cyber fence. This time Indian Navy have fallen victim of this cyber espionage. According to sources hackers have broken into sensitive naval computer systems in and around Visakhapatnam, the headquarters of the Eastern Naval Command, and planted malware that relayed confidential data to IP addresses in China.  There is, to date, nothing known about the data thieves. 

Primary investigation revealed that the classified data has been leaked and that the breach may have occurred as a result of the use of USB flash storage on important systems. The Navy and other armed forces store sensitive data on standalone systems, unconnected to the internet and supposedly with no free USB ports where a flash drive could be plugged in.

The malware is reported to have created a hidden folder on the USB flash drives. When the drive was plugged into a Navy system, the malware searched for files based on particular key words it had been configured to look for. These files were then copied to the flash drive where they would remain hidden. When the drive was plugged into a system which was connected to the internet, the malware would then begin to transfer the files to a specific IP address. The extent of the loss is still being ascertained, and officials said it was “premature at this stage” to comment on the sensitivity of the compromised data. But the Navy has completed a Board of Inquiry (BoI) which is believed to have indicted at least six mid-level officers for procedural lapses that led to the security breach. Navy official also said: “An inquiry has been convened and findings of the report are awaited. It needs to be mentioned that there is a constant threat in the cyber domain from inimical hack ers worldwide.”

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

The above phenomena are clearly indicating that hackers from China was directly linked and responsible for all those biggest cyber espionage. Still it is not clear that whether these cyber criminals are supported by the Govt. or not!!

 

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Flame -The "Super Spy" Even On Offline Computers Turning Users into Data Mules

Flame -The "Super Spy" Even On Offline Computers Turning Users into Data Mules

The program known as Flame has fascinated the cyber-security industry with its sophistication and versatility as a Swiss-Army knife of cyber-spying. Now researchers have discovered another unexpected tool in its data-stealing arsenal: You.

Malware analysts at the security firm Bitdefender say they’ve found a unique capability within Flame’s code that would potentially allow it to steal data even from computers that aren’t connected to the Internet or to other networked machines. Instead of simply uploading stolen data to a remote server as traditional spyware does, Flame can also move the target information–along with a copy of itself–onto a USB memory stick plugged into an infected machine, wait for an unwitting user to plug that storage device into an Internet-connected PC, infect the networked machine, copy the target data from the USB drive to the networked computer and finally siphon it to a faraway server.

Spreading itself over an infected USB device is hardly a new trick for malware. But Bitdefender’s researchers say they’ve never before seen a cyberespionage program that can also move its stolen digital booty onto the USB stick of an oblivious user and patiently wait for the opportunity to upload it to the malware’s controllers.

“It turns users into data mules,” says Bitdefender senior malware analyst Bogdan Botezatu. “Chances are, at some point, a user with an infected flash drive will plug it into a secure computer in a contained environment, and Flame will carry the target’s information from the protected environment to the outside world…It uses its ability to infect to ensure an escape route for the data. This is is somewhat revolutionary for a piece of malware.”

Flame was designed to use the same .lnk autorun vulnerability first exploited by the NSA-built Stuxnet malware to invisibly install itself on USB devices. To hide its trove of stolen data on the user’s device, Flame copies both itself and its data to a folder labelled with a single “.” symbol, which Windows fails to interpret as a folder name and thus renders as invisible to the user. “What we have here is a little hack/exploit performed on how the operating system is interpreting file names,” Bitdefender’s researchers wrote in a blog post on Flame last week.

When an infected USB is plugged into a networked machine, Flame checks that it can contact its command and control server through that computer. Then it moves its target data off the USB to the PC, compresses it, and sends it to the remote server via HTTPS, according to Bitdefender’s analysis. The researchers found that while Flame is capable of infecting networked PCs for the purpose of exfiltrating its data, the version they analyzed had rendered that infection capability inactive, perhaps to avoid the spyware spreading too far, so that only PCs already infected with Flame would be capable of acting as gateways back to the malware controller’s server. The fact that the spyware’s infection technique was turned off may be evidence that the “data mule” in the Flame operation may in fact have been aware of his or her role as an data smuggler.

