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This is very serious, and we are all ignoring it.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304259304576373391101828876.html
In 2009, this newspaper reported that the control systems for the U.S. electric power grid had been hacked and secret openings created so that the attacker could get back in with ease. Far from denying the story, President Obama publicly stated that “cyber intruders have probed our electrical grid.”
There is no money to steal on the electrical grid, nor is there any intelligence value that would justify cyber espionage: The only point to penetrating the grid’s controls is to counter American military superiority by threatening to damage the underpinning of the U.S. economy. Chinese military strategists have written about how in this way a nation like China could gain an equal footing with the militarily superior United States.
What would we do if we discovered that Chinese explosives had been laid throughout our national electrical system? The public would demand a government response. If, however, the explosive is a digital bomb that could do even more damage, our response is apparently mutedespecially from our government.
Congress hasn’t passed a single piece of significant cybersecurity legislation. When the Chinese deny senior U.S. officials’ claims (made in private) that Beijing is stealing terabytes of data in the U.S., Congress should not leave the American people in doubt. It should demand answers to basic questions:
What does the administration know about the role of the Chinese government in cyberattacks on public and private computer networks in the United States?
If there is widespread Chinese hacking of sensitive U.S. networks and critical infrastructure, what has the administration said about it to the Chinese government? Specifically, did President Obama raise concerns about these attacks with Chinese President Hu Jintao at the White House this spring?
Since defensive measures such as antivirus software and firewalls appear unable to stop the Chinese penetrations, does the administration have any plan to address these cyberattacks?
In private, U.S. officials admit that the government has no strategy to stop the Chinese cyberassault. Rather than defending American companies, the Pentagon seems focused on “active defense,” by which it means offense. That cyberoffense might be employed if China were ever to launch a massive cyberwar on the U.S. But in the daily guerrilla cyberwar with China, our government is engaged in defending only its own networks. It is failing in its responsibility to protect the rest of America from Chinese cyberattack.
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71 Replies
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That is why I support the Obama Administration is saying that a widespread attack on our net is a declaration of war.
I am not sure, the way it is structured today, that our net could be protected.
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This is all part of th groundwork for the false flag attack on the cybersecurity, which will be used to turn off the internet as safety measure.
Even democrat stalwarts like james carville are anticpating violence and societal breakdown when the economy totally collapses.
The chicken littles like dr sard and other village idiots are required to wake up the mass thru mainstream media proproganda. I mean if you get your news from the Wall street journal you deserve the economic devestation that will be unleashed on your blind as a bat dumbass.
In fact if you still in the modern inetrnet era , use the mainstream media for true information, versus perusing it to find out what we are supposed to be thinking, dont be surprised when the next false falg involves your neighborhood and a nuclear event.
Eventually, the debt burden is simply going to be too much, and the most obvious solution will be to default. Politicians will make China out to be the enemy and they will probably invent a war just to have an excuse to default on Chinese owned debt. Americans will wave the flag and celebrate defaulting on their enemies.
wake up sheeple!
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people are aware of it, it’s just that our government either cannot stem the tide of these attacks because our grids are old and don’t have the necessary security features (and retrofitting it would be expensive), or the the threat of a cyberattack isn’t clear and present enough for most politicians.
having lived in the south after several powerful hurricanes, it’s amazing how fast everything turns to mad max when the power, water, and law enforcement breaks down.
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There are too many “if”s, “in private”s, and leading questions in the wsj piece for it to be considered news reporting. It’s just an editorial that postulates a fictitious scenario that’s based on a 2009 acknowledgement that [i]”cyber intruders have probed our electric grid”[/i] in an attempt to prolong their hairbrain sensationalistic reporting, true to archetypical Murdoch style (“scare the hell out of ’em so they keep coming back for more”).
In truth, THOUSANDS of people have access to our electric grid, and orders of magnitude more than that have access to internet bridges and nodes and a slew of them continuously tray as hard as they can to break through any firewall they encounter. Hackers shut down huge web sites almost every day with high volume e-bombs. Highschool kids get into servers in the Pentagon. Don’t you think if hackers could shut down a grid then surely they WOULD have done that by now? You think it requires some kind of 21st Century hi-tech military op from CHINA to accomplish that?!
That wsj article sounds suspiciously like Thomas Gabriel’s fire sale in Live Free Or Die Hard. It also reminds me of all the post-9/11 scares about the “possibility” that water reservoirs all over the USA could get poisoned by terrorists within our borders. Or being told to duct tape my windows.
Makes for great sci-fi, but I’m afraid it’s yet another reason for the lamestream media to breed fear in the public.
Having said that, I also believe the electric grid and internet should be protected by our national defense budget.
You know, just in case…lol.
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No, even the Defense Department thinks it is a real threat.
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Odd, I didn’t expect this sort of reaction.
Seems like several think this is some sort of conspiracy theory.
To be clear – Clarke is the former National Security Advisor – not some birther
He presents documented cases. (more in his book than in this one OP ED). He describes avalanches of probes aimed some of our critical system computers coming from China and North Korea, apparently designed to see where weaknesses lie. He points out that a poor country like North Korea can get a lot of bang for their buck without much fear of retribution by using cyber warfare against us.
I find this credible, because I have seen how blindly network administrators have trusted that computer networks will be functioning ALL the time. We have had some near disasters in our hospital when perfectly predictable occurrences actually occurred, and the people responsible for the emergency response had not anticipated even the first order problems.
For example – our imaging network went down hard (and it will happen). The adminstrators did not understand that that meant that the ER had to be closed. They fought us about it, until they finally saw that there was NO WAY to get images out of the imaging machines. The people who run these things are very short sighted, and can’t fully understand all the second and third order effects (not that I can see them all, I just see that it is very difficult to do)
I also have seen that high school kids can hack their way into the defense department computers. What do you think a dedicated professional force could do? We planted a virus in Iran’s government security computers that shut down their nuclear program for months. The Soviet Union crippled Estonia a few years back.
But that’s OK, you don’t have to believe it. I just am surprised that anyone wouldn’t think this is a very credible threat.
