The U.S. cybersecurity agency says that a sprawling cyber espionage campaign made public earlier this month is affecting state and local governments, although it released few additional details. From a report: The hacking campaign, which used U.S. tech company SolarWinds as a springboard to penetrate federal government networks, was “impacting enterprise networks across federal, state, and local governments, as well as…
Tag: critical infrastructure
Hackers Tied To Russia Hit US Nuclear Agency, Three States
The U.S. nuclear weapons agency and at least three states were hacked as part of a suspected Russian cyber attack that struck a number of federal government agencies. Microsoft Corp. was also breached, and its products were used to further attacks on others, Reuters reported. Bloomberg reports: The Energy Department and its National Nuclear Security Administration, which maintains America’s nuclear stockpile,…
OpenStreetMap is Having a Moment
Joe Morrison: The first time I spoke with Jennings Anderson, I couldn’t believe what he was telling me. I mean that genuinely — I did not believe him. He was a little incredulous about it himself. I felt like he was sharing an important secret with me that the world didn’t yet know. The open secret Jennings filled me in on…
US Charges Russian Hackers Behind NotPetya, KillDisk, OlympicDestroyer Attacks
The US Department of Justice has unsealed charges today against six Russian nationals believed to be part of one of Russia’s most elite and secretive hacking groups, universally known as Sandworm. From a report: US officials said all six nationals are officers in Unit 74455 of the Russian Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU), a military intelligence agency of the Russian Army, DOJ…
Russia Wants To Ban the Use of Secure Protocols Such As TLS 1.3, DoH, DoT, ESNI
An anonymous reader writes: The Russian government is working on updating its technology laws so it can ban the use of modern internet protocols that can hinder its surveillance and censorship capabilities. According to a copy of the proposed law amendments and an explanatory note, the ban targets internet protocols and technologies such as TLS 1.3, DoH, DoT, and ESNI. Moscow…
Germany’s Nationwide Emergency Warning Day Sees Bumpy Rollout
For those living in or visiting Germany on Thursday, things got loud this morning. At 11 a.m. sharp (0900 GMT) Germany carried out a nationwide test of its civil alarm systems — with everything from sirens to push notifications on smartphones being tested. The test was slated to run for exactly 20 minutes.
It’s the first test of its kind since Germany…
Red Hat, Google, Microsoft, GitHub, and Others Launch the Open Source Security Foundation
InfoQ reports on a new security group that launched last week: Supported by The Linux Foundation, the Open Source Security Foundation (OpenSSF) aims to create a cross-industry forum for a collaborative effort to improve open source software security. The list of initial members includes Google, Microsoft, GitHub, IBM, Red Hat, and more. “As open source has become more pervasive, its…
Dozens More Arson Attacks on UK Phone Masts Over 5G Conspiracy Theory
“Mobile phone masts in the UK are still being attacked by arsonists on a daily basis,” reports Wired, “because of a conspiracy theory linking 5G to the spread of coronavirus.” New data seen by WIRED UK reveals that dozens of attacks have taken place in the last fortnight, with conspiracy theorists targeting both infrastructure and key workers in the misguided belief…
Federal Report Warns US is Unready For a Cyberattack
The U.S. should take a slew of steps today to prevent a major cyberattack that could wreak wide-scale devastation on the U.S., a year-long study mandated by Congress reported Wednesday. From a report: “A major cyberattack on the nation’s critical infrastructure and economic system would create chaos and lasting damage exceeding that wreaked by fires in California, floods in the Midwest,…
Judge Forces America’s FCC To Seek New Public Feedback on Its Net Neutrality Repeal
“Earlier this week, the FCC successfully defeated Mozilla’s attempt to undo the commission’s repeal of net neutrality,” reports Engadget. “But, while siding with the body, judges have asked the FCC to determine if repealing the law to prevent a multi-speed internet has had any negative consequences.”
That includes checking if net neutrality repeal has harmed public safety, reduced spending in infrastructure or…