Regardless, Botezatu says Flame’s USB-piggybacking trick fits with its profile as a highly sophisticated spying tool meant to steal a target’s most protected secrets–not just another cybercriminal keylogger designed to catch credit card numbers. “Most of the infrastructure it targets is highly contained, often without Internet access,” says Botezatu. “It’s natural for Flame to have a mechanism for moving data from one environment to another that doesn’t rely on Internet or network communications.” For additional details can be found here

-Source (Forbes)

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Chinese Hackers Were Responsible For Cyber-Espionage In India, Japan & Tibet

Chinese Hackers Were Responsible For Cyber-Espionage In India, Japan & Tibet  

Tokyo based computer security firm Trend Micro confirmed that a breach of computers belonging to companies in Japan and India and to Tibetan activists has been linked to a former graduate student at a Chinese university  putting a face on the persistent espionage by Chinese hackers against foreign companies and groups. Chinese hackers have been linked to a cyber-espionage campaign that planted data-gathering malware in a total of 233 computers of Tibetan activists and military and industrial entities in Japan and India. The so-called "Luckycat" campaign has been active since at least June 2011 and has been linked to 90 attacks that use malware tailored for each victim. The hackers targeted military research institutions and shipping companies in India; energy, engineering and aerospace entities in China and 30 computers of Tibetan activists. Trend Micro researchers traced the attacks to an e-mail address used to register a command-and-control server. They also mapped the address to a Chinese instant messaging screen name and from there to an online alias, "scuhkr." The espionage has been going on for at least 10 months and is continuing. The attacks are technically similar to a spy operation known as the Shadow Network, which since 2009 has targeted the Indian government and also pilfered a year's worth of the Dalai Lama's personal e-mails. 

Few days ago the director of National Security Agency (NSA) General Keith Alexander confirmed that hackers from China was responsible for the serious attack on one of the leading IT security & cyber security company RSA. Also in 2011 China was responsible behind the attack on US Chamber of Commerce, Satellite System of U.S, Nortel Network & so on.  But few days ago National Computer Network Emergency Response Coordination Center of China (CNCERT/CC), China's primary computer security monitoring network claimed that China fallen victim of one of biggest cyber attacks originated from US, Japan & South Korea. We must have to say that this statement is truly irrelevant. Cyber crime investigator have found that China was directly responsible for the hack into Japan's Biggest Defense Contractor Mitsubishi, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) & Parliament of Japan. In case of South Korea  more than 13 Million of MapleStory players data has been stolen, there also hackers from China was responsible. Now this report Trend Micro again proves China has became one of the biggest cyber threat in front of the whole world. The past activities are clearly indicating that hackers from China was directly linked and responsible for all those biggest cyber espionage. Still it is not clear that whether these cyber criminals are supported by the Govt. or not!!

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China Was Responsible for RSA Hack & Military Related Intellectual Property Theft- Said NSA

China Was Responsible for RSA Hack & Military Related Intellectual Property Theft- Said NSA

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. Yesterday the Cyber Command commander & Director Mr. Alexander presented the testimony at Senate Hearing. He has also confirmed that not only RSA, but also large amounts of military-related intellectual property has also been stolen and yet again China was behind this attack. "I can't go into the specifics here, but we do see [thefts] from defense industrial base companies," Alexander said, declining to go into details about other attacks. "There are some very public [attacks], though. The most recent one was the RSA exploits." The NSA director believes the US Government needs more real-time capabilities to work with the private sector to stop attacks. He explained how in one attack, the attackers were attempting to get 3GBs of data from a foreign defence contractor but the Department of Defence processes for communicating with that company were predominantly manual. He did not present any evidence for the China allegations and it is yet to be seen if there is any diplomatic fallout from his disclosures.

The attack was taken place in earlier March 2011, where hackers managed to gain access to the enterprise's servers and take sensitive data. The attackers manage to obtain data on SecurID, RSA's popular two factor authentication system. 

