Tag Archive for: spent

Hstoday Chinese Hackers Spent Up to 5 Years in US Networks

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Hackers from the People’s Republic of China spent up to five years in U.S. networks as part of a cyber operation that targeted U.S. critical infrastructure, law enforcement and international agencies said earlier this week.

“The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), National Security Agency (NSA), and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) assess that People’s Republic of China (PRC) state sponsored cyber actors are seeking to preposition themselves on IT networks for disruptive or destructive cyberattacks against U.S. critical infrastructure in the event of a major crisis or conflict with the United States,” an alert released by the agencies earlier this week said.

The yearslong operation by the state-sponsored cyber actor — called Volt Typhoon by U.S. authorities — was a way for China to position themselves for an attack on U.S. critical infrastructure using malware, officials said on a call with reporters.

Read the rest of the story at abc News, here.

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Hackers spent 2+ years looting secrets of chipmaker NXP before being detected

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A cartoon man runs across a white field of ones and zeroes.

A prolific espionage hacking group with ties to China spent over two years looting the corporate network of NXP, the Netherlands-based chipmaker whose silicon powers security-sensitive components found in smartphones, smartcards, and electric vehicles, a news outlet has reported.

The intrusion, by a group tracked under names including “Chimera” and “G0114,” lasted from late 2017 to the beginning of 2020, according to Netherlands national news outlet NRC Handelsblad, which cited “several sources” familiar with the incident. During that time, the threat actors periodically accessed employee mailboxes and network drives in search of chip designs and other NXP intellectual property. The breach wasn’t uncovered until Chimera intruders were detected in a separate company network that connected to compromised NXP systems on several occasions. Details of the breach remained a closely guarded secret until now.

No material damage

NRC cited a report published (and later deleted) by security firm Fox-IT, titled Abusing Cloud Services to Fly Under the Radar. It documented Chimera using cloud services from companies including Microsoft and Dropbox to receive data stolen from the networks of semiconductor makers, including one in Europe that was hit in “early Q4 2017.” Some of the intrusions lasted as long as three years before coming to light. NRC said the unidentified victim was NXP.

“Once nested on a first computer—patient zero—the spies gradually expand their access rights, erase their tracks in between and secretly sneak to the protected parts of the network,” NRC reporters wrote in an English translation. “They try to secrete the sensitive data they find there in encrypted archive files via cloud storage services such as Microsoft OneDrive. According to the log files that Fox-IT finds, the hackers come every few weeks to see whether interesting new data can be found at NXP and whether more user accounts and parts of the network can be hacked.”

NXP did not…

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Following computer hack, Covington expected to recover most of $100,000 spent in recovery | St. Tammany community news

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Covington Chief Administrative Officer Erin Bivona recently told the City Council that the city expects to recoup most of the expenses it has spent to repair and recover the municipal computer system that was part of a nationwide hack in March.

The city has incurred more than $100,000 to date in equipment upgrades and software licenses since the Ransomware attack four months ago, Bivona told members in a July 13 meeting. Covington had a cyber security insurance policy at the time of the breach, which is expected to cover most of the unfortunate costs.

Hackers, taking advantage of a weakness in the Microsoft Outlook email platform, infiltrated more than 30,000 different computer systems on March 11, rendering the machines useless and tying up vital information at each for weeks on end. A variety of networks, from doctor’s offices, retail outlets and government entities, including Covington, were hit.

Bivona told the council the recovery has been “part sprint, part marathon.” 

City officials were quick to move when the hack was discovered early on the morning of March 11. Members of the Louisiana Cyber Investigators Alliance, made up of various police and government agencies, were on hand within hours of the breach and worked for two weeks to restore municipal operations and wage recovery efforts.

It was a challenging fortnight, Bivona said, but it’s not over. She said a consultant was hired to focus entirely on the hack. The city’s own IT department has also tackled the work, but has remained responsive to other needs in city government at the same time.

“Since the hack, we’ve been under disaster response recover mode,” she told the council. “And we’ll be there until the end of September.”

Bivona said Wi-Fi in city facilities is still not operational. And Munis, the computer program the city uses for all financial operations, such as payroll and utility billing, also remains compromised.

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“There are security concerns associated with Wi-Fi,” she said. “We’re rebuilding a…

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Gov. Walz Combats False Reports That He Spent Thanksgiving Weekend In Florida, Has $400M Net Worth – WCCO

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MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — After a long weekend in which Gov. Tim Walz begged Minnesotans not to travel, some may have been surprised by some online reports.

Social media was filled with news that while protestors demonstrated against restrictions this weekend at his residence, Walz was vacationing in Florida.

Another widely-shared story is that Walz, who talks often of his and his wife’s careers as public school teachers, is suddenly a wealthy man, worth $400 million.

Walz says both the trip and his alleged wealth are definitely not true.

“I have not left the state since March, since [the pandemic] happened,” Walz said. “The thing I most worry about though is if you are willing to believe those types of things without any proof, you’re probably not going to listen to me when I tell you to wear a mask.”

The governor’s staff at first brushed off the comments, but then the volume increased, and the public began calling the governor’s office to complain about the imaginary Florida trip.

Mark Lanterman, a former cyber security investigator for the United States Secret Service, now runs the cybersecurity firm Computer Forensics Services.

“We need to remember that just because it’s on the internet doesn’t mean it’s true,” Lanterman said.

He says it’s important to remember websites, like the one that’s disseminating false information about Walz’s net worth, may also be making money.

“Many organizations with web pages get paid based on the number of clicks that are driven to their webpage, whether that’s a quarter cent or half a cent, it all depends,” Lanterman said.

The governor and Minnesota Department of Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm say this latest spread of fake news, like the virus, is weaving its way into people lives, creating an alternate reality that can also be deadly.

“It’s deeper than that because it goes to undermining the policies,” Walz said.

“People saying, ‘Well don’t bother to get tested because the state is cooking the numbers,’” Malcolm said. “That’s horribly dangerous.”

The governor’s office says they do not know where, or who, originated the reports. Lanterman says the origin of internet fake news stories…

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