Only a portion of the entries from wikipedia:
In April 2007, Estonia came under cyber attack in the wake of relocation of the Bronze Soldier of Tallinn.[50] The largest part of the attacks were coming from Russia and from official servers of the authorities of Russia.[51] In the attack, ministries, banks, and media were targeted.[52][53]
In September 2007, Israel carried out an airstrike on Syria dubbed Operation Orchard. U.S. industry and military sources speculated that the Israelis may have used technology similar to that used by the United States Suter airborne network attack system to allow their planes to pass undetected by radar into Syria.[54][55] Suter is a computer program designed to interfere with the computers of integrated air defense systems[56]
In 2007, the United States government suffered an “an espionage Pearl Harbor” in which an “unknown foreign power…broke into all of the high tech agencies, all of the military agencies, and downloaded terabytes of information.”[57]
In 2007 the website of the Kyrgyz Central Election Commission was defaced during its election. The message left on the website read “This site has been hacked by Dream of Estonian organization”. During the election campaigns and riots preceding the election, there were cases of Denial-of-service attacks against the Kyrgyz ISPs.[58]
Russian, South Ossetian, Georgian and Azerbaijani sites were attacked by hackers during the 2008 South Ossetia War.[59]In 2008, a hacking incident occurred on a U.S. military facility in the Middle East. United States Deputy Secretary of Defense William J. Lynn III had the Pentagon release a document, which reflected that a “malicious code” on a USB flash drive spread undetected on both classified and unclassified Pentagon systems, establishing a digital beachhead, from which data could be transferred to servers under foreign control. “It was a network administrator’s worst fear: a rogue program operating silently, poised to deliver operational plans into the hands of an unknown adversary. This … was the most significant breach of U.S. military computers ever and it served as an important wake-up call”, Lynn wrote in an article for Foreign Affairs.[60]
On March 28, 2009, a cyber spy network, dubbed GhostNet, using servers mainly based in China has tapped into classified documents from government and private organizations in 103 countries, including the computers of Tibetan exiles,[61][62] but China denies the claim.[63][64]
In July 2009, there were a series of coordinated cyber attacks against major government, news media, and financial websites in South Korea and the United States.[65] While many thought the attack was directed by North Korea, one researcher traced the attacks to the United Kingdom.[66]
In December 2009 through January 2010, a cyber attack, dubbed Operation Aurora, was launched from China against Google and over 20 other companies.[67] Google said the attacks originated from China and that it would “review the feasibility” of its business operations in China following the incident. According to Google, at least 20 other companies in various sectors had been targeted by the attacks. McAfee spokespersons claim that “this is the highest profile attack of its kind that we have seen in recent memory.”[28]
In May 2010, In response to Indian Cyber Army defacing Pakistani websites, 1000+ Indian websites were defaced by PakHaxors, TeaMp0isoN, UrduHack & ZCompany Hacking Crew, among those were the Indian CID website, local government of Kerala, Box Office of Indian, Brahmos missile website, Indian HP helpdesk, Indian Institute of Science, and The Indian Directorate General of Shipping.
In September 2010, Iran was attacked by the Stuxnet worm, thought to specifically target its Natanz nuclear enrichment facility. The worm is said to be the most advanced piece of malware ever discovered and significantly increases the profile of cyberwarfare.[68][69]
In October 2010, Iain Lobban, the director of the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), said Britain faces a real and credible threat from cyber attacks by hostile states and criminals and government systems are targeted 1,000 times each month, such attacks threatened Britains economic future, and some countries were already using cyber assaults to put pressure on other nations.[70]
On November 26 2010, a group calling itself the Indian Cyber Army hacked the websites belonging to the Pakistan Army and the others belong to different ministries, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Finance, Pakistan Computer Bureau, Council of Islamic Ideology, etc. The attack was done as a revenge of the Mumbai terrorist attack which had confirmed the involvement of Pakistani terrorists.[71]
On December 4 2010, a group calling itself the Pakistan Cyber ArmI find the 2007 incident, where someone was able to download terabytes of our defense information, particularly disturbing.
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Oh please, this is standard Murdoch fodder.
“[b]Probe[/b]” is meaningless in this context. Exactly what “probe” are they really referring to that makes it a matter of national defense?
“[b]Defense information[/b]” is meaningless in this context too. Exactly what “information” are they talking about?
If what Clarke is saying is true about China systematically “attacking” the computer networks of the US, he’s either breeching classified info, or making it up. Everything he says is purely inferential without any real smoking gun. Using meaningless terms like “in all probability” and “hard to believe” and “all the hallmarks of Chinese” is irresponsible coming from a guy with his supposed intelligence. But it IS the stuff that Murdoch is made of.
Clarke’s comment that [i]”the Gmail accounts of senior U.S. officials had been compromised from a server in China” [/i]has nothing to do with [b]”targeting of specific U.S. officials”! [/b]It has to do with China protecting China by making sure that the servers within its borders are not harboring communications with the “enemy”. Is any of us so naive to think that we aren’t doing the exact same thing [u]here[/u], on servers in the USA that are suspected to contain email communications by/to important Chinese officials? Is China not entitled to engage in its own national defense by securing servers within its own borders?
And why would the US government be so coy and candid about it? If the feds wanted us to understand how big of a threat it really is, then tell us specifically how big a problem it really is. And tell us what precautions to take to avoid such an act of war. And I don’t mean give us a public service Obama speech. Throw a civil defense logo on the screen and tell us what we have to do to PREVENT what they think really is going to happen, and cut all the scare tactics. I mean, did the hackers download the launch codes, or did they manage to cleverly break their way into the Pentagon dining hall lunch menu on an unclassified server?
I think what we’re seeing in the wsj piece is a Richard Clarke in desperation as he tries to keep his consulting company solvent during a crumbling economy. He still has a mother-of-all-sour-grapes grudge about how the Bush admin marginalized him for exposing their poor 9/11 response in the moments after the attack. I don’t necessarily blame him for feeling that way, but we must apply Occam’s Razor to this and stop all this wild and unnecessary speculation.
The Wall Street Journal is irresponsible for publishing such alarmist bull.
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ORIGINAL: Lux
And why would the US government be so coy and candid about it? If the feds wanted us to understand how big of a threat it really is, then tell us specifically how big a problem it really is.
Probably wouldn’t matter to you – you would reject it anyway. The material I posted are documented incidents. Things in the public domain. It goes without saying that there is much more we don’t know. Clearly the pentagon takes it seriously, having made it an act of war, but I suppose that their concern seems overblown to you.
And tell us what precautions to take to avoid such an act of war. And I don’t mean give us a public service Obama speech. Throw a civil defense logo on the screen and tell us what we have to do to PREVENT what they think really is going to happen, and cut all the scare tactics. I mean, did the hackers download the launch codes, or did they manage to cleverly break their way into the Pentagon dining hall lunch menu on an unclassified server?
I think what we’re seeing in the wsj piece is a Richard Clarke in desperation as he tries to keep his consulting company solvent during a crumbling economy. He still has a mother-of-all-sour-grapes grudge about how the Bush admin marginalized him for exposing their poor 9/11 response in the moments after the attack. I don’t necessarily blame him for feeling that way, but we must apply Occam’s Razor to this and stop all this wild and unnecessary speculation.
You may be surprised to hear that I cannot answer your questions as to what was stolen, because they were classified documents (duh). Presumably terabytes of classified info contains things we don’t want anyone to know.
Your assertions about Clarke are within the realm of possibility, of course. However the incidents above DID happen, it is not as if this threat is purely a theoretical one. It is clear that other govts are actively working on this and actually using it. It is also clear that we are quite vulnerable to it. Given that we are vulnerable, and their are govts who would love to take us down, why wouldn’t they use it?
So, In conclusion, as my Chairman once said to the chairman of surgery after he challenged an interpretation in front of a large audience: “Dr. ___, If you can’t see that, I can’t help you”
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Does this plane look familiar? Looks a lot like the US F-22, but it isn’t. It is China’s new stealth fighter. I would bet that the inside systems are also copies. It should make you wonder how they got the plans? I have no doubt that they are already deep into our intelligence. I also would bet they already have the capability to disable critical systems. I do find this troublesome.
[image]local://3383/C4363DF3471C4D64B6D28217D088C955.jpg[/image]
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ORIGINAL: aldadoc
Lux – Does this plane look familiar? Looks a lot like the US F-22, but it isn’t. It is China’s new stealth fighter. I would bet that the inside systems are also copies. It should make you wonder how they got the plans? If it doesn’t worry you how they got this, it should.