Also in 2011 China was responsible behind the attack on US Chamber of Commerce, Satellite System of U.S, Nortel Network & so on.  But few days ago National Computer Network Emergency Response Coordination Center of China (CNCERT/CC), China's primary computer security monitoring network claimed that China fallen victim of one of biggest cyber attacks originated from US, Japan & South Korea. We must have to say that this statement is truly irrelevant. Cyber crime investigator have found that China was directly responsible for the hack into Japan's Biggest Defense Contractor Mitsubishi, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) & Parliament of Japan. In case of South Korea  more than 13 Million of MapleStory players data has been stolen, there also hackers from China was responsible.

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NSA Employing Scientific Principles For Cybersecurity Research

NSA Employing Scientific Principles For Cybersecurity Research

The National Security Agency (NSA) has stated a new mission to promote scientific research into computer security for use in the government. For this reason National Science Foundation called for papers for a June symposium on "moving target" research into dynamic defenses intended to constantly confuse intruders. 

Many information security professionals salivate over discovering a new attack shield, but not as many are interested or are skilled enough to apply the scientific method to their findings, said Tom Longstaff, technical director of the National Security Agency's systems behavior group. Longstaff. also said "I'm really keeping my fingers crossed that we can fill [a full day's worth of presentations],"

Data analysis is not just a problem for cyber academics. A September 2011 data collection foible at the CERN laboratory in Geneva nearly refuted Einstein's theory that nothing travels faster than the speed of light. CERN scientists reported they had identified a particle known as a neutrino that broke the light speed limit. But the journal Science last month largely debunked that discovery by finding an error in the experiment's setup: a faulty connection between a GPS unit and a computer.
Longstaff, who made his comments in a lecture at NSF's Arlington headquarters, said the physicists who mistakenly thought they had made a major breakthrough in reality performed a public service by clearly writing up and circulating their results so that others could refute them.
Cybersecurity peer reviewers are scarce, he said, because the United States has failed to train information security specialists to critically review their work. To address the science's limitations, Longstaff suggested the government fund textbooks and document the knowledge of cyber professionals who know how to practice the scientific approach. Additionally, cybersecurity students should be trained in the scientific method, said Longstaff, who also serves as chairman of Johns Hopkins University's computer science, information assurance and information systems engineering programs.

-Source (NextGov)

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Think Android: National Security Agency Disclosed Smartphone Strategy

Think Android: National Security Agency (NSA) Disclosed Smartphone Strategy

The National Security Agency has come up with a security design that currently depends on Google Android smartphones, though the NSA contends it doesn't want to be wedded to any particular smartphone operating system. But its current "Fishbowl" phones, as they are called, are beefed-up highly secured Motorola Android smartphones that use double-encryption for voice traffic and a unique routing scheme for 3G network traffic back to the NSA first for security purposes. This design makes them suitable for classified information sharing with other like smartphones, according to Margaret Salter, technical director at NSA's information assurance directorate, who spoke about the so-called "Fishbowl" project, which today focuses on voice use of smart phones.

"We wanted to use the commercial standards that are out there," said Margaret Salter, technical director in NSA's information assurance directorate. "We wanted plug and play — but that was hard." The NSA also wants interoperability in order not to be trapped in vendor ok-in, but this is turning out to be hard to achieve. Earlier in January 2012 NSA has released the first public release of the Security Enhanced (SE) Android Project, a program designed to find and plug security holes and risks in the Android flavor of Linux. SE Android is based on the NSA’s SELinux, first released in 2000.
The NSA looked at SSL VPN as a standard and left no stone unturned in exploring commercial SSL VPN for mobile, but found utter lack of interoperability across vendor products. Salter said NSA also was frustrated with the lack of interoperability in Unified Communications Systems (UCS) products, noting that buying one piece often meant buying several others, there being little evidence of multi-vendor interoperability. So with some frustration, NSA changed to go with an open-source Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) server for the present. NSA also switched its mobile security strategy toward IPSec VPN, where things looked better in terms of interoperability than SSL VPN, and selected the Secure Real-Time Transport Protocol for Voice App and Transport Layer Security (TLS) with keys. This all means "the voice call is doubly encrypted," Salter said. "There's VoIP encryption and IPsec encryption."

