A new report released by Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn is showing some shocking revelations about the security of Federal agencies, databases and websites.
The report found that almost 40 percent of breaches in security go undetected by security officials and systems.
“[The report] highlights serious vulnerabilities in the government’s efforts to protect its own civilian computers and networks,” Coburn said.
The report shows that nearly every agency has faced some kind of undetected event from the U.S. Copyright Office to the Department of Homeland Security. Even agencies that don’t seem to be major targets like the National Weather Service or NASA faced major breaches.
An example of one attack was hackers breaking into the national Emergency Alert System in February 2013 sending out a “Zombie Attack Warning” in Midwestern states.
“Civil authorities in your area have reported the bodies of the dead are rising from their graves and attacking the living,” the hackers sent out before being cut off. “Do not attempt to approach or apprehend these bodies as they are considered extremely dangerous.”
The report says that hackers could enter databases regarding U.S. dams that showed which were the weakest or had security problems making them vulnerable to attack. One of the hackers obtained the technology map running the New York Stock Exchange.
The report was based on studies from 40 different audits.
A new report exposes a piece of equipment used by the National Security Agency that allows operatives to break into computers from as far as eight miles away using WiFi technology.
The device, called NIGHTSTAND, allows the NSA to place viruses and other software on computers that use Microsoft operating systems. The system works using WiFi signals and would be completely undetectable by the computer’s users.
The project was just one of several NSA programs that were exposed in the German magazine Der Spiegel from leaks given out by NSA leaker Edward Snowden.
DEITYBOUNCE was a program designed to hack into Dell servers through an exploit in the motherboard. IRONCHEF would allow two way communications between the devices.
A program called IRATEMONK was created to hack the boot programs on drives from multiple hardware manufacturers like Western Digital, Seagate, Maxtor and Samsung.
The German news magazine Der Spiegel has released another story based on documents from fugitive NSA leaker Edward Snowden claiming the National Security Agency has a unit dedicated to hacking “tough” systems.
Systems like the Microsoft automatic software reporting system installed on every Windows based computer in the world.
The division is called Tailored Access Operations or TAO. The team is described as “an elite team of hackers” that specialize in stealing data from targets that the NSA defines as the toughest to crack.
The TAO’s mission was “Getting the Ungettable.”
The group reportedly had “James Bond-like” equipment to complete missions such as computer monitor cables that would record anything typed on a screen, USB sticks with micro radio transmitters and fake base stations that would intercept mobile phone signals.
Microsoft said they do not supply information to intelligence sources and did not comment on the leaked document’s claim the NSA hacked the company’s reporting system.
The weekend after Thanksgiving was big for more than just most of the nation’s retailers.
Retail chain Target reportedly was hit by a massive identity theft attack where as many as 40 million credit and debit card accounts could have had their information taken by hackers.
Target released a statement saying that customers who used credit or debit cards between November 27th and December 15th could have compromised accounts. Information stolen included customer names, credit and debit card numbers, expiration dates and even the three digit security code included on the back of the card.
Target did not release information about how the hackers cracked their system which reportedly included installing software on card readers. The company assured customers the problem has been fixed.
The U.S. Secret Service is investigating the theft because it involves currency transactions.