[image]local://3383/C4363DF3471C4D64B6D28217D088C955.jpg[/image]
Surely you must be joking.
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Actually, Defense analysts think certain portions of the plane were stolen. It was in the press last year some time. Don’t have any idea if has anything to do with hackers.
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ORIGINAL: MISTRAD
Don’t have any idea if has anything to do with hackers.
Exactly!
Sheesh.-
So, you are willing to flippantly dismiss the possibility that this intelligence was gained through hacking? Sheeesh!
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I don’t think we know where it came from. Maybe we should, you know, try to find out?
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ORIGINAL: aldadoc
So, you are willing to flippantly dismiss the possibility that this intelligence was gained through hacking? Sheeesh!
Absolutely. I’m at least as flippant about that possibility as you are to flippantly assume it WAS due to hacking.
This discussion has crossed into the Silly Zone.
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Ah, yes, ignored.
[link=http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hMZ4N5VICZJ9yuCSowyGaiJKMBJA?docId=CNG.1fd0708a234708869809ecba5fc0c618.371]http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hMZ4N5VICZJ9yuCSowyGaiJKMBJA?docId=CNG.1fd0708a234708869809ecba5fc0c618.371[/link]
May 5, 2011 I believe. Poo-poo’ed by some of AM’s best and brightest. Further proof of how delusional party-line hacks can be. -
You will remember I said it was reasonable. So much for party line hacks.
But that is slightly different that the Chinese Jet fighter issue.
Back to the OP…net warfare is a legitimate concern into the future. We are just in the beginning stages of such concepts today.
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ORIGINAL: MISTRAD
You will remember I said it was reasonable. So much for party line hacks.
But that is slightly different that the Chinese Jet fighter issue.
Back to the OP…net warfare is a legitimate concern into the future. We are just in the beginning stages of such concepts today.
I guess this could mean that you are not a party line hack. Or perhaps not one of AMs best and brightest. [image]http://www.auntminnie.com/forum/micons/m11.gif[/image]
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ORIGINAL: garynuke
ORIGINAL: MISTRAD
You will remember I said it was reasonable. So much for party line hacks.
But that is slightly different that the Chinese Jet fighter issue.
Back to the OP…net warfare is a legitimate concern into the future. We are just in the beginning stages of such concepts today.
I guess this could mean that you are not a party line hack. Or perhaps not one of AMs best and brightest. [image]http://www.auntminnie.com/forum/micons/m11.gif[/image]
MISTRAD has demonstrated himself quite well to be anything other than a party line hack. This country needs more people who vote their common sense abilities rather than sticking to the old, tired repub/democrat ideology. As for the latter part of your quote, don’t forget the AM mantra…MISTRAD/DALAI for president in 2012!!!! (that’s my vote, anyway…)
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ORIGINAL: stir22
MISTRAD has demonstrated himself quite well to be anything other than a party line hack. This country needs more people who vote their common sense abilities rather than sticking to the old, tired repub/democrat ideology. As for the latter part of your quote, don’t forget the AM mantra…MISTRAD/DALAI for president in 2012!!!! (that’s my vote, anyway…)
Yellnick McWawa in 2012!!!!
I’d probably consider a MISTRAD/somebody ticket if Mr. (MS?) McWawa chooses not to run. (I do not know how to be more non-committal than that.) -
ORIGINAL: garynuke
ORIGINAL: MISTRAD
You will remember I said it was reasonable. So much for party line hacks.
But that is slightly different that the Chinese Jet fighter issue.
Back to the OP…net warfare is a legitimate concern into the future. We are just in the beginning stages of such concepts today.
I guess this could mean that you are not a party line hack. Or perhaps not one of AMs best and brightest. [image]http://www.auntminnie.com/forum/micons/m11.gif[/image]
I am certainly NOT one of the best or brightest in anything
This is a common sense thing. Simply put, in years coming there will be a serious threat, and we should think about it. I actually think Obama and the Defense Dept are thinking about these issues.
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[color=#0000FF][i]”‘If you shut down our power grid, maybe we will put a missile down one of your smokestacks’, it quoted a military official as saying.'” [/i][/color]
Huh? A “military official”? “Smokestacks”? And [i]that’s[/i] a basis for Americans to develop a policy position on “cyber attacks”? Missiles in the air and boots on the ground? Was that “military official” born AFTER 9/11 or what?! I assume that so-called “official” is a Democrat, because according to most right-wing pundits, the majority of bad guys trying to hurt the USA don’t have smokestacks anymore. They don’t even have a country with borders. And most of them are pretty darn clever, at least compared to our own “military official” who thinks the cyber attackers are going to leave their business card. What if the bad guys fire their digital weapons from a server within the USA? Whose smokestack does he plan to bomb? Maybe yours or mine?
Look, if the bad guys have the wherewithall to break into a secure server like SAC or NASA or Lockheet Martin or PSEG, I’m pretty sure they not only know how to conceal their own location, they also know how to make the attack appear to have originated someplace else. That “military official” is obviously attempting to dumb down the discussion to the ignorant Americans among us (i.e., most Americans).
The articles being cited in this discussion are so obviously contrived to be vague, simplistic, and unrealistic, that I’m agreeing more and more that this is a chicken dance that’s setting things up so that we have an excuse to default on our enormous loans to China in the name of “national security”. If this is Obama’s ploy, it’s at least as phony as the humanitarian/democracy excuses Bush shoveled when he invaded Iraq with the real intention of cordoning off their oil fields, and perhaps a bit more dangerous.
Next we’ll be declaring war on Japan for polluting our ionosphere with radioactive gas from the Fukushima plant.
Then we’ll try to take Venezuela’s oil fields by fooling Americans into believing Chavez is polluting our national airways with his [i]singing.[/i]
I’m much more worried about food pathogens, the reliability of personal computer hard drives, and my monthly cell phone and cable bills than I am about some outside villain shutting down America in some apocalyptic cyber attack.
But that’s not to say I’m “ignoring it”.
I’m just putting it into perspective.
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ORIGINAL: Dr.Sardonicus
Probably wouldn’t matter to you – you would reject it anyway. The material I posted are documented incidents. Things in the public domain. It goes without saying that there is much more we don’t know. Clearly the pentagon takes it seriously, having made it an act of war, but I suppose that their concern seems overblown to you.
You may be surprised to hear that I cannot answer your questions as to what was stolen, because they were classified documents (duh). Presumably terabytes of classified info contains things we don’t want anyone to know.
Your assertions about Clarke are within the realm of possibility, of course. However the incidents above DID happen, it is not as if this threat is purely a theoretical one. It is clear that other govts are actively working on this and actually using it. It is also clear that we are quite vulnerable to it. Given that we are vulnerable, and their are govts who would love to take us down, why wouldn’t they use it?
So, In conclusion, as my Chairman once said to the chairman of surgery after he challenged an interpretation in front of a large audience: “Dr. ___, If you can’t see that, I can’t help you”
Good Lord, you talk as though the Obama administration just read an NIE titled [i]”China Determined to Hack America”! [/i]
No one here has hinted at being nonchalant about any “potential” threat. Of course we always have to watch our 6. But to say [i]”we are all ignoring it”[/i] is absurd. And to claim that such “if’s” and “probably’s” mean immanent threat or something with just as dire implications is equally absurd. Any qualified software engineer knows they have to develop a security measure that has parity with the sensitivity of the data that needs to be secured. That’s why Microsoft issued security releases virtually every week at one point.
