Tag Archive for: Political

Russian Hackers Use ‘WINELOADER’ Malware to Target German Political Parties


Mar 23, 2024NewsroomCyber Espionage / Cyber Warfare

Malware

The WINELOADER backdoor used in recent cyber attacks targeting diplomatic entities with wine-tasting phishing lures has been attributed as the handiwork of a hacking group with links to Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), which was responsible for breaching SolarWinds and Microsoft.

The findings come from Mandiant, which said Midnight Blizzard (aka APT29, BlueBravo, or Cozy Bear) used the malware to target German political parties with phishing emails bearing a logo from the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) around February 26, 2024.

“This is the first time we have seen this APT29 cluster target political parties, indicating a possible area of emerging operational focus beyond the typical targeting of diplomatic missions,” researchers Luke Jenkins and Dan Black said.

Cybersecurity

WINELOADER was first disclosed by Zscaler ThreatLabz last month as part of a cyber espionage campaign that’s believed to have been ongoing since at least July 2023. It attributed the activity to a cluster dubbed SPIKEDWINE.

Attack chains leverage phishing emails with German-language lure content that purports to be an invite for a dinner reception to trick recipients into clicking on a phony link and downloading a rogue HTML Application (HTA) file, a first-stage dropper called ROOTSAW (aka EnvyScout) that acts as a conduit to deliver WINELOADER from a remote server.

“The German-language lure document contains a phishing link directing victims to a malicious ZIP file containing a ROOTSAW dropper hosted on an actor-controlled compromised website,” the researchers said. “ROOTSAW delivered a second-stage CDU-themed lure document and a next stage WINELOADER payload.”

WINELOADER, invoked via a technique called DLL side-loading using the legitimate sqldumper.exe, comes equipped with abilities to contact an actor-controlled server and fetch additional modules for execution on the compromised hosts.

It’s said to share similarities with known APT29 malware families like BURNTBATTER, MUSKYBEAT, and BEATDROP, suggesting the work of a common developer.

WINELOADER, per the Google Cloud subsidiary, has also been employed in an operation targeting diplomatic…

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MSNBC Guest Suggests Trump Might ‘Turn Off the Internet’ for Political Purposes if Re-Elected


A former Trump administration official is claiming his old boss might seek to use wartime powers for political purposes.

On Thursday, former national security official Miles Taylor claimed there is “a lot” former President Donald Trump can do “bubble-wrapped in legalese that would be damaging to the republic.”

Taylor went on to reference a so-called “Doomsday Book” in the White House that outlines the powers a president has in the event of a foreign invasion.

He argued, “[Trump] could invoke powers we’ve never heard a President of the United States invoke, potentially to shut down companies or turn off the internet or deploy the U.S. military on U.S. soil.”

Watch the video below:

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Several people on X, formerly Twitter, focused on Miles’ mention of Trump potentially shutting down the internet to roast his comments.

The Federalist’s Emily Jashinsky wrote, “But [Trump] loves the internet.”

“of all the things to say here based on what trump says and has done, you go with trump may ‘turn off the internet?’” asked one user.

Conservative writer John Hasson posted, “Trump built an entire social media platform because he couldn’t live without Twitter But sure, he’s going to turn off the internet.”

Taylor later reacted to the clip of his comments, writing, “I’d love for the internet to be turned off for a bit … just not by a demented, Putin-loving hack wielding emergency…

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UK and allies expose Russian intelligence services for cyber campaign of attempted political interference – National Cyber Security Centre



UK and allies expose Russian intelligence services for cyber campaign of attempted political interference  National Cyber Security Centre

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Cybersecurity expert: ‘Technological giants are becoming political actors’ | Science & Tech


A physicist and mathematician, Eviatar Matania splits his teaching schedule between Oxford and Tel Aviv University. A former head of the Israeli National Cyber Directorate under Benjamin Netanyahu, he has published widely on issues of cybersecurity and artificial intelligence.

Matania, 56, sat down for an interview with EL PAÍS while visiting Madrid for a conference.

Question. Is privacy dead?

Answer. In China, the social credit system already works by which citizens receive a score based on their [digital] behavior: if they consume pornography, points are deducted. If they buy things online for children, they receive points, because they’re supposedly being responsible. In addition, [people] live with cameras in the streets. If you don’t behave well there, it will be very difficult for you to leave the country, get an apartment or get permits for so many things.

I see the threats that hang over privacy from cyberspace… giants like Google or governments know more about you than ever before. But I also see people trying to defend their privacy. If we look at what the European Union or academic foundations are doing, we see that a battle over privacy is being waged. Of course, the [younger generations] perceive privacy very differently. They display everything online… they enjoy doing it! Because of this, the key will not only be what we do to defend our privacy, but also how the new generations perceive privacy and defend human rights.

Q. How can we make sure that we govern technology, without letting it govern us?

A. Education is key. Finland has understood the threat to democracy that Russia exercises from the web… the country has begun to educate students about how to be good internet users. Our parents taught us to be careful on the street, to cross safely, things like that… but they wouldn’t know what to teach us about cyberspace! The Finns are doing that now,

building awareness about privacy, democracy and human rights, while distinguishing the most objective news from fake news.

Only after education can we talk about regulation. I am very much not in favor of strict regulation, but I am in favor of codes of good practice and of recommendations that will unleash…

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