Tag Archive for: suddenly

One American Hacker Suddenly Took Down North Korea’s Internet—All Of It

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Across the last couple of weeks of January, the Internet in North Korea was observed to be down. The blackout of Kim Jong-un’s internet connectivity, although intermittent, was hugely disruptive with reports suggesting an “attack against North Korean servers took the entire country off the internet.” The timing of these attacks coincided with the latest bunch of missile tests, the internet blackout just mentioned coming the day after the fifth such test took place. It should come as no surprise, then, that suspicion for the takedown fell upon nation states in the west. In particular, the U.S. Cyber Command was thought to be a primary suspect.

So, who did hack Kim Jong-un’s Internet?

But what if it were not a coordinated nation state military response? What if a single hacker, out for revenge, was behind the attacks? Well, guess what, that does indeed seem to be the case. In an interview with Wired magazine an American hacker, identified only as P4x, claims to be person behind the blackouts. Wired has seen the evidence to back up the claims.

According to the Wired article, P4x wanted to send a message to the North Korean government. “I want them to understand that if you come at us, it means some of your infrastructure is going down for a while,” he told Wired.

Revenge is a cyberattack best served cold

The event that sparked all of this was not recent, however. Back in January last year, Forbes reported how North Korean hackers had breached both Microsoft Windows and Google Chrome defenses in order to target U.S. security researchers. So, why did P4x wait a year before then suddenly serving up his cold revenge?

Speaking to Wired he reveals that the original hacking campaign that targeted security researchers had been unsuccessful in his case. However, it did leave him feeling “deeply unnerved” not only by being on the receiving end of North Korean state-sponsored hacking attention but also at the “lack of any visible response from the U.S. government.”

Having taken his time, and in essence performed a penetration test against North Korean internet infrastructure systems, he had all he needed to launch the denial-of-service attacks. These targeted vulnerabilities…

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One American Hacker Suddenly Takes Down North Korea’s Internet—All Of It

/in


Across the last couple of weeks of January, the Internet in North Korea was observed to be down. The blackout of Kim Jong-un’s internet connectivity, although intermittent, was hugely disruptive with reports suggesting an “attack against North Korean servers took the entire country off the internet.” The timing of these attacks coincided with the latest bunch of missile tests, the internet blackout just mentioned coming the day after the fifth such test took place. It should come as no surprise, then, that suspicion for the takedown fell upon nation states in the west. In particular, the U.S. Cyber Command was thought to be a primary suspect.

So, who did hack Kim Jong-un’s Internet?

But what if it were not a coordinated nation state military response? What if a single hacker, out for revenge, was behind the attacks? Well, guess what, that does indeed seem to be the case. In an interview with Wired magazine an American hacker, identified only as P4x, claims to be person behind the blackouts. Wired has seen the evidence to back up the claims.

According to the Wired article, P4x wanted to send a message to the North Korean government. “I want them to understand that if you come at us, it means some of your infrastructure is going down for a while,” he told Wired.

Revenge is a cyberattack best served cold

The event that sparked all of this was not recent, however. Back in January last year, Forbes reported how North Korean hackers had breached both Microsoft Windows and Google Chrome defenses in order to target U.S. security researchers. So, why did P4x wait a year before then suddenly serving up his cold revenge?

Speaking to Wired he reveals that the original hacking campaign that targeted security researchers had been unsuccessful in his case. However, it did leave him feeling “deeply unnerved” not only by being on the receiving end of North Korean state-sponsored hacking attention but also at the “lack of any visible response from the U.S. government.”

Having taken his time, and in essence performed a penetration test against North Korean internet infrastructure systems, he had all he needed to launch the denial-of-service attacks. These targeted vulnerabilities…

Source…

International Space Station stabilizes after just-docked Russian module suddenly fires thrusters • The Register

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The International Space Station tilted 45 degrees today after Nauka, a just-docked Russian module, suddenly and unexpectedly fired its thrusters.

The launch of Nauka, also known as the Multipurpose Laboratory Module, did not go smoothly. Engine troubles and dodgy docking sensors meant that the vehicle did not rendezvous with the orbiting lab until today. It blasted off atop a Proton-M rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan eight days earlier.

Even after the vehicle finally managed to dock, problems did not stop there. Within hours of it attaching itself to the space station, its engines began aimlessly firing. The generated thrust caused the whole space station to lose attitude control, according to NASA:

“The crew is not in any danger, never was in any danger, and attitude control has been regained,” NASA spokesperson Rob Navias said about an hour after the thrusters briefly fired at around 1645 GMT. Communications between ground and the station were lost for 11 minutes during the burn, which was at one point declared a “spacecraft emergency” by NASA officials.

Indeed, we’re told none of the seven astronauts on board the station were harmed during the scare. The crew right now is made up of cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov, who were in the Zvezda module connected to Nauka at the time; Akihiko Hoshide from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency; Thomas Pesquet from the European Space Agency; and NASA’s Shane Kimbrough, Megan McArthur, and Mark Vande Hei.

According to the American space agency, the low-Earth-orbit station automatically detected that the Nauka module was in error, and used its own thrusters, including those on the Zvezda unit, to correct its orientation. It’s not clear what caused Nauka to malfunction, and Russian officials sent commands to the…

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FBI ‘Drive-By’ Hacking Warning Suddenly Gets Real—Change This Critical Setting Today

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When the FBI warned that hackers can use the smart gadgets you have at home “to do a virtual drive-by of your digital life,” it was smart connected gadgets they had in mind. This week’s report into a vulnerability with cheap smart plugs available on Amazon can be added to recent warnings about kitchen gadgets and security cameras.

But there was also a more worrying story this week—one that is much more of a concern. Reports suggested that a home internet router had been remotely attacked, exploiting its factory-set password to hijack an IP address to mask “illicit” activity. In my view, the specific attack alleged in these reports is implausible, but I agree that a router in such a default state is a very serious risk.

I don’t think people even understand what a router does,” warns ESET cyber guru Jake Moore. “Most people don’t want to change the password, let alone go into the settings on the router. Many people don’t even realize there are two passwords.”

And so, the highlighting of this issue this week is critical. Treat your router like your internet “mothership,” Moore says. “Lots of people haven’t changed their ISP for years, and so they’ll have an old router, possible six, even ten years old.” And that means that the security on the device itself is likely lacking, and you probably haven’t been into the settings, updated the firmware or changed the password for years—if ever.

Routers are computers, air traffic control systems for all the connections in your house. And while your WiFi SSID and password enable someone to join you network, that person needs to be nearby. Clearly, the router itself can be compromised remotely.

I have commented before on broader IoT security—give some thought to the number of devices you connect to your home internet, remember, each device is a bridge between your home and the outside world. Think that through.

For those you do connect—including computers, phones tablets, smart toys, kitchen gadgets, appliances, TVs and the rest, change all default passwords, and make each one unique—use a password manager or write them down. Update the firmware and enable auto-updates if…

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