I mean, what would we have to do to make Clarke (or you) believe enough attention is being put into making servers secure in the USA? Is there really ANY measure that could be taken that would make such people satisfied that America is really not so dangerously exposed?
Years ago people said our reservoirs weren’t secure. That our shipping ports are not secure. There’s even the old-standing lore that computer viruses are developed and distributed by the same folks that write the anti-virus software. But we’re still here. The feds have not raise any alert or made any announcements that would lead Americans to believe that any other country is seriously holding the USA in their digital crosshairs.
It’s so convenient to say[i] “I cannot answer your questions as to what was stolen, because they were classified documents”.[/i] I suppose we’re expected to just imagine what that those “documents” were. How easy it is for sensationalistic reporting to have a field day with that.
I’d like to read your “entries from wikipedia”. I can’t seem to find any links to such quotes when searching in google (other than blog entries). We hear stories about servers getting “hacked” into (or hacked by) Russia, China, Estonia, Syria, the mid east, etc., but we’re not told what measures those countries took in the line of data security, we’re not told what the hacked country/company might have done to possibly deserve the hacking, and I have no idea how sensitive the information was that was allegedly “hacked’ into. Simply reporting that computers were “probed” or “targeted” or “hacked” is a sensationalistic ploy and means nothing without also reporting the specifics, like who and how someone or something was “probed” or “targeted”, and the nature of the data that was “hacked”, then how can we possibly glean any actionable meaning from such vagueness. In all of the incidents “reported” to have occurred in the “USA” in your list of wikipedia entries (not your best source of accurate, objective information, by the way) there is no indication that any data which was “probed”, “targeted”, or “hacked” was in any specific way related to national security, or in any way threatened or compromised our way of life.
One key item is that Clarke is a [b][u]former[/u][/b] national security advisor. But unless our [u][b]current[/b][/u] national security advisor gets on the screen with a focused, specific, instructional, warning telling us where to go and what to do, I see no information being reported that should stir up any more concern than just making us aware to stay vigilant with our software and data and not become complacent about security any time soon. OK, message received!
But to turn these kinds of reports into something that could lead the reader to infer[i] “yeah, let’s go after China because we THINK they might be trying to shut down our country’s electric grid in order to compromise our military and our ability to defend our own country”[/i] is paranoid sensationalism solely intended to breed fear in the reader.
Sorry, it just smells like a Fox, to me.
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ORIGINAL: Lux
I’d like to read your “entries from wikipedia”. I can’t seem to find any links to such quotes when searching in google (other than blog entries). We hear stories about servers getting “hacked” into (or hacked by) Russia, China, Estonia, Syria, the mid east, etc.,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberwarfare
So here are the references…. go to the wiki page and you can click and read
Enjoy
^ a b DOD – Cyberspace
^ a b Clarke, Richard A. Cyber War, HarperCollins (2010)
^ a b c “Cyberwar: War in the Fifth Domain” Economist, July 1, 2010
^ Lynn, William J. III. “Defending a New Domain: The Pentagon’s Cyberstrategy”, Foreign Affairs, Sept/Oct. 2010, pp. 97-108
^ a b The Lipman Report, Oct. 15, 2010
^ Clarke, Richard. “China’s Cyberassault on America”, Wall Street Journal, June 15, 2011
^ “Cyberwarrior Shortage Threatens U.S. Security” NPR, July 19, 2010
^ “U.S. military cyberwar: What’s off-limits?” CNET, July 29, 2010
^ Cyberspace and the changing nature of warfare. Strategists must be aware that part of every political and military conflict will take place on the internet, says Kenneth Geers.
^ a b “Clarke: More defense needed in cyberspace” HometownAnnapolis.com, Sept. 24, 2010
^ “Malware Hits Computerized Industrial Equipment” New York Times, Sept. 24, 2010
^ BBC: Spies ‘infiltrate US power grid’
^ CNN: Video
^ Reuters: US concerned power grid vulnerable to cyber-attack
^ Electricity Grid in U.S. Penetrated By Spies
^ Fox News: Video
^ NERC Public Notice
^ Xinhua: China denies intruding into the U.S. electrical grid
^ China Daily: ‘China threat’ theory rejected
^ ABC News: Video
^ The Raw Story: Disconnect electrical grid from Internet, former terror czar Clarke warns
^ a b “White House Cyber Czar: There Is No Cyberwar” Wired magazine, March 4, 2010
^ a b “Cyber-War Nominee Sees Gaps in Law”, New York Times, April 14, 2010
^ Cyber ShockWave Shows U.S. Unprepared For Cyber Threats
^ Drogin, Bob (February 17, 2010). “In a doomsday cyber attack scenario, answers are unsettling”. The Los Angeles Times.
^ Ali, Sarmad (February 16, 2010). “Washington Group Tests Security in Cyber ShockWave'”. The Wall Street Journal.
^ http://blogs.computerworld.com/15603/cyber_shockwave_cnn_bpc_wargame_was_it_a_failure
^ http://www.thetechherald.com/article.php/201007/5245/Report-The-Cyber-ShockWave-and-its-aftermath
^ a b “Google Attack Is Tip Of Iceberg”, McAfee Security Insights, Jan. 13, 2010
^ ANNUAL REPORT TO CONGRESS Military and Security Developments Involving the Peoples Republic of China 2010
^ AP: Pentagon takes aim at China cyber threat
^ a b “The Joint Operating Environment”, Report released, Feb. 18, 2010, pp. 34-36
^ WSJ: U.S. Backs Talks on Cyber Warfare
^ American Forces Press Service: Lynn Explains U.S. Cybersecurity Strategy
^ New York Times: Pentagon to Consider Cyberattacks Acts of War
^ Senators Say Cybersecurity Bill Has No ‘Kill Switch’, informationweek.com, June 24, 2010. Retrieved on June 25, 2010.
^ “US embassy cables: China uses access to Microsoft source code to help plot cyber warfare, US fears”. The Guardian. Retrieved 31 December 2010.
^ DOD – Cyber Counterintelligence
^ CBS News: Pentagon Bill To Fix Cyber Attacks: $100M
^ Senate Legislation Would Federalize Cybersecurity
^ CBS News: White House Eyes Cyber Security Plan
^ [1]
^ [2]
^ “Cyberwar: War in the fifth domain”. The Economist. 1 July 2010. Retrieved 4 July 2010.
^ Smith, George. “Iraqi Cyberwar: an Ageless Joke.” SecurityFocus. 10 Mar. 2003. Web. 11 Oct. 2009. <http://www.securityfocus.com/columnists/147>.
^ <http://www.securityfocus.com/columnists/147>.
^ <http://www.securityfocus.com/columnists/147>.
^ Jim Wolf,”U.S. Air Force prepares to fight in cyberspace”, Reuters, November 3, 2006
^ “Israel Adds Cyber-Attack to IDF”, Military.com, Feb. 10, 2010
^ “China ‘has .75M zombie computers’ in U.S.”. Retrieved 2007-11-30.
