NSA And FBI Blame Russia For Massive ‘Brute Force’ Attacks On Microsoft 365

source: forbes.com

American intelligence and law enforcement agencies have pointed the finger at a Kremlin-backed hacking crew for a two-year campaign to break into Microsoft Office 365 accounts.

The NSA, FBI and DHS, in a joint report with  U.K. intelligence, placed the blame for the widespread “brute force” attacks on Fancy Bear, a group best known for its breach of the Democratic National Committee in the lead up to the 2016 Presidential Elections. Brute force attacks see repeated attempts to guess the usernames and passwords for email and cloud accounts.

Department of Justice Seizes $2.3 Million in Cryptocurrency Paid to the Ransomware Extortionists Darkside

source: justice.gov

The United States suffered 65,000 ransomware attacks last year – or over seven an hour. And it will likely get worse.

What was previously seen as a nuisance is fast becoming a national security problem as cybercriminals target key parts of the country’s infrastructure. A recent attack on Colonial Pipeline sparked panic buying that emptied many gas stations across the Southeast, while another attack on JBS raised fears about the domestic beef supply.

Continue reading “Ransomware: A National Security Threat” →

Feds Secretly Ran a Fake Encrypted Chat App and Busted Over 800 Criminals

source: thehackernews.com

In an unprecedented sting operation, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Australian Federal Police (AFP) ran an encrypted chat service called ANoM for nearly three years to intercept 27 million messages exchanged between criminal gang members globally.

Dubbed Operation Ironside (AFP), Operation Greenlight (Europol), and Operation Trojan Shield (FBI), the long-term covert probe into transnational and serious organized crime culminated in the arrests of 224 offenders on 526 charges in Australia, with 55 luxury vehicles, eight tons of cocaine, 22 tons of cannabis and cannabis resin, 250 firearms, and more than $48 million in various currencies and cryptocurrencies seized in raids around the world.

A total of more than 800 arrests have been reported across 18 countries, including New Zealand, Germany, and Sweden. Europol called it the “biggest ever law enforcement operation against encrypted communication.”

Continue reading “Feds Secretly Ran a Fake Encrypted Chat App and Busted Over 800 Criminals” →

Critical Infrastructure Under Attack

source: darkreading.com

Several recent cyber incidents targeting critical infrastructure prove that no open society is immune to attacks by cybercriminals. The recent shutdown of key US energy pipeline marks just the tip of the iceberg.

Critical infrastructure is becoming more dependent on networks of interconnected devices. For example, only a few decades ago, power grids were essentially operational silos. Today, most grids are closely interlinked — regionally, nationally, and internationally as well as with other industrial sectors. And in contrast to discrete cyberattacks on individual companies, a targeted disruption of critical infrastructure can result in extended supply shortages, power blackouts, public disorder, and other serious consequences.