Hackers Attack 90,000 WordPress Blogs

via mashable.com

Keeping the default settings on any Internet-connected service is just asking for trouble. It's easy enough to scoff at people whose brilliant "12345" password fell victim to hackers, but it's just as simple to target usernames. A number of WordPress bloggers discovered this the hard way, when their "admin" accounts became part of a hostile, exploitative botnet.

The attacks began last week, and have affected more than 90,000 blogs so far. The hackers behind the attacks have combed through WordPress accounts and attempted to guess passwords via brute force.

Their program cycles WordPress accounts through 1,000 common passwords. While this tactic is useless against savvy users, enough people utilize easy-to-guess passwords to make it worthwhile for the hackers.

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Will the next 9/11 be digital?

via digitaltrends.com

Just as our everyday lives depend on the Internet, the backbones of nations increasingly rely on the Internet for communication, coordination, and financial transactions. But relying on the Internet also exposes those core functions threats from anywhere in the world. Need examples? Two weeks ago, some 30,000 systems at South Korean banks and broadcasters were wiped out in a coordinated attack – it might have come from North Korea, but investigators are still chasing basic details. Last week, a cyber-brawl apparently between Spamhaus and CyberBunker has caused localized collateral damage and may have shaken some top-tier Internet providers.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper offered an assessment of current worldwide threats to the United States. The list included terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, competition for dwindling natural resources, and even pandemics. But the first item? Cyber threats.

Why are online threats now the top priority for U.S. national security – the first time they’ve outranked terror networks? And how could the U.S.’s heightened stance impact everyday use of the Internet?

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Inside the Biggest Cyberattack in History

via mashable.com

A cyberattack originally targeting a single company is now being described by experts as one of the biggest Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks in Internet history. The assault, which recently began impacting elements of the Internet's physical infrastructure, has been dragging down Internet speeds in Europe — but what makes this type of attack different from all other attacks?

First, some background: The attacks originally targeted a European anti-spam company called Spamhaus, which blacklists what it considers sources of email spam and sells those blacklists to Internet Service Providers. The attack began early last week as waves of large but typical DDoS assaults shortly after Spamhaus blacklisted Cyberbunker, a controversial web hosting company. Cyberbunker has not directly taken responsibility for the attacks against Spamhaus.

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The Biggest Cyber Attack In History Is Taking Place Right Now

via businessinsider.com

Internet speeds around the world have noticeably slowed down due to a massive "distributed denial of service" attack, reports the BBC.

These DDoS attacks bombard targeted web servers with so much dummy traffic that people trying to access a site for legitimate purposes are unable to do so. It's most analogous to a traffic jam on a highway with no one able to move.

The BBC says that security experts are describing it as "the biggest cyber-attack in history."

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South Korea Cyber Attack Heightens Tensions In Hair-Trigger Region

via readwrite.com

No one is at all clear at all about the origins of a purported cyber attack against South Korean media and financial organizations yesterday, which left broadcaster and bank networks paralyzed for hours. The obvious culprit is a state-sponsored attack from North Korea, but even if that nation isn't directly responsible, it may not make a difference, given the heightened tensions in the region.

According to reports, three South Korean TV networks, KBS, MBS and YTN, as well as Shinhan Bank and Nonghyup Bank, reported that their networks had suddenly been shut down on Wednesday afternoon, local time. The takedown was apparently not from a distributed denial-of-service (DDOS) attack, but a virus that has apparently infected machines in these organizations and delivered its payload simultaneously. There were scattered reports of users seeing skulls on the screens of the affected machines before they shut down, anecdotal evidence that malware was indeed the cause.

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US national security advisor warns China: 'We will take action... against cyber threats'

via theverge.com

The White House is talking tougher in its growing public conflict with China over cyber attacks on American businesses, which have reportedly been linked back to hackers operating within China's boundaries. On Monday, Tom Donilon, the US national security advisor to President Obama, gave a lengthy address to the Asia Society in New York City, delivering the White House's sternest warning yet to China that the US could retaliate against suspected Chinese cyber attacks if and when it sees fit.

"Increasingly, US 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," Donilon said in his prepared remarks posted on The White House website. "The international community cannot afford to tolerate such activity from any country. As the President said in the State of the Union, we will take action to protect our economy against cyber threats."

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Website Shows Cyberattacks as They Happen

via mashable.com

The Internet can be a dangerous place, and now you can see just how dangerous it gets — in real time, no less.

Deutsche Telekom, a German telecommunications company, has developed a website that allows users to monitor cyberattacks as they happen.

Sicherheitstacho.eu (loosely translated as "security tachometer") displays events as they happen, giving the time of the attack, country of origin and the intended target. While watching the site can be quite hypnotic, its relevance for the everyday user is limited (unless your website or network is currently under attack, in which case, the site still probably won't help much).

For Deutsche Telekom, however, the information will be invaluable. Sicherheitstacho allows the company to compile data for thousands of incidents daily, which will grant insight into common targets and attacker demographics.

Far and away the most belligerent country is Russia, with an impressive 2.4 million cyberattacks launched in February 2012. Taiwan comes in a distant second with 900,000, followed by the website's native Germany at 780,000 and the Ukraine with 566,000. The United States takes sixth place, with more than 355,000 attacks launched from its soil.

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US may consider military action, financial sanctions as repercussions for cyber attacks

via thenextweb.com

Today at the RSA cybersecurity conference, the White House’s cybersecurity leader Michael Daniel stated that the United States has a range of options under consideration for responding to cyber incursions.

