The Department of Homeland Security has released a report showing that 23 gas pipeline companies were hit by cyberterrorists in the first six months of 2012.
The attacks were launched by sending emails designed to trick high level managers into opening attachments to emails that would infect the company systems with a virus. It allowed the hackers to get into sensitive parts of the company’s network including systems that control the flow of gas. Continue reading
A U.S. cyber-security firm has released evidence that the largest organized data mining effort around the world was not random hackers as first suspected but rather an organized branch of the Chinese military.
The unit, called “Unit 61398”, has stolen “hundreds of terabytes of data” from at least 141 organizations around the world since 2004. Continue reading
The European Union’s law enforcement agency, Europol, arrested 11 people yesterday in what’s being called a “ransomware” plot.
Lead by Spanish investigators, the officers arrested men in Russia, Georgia and Ukraine who attempted to force people to pay money to continue using their computer or to not be turned into authorities on false charges including having child pornography on their machines. Continue reading
A major cyberattack on the U.S. Department of Energy compromised the personal information of hundreds of employees and likely aimed at more sensitive information according to reports released by the Washington Free Beacon. Continue reading
The Pentagon has announced a huge expansion of their Cyber Command division as the number of attacks on U.S. government computer networks skyrocket.
The news comes amid reports of a successful attack on a Saudi oil company that destroyed 30,000 computers. Continue reading
Two U.S. power plants were struck my malware attacks in 2012 according to the Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team.
The malware apparently entered both plants through USB drives inserted into individual computers in the plant networks. Continue reading
Russian research firm Kaspersky Labs released information today about a major cyber-crime attack that has been stealing classified government information since 2007.
The malware, code named “Red October,” is designed to steal encrypted files and has the ability to retrieve files that have been deleted on a computer if the deletion was not done in a secure manner. Continue reading
Computer security firm McAfee has sent an alert to banks throughout the US that a Russian “cyber-gangster” using the alias “Thief-In-Law” is preparing a massive assault on the banking system.
The cyber-criminal has reportedly infected hundreds of computers in the US with the intent of stealing their bank account information. The information would then be used to pull money from their account and that of other people on the same banking system. Continue reading
The White House confirmed reports that Chinese hackers had breached White House computers and systems used by the military to issue nuclear weapon commands.
A source blamed the breach on a White House staffer.
“This [White House Communications Agency] guy opened an email he wasn’t supposed to open,” the source told Fox News. Continue reading
A study funded by Microsoft has discovered many new computers with malware that was installed at the factory allowing cybercriminals the opportunity to steal information from a computer from its first use.
The information comes in a release about the company’s investigation into the Nitol virus network. The virus allows criminals to steal personal information allowing them to access online bank accounts and transfer the available funds to untraceable accounts in offshore banks. Continue reading
