Tag Archive for: Voice

US Justice Department Confirms It Was Victim of SolarWinds Hack | Voice of America

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The U.S. Department of Justice confirmed on Wednesday that it had been the victim of a massive hacking operation linked to Russian intelligence.  

In a statement, Justice Department spokesman Marc Raimondi said about 3% of the agency’s email accounts appeared to have been compromised, although no classified information was accessed. 

“After learning of the malicious activity, the Office of Chief Information Officer eliminated the identified method by which the actor was accessing the … email environment,” Raimondi said. 

Raimondi said the department learned about the previously unknown hack on its networks on Christmas Eve and determined that it constituted a “major” security incident. 

The disclosure came a day after U.S. intelligence agencies said that the hack was part of an ongoing intelligence operation and likely being carried out by Russia.  

This Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2015 photo shows FireEye offices in Milpitas, Calif. The cybersecurity firm said Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2020…
FILE – This Feb. 11, 2015, photo shows FireEye offices in Milpitas, Calif.

The hack came to light in early December when private cybersecurity firm FireEye disclosed that its networks had been compromised. Investigators have traced the breach to SolarWinds, a Texas-based network management software company that the hackers used to penetrate the computer networks. 

In a statement Tuesday, the FBI, the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), and the National Security Agency (NSA) said that of the approximately 18,000 SolarWinds customers impacted by the hack, “a much smaller number has been compromised by follow-on activity on their systems.”  

FILE PHOTO: The SolarWinds logo is seen outside its headquarters in Austin, Texas, U.S., December 18, 2020. REUTERS/Sergio…
FILE – The SolarWinds logo is seen outside its headquarters in Austin, Texas, Dec. 18, 2020.

“We have so far identified fewer than 10 U.S. government agencies that fall into this category and are working to identify the nongovernment entities who also may be impacted,” the agencies said. 

Officials had previously confirmed that the departments of Defense, Treasury, State, Homeland Security, Commerce and Energy were impacted. Among targeted businesses were Microsoft and Amazon.  

U.S. President…

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US National Security Officials Investigating Hacker Intrusions | Voice of America

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The Trump administration acknowledged Sunday that several U.S. institutions were hacked on behalf of a foreign government.
 
Experts believe Russia is likely behind the attack on the U.S. Treasury and Commerce departments in what U.S. media is calling one of the most sophisticated attacks on U.S. government systems in years.
 
Both the FBI and the cybersecurity arm of the Department of Homeland Security were investigating the breach. The extent of the intrusion, a motive, or whether other agencies were affected were not immediately known.
 
U.S. National Security Council officials met Saturday at the White House to discuss the attack by a “sophisticated hacking group,” which stole information related to internet and telecommunications policymaking.
 
Two of the people said the breaches are related to a disclosed hack on FireEye, a U.S. cybersecurity company with government contracts.

“The United States government is aware of these reports, and we are taking all necessary steps to identify and remedy any possible issues related to this situation,” National Security Council spokesman John Ullyot said.

The Reuters news agency, which first reported the breach, said U.S. intelligence officials are concerned that hackers used similar means to break into other government agencies besides Treasury.

Later Sunday, the Commerce Department confirmed one of its agencies was breached.  

“We have asked the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the FBI to investigate, and we cannot comment further at this time,” a statement from the department said.

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, part of the Homeland Security Department, was led until recently by Christopher Krebs, who was fired by President Donald Trump. Krebs has not been replaced.  

He was dismissed after he said the November national election was “the most secure in American history,” angering Trump who has claimed, without evidence, that voting and vote-count irregularities led to President-elect Joe Biden’s victory over him.

Several federal agencies are investigating, and the extent of the intrusion is not known.

 

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Microsoft exhorts enterprises to quit text, voice multi-factor authentication passcodes

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A Microsoft executive is urging enterprises to abandon the most popular multi-factor authentication (MFA) method — one-time passcodes sent to mobile devices via text or voice — for different approaches, including app authenticators, that he claims are more secure.

“It’s time to start your move away from the SMS and voice Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) mechanisms,” asserted Alex Weinert, director of identity security, in a Nov. 10 post to a Microsoft blog. “These mechanisms are based on publicly switched telephone networks (PSTN), and I believe they’re the least secure of the MFA methods available today.”

Weinert argued that other MFA methods are more secure, calling out Microsoft Authenticator, his company’s app-based authenticator, and Windows Hello, the umbrella label for Microsoft’s biometrics technology, including facial recognition and fingerprint verification. It’s no coincidence that Weinert touted technologies Microsoft has aggressively pushed in its campaign to convince enterprises to go passwordless.

More than a year ago, Weinert spelled out how, in his view, passwords alone are no defense against credential theft, but that by enabling MFA, “your account is more than 99.9% less likely to be compromised.” That advice hasn’t changed, but Microsoft’s stance on MFA has now narrowed. “MFA is essential — we are discussing which MFA method to use, not whether to use MFA,” he wrote last week.

Weinert ticked off a list of security flaws in SMS- and voice-based MFA, the technique that typically sends a six-digit code to a predetermined, verified phone number. Those defects, Weinert said, ranged from a lack of encryption — texts are sent in the clear — to vulnerability to social engineering.

App-based authentication, Weinert contended, is a much more secure means to the WFA ends. He then touted Microsoft Authenticator, which comes in versions for Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS.

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From Cold War to Gray War: Internet Conflict Intensifying  | Voice of America

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A former top security adviser to Boris Johnson has revealed that Britain has launched recently a series of covert cyber-based attacks on Russian leaders and their interests to “impose a price greater than one they might have expected” for their cyber-offensive against the West.  

Other allied powers, including the U.S., are doing so, too, say Western intelligence officials in what is becoming a “like-for-like” cyber-conflict with the Kremlin in the so-called the “gray space,” the gap between normal state relations and armed conflict. 

“The fact you don’t see that we use it doesn’t mean we don’t, because we wouldn’t necessarily talk about those things,” said Mark Sedwill, until recently Britain’s top civil servant and national security adviser to Britain’s Boris Johnson. But in an interview with The Times newspaper, Sedwill underscored that Britain is using its cyber-offense capabilities to retaliate for Russian cyberattacks, information warfare and disruption campaigns. 

A still image taken from video shows Mark Sedwill, the top civil servant at Britain's Home Office giving evidence at a Commons…


FILE – A still image taken from video shows Mark Sedwill, the top civil servant at Britain’s Home Office at the time. giving evidence at a Commons Home Affairs Select Committee hearing in London, July 8, 2014.

“We seek to impose a price, usually a price greater than one they might have expected when we believe it is right and necessary,” he said. “We can’t leave the initiative to our adversaries,” he added. 

Britain has had an offensive cyber capability for more than decade and used it against the Islamic State, including targeting the terror group’s low-tech drones in the Iraqi town of Mosul in 2018. But officials rarely discuss how they defend against or carry out hacking attacks — nor have they spelled out what they consider legitimate targets outside a full-scale declared war. 

Last month, Gen. Patrick Sanders, who heads Britain strategic command, raised the veil a little, telling reporters that in theory Britain has the ability to “degrade, disrupt and even destroy critical capabilities and infrastructure of those who would do us harm, ranging from strategic to tactical targets.” The British military…

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