According to The Hill’s Jennifer Martinez, the list of possible actions includes “financial sanctions, visa restrictions and military action.” TNW parses that as meaning that no method of possible deterrence has been removed from possibility. This is the proverbial ‘all options on the table’ moment.

Cybersecurity, long a simmering issue in American politics and policy, has reached a new plane of intensity following both first-hands reports by media and technology companies of hacking, but also a report by Mandiant, a security firm, published in the New York Times that indicated that a Chinese military unit was committing aggressive acts of hacking that infringed on American corporate interests and infrastructure points.

That report was corroborated in no small way recently when Senator Dianne Feinstein stated the following: “I read the Mandiant report. I’ve also read other reports, classified out of Intelligence, and I think the Mandiant Report, which is now unclassified, it’s public, is essentially correct.”

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US prepares economic countermeasures in light of recent cyberattacks

via theverge.com

The recent rash of hacking attacks shows no sign of slowing — Apple today announced it had fallen victim to the trend — but the US government is preparing some measures to help address the situation. The Associated Press is reporting that the White House will release a new strategy tomorrow, outlining penalties, fines, and trade restrictions designed to deter countries from participating in such efforts.

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Cyber Attacks Against Journalists Are On The Rise, Says Advocacy Group

via techcrunch.com

More journalists are now the target of cyber attacks, said the Committee to Protect Journalists. CPJ deputy director Robert Mahoney said cyber attacks on individuals and news organizations have increased notably over the past few years and that the practice serves as easy and inexpensive censorship. In a press conference with reporters, Mahoney cited the recent attacks on The New York Times, the Washington Post, Bloomberg News and The Wall Street Journal by Chinese hackers, but said other news organizations and journalists in Africa, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and other regions had also been subjected to cyberattacks.

Attacks by hackers have ramped up so much that in a report last June, the CPJ said that it’s now “open season on online journalists,” with nation-states using customized software to exploit security flaws on personal computers and consumer Internet services in order to spy on users. Countries suspected in spying include the U.S., Israel and China. Journalists working in the latter country reported receiving regular warnings on their Gmail that their account had been targeted by what Google said was a “state-sponsored attack.”

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Anonymous Attacks Department Of Justice Website and Threatens Worse Over Aaron Swartz's Suicide

via gizmodo.com

Since Aaron Swartz's suicide two weeks ago—an incident largely blamed on the charges being levied against him—the 'net has been grieving. And Anonymous has been doing that in its own special way: tearing shit up. In the latest of several attacks, they took down the U.S. Justice Department's Sentencing Commission site and left behind a video threatening more cyber-carnage.

The defaced website which usually contains sentencing guidelines for federal crimes instead displayed a 10-minute video and written copy of the same message posted below it. First and foremost, it reiterated characteristic Anonymous rage at the situation saying...

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When is a cyberattack an act of war?

via washingtonpost.com

On the night of Oct. 11, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta stood inside the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, housed in a former aircraft carrier moored at a New York City pier, and let an audience of business executives in on one of the most important conversations inside the U.S. government.

He warned of a “cyber Pearl Harbor,” evoking one of the most tragic moments in American history, when Japanese bombers unleashed a devastating surprise attack on a U.S. naval base in Hawaii on Dec. 7, 1941, killing 2,402 Americans and wounding 1,282 more. President Franklin D. Roosevelt called it “a date which will live in infamy” as he asked Congress for a declaration of war.

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10 Photos From The Destroyed U.S. Consulate In Libya

via buzzfeed.com

Tuesday's devastating protest in Benghazi killed four Americans and left the consulate in ruins.

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Obama Ordered Devastating Cyberattacks Against Iran

via gizmodo.com

In June of 2010, a security firm in Belarus called VirusBlokAda reported the first known citing of what we know now as Stuxnet. It was, simply put, the most advanced malware of all time. Its target? Iran. Its origin? Unknown. Until now.

The New York Times is reporting today that the source of the worm so advanced some thought it was alien weapon was us. And it wasn't the first.

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Virus Attack Kills Iranian Oil

via gizmodo.com

Iran may or may not be decoding American drone data right now, but one thing's for sure: someone cyber-punched the crap out of its oil infrastructure. Internet war!

The BBC reports that 90% of the country's oil export network is now out of commission...

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Anonymous hackers vow more attacks against China sites

via theglobeandmail.com

The activist hacker group Anonymous plans to launch further attacks on Chinese government websites in a bid to uncover corruption and lobby for human rights, a member of the group said on Monday.

Anonymous, a loosely knit group that has attacked financial and government websites around the world, hacked into Chinese government websites last week, defacing several, media reports said.

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How the Army Trains Soldiers For an IED Attack

via gizmodo.com

Not all of the US military's simulators are designed for pilots. At the Camp Atterbury Joint Maneuver Training Center combatants can now experience what it's like when an improvised explosive device goes off, and how to deal with the aftermath.

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Facebook: Browser bug, not Anonymous, behind sex and violence spam attack

via digitaltrends.com

Facebook's problem with spam that spread images of graphic violence and hardcore pornography was the result of browser vulnerability, the company says. Hacker collective Anonymous was not behind the attack, which is now mostly under control.

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Urban Nuclear Attack Scenarios Examined

via news.discovery.com

Scientists now have a clearer answer to one of the atomic age's more terrifying questions: How would a nuclear detonation affect a major metropolitan environment?

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Officials confirm 'credible but unconfirmed' 9/11 threat

via cnn.com

U.S. officials have "specific, credible but unconfirmed" information about a potential al Qaeda threat against the United States coinciding with the 10th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
"We have received credible information very recently about a possible plot directed at the homeland that seems to be focused on New York and Washington, D.C.," a senior administration official told CNN Thursday.

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