-Source (IT World)

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Anonymous Message To NSA- They Are Not Targeting U.S. Power Grid

Anonymous Message To NSA- They Are Not Targeting U.S. Power Grid 

Few days ago Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found vulnerability on  U.S. power grid cyber security system. Yesterday General Keith Alexander The head of the National Security Agency suspected that hackers from Anonymous are going to exploit the vulnerability & shutdown the entire U.S. Power Grid. Later Anonymous responded while releasing You Tube video where they have clearly stated that they are not going to hit US Power grid because thousands of people rely on electricity for everything they do; hospitals even need this electricity to save lives, and taking out the power grid would cause harm to the very people we (Anonymous) wish to protect. There is no valid reason for us to shut down the power grid, as far as we are aware. Any such predictions by the various government, security, and intelligence organizations are likely attempts to instill fear into those that don't understand this, and to discredit Anonymous as a whole.

 

Anonymous Message to the NSA:-

"Greetings NSA,
We are Anonymous.
Your statement regarding the potential future sabotage of power grids by Anonymous, disgusts us to the core, as it is clearly an attempt at fear mongering. The idea that Anonymous would shut down one of the most vital resources for it to operate, is ludicrous.
While security and intelligence organizations throughout the world attempt to depict Anonymous as a 'terrorist organization', many people understand that this same subset of Anonymous they speak of, is actually a movement for freedom. This appears to scare government organizations, to the point where they might do anything in an attempt to discredit Anonymous, and make people believe Anonymous exists solely to harm innocent people.
Are these claims and predictions an attempt to falsely accuse Anonymous of something that will happen in the future - maybe even being orchestrated by the same government organizations that are now already blaming Anonymous? Many people have warned about the sad state of the power grid infrastructure in the past, but why would we shut down our own computers and other communication tools?
Thousands of people rely on electricity for everything they do; hospitals even need this electricity to save lives, and taking out the power grid would cause harm to the very people we wish to protect.
There is no valid reason for us to shut down the power grid, as far as we are aware. Any such predictions by the various government, security, and intelligence organizations are likely attempts to instill fear into those that don't understand this, and to discredit Anonymous as a whole.
We are Anonymous.
We are legion.
We do not forgive.
We do not forget.
For once don't expect us."

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NSA Is Suspecting That Anonymous Could Shutdown The Entire U.S. Power Grid

NSA Is Suspecting That Anonymous Could Shutdown The Entire U.S. Power Grid

Earlier we have covered that Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology told that U.S. power grid needs cyber security protection. Now the US Govt is suspecting that 'Hactivist' Anonymous may target this vulnerable point and shut down the entire U.S. power grid within the next two years. General Keith Alexander The head of the National Security Agency has warned- that the hacker collective group Anonymous may be able to bring about a limited national power outage through a cyber attack. In the meeting at White House has relayed his concerns. Though he has not publicly expressed his concerns about the potential for Anonymous to disrupt power supplies, he has warned publicly about an emerging ability by cyber attackers to disable or even damage computer networks. Still Anonymous has never indicated to perform cyber attack against US power grid, but in the last week they have called Operation Global Blackout, a plan to shut down the Internet on March 31. And the security experts are suspecting that while executing that attack Anon may target the US power grid.

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National Security Agency (NSA) Released Security Enhanced (SE) Android

US National Security Agency (NSA) released the first public release of the Security Enhanced (SE) Android Project, a program designed to find and plug security holes and risks in the Android flavor of Linux. SE Android is based on the NSA’s SELinux, first released in 2000.
SEAndroid is the name of both a project to identify, and find solutions for, critical gaps in Android security and of a reference implementation of a security enhanced Android. The project is currently focusing its efforts on enabling SELinux functionality in the hope that it can limit the damage done by malicious apps, but hopes to widen its scope in the future.
SE Android was first publicly described at Linux Security Summit 2011. In essence, the NSA is attempting to bring the same access control and damage mitigation measures found in SELinux to the Android Open Source Project. In the Security Summit presentation, a number of known security vulnerabilities were demonstrated and tested against a version of Android running SE Android controls. All exploits failed unless specifically tailored to the particular system, and even in those cases the exploit’s effectiveness was much reduced.
SEAndroid is only available as source and is built by cloning the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) git repository, and then applying the SE Android modifications from the project’s git repository. Currently the project is builds on Fedora 16, and has built on Fedora 14 and 15. Instructions how to build for emulators and devices (specifically the Nexus S) and how to get started developing policies are available from the project’s wiki.