^ “War in the fifth domain. Are the mouse and keyboard the new weapons of conflict?”. The Economist. July 1, 2010. Retrieved 2010-07-02. “Important thinking about the tactical and legal concepts of cyber-warfare is taking place in a former Soviet barracks in Estonia, now home to NATOs centre of excellence for cyber-defence. It was established in response to what has become known as Web War 1, a concerted denial-of-service attack on Estonian government, media and bank web servers that was precipitated by the decision to move a Soviet-era war memorial in central Tallinn in 2007.”
^ Estonia accuses Russia of ‘cyber attack’
^ Ian Traynor, ‘Russia accused of unleashing cyberwar to disable Estonia”, The Guardian, May 17, 2007
^ BBC: Cyber-war a growing threat warn experts
^ Fulghum, David A. “Why Syria’s Air Defenses Failed to Detect Israelis”, Aviation Week & Space Technology, 2007-10-03. Retrieved on 2007-10-03.
^ Fulghum, David A. “Israel used electronic attack in air strike against Syrian mystery target”, Aviation Week & Space Technology, 2007-10-08. Retrieved on 2007-10-08.
^ David A. Fulghum, Michael A. Dornheim, and William B. Scott. “Black Surprises”. Aviation Week & Space Technology. Retrieved 2007-10-05.
^ “Cyber War: Sabotaging the System”. CBS News. November 6, 2009.
^ Website of Kyrgyz Central Election Commission hacked by Estonian hackers, Regnum, 14 December 2007
^ Danchev, Dancho (2008-08-11). “Coordinated Russia vs Georgia cyberattack”. ZDnet. Retrieved 2008-11-25.
^ The Washington Post: Pentagon computers attacked with flash drive
^ AP: Researchers: Cyber spies break into govt computers
^ CTV News: Video clip
^ Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Qin Gang’s Remarks on the So-called Chinese Cyber-Spy Ring Invading Computers in Countries
^ embassy scoffs at reports of cyber spying
^ BBC News: New cyberattacks hit South Korea
^ Williams, Martin. UK, Not North Korea, Source of DDOS Attacks, Researcher Says. PC World.
^ “A new approach to China”. Google Inc.. 2010-01-12. Retrieved 17 January 2010.
^ AFP: Stuxnet worm brings cyber warfare out of virtual world
^ [3]
^ The Globe and Mail: Britain faces serious cyber threat, spy agency head warns
^ [4]
^ [5]
^ http://www.politik.org.ua/vid/publcontent.php3?y=7&p=57
^ Tom Gjelten (September 23, 2010). “Seeing The Internet As An ‘Information Weapon'”. National Public Radio. Retrieved September 23, 2010.-
Listen boys if we dont have the ability to defend ourselves from a bearded minimally armed blow back cia asset cave dweller who has single-handedly decimated our economy, thrown us and the rest of the free world into global depression, tuned our constitution and the the bill of rights on it’s head,converted us into a police state where we pump our veterans full of 71 slugs in front of his wife and kids, changed our freedom loving nation into a meek fascist oligarchy, then we certainly dont have the ability to defend ourselves adgainst a determned state actor with more money, more hackers, and more people. We will most definitely lose when put up against such a real foe, escpecially when we cant beat little pip-squeaks like qaddafi or moqtada al sadr.
We are unable to control our our backyard with socialist anti american regimes popping up all over our western hempishpere.
We especially are unable to defend ourself against traitors in our midsts who give Israel our defense secrets. who then just sell them to the chinese for a handsome price to keep their economy afloat. Why should the chinese have to build their own defense innovations when our so called allies will sell them anything they need for pennies on the shekel.
[link=http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&sa=X&ei=2R37TanPKM-zrAe46fXlDw&ved=0CB4QvwUoAQ&q=israel+sell+technology+to+china&spell=1&biw=1101&bih=827]http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&sa=X&ei=2R37TanPKM-zrAe46fXlDw&ved=0CB4QvwUoAQ&q=israel+sell+technology+to+china&spell=1&biw=1101&bih=827[/link]
NYT: [size=2]Israel Selling China Military Technology, C.I.A. Chief Asserts[/size]
[size=2]The United States is refusing to allow Israel to install any more advanced systems in their batch of the F-35 planes — no navigation, sighting or fire control systems, or Israeli-developed missiles, the Maariv newspaper reported. snip
The United States is refusing to allow Israel to install any more advanced systems in their batch of the F-35 planes — no navigation, sighting or fire control systems, or Israeli-developed missiles, the Maariv newspaper reported. snipLast year, the Pentagon announced it was denying Israel access to some technology and information about the development of the Joint Strike Fighter because of concerns that the intelligence could be leaked to third countries.
The United States also initially froze Israeli participation in work to develop the F-35, furious over an Israeli sale of sensitive military technology and equipment to China.
Last year, the Pentagon announced it was denying Israel access to some technology and information about the development of the Joint Strike Fighter because of concerns that the intelligence could be leaked to third countries.The United States also initially froze Israeli participation in work to develop the F-35, furious over an Israeli sale of sensitive military technology and equipment to China.[/size]
Mon Jun 13, 2011 10:2AM
Israel’s military officials announce that eight Israeli jetfighter engines have been stolen from Tel Nof airbase near Tel Aviv.Thought to be bought by china on the blackmarket.
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ORIGINAL: provastin
Listen boys if we dont have the ability to defend ourselves from a bearded minimally armed blow back cia asset cave dweller who has single-handedly decimated our economy, thrown us and the rest of the free world into global depression, tuned our constitution and the the bill of rights on it’s head,converted us into a police state where we pump our veterans full of 71 slugs in front of his wife and kids, changed our freedom loving nation into a meek fascist oligarchy, then we certainly dont have the ability to defend ourselves adgainst a determned state actor with more money, more hackers, and more people. We will most definitely lose when put up against such a real foe, escpecially when we cant beat little pip-squeaks like qaddafi or moqtada al sadr.
We are unable to control our our backyard with socialist anti american regimes popping up all over our western hempishpere.
We especially are unable to defend ourself against traitors in our midsts who give Israel our defense secrets. who then just sell them to the chinese for a handsome price to keep their economy afloat. Why should the chinese have to build their own defense innovations when our so called allies will sell them anything they need for pennies on the shekel.
NYT: Israel Selling China Military Technology, C.I.A. Chief Asserts
The United States is refusing to allow Israel to install any more advanced systems in their batch of the F-35 planes — no navigation, sighting or fire control systems, or Israeli-developed missiles, the Maariv newspaper reported.Last year, the Pentagon announced it was denying Israel access to some technology and information about the development of the Joint Strike Fighter because of concerns that the intelligence could be leaked to third countries.
The United States also initially froze Israeli participation in work to develop the F-35, furious over an Israeli sale of sensitive military technology and equipment to China.
Last year, the Pentagon announced it was denying Israel access to some technology and information about the development of the Joint Strike Fighter because of concerns that the intelligence could be leaked to third countries.Mon Jun 13, 2011 10:2AM
Israel’s military officials announce that eight Israeli jetfighter engines have been stolen from Tel Nof airbase near Tel Aviv.Thought to be bought by china on the blackmarket.
