Tag Archive for: Playing

Cyberthreats reached a new high this year, with AI playing a major role

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Historically, summer is the time of year when hacks and malware scams drop in volume and intensity, mostly because people are on holiday and not as active online as the rest of the year. 

However 2023 seems to have bucked this trend, with adware, malvertising, spyware, and other forms of malicious activity spiking in the months from July to August, according to a report from Avast, which reported that during this period, its tools blocked more than a billion attacks every month, which is a new record. 

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How a battle over Trump computer accusations is playing out in court

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A long-running fight over accusations of computer links between Donald Trump and a Russian bank has intensified recently, shedding new light on how the government uses obscure Internet data to hunt for hackers and underscoring how the legal battles rage on regarding the 2016 presidential race.

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The computer data dispute centers on an allegation that surfaced at the very end of the campaign — that a server tied to the Trump Organization was in repeated contact months earlier with a server for Russia-based Alfa Bank. The claim was based on records from the Domain Name System, or DNS, a kind of digital phone book that matches domain names, usually a jumble of words, to Internet protocol addresses, which are numbers. Such records show when one computer seeks out another, but the logs don’t explain the substance of any communication.

When the claim first surfaced, some computer researchers argued that the DNS data, while not definitive, indicated human communications between the Trump Organization and Russia. Other experts dismissed that idea, saying the nature of the data made it easy to create a fake trail.

The fight over what the Alfa Bank computer data did or didn’t show largely faded from public view. But it roared back to life this fall.

In September, special counsel John Durham indicted Michael Sussmann, a lawyer with ties to Democrats, on charges that he lied to the FBI in 2016 about who his client was when he brought the bureau information about the Alfa Bank computer allegations. Sussmann has pleaded not guilty.

Separately, Alfa Bank is suing a number of unknown hackers — “John Does” — who the bank claims fabricated data to “create the false appearance of a covert communication channel between Alfa Bank and the Trump Organization.” As part of that lawsuit, the bank has sought to subpoena the researchers who initially raised concerns about Alfa’s DNS records.

[Researcher who was primary source of Steele dossier arrested, charged with lying to FBI]

Lawyers for some of those researchers argue Alfa Bank’s suit is an improper effort to use information from Durham’s investigation to help Russian interests better understand…

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Stop playing nice with Russian computer hackers, by Timothy L. O’Brien | Op-ed

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Hackers are playing by new rules, and dealerships’ defenses aren’t ready

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Auto dealers are getting better at protecting their computer networks from cyberattacks, an information technology consultant who works with dealerships told me last week.

They’re investing in phishing training, a process that tests whether employees click on suspicious emails and trains those who do on proper security practices. More are carrying cyber insurance. They’re talking to colleagues in industry peer groups about best practices.

And yet, said Erik Nachbahr, president of Helion Technologies, just as dealerships have improved their defenses against hackers, the hackers have started using a different playbook.

It used to be that cybercriminals would deploy automated programs that would lock up files once someone clicked a malicious link or attachment in an email, he said. Then antivirus software and firewalls got better at blocking them. So the hackers evolved. Now, Nachbahr says, when they gain access to the networks, they’re embedding themselves in the systems, figuring out how they’re designed and laying the foundation for an attack before they launch it.

Those attacks — often ransomware, in which hackers lock down a computer system in exchange for a ransom demand — can be devastating, he said. Last month, for instance, Colonial Pipeline, which provides crucial energy supplies to the East Coast, went down for days after an attack; the CEO has said the organization paid a $4.4 million ransom. Municipal governments and public schools also have been targets.

So have dealerships. Nachbahr told me that among Helion’s 750 U.S. franchised dealership clients, “we see credible, critical-level threats a few times a week.”

“The attackers have identified industries where they’re not doing enough defense,” he said. “And dealers are one of those.”

New threat intelligence software can better detect hackers rooting around inside computer networks, he said. But it’s newer technology, and many dealerships aren’t yet using it.

Nachbahr says bringing awareness to the severity of cyberattacks and what’s at stake for dealers — including the possibility of having their operations shut down entirely — is his top priority.

“Dealers have always struggled with readiness when it comes to…

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