-Source (Extreme Tech)

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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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Team Ghost Released Tax Records of Brazilian Govt, Exclusive Documents of #op-SouthAfrica & 10K SQL- Vulnerable Sites

Black Hat Ghost is back again with boom. Previously they exposed the secrete documents of DOD, NATO, NSA, DHS and many more. This time they exposed the entire tax record of Brazilian Govt. Also Team Ghost published a documents containing more  than 10,000 SQL-i vulnerable sites and their details.
Not yet completed Team Ghost was running an operation named #opSouthAfrica and in this operation they have hacked into 50+ high profile websites of South-Africa including Govt. and so on.


According to The Official Press Release:- 

Today I posted 3 Mediafire links
First link containing:
Tax records from www.balbinos.sp.gov.br From 2002-2011. I exposed everything they've purchased
in the last 9 years. ;)

Second link containing:
The whole contents of #opSouthAfrica, which was created by myself and involved hacking over 50 SouthAfrican websites, these were the main sites I targeted, and it shows Usernames, passwords, emails, Postal address's,databases,SQL Dumps and so on.

The third link of Tonights raids:
Contained 10,000+ SQL-i Vulnerable website links. Every one of these links was in-fact vulnerable at some point in time. So if a couple don't work now, then they've patched it.
These are just a taste of what's to come.

First  link:
http://www.mediafire.com/?elm9kvaend2tk8y   <--- Tax records

Second link:
http://www.mediafire.com/?nk69n6c5ufek8yk <--- #opSouthAfrica

Third  link:
http://www.mediafire.com/?ryx7apfx6ohca7b   <--- 10k+ Vulnerable Sites
 
Fore more info Click Here

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Team Ghost Exposed Secrete Documents of DOD, NATO, NSA, Home Land Security & Many More

The team "Ghosts" uploaded a .Zip file containing files from Government, Military, DOD, NSA, Homeland security, NATO and many more organizations. The download itself contained 27 PDF Files, 13 Microsoft Word Files, 1 ppt File and a Text file.
The text file contains 130+ login details  for a website that had been infiltrated an hour beforehand.

www.Westdorset.org.uk

The download contained information such as forms, Top secret cover sheets and restricted and classified information about the organisation.

To download the secrete file uploaded by  Ghost click Here

Twitter Page of Team Ghost:- https://twitter.com/BlackHatGhosts
FB Page of Team Ghost:- http://www.facebook.com/TeamGhosts

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Pentagon Is Expanding Cyber-Security Program

The Pentagon is exploring whether to expand a pilot program that protects the networks of defense contractors to include other companies, and even those in industries that serve mainly civilians. But some private sector officials are not sure that the Defense Department should lead the effort.

Speaking at a conference in Baltimore this week, Deputy Defense Secretary William J. Lynn III said that the Defense Industrial Base (DIB) Cyber Pilot, which currently involves 20 large defense companies, is already showing signs of success. It relies on classified threat “signatures” or data that can help detect malicious code before it penetrates a network.

The signatures and other data that help detect threats are provided by the National Security Agency, which collects electronic data on foreign adversaries and operates under the auspices of the Pentagon. The signatures are loaded into devices run by the Internet service providers, including AT&T and Verizon, which provide Internet services to the companies.

The voluntary 90-day pilot, which the Pentagon said should be completed by early fall, has already shown that “it stops hundreds of signatures that we wouldn’t previously have seen,” Lynn said. “It appears to be cost-effective.”

The Pentagon has declined to give details to back up Lynn’s assertions. In an email earlier this week, Pentagon spokeswoman April Cunningham said: “We do not yet have enough information regarding the pilot to make any decisions about the success or effectiveness of the pilot.” She added: “We are not yet in a position to discuss specific metrics.”

She declined to say whether the Pentagon tested NSA’s signatures and other data against other models for effectiveness. “It is the long-standing policy of the Department of Defense not to discuss matters of operational security.”

