Tag Archive for: nsa

NSA Slices Up 5G Mobile Security Risks

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A working group pulled together by the US National Security Agency (NSA) has issued a report outlining the cybersecurity threats related to mobile broadband 5G network slicing.

Network slicing allows operators to bring together several network attributes or components, potentially across multiple operators, that support specific applications or services for 5G users, the report explains. While efficient for delivering services, 5G network slicing casts a wide threat net that includes potential weak points in policy and standards, the supply chain, and more.

“Although network slicing is not solely unique to 5G, it is a critical component because 5G specifications call for network slicing as a fundamental component and therefore require network operators to adopt security practices that can mitigate threats like those described in this paper,” the report said.

Potential threats include denial of service (DoS), man-in-the-middle (MitM) attacks, and configuration attacks, it added.

The NSA, along with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), assembled members of the public and private sectors to address 5G slicing security concerns. The resulting 5G network slicing cybersecurity report looks toward how the architecture will play a role in enabling emerging technologies, including autonomous vehicles, and how to secure it.

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NSA warns of Chinese state hackers targeting Citrix

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The National Security Agency sent companies a warning notice Tuesday that Chinese state-linked cyberspies are targeting the multinational cloud-computing firm Citrix.

The electronic spy agency said in its notice that a group known as Advanced Persistent Threat 5, or APT5, a security designation for a Chinese state-backed hacking group known to target telecommunications companies, is operating against a specific Citrix software called application delivery controllers (ADCs).

The targeting of Citrix ADCs can “facilitate illegitimate access to targeted organizations by bypassing normal authentication controls,” the agency said.

NSA, along with other security agencies, produced “threat hunting guidance” for companies and organizations using Citrix to spot cyberattacks from the group.

Citrix products…

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Exclusive: Evidence shows US’ NSA behind attack on email system of Chinese leading aviation university

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cyber attack Photo:VCG

cyber attack Photo:VCG

The email system of a university in Northwest China’s Shaanxi Province – well-known for its aviation, aerospace and navigation studies – was found to have been attacked by the US’ National Security Agency (NSA), the Global Times learned from a source on Monday.

On June 22, Northwestern Polytechnical University announced that hackers from abroad were caught sending phishing emails with Trojan horse programs to teachers and students at the university, attempting to steal their data and personal information. 

A police statement released by the Beilin Public Security Bureau in Xi’an the next day said that the attack attempted to lure teachers and students into clicking links of phishing emails with Trojan horse programs, with themes involving scientific evaluation, thesis defense and information on foreign travel, so as to obtain their email login details.

To probe into the attack, China’s National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center and internet security company 360 jointly formed a technical team to conduct a comprehensive technical analysis of the case. 

By extracting many trojans samples from internet terminals of Northwestern Polytechnical University, under the support of European and South Asian partners, the technical team initially identified that the cyberattack to the university was conducted by the Tailored Access Operations (TAO) (Code S32) under the Data Reconnaissance Bureau (Code S3) of the Information Department (Code S) of US’ NSA.

TAO is the largest and most important part of the intelligence division of the NSA. Founded in 1998, the main responsibility of TAO is to use the internet to secretly access to insider information of its competitors, including secretly invading target countries’ key information infrastructure to steal account codes, break or destroy computer security systems, monitor network traffic, invade privacy and steal sensitive data, and gain access to phone calls, emails, network communications and messages. 

The various departments of TAO are composed of more than 1,000 active military personnel, network hackers, intelligence analysts, academics, computer hardware and software designers, and electronics…

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GenCyber: NSA sets up summer camps to teach kids to hack

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Steve Kelman finds the normally secretive agency’s camps an intriguing way to offer a taste of cybersecurity careers to middle and high school students.

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