One Article Review
| Source |  SecurityWeek |
|---|---|
| Identifiant | 528748 |
| Date de publication | 2018-03-19 13:51:04 (vue: 2018-03-19 13:51:04) |
| Titre | Russian Cyberspies Hacked Routers in Energy Sector Attacks (Recyclage) |
| Texte | A cyberespionage group believed to be operating out of Russia hijacked a Cisco router and abused it to obtain credentials that were later leveraged in attacks targeting energy companies in the United Kingdom, endpoint security firm Cylance reported on Friday. The United States last week announced sanctions against Russian spy agencies and more than a dozen individuals for trying to influence the 2016 presidential election and launching cyberattacks, including the NotPetya attack and campaigns targeting energy firms. Shortly after, US-CERT updated an alert from the DHS and FBI to officially accuse the Russian government of being responsible for critical infrastructure attacks launched by a threat actor tracked as Dragonfly, Crouching Yeti and Energetic Bear. A warning issued last year by the UK's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) revealed that hackers had targeted the country's energy sector, abusing the Server Message Block (SMB) protocol and attempting to harvest victims' passwords. An investigation conducted by Cylance showed that the attacks were likely carried out by the Dragonfly group. The security firm has observed a series of phishing attacks aimed at the energy sector in the UK using two documents claiming to be resumes belonging to one Jacob Morrison. When opened, the documents fetched a template file and attempted to automatically authenticate to a remote SMB server controlled by the attackers. This template injection technique was detailed last year by Cisco Talos following Dragonfly attacks on critical infrastructure organizations in the United States. When a malicious document is opened using Microsoft Word, it loads a template file from the attacker's SMB server. When the targeted device connects to the SMB server, it will attempt to authenticate using the current Windows user's domain credentials, basically handing them over to the attackers. In a separate analysis of such attacks, Cylance noted that while the credentials will in most cases be encrypted, even an unsophisticated attacker will be able to recover them in a few hours or days, depending on their resources. According to Cylance, Dragonfly used this technique to harvest credentials that were later likely used to hack the systems of energy sector organizations in the United Kingdom. One interesting aspect noticed by Cylance researchers is that the IP address of the SMB server used in the template injection attack was associated with a major state-owned energy congl |
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| Envoyé | Oui |
| Condensat | 2018 access attacks bay ciso conference cyber cyberspies cyberwarfare endpoint energy forum hacked half ics identity industry links moon network news oct register routers russian scada sector security sponsored tags: usa vulnerabilities |
| Tags | |
| Stories | NotPetya |
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Les reprises de l'article (1):
| Source | SecurityWeek |
|---|---|
| Identifiant | 528234 |
| Date de publication | 2018-03-19 10:34:04 (vue: 2018-03-19 10:34:04) |
| Titre | US Accuses Russian Government of Hacking Infrastructure (Recyclage) |
| Texte | The Russian government is behind a sustained hacking effort to take over the control systems of critical US infrastructure like nuclear power plants and water distribution, according to US cyber security investigators. A technical report released by the Department of Homeland Security on Thursday singled out Moscow as directing the ongoing effort that could give the hackers the ability to sabotage or shut down energy and other utility plants around the country. It was the first time Washington named the Russian government as behind the attacks which have been taking place for nearly three years. The allegation added to a series of accusations of political meddling and hacking against Russia that led to Washington announcing fresh sanctions against the country this week. "Since at least March 2016, Russian government cyber actors ... targeted government entities and multiple US critical infrastructure sectors, including the energy, nuclear, commercial facilities, water, aviation, and critical manufacturing sectors," the report from the DHS Computer Emergency Readiness Team said. DHS, together with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, said the Russian hackers targeted two groups -- the infrastructure operators themselves, and also peripheral "staging targets" which could be used as stepping stone into the intended targets. Staging targets included third party firms supplying services and support to the main targets but may have less secure networks. The hackers had a deep toolbox of methods to enter target systems, they said. The hacking effort paralleled Russia's alleged operation to interfere with the 2016 US presidential election and continue with online media manipulation throughout 2017. DHS did not identify specific targets which the Russians broke into. But it said they were able to monitor the behavior of control systems, install their own software, collect the credentials of authorized users, monitor communications, and create administrator accounts to run the systems. - Sustained attack - The government has been issuing warnings to operators of US infrastructure -- power producers and distributors, water systems, and others -- about foreign hacking since 2016. In January a White House report said cyberattacks cost the United States between $57 billion and $109 billion in 2016, and warned that the broader economy could be hurt if the situation worsens. It pointed the finger mainly at attackers from Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea. |
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| Envoyé | Oui |
| Condensat | 2018 accuses bay ciso conference cyber forum government hacking half ics industry infrastructure links moon news oct register russian scada security sponsored tags: usa |
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L'article ressemble à 1 autre(s) article(s):
| Src | Date (GMT) | Titre | Description | Tags | Stories | Notes |
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2018-03-26 14:12:04 | (Déjà vu) Pentagon Looks to Counter Ever-stealthier Warfare (lien direct) | The US military has for years enjoyed a broad technological edge over its adversaries, dominating foes with superior communications and cyber capabilities. Now, thanks to rapid advances by Russia and China, the gap has shrunk, and the Pentagon is looking at how a future conflict with a "near-peer" competitor might play out. Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson recently warned that both Russia and China are experimenting with ways to take out the US military's satellites, which form the backbone of America's warfighting machine. "They know that we are dominant in space, that every mission the military does depends on space, and in a crisis or war they are demonstrating capabilities and developing capabilities to seek to deny us our space assets," Wilson said. "We're not going to let that happen." The Pentagon is investing in a new generation of satellites that will provide the military with better accuracy and have better anti-jamming capabilities. Such technology would help counter the type of "asymmetric" warfare practised by Russia, which combines old-school propaganda with social media offensives and cyber hacks. Washington has blamed Moscow for numerous cyber attacks, including last year's massive ransomware attack, known as NotPetya, which paralyzed thousands of computers around the world. US cyber security investigators have also accused the Russian government of a sustained effort to take control of critical US infrastructure systems, including the energy grid. Russia denies involvement and so far, such attacks have been met with a muted US military response. - Public relations shutdown - General John Hyten, who leads US Strategic Command (STRATCOM), told lawmakers the US has "not gone nearly far enough" in the cyber domain. He also warned that the military still does not have clear authorities and rules of engagement for when and how it can conduct offensive cyber ops. "Cyberspace needs to be looked at as a warfighting domain, and if somebody threatens us in cyberspace, we need to have the authorities to respond," Hyten told lawmakers this week. Hyten's testimony comes after Admiral Michael Rogers, who heads both the NSA -- the leading US electronic eavesdropping agency -- and the new US Cyber Command, last month said President Donald Trump had no | Guideline | NotPetya |