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Blue_Tires

(55,445 posts)
Tue Oct 28, 2014, 04:31 PM Oct 2014

MORE stories Snow-wald keep ignoring, Part II

Vladimir Putin Employs An Army Of Skilled Hackers, Report Finds

Some of the most sophisticated hackers in the world may be taking orders from one of the U.S. government's biggest adversaries: Russian President Vladimir Putin.

A new report released Tuesday by the security firm FireEye said it has uncovered evidence of "long-standing, focused operations that indicated a government sponsor -- specifically a government based in Moscow.”

The researchers said several clues suggest the Russian government is behind a widespread hacking campaign with victims around the world. For one, the hackers have spied on several targets of high interest to the Russian government, including several Eastern European governments, NATO and the country of Georgia, the report said. The hackers also likely come from Russia because they used computer code that contained Russian words and operated during Moscow working hours, according to the report.

To attack their victims, the hackers used spear-phishing, a common tactic in which hackers send emails that appear legitimate and mention specific topics that lure victims into clicking on links and attachments. Once victims clicked on them, their computers were infected with software that allowed the hackers to snoop on their activities.

Russia has long been home to skilled cybercriminals who steal credit cards to drain funds from Americans’ bank accounts. But the new report indicates that not all Russian hackers are motivated solely by money, and instead some are using their hacking skills to help the Russian government collect sensitive information on their adversaries.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/28/russian-hackers-vladimir-putin_n_6061602.html

http://www.fireeye.com/resources/pdfs/apt28.pdf



Russian hackers target Nato, military secrets

Russian hackers backed by Moscow have been carrying out a long-running cyber espionage campaign targeting key organizations like NATO to uncover military and government secrets, a report out on Tuesday claimed.

For at least seven years, a Russian hacking group known as APT28 has targeted "insider information related to governments, militaries and security organisations that would likely benefit the Russian government", cybersecurity company FireEye said.

Read More› These countries are the biggest cyberattack targets

"The activity that we profile in this paper appears to be the work of a skilled team of developers and operators collecting intelligence on defence and geopolitical issues – intelligence that would only be useful to a government," FireEye said in its report on Russian cyberespionage operations.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/102127673?doc=102127673&.tsrc=sun#.

http://online.wsj.com/articles/hacking-trail-leads-to-russia-experts-say-1414468869?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTTopStories


(Yes, in case anyone was wondering, I'm probably going to make this a regular series -- I've got about 2,000 links bookmarked that I have to start dumping)
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bemildred

(90,061 posts)
1. I've always felt that the best approach is to not connect anything sensitive with the Internet.
Tue Oct 28, 2014, 07:44 PM
Oct 2014

In extreme cases one could only keep hard-copies, with really sensitive stuff. I know I'm very careful about what I put on the Internet.

 

1StrongBlackMan

(31,849 posts)
2. But if that sensitive material isn't typed on ...
Wed Oct 29, 2014, 11:24 AM
Oct 2014

an IBM Selectric (a type writer for the younger amongst us) or written free hand, it is readily compromisable.

 

bobthedrummer

(26,083 posts)
4. Mass Surveillance in America: A Timeline of Loosening Laws and Practices (Cora Currier, Justin
Wed Oct 29, 2014, 04:49 PM
Oct 2014

Elliott and Theodoric Meyer 6-7-13 ProPublica)
http://projects.propublica.org/graphics/surveillance-timeline

Keep dumping, Blue_Tires, and rest assured that (fill in the blanks) is watching over all of US 24/7 to keep US SAFE...

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