Tag Archive for: hundreds

Ukrainian hackers take out hundreds of Russian space research servers and supercomputers

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The cyber warfare between Russia and Ukraine continues as hackers from the latter launch an attack and destroy the database and infrastructure of Russia’s Far Eastern Research Center of Space Hydrometeorology, “Planeta”.

According to Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, the attack resulted in two petabytes of data and 280 servers being destroyed. Additionally, a digital array valued at US$10 million was also lost in the attack, as well as disabling the research centre’s supercomputers beyond repair through the destruction of software.

“One such computing device together with software costs US$350,000. In the conditions of strict sanctions against Russia, to get such a software again it is impossible,” wrote Ukrainian Defence.

Data included satellite and meteorological data used by the Roscosmos space agency, Russian Defence, emergency situations ministries and other government departments.

Adding salt to the wound, airconditioning, emergency power, and humidification systems were also disabled.

“In total, dozens of strategic companies of the Russian Federation, which work on ‘defense’ and play a key role in supporting Russian occupation troops, will remain without critically important information and services for a long time,” the agency added.

“Glory to Ukraine!”

The attack is the latest in a series between Ukraine and Russia, with the latter recently disabling Ukraine’s largest telco, Kyivstar.

The attack, which occurred in December last year, resulted in service outages the telco originally said were the fault of a technical failure, before confirming a cyber attack.

The attack left Kyivstar’s over 25 million customer base, over half the country’s population, without mobile and home internet services.

A day after the incident, the attack was claimed by Russian hackers from the Solntsepek group, which said they wiped thousands of servers and 10,000 computers.

“We, the Solntsepek hackers, take full responsibility for the cyber attack on Kyivstar. We destroyed 10 thousand computers, more than 4 thousand servers, all cloud storage and backup systems,” said the group on Telegram.

“We attacked Kyivstar because the…

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Home addresses of hundreds of cops feared to have fallen into the hands of computer hackers

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HOME addresses of some Met cops are feared to be in the hands of computer hackers.

Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley reassured his 47,000 officers and support workers that personal details were not subject to the IT breach at a company which produces warrant cards and passes.

Home addresses of hundreds of Met cops are feared to be in the hands of hackers

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Home addresses of hundreds of Met cops are feared to be in the hands of hackersCredit: Alamy

But The Sun on Sunday can reveal an initial survey of data held by Stockport-based Digital ID from 2,000 Met workers shows, in some cases, hackers could get home addresses.

The ransomeware attack came after new warrant cards and passes were produced in a scheme, codenamed Operation Fortress, to improve security.

Many officers complained news of the bungle was posted on an internal intranet over a Bank Holiday weekend instead of sent to them in emails.

This meant they found out only by reading our exclusive about the hack.

Hackers who hit firm which makes police warrant cards thought to be abroad
Met warrant cards hackers stole details from had been replaced at cost of £500k

Sir Mark apologised and wrote a personal message saying: “Whilst it does not include the most personal data such as addresses or financial data, this breach I know causes wider concern.”

A review of all data held on the Met by the firm is now being carried out.

It is thought hackers were blackmailers rather than terrorists, and that the Met plans to personally tell staff whose home location may be compromised.

Ex-Met commander John O’Connor said: “The hack has put officers at risk, particularly those involved in undercover work. I can’t believe the Met could be so careless.”

The National Crime Agency is leading the probe, supported by the National Cyber Security Centre.

The Met said it was a “complex incident” and added: “Our understanding of what data may be at risk is evolving.

“We are working with technical specialists and keeping staff informed.”

Other police forces, government departments and major companies also used Digital ID.

But it is believed that, rather than sharing information, they used printing equipment supplied by the firm.

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Biden administration takes credit for warning hundreds of targets before ransomware attacks

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The federal government’s leading domestic cyber agency said Wednesday it has warned hundreds of entities about looming ransomware attacks before they occurred, which enabled people to prevent getting victimized.

Ransomware gangs have ripped through American computer networks during President Biden’s tenure, particularly affecting critical infrastructure targets including healthcare, gas pipelines and government systems.

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is in the early stages of implementing new programs to warn people about cyberattacks inside networks and vulnerabilities in devices that are likely to be exploited.

CISA executive director Brandon Wales said Wednesday that his agency has leveraged relationships with cybersecurity companies to gather the information it uses to alert people that they are in hackers’ crosshairs before a cyberattack starts.

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Chinese spies breached hundreds of public, private networks, security firm says | Associated Press

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Suspected state-backed Chinese hackers used a security hole in a popular email security appliance to break into the networks of hundreds of public and private sector organizations globally, nearly a third of them government agencies including foreign ministries, the cybersecurity firm Mandiant said Thursday.

“This is the broadest cyber espionage campaign known to be conducted by a China-nexus threat actor since the mass exploitation of Microsoft Exchange in early 2021,” Charles Carmakal, Mandiant’s chief technical officer, said in a emailed statement. That hack compromised tens of thousands of computers globally.

In a blog post Thursday, Google-owned Mandiant expressed “high confidence” that the group exploiting a software vulnerability in Barracuda Networks’ Email Security Gateway was engaged in “espionage activity in support of the People’s Republic of China.” It said the activivity began as early as October.

The hackers sent emails containing malicious file attachments to gain access to targeted organizations’ devices and data, Mandiant said. Of those organizations, 55% were from the Americas, 22% from Asia Pacific and 24% from Europe, the Middle East and Africa and they included foreign ministries in Southeast Asia, foreign trade offices and academic organizations in Taiwan and Hong Kong. the company said.

Mandiant said the majority impact in the Americas may partially reflect the geography of Barracuda’s customer base.

Barracuda announced on June 6 that some of its its email security appliances had been hacked as early as October, giving the intruders a back door into compromised networks. The hack was so severe the California company recommended fully replacing the appliances.

After discovering it in mid-May, Barracuda released containment and remediation patches but the hacking group, which Mandiant identifies as UNC4841, altered their malware to try to maintain access, Mandiant said. The group then “countered with high frequency operations targeting a number of victims located in at least 16 different countries.”

Word of the breach as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken departs for China this weekend as part of the Biden…

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