Speaking at a conference run by the Defense Information Systems Agency, Lynn expressed significant concern “that over the past decade we’ve lost terabytes of data to foreign intruders, foreign intelligence services, to attacks on corporate networks of defense companies.” A great deal of it, he said, “concerns our most sensitive systems-- aircraft avionics, surveillance technologies, satellite communication systems, and network security protocols.”

As a result, he said, the Pentagon is considering expanding the pilot to more defense companies, and discussing with other agencies whether to “apply this same concept to other sectors, whether it’s the power sector, nuclear energy, the transportation sector or the financial sector.’’

But some officials in other industries questioned whether the Pentagon is the right leader for the effort. One concern involves privacy. NSA participation — even if tangential-- raises fears that the spy agency may at some point gain access to private citizens’ data. Defense officials have addressed that worry for now by saying that the government will not directly filter the network traffic or receive any of the captured malicious code.

Then there is the issue of who leads the initiative. The Department of Homeland Security, which is involved in the Pentagon’s cyber pilot program, is also working with other critical sectors on cyber security.

A financial services industry official, who was not authorized to speak publicly, said his industry would prefer “one point” of collaboration. That point, he said, likely would be DHS. “Let’s not have 10, 20, 30 different bilateral arrangements with each government agency and each sector,” he said. “That would result in a web of confusion.”

A telecom industry official, who also was not authorized to speak publicly, agreed: “What we would like is one consolidated government effort that we can hitch our wagons to.” 

-News Source (Washington Post)

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NSA (National Security Agency) is Searching For Good Hackers

 

The National Security Agency has a challenge for hackers who think they’re hot stuff: Prove it by working on the “hardest problems on Earth.”
Computer hacker skills are in great demand in the U.S. government to fight the cyberwars that pose a growing national security threat — and they are in short supply.

For that reason an alphabet soup of federal agencies — DOD, DHS, NASA, NSA — are descending on Las Vegas this week for Defcon, an annual hacker convention where the $150 entrance fee is cash only — no registration, no credit cards, no names taken. Attendance is expected to top 10,000.
The NSA is among the keen suitors. The spy agency plays offence and defence in the cyberwars. It conducts electronic eavesdropping on adversaries, and it protects U.S. computer networks that hold super-secret material — a prime target for America’s enemies.

“Today it’s cyberwarriors that we’re looking for, not rocket scientists,” said Richard “Dickie” George, technical director of the NSA’s Information Assurance Directorate, the agency’s cyber-defense side.

“That’s the race that we’re in today. And we need the best and brightest to be ready to take on this cyberwarrior status,” he told Reuters in an interview.
The NSA is hiring about 1,500 people in the fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30, and another 1,500 next year, most of them cybersecurity experts. With a workforce of about 30,000, the Fort Meade-based NSA dwarfs other intelligence agencies, including the CIA.
It also engages in cyber-spying and other offensive operations, something it rarely, if ever, discusses publicly.
But at Defcon, the NSA and other “Feds” will be competing with corporations looking for hacking talent.
The NSA needs cybersecurity experts to harden networks, defend them with updates, do “penetration testing” to find security holes and watch for signs of cyberattacks.
The NSA is expanding its fold of hackers, but George said there is a shortage of those skills. “We are straining to hire the people that we need.”

It might seem to be an odd-couple fit — strait-laced government types with their rules and missions trying to recruit hackers who by definition want to defy authorities.
George said the NSA is an environment where the hacker mind-set fits with “a critical mass of people that are just like them.”
But what about culture rifts?
“When I walk down the hall there are people that I see every day and I never know what color their hair’s going to be,” George said. “And it’s a bonus if they’re wearing shoes. We’ve been in some sense a collection of geeks for a long, long time.”
The agency has long been known for its brilliant, but sometimes eccentric, mathematicians and linguists.
Jeff Moss, a hacker known as Dark Tangent, knows something about bridging the two worlds. He founded Defcon and the companion Black Hat conference for security professionals and is now a member of the Department of Homeland Security’s Advisory Council, which advises the government on cybersecurity.
“They need people with the hacker skill set, hacker mind-set. It’s not like you go to a hacker university and get blessed with a badge that says you’re a hacker. It’s a self-appointed label — you think like one or you don’t,” Moss told Reuters.

-News Source (Washington Post)

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