While you may be overplaying the direct impact of the bearded cave-dweller, I agree with your general thesis that our own government is largely to blame for becoming complacent with protecting itself. Just look how the chuminess between British Petroleum and US gov’t regulators facilitated the Gulf leak.
I’m much more concerned that Pakistan still has nuclear weapons.
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– The biggest threat to our electrical grid is the decrepit state of many switching facilities operated by investor owned utilities and powerplant operators. This is made worse by the emergence of more and more low-quality generators such as wind that produce phase and voltage variability that creates assymetrical, difficult to model loads on the grid.
– The leakage of defense technology like the stealth systems happens through employees at the defense contractors whose alliances are not with the US. As everything in the federal goverment is now stamped ‘secret’, the number of folks who need clearances is so large that the clearance system is overburdened and just rubberstamps the applications coming in from contractors. Often non-cleared employees / interns are working next to cleared staff until their clearance goes through and we are led to believe that access to the sensitive technologies is strictly limited to employees with the required level of clearance. Yeah right.-
ORIGINAL: fw
– The biggest threat to our electrical grid is the decrepit state of many switching facilities operated by investor owned utilities and powerplant operators. This is made worse by the emergence of more and more low-quality generators such as wind that produce phase and voltage variability that creates assymetrical, difficult to model loads on the grid.
– The leakage of defense technology like the stealth systems happens through employees at the defense contractors whose alliances are not with the US. As everything in the federal goverment is now stamped ‘secret’, the number of folks who need clearances is so large that the clearance system is overburdened and just rubberstamps the applications coming in from contractors. Often non-cleared employees / interns are working next to cleared staff until their clearance goes through and we are led to believe that access to the sensitive technologies is strictly limited to employees with the required level of clearance. Yeah right.
I think the message is that are [i]plenty[/i] of ways the feds can tighten their ship if they really needed to.
In the words of Boondock Saints II’s Romeo: “It ain’t rocket surgery”.
But of course, because extra security always costs extra money, the feds will do what the feds [u][i]always[/i][/u] do: wait, and be [u]reactive[/u] instead of proactive.
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Another way they are trying to secure the net…
http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2011/06/17/nsa-teams-up-with-internet-carriers.html
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Russian hackers infiltrate DHS and multiple government agencies
But dont worry. Im sure Trump hasnt done anything stupid like hindering the US response by firing the cyber security czar
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There is also the problem of now again, we cant afford to pay for these infrastructure insecurity repairs to the system. Our deficits are so high we just cant spend the money.
But we could use a tax cut.
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Bloomberg has a series of little articles on the hack today …
[link=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-12-18/russia-linked-solarwinds-hack-ensnares-widening-list-of-victims?srnd=premium]Russia-Linked SolarWinds Hack Ensnares Widening List of Victims[/link]
[link=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-12-18/russia-hack-confronts-trump-with-decision-that-echoes-obama-s?srnd=premium]Russia Hack Confronts Trump With Decision That Echoes Obamas[/link]
[link=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-12-17/biden-calls-cybersecurity-a-top-priority-after-russian-hack?srnd=premium]Biden Calls Cybersecurity a Top Priority After Russian Hack[/link]
[link=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-12-18/microsoft-says-its-systems-were-exposed-in-solarwinds-hack?srnd=premium]Microsoft Says Its Systems Were Exposed to SolarWinds Hack[/link] -
Did everyone use “password” as their passwords like Podesta allegedly did? Because how else could Russians hack anything? We dismissed Russian hacking for 4 years & suddenly we are worried?
The barn has been burning for 4 years & now we’re worried about the horses?
The attackers gained access to SolarWinds software before updates of that software were made available to its customers. Unsuspecting customers then downloaded a corrupted version of the software, which included a hidden back door that gave hackers access to the victims network.
This is what is called a supply-chain attack, meaning the pathway into the target networks relies on access to a supplier. Supply-chain attacks require significant resources and sometimes years to execute. They are almost always the product of a nation-state. Evidence in the SolarWinds attack points to the Russian intelligence agency known as the S.V.R., whose tradecraft is among the most advanced in the world.
According to SolarWinds S.E.C. filings, the malware was on the software from March to June. The number of organizations that downloaded the corrupted update could be as many as 18,000, which includes most federal government unclassified networks and more than 425 Fortune 500 companies.
On Dec. 13, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, a division of the Department of Homeland Security itself a victim issued an emergency directive ordering federal civilian agencies to remove SolarWinds software from their networks. -
The problem is not the backdoor in the solarwinds platform. The problem is that nefarious actors had access to so many networks long enough to install other backdoors deeply buried in the systems they got into. Its a good time to be a database expert with a TS-SCI clearance. You give the prime contractor your hourly rate and retainer and they will write a check.
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remember the pilot of battlestar galactica where the cylons had hacked the colonies’ security grid and simply picked off the defenseless colonial fleet by disabling all of their computer systems and automated defenses? i’m guessing that’s exactly what the chinese are planning with all of these cyberattacks on our banks, power grids, politicians’ e-mails, and our defense. hell, they managed to build their own knockoff F-22 fighter.
doesn’t help that we’re bankrolling their economy and all of these military projects because all of our must have toys (iPad 2 anyone?), and the rest of the plastic crap we americans can’t be bothered to build is made in china… if they wanted to they could spy on us with some firmware hidden in the devices–because every high ranking official in our government has to have a crappy iPad 2, new ultimate white iPhone, and other junk.
the sooner china’s economy collapses and their government has to focus on keeping its own citizens from rioting and overthrowing them, the safer we will all be.
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ORIGINAL: BruceCampbell
remember the pilot of battlestar galactica where the cylons had hacked the colonies’ security grid and simply picked off the defenseless colonial fleet by disabling all of their computer systems and automated defenses? i’m guessing that’s exactly what the chinese are planning with all of these cyberattacks on our banks, power grids, politicians’ e-mails, and our defense. hell, they managed to build their own knockoff F-22 fighter.
doesn’t help that we’re bankrolling their economy and all of these military projects because all of our must have toys (iPad 2 anyone?), and the rest of the plastic crap we americans can’t be bothered to build is made in china… if they wanted to they could spy on us with some firmware hidden in the devices–because every high ranking official in our government has to have a crappy iPad 2, new ultimate white iPhone, and other junk.
the sooner china’s economy collapses and their government has to focus on keeping its own citizens from rioting and overthrowing them, the safer we will all be.
I believe that was Captain Lee Adama. He sent out what was essentially an EMP that deactivated the cylons’ own communication to buy him time for at least the hyperspace ships to get outta there.
It also reminds me of ID4, when the humans resorted to morse code because the aliens had taken over our sat-com system and, as Jeff Goldblum said, “They’re using our own satellites against us!”.
I agree that the US is still sitting pretty because we’re still giving China a lot of business in its export industry. But China is very smart, and don’t forget a while back (maybe 10 years ago) when their leader did a world tour that racked up a slew of 99 year contracts to ensure China had an ample supply of fossil fuel from all the oil companies – he even spent a week in the USA locking in long term deals with our own oil companies. If I recall correctly, the US Congress blocked the China deal with Unocal AFTER China made all those other oil deals. I guess it finally occurred to US politicians that China was making deals within our borders that were perhaps deleterious to our own way of life.
