Spy Network

[Cheap Scotch Ron]

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsO...52R2HQ20090328

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Canadian researchers have uncovered a vast electronic spying operation that infiltrated computers and stole documents from government and private offices around the world, including those of the Dalai Lama, The New York Times reported on Saturday.

[t34b4g5]

Here's an interesting .pdf read about this GhostNet..

Description

This report documents the GhostNet - a suspected cyber espionage network of over 1,295 infected computers in 103 countries, 30% of which are high-value targets, including ministries of foreign affairs, embassies, international organizations, news media, and NGOs.

The capabilities of GhostNet are far-reaching. The report reveals that Tibetan computer systems were compromised giving attackers access to potentially sensitive information, including documents from the private office of the Dalai Lama. The report presents evidence showing that numerous computer systems were compromised in ways that circumstantially point to China as the culprit. But the report is careful not to draw conclusions about the exact motivation or the identity of the attacker(s), or how to accurately characterize this network of infections as a whole. The report argues that attribution can be obscured.

The report concludes that who is in control of GhostNet is less important than the opportunity for generating strategic intelligence that it represents. The report underscores the growing capabilities of computer network exploitation, the ease by which cyberspace can be used as a vector for new do-it-yourself form of signals intelligence. It ends with warning to policy makers that information security requires serious attention.

53 Pages of reading goodness.

[ByTeWrangler]

Sigh.. Human nature and human insecurities !

[Linen0ise]

This is what happens when the antichrist, Bill Gates, sells all Window source code to the highest bidder. While so-called security researchers are busy trading virus signatures, these people will continue to embarrass you. If you run windows, what are the chances that MS Office is the primary app on your machine? Blame China for piracy and cloning cisco routers. Next they are gonna alienate India.

[ByTeWrangler]

This is what happens when the antichrist, Bill Gates, sells all Window source code to the highest bidder. If you run windows, what are the chances that MS Office is the primary app on your machine? Blame China for piracy and cloning cisco routers. Next they are gonna alienate India.

Nobody was asked to use microsoft windows.

While so-called security researchers are busy trading virus signatures, these people will continue to embarrass you.

AV vendors "have" failed but lets not forget, so have security administrators and application coders. AV vendors *WILL* have to improve or be washed out.

If you run windows, what are the chances that MS Office is the primary app on your machine?

pretty high I must say.

Blame China for piracy and cloning cisco routers.

ha.. they are not the only one !

Next they are gonna alienate India.

It's hard hearing this because I live in India and it should be hard to alienate 1.16 billion people. (I dont support our mindless population growth though.)

[brokencrow]

The Chinese cyberwarfare story's been floating around for years now. It's just
gets a new lease on life when an outfit like IWM reports on it. Supposedly the
NSA, CIA and MI6 have been chasing Chinese hackers for a while. And of
course, "Chinese hackers" is a nice cover for your own cyber-ops.

I used to support mobile users in China, Beijing and Chengdu primarily. They
used to describe strange goings on with their laptops in Chinese hotels. I used
to wonder if our network was being rifled (not my job!) as it was being outsourced
and chit broken left and right in the process. Can't say I ever found anything
out of the ordinary pattern of spyware/malware when users got back onsite.

[Linen0ise]

The U.S. electrical grid comprises three separate electric networks, covering the East, the West and Texas. Each includes many thousands of miles of transmission lines, power plants and substations. The flow of power is controlled by local utilities or regional transmission organizations. The growing reliance of utilities on Internet-based communication has increased the vulnerability of control systems to spies and hackers, according to government reports.

http://tinyurl.com/cspzxm

[Cheap Scotch Ron]

Scary sh!t.

However, leaving the solution up to the government will never work.

The nine most terrifying words in the English language: "I’m from the government and I’m here to help" Ronald Reagan 1986

[Linen0ise]

Scary sh!t.

However, leaving the solution up to the government will never work.

I believe most of the problems are happening from the inside. How else would you map the infrastructure and the networks involved? Stolen laptops, "unscreened" contractors\employers, stupid management, remote access for a programmer not even in the country? Favoritism is a number 1 joke also. You are being paid to protect a corporate network but some manager or executive above you tells you "who" to give access to without the required paperwork or clearance. Maybe the problem is just plain outsourcing.... why give remote access to a contractor in a foreign country admin privileges and able to modify databases in realtime? Only thing a sheep worker can do is to obey the devil and keep a journal (whistleblow). The people printing your paycheck would just say "suck it up".

As far as military... I caught people higher ranked than me submit corrupted\errored backup tapes to Department of Defense either because "they" didnt understand Parent vs. Child rights when it came to file\directory privs. Try to correct, they bark. Thats why I'm here and they are staring at N. Koreas coastline. screw 'em. This is Aegis and email\data. I had to get off that nuclear island.

oh yeah.... The people who manage the nuclear generators often report their computers down on the "secret" lan. The people were lazy and pulling the LAN cables out the socket. And they stare at you stupid. Peace!

[Linen0ise]

According to Mr. Rockfeller, China and Russia is not a direct problem. Anyone with access to a single computer can disrupt the Internet. It could still be that 12-year-old kid next door causing you grief.

Surprisingly, Mr. Rockafeller stated since the Internet can not be controlled through government means, why not destroy or firewall the Internet all together? Translation for Internet "tree-of-knowledge" is stronger than any world government and makes people more conscious about their being.

March 20, 2009

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ct9xzXUQLuY