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[h1]Defense Bill Strengthens Hacking Defenses …Trump Will Veto It[/h1]
The military spending bill that President Trump is threatening to veto contains provisions that would help protect against the kind of broad Russian hacking discovered in recent days, according to experts and lawmakers, the [link=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/18/us/politics/cyber-defenses-bill-trump.html]New York Times[/link] reports.
But hey…. Gotta keep those Confederate Generals’ names on bases!
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Just another day of chaos in Trump world. First he says it wasn’t Russia doing the hack. Then Pompeo says yes it was …
and now …
[b]Trump Suddenly Shuts Consulates In Russia[/b][/h1] [b]
[/b]
The Trump administration has informed lawmakers of its plan to shutter its two remaining consulates in Russia, [link=https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/18/politics/us-consulates-russia-closures/index.html]CNN[/link] reports.
Their closures would leave the US with only one diplomatic outpost in Russia the US Embassy in Moscow at a time of heightened tensions between the two nations and the notice comes as President-elect Joe Biden prepares to take the helm of the US government.
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Because of course he does …
[link=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-12-19/trump-downplays-massive-hack-floats-china-as-possible-culprit?srnd=premium]Trump Downplays Huge Hack Tied to Russia, Suggests China[/link]-
Dont we run CIA etc… from consulates? Its almost like Trump is in Vlads pocket.
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Trump has been pressuring associates to downplay the Russian hack on television, calling it a hoax behind closed doors.
[link=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/19/us/trump-contradicts-pompeo-over-russias-role-in-hack.html]https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/19/u…e-in-hack.html[/link][i]Defying the conclusions of experts inside and outside the government who say the attack was a cybersecurity breach on a scale Washington has never experienced, Mr. Trump also played down the severity of the hack, saying everything is well under control, insisting that the news media has exaggerated the damage and suggesting, with no evidence, that the real issue was whether the election results had been compromised.[/i]
[i]Mr. Trumps dismissive statements made clear there would be no serious effort by his administration to punish Russia for the hack, and national security officials say they are all but certain to hand off the fallout and response to President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.[/i]
[i]
[/i][i]Privately, the president has called the hack a hoax and pressured associates to downplay its significance and push alternate theories for who is responsible, two people familiar with the exchanges said. Larry Kudlow, his economic adviser, told reporters on Friday, People are saying Russia. I dont know that. It could be other countries.[/i]
[i]The presidents unexplained reluctance to blame Russia which through its embassy in Washington has denied complicity in the attack has only complicated the response, investigators say.[/i]
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Still need to build that Trump Tower in Moscow. Not to mention possible asylum.
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[link=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-12-21/solarwinds-adviser-warned-of-lax-security-years-before-hack-kiyr5iiq?srnd=premium]SolarWinds Adviser Warned of Lax Security Years Before Hack[/link][/h3] A former security adviser said he laid out a plan to improve risk that was ultimately ignored.
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[b]Russian Cyberattack Started Last Year[/b][/h1]
President-elect Biden said that the Russia-tied cyberattack, which formerly was known to go back to as early as March, began at least last year, [link=https://www.axios.com/biden-cyber-attack-russia-2019-289cfd66-f897-474c-a7bc-3ca35da8a6be.html]Axios[/link] reports.
An administration source verified the earlier breach date compounding the work and expense involved in rooting out the intruders, discovering what was lost and fixing for the future. -
[link=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/02/us/politics/russian-hacking-government.html]As Understanding of Russian Hacking Grows, So Does Alarm
[/link]
Interviews with key players investigating what intelligence agencies believe to be an operation by Russias S.V.R. intelligence service revealed these points:
[ul][*] The breach is far broader than first believed. Initial estimates were that Russia sent its probes only into a few dozen of the 18,000 government and private networks they gained access to when they inserted code into network management software made by a Texas company named SolarWinds. But as businesses like Amazon and Microsoft that provide cloud services dig deeper for evidence, it now appears Russia exploited multiple layers of the supply chain to gain access to as many as 250 networks.
[*] The hackers managed their intrusion from servers inside the United States, exploiting legal prohibitions on the National Security Agency from engaging in domestic surveillance and eluding cyberdefenses deployed by the Department of Homeland Security.
[*] Early warning sensors placed by Cyber Command and the National Security Agency deep inside foreign networks to detect brewing attacks clearly failed. There is also no indication yet that any human intelligence alerted the United States to the hacking.
[*] The governments emphasis on election defense, while critical in 2020, may have diverted resources and attention from long-brewing problems like protecting the supply chain of software. In the private sector, too, companies that were focused on election security, like FireEye and Microsoft, are now revealing that they were breached as part of the larger supply chain attack.
[*] SolarWinds, the company that the hackers used as a conduit for their attacks, had a history of lackluster security for its products, making it an easy target, according to current and former employees and government investigators. Its chief executive, Kevin B. Thompson, who is leaving his job after 11 years, has sidestepped the question of whether his company should have detected the intrusion.
[*] Some of the compromised SolarWinds software was engineered in Eastern Europe, and American investigators are now examining whether the incursion originated there, where Russian intelligence operatives are deeply rooted.
[/ul][/QUOTE]
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[link=https://thehill.com/policy/cybersecurity/532756-us-intel-agencies-blame-russia-for-massive-solarwinds-hack]US intel agencies blame Russia for massive SolarWinds hack
[/link]
he FBI, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) attributed the effort to Russia. The group had set up a cyber unified coordination group in December after the compromise of SolarWinds was revealed.
This work indicates that an Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) actor, likely Russian in origin, is responsible for most or all of the recently discovered, ongoing cyber compromises of both government and non-governmental networks, the agencies said in a joint statement around their investigation into the cyber incident.
The agencies emphasized that at this time, we believe this was, and continues to be, an intelligence gathering effort. We are taking all necessary steps to understand the full scope of this campaign and respond accordingly.[/QUOTE]
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Maybe Biden will break out the reset button.
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[link=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-02-17/solarwinds-hacks-perpetrated-from-inside-u-s-white-house-says?utm_source=google&utm_medium=bd&cmpId=google]https://www.bloomberg.com…um=bd&cmpId=google[/link]
[b]Solarwinds Hack Originated from Inside the US[/b]
A sprawling cyber-attack that compromised popular software created by Texas-based [link=https://www.bloomberg.com/quote/SWI:US]SolarWinds Corp.[/link] was executed from within the U.S., a top White House official said, though the government believes Russia was responsible.
The federal investigation of the hack will take several months, Deputy National Security Advisor Anne Neuberger said in a briefing for reporters on Wednesday.
As of today, nine federal agencies and about 100 private-sector companies were compromised, Neuberger said. She didnt identify them and said the government hasnt ruled out the possibility of further victims.
She said the government believes its still at the beginning stages of understanding the scope and scale of the attack, which was publicly disclosed in December but was likely executed months earlier. The hackers launched the hack from inside the United States which further made it difficult for the U.S. government to observe their activity, she said.
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Quote from Cubsfan10
Maybe Biden will break out the reset button.
[link]https://time.com/5933438/biden-russia-relations/[/link]
In Less Than a Minute, Biden Changes U.S.-Russian Dynamics[/h1]Perhaps lost in all that was a seismic development in Washingtons posture toward Moscow. The entire pivot [link=https://www.c-span.org/video/?508301-1/president-biden-predicts-us-be-way-herd-immunity-summer&live=]took[/link] just 58 seconds, but reset four years of Trump-era ambivalence.
Biden, answering questions on Monday from reporters in a formal setting for the first time during his presidency, was asked directly about possible sanctions against Russia for the attempted poisoning and subsequent detention of opposition leader Alexei [link=https://time.com/5930595/alexei-navalny-return-russia-why/]Navalny[/link], or whether those were being delayed as his government tries to renew an expiring nuclear treaty with Russia called New START.
Biden, who spent years on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee as its top Democrats and was a leading voice on international affairs inside Barack Obamas White House, knew precisely what needed to be said. He expanded the scope of the question to include not just the treaty, but reports that the Russians put [link=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/26/us/politics/russia-afghanistan-bounties.html]bounties[/link] on the heads of Americans in Afghanistan, a massive hacking operation known as [link=https://www.wired.com/story/russia-solarwinds-hack-roundup/]SolarWinds[/link], and the sweeping intelligence [link=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/21/us/politics/biden-russia-cyber-hack-nuclear.html]review[/link] he just ordered on what the U.S. knows about Russias ongoing troublemaking. The ongoing [link=https://time.com/5932550/russia-protests-navalny/]protests[/link] across Russia have raised public awareness of it all, and Biden stepped in to lump it all together for a domestic and international audience.
I find that we can both operate in the mutual self-interest of our countries as a New START agreement, and make it clear to Russia that we are very concerned about their behavior, whether its Navalny, whether its the SolarWinds or whether its the reports of bounties on the heads of Americans in Afghanistan, Biden said. I will not hesitate to raise those issues with the Russians.
In less than a minute, Biden put the United States on new footing and Vladimir [link=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/03/why-putin-plays-our-presidents-for-fools/461055/]Putin[/link] on notice. So when Biden and Putin spoke today for the first time under the new U.S. administration, Putin knew what to expect. According to U.S. officials, Biden did exactly as he promised yesterday and pressed Putin without holding out grand hopes for a reset or even improved relations.-
[b]Trumps Homeland Security Chief Was Hacked [/b]
Suspected Russian hackers gained access to email accounts belonging to the Trump administrations head of the Department of Homeland Security and members of the departments cybersecurity staff whose jobs included hunting threats from foreign countries, the [link=https://apnews.com/article/rob-portman-hacking-email-russia-8bcd4a4eb3be1f8f98244766bae70395]AP[/link] reports.
The intelligence value of the hacking of then-acting Secretary Chad Wolf and his staff is not publicly known, but the symbolism is stark.
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[link=https://thehill.com/policy/cybersecurity/545840-dhs-chief-lays-out-actions-to-strengthen-cybersecurity-wake-of-major]DHS chief lays out actions to strengthen cybersecurity in wake of major hacks
[/link]
Mayorkas on Wednesday described the hard truth of confronting the federal governments lack of visibility into the SolarWinds hack in particular, which was first reported by cybersecurity company FireEye when it was breached.
This incident is one of many that underscores a need for the federal government to modernize cybersecurity defenses and deepen our partnerships, Myorkas said.
Mayorkas announced that DHS would soon roll out a series of 60-day sprints to increase focus on key problems in cybersecurity.
The first sprint will focus on ransomware attacks, which involve hackers holding networks hostage until a ransom is paid. These types of attacks have spiked during the COVID-19 pandemic, with hospitals, schools, and other critical organizations targeted. Mayorkas described these attacks as a national security threat.[/QUOTE]
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[link=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-08/u-s-s-biggest-gasoline-and-pipeline-halted-after-cyberattack?srnd=premium]Ransomware Attack Shuts Down Biggest U.S. Gasoline Pipeline
[/link][link=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-09/ransomware-attackers-up-ante-as-white-house-vows-crack-down?srnd=premium]Ransomware Attackers Up Ante as White House Vows Crack Down[/link]
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[link=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/may/10/us-invokes-emergency-powers-after-cyberattack-shuts-crucial-fuel-pipeline]The Guardian[/link] reports the Biden administration has invoked emergency powers over the ransomware attack.
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wonder who did the pipeline exploit.
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Quote from DICOM_Dan
wonder who did the pipeline exploit.
Bloomberg radio talking about it this morning. A criminal gang with close ties to Russia.
Someone likened it to privateers. As long as they attack Putin’s enemies it’s ok.-
In that case this is state sanctioned unless Putin does something. I kind of doubt he’ll do anything other than the classic “wasn’t us”. Biden should make the sanctions hurt the oligarchs.
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[b]Biden Orders Federal Cyber Upgrade[/b][/h1]
[link=https://www.politico.com/news/2021/05/12/biden-federal-cyber-upgrade-hacks-487731]Politico[/link]: The executive order, which has been in development for months, addresses federal computer networks not the critical infrastructure operated by private companies such as Colonial Pipeline, which suffered a major ransomware attack that led to hoarding and gasoline shortages throughout the eastern U.S.
But some of the directives provisions could also influence how the Biden administration works to secure the United States poorly protected infrastructure facilities.-
Per CNN: “The company halted operations because[b] its billing system[/b] was compromised…and they were concerned they wouldn’t be able to figure out how much to bill”
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So not the actually pipeline controls? Hmmm that seems fishy.
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[link=https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/563622-us-allies-blame-china-linked-hackers-for-microsoft-exchange-breach]https://thehill.com/homen…rosoft-exchange-breach[/link]
[b]US, allies blame China-linked hackers for Microsoft Exchange breach[/b][/h1]
The United States and several allied countries on Monday are publicly blaming hackers affiliated with the Chinese government for the Microsoft Exchange Server hack that left tens of thousands of organizations vulnerable to compromise earlier this year.
The move to publicly identify the hackers as linked to China is part of a broader effort by the U.S. and its allies to publicly call out Beijing’s government for malicious behavior in cyberspace.
The U.S, European Union, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Japan and NATO will all criticize Chinas Ministry of State Security (MSS) for using criminal contract hackers to conduct cyber-enabled extortion, “crypto-jacking” and other schemes, a senior Biden administration official said.
The U.S. government has with “high confidence” formally attributed the exploitation of vulnerabilities in Microsofts Exchange Server application to malicious cyber actors affiliated with Chinas MSS.[/QUOTE]
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[link=https://thehill.com/policy/cybersecurity/565751-doj-says-solarwinds-hackers-accessed-over-two-dozen-prosecutors-offices]https://thehill.com/polic…en-prosecutors-offices[/link]
[b]DOJ: SolarWinds hackers accessed over two dozen federal prosecutors’ offices[/b][/h1]
The DOJ [link=https://www.justice.gov/opcl/department-justice-statement-solarwinds-update]said in an update[/link] that the hackers are believed to have compromised the accounts from May 7 to Dec. 27, 2020. The data includes all sent, received, and stored emails and attachments found within those accounts during that time.
In total, hackers gained access to one or more employees emails in 27 office across 15 states and the District of Columbia, the DOJ said Friday.
While other districts were affected to a lesser extent, hackers gained access to the email accounts of at least 80 percent of employees working in all of its New York offices alone, the agency said.[/QUOTE]
