Tag: war’ | Page 13

Why Japan has ‘declared war’ on floppy disks (What’s that?)

September 3, 2022/in Computer Security

Japan’s government has “declared a war on floppy disks”. Decades after the unwieldy magnetic storage disks became obsolete and were phased out globally, Japan’s digital ministry has announced that it will finally do away with floppy disks and other outdated technology in a bid to modernise its bureaucracy.

In a press conference this week, Japan’s digital minister Taro Kono said he was working towards moving administrative procedures online. “Digital Minister declares a war on floppy discs,” he tweeted in English earlier this week. “Digital Agency is to change those regulations so you can use online.”

Digital Minister declares a war on floppy discs.
There are about 1900 government procedures that requires business community to use discs, i. e. floppy disc, CD, MD, etc to submit applications and other forms. Digital Agency is to change those regulations so you can use online.

— KONO Taro (@konotaromp) August 31, 2022

Japan may be home to some of the world’s leading tech giants, but the Japanese have always had an affinity for older technology. According to a BBC report, cassettes were still widely used in 2015. Meanwhile, in 2019, the country’s cyber security minister publicly admitted that he had never used a computer in his life.

But first, what are floppy disks?

Popularly used between the 1970s and 1990s, a floppy disk is a removable disk storage device used to save computer data and programmes. If you haven’t used one, you most certainly have seen one on the top left corner of an MS Word document, where a small animated floppy disk acts as the save button.

The disk, first developed by IBM, is only able to store about 800 KB of data, which is about 0.0008 GB. To put that in perspective, today you can find hard drives with storage up to 20 TB (20,000 GB).

Since 2021, when Kono was administrative reform minister, he has been vocal about his disdain for the old-fashioned fax machine, a fixture in many Japanese government offices, and the hanko seal — an official seal that is used to sign contracts and documents. He directed government ministries to discontinue hanko requirements for several documents, including year-end tax adjustments and tax…

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Cyber Element in the Russia-Ukraine War & its Global Implications

August 28, 2022/in Internet Security

The recent Taiwan visit by US Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi brought the increasing cyber threats to national security to light again. According to Taipei Times, systems like electronic bulletin boards at railway stations and convenience stores were hacked, and government websites were attacked and brought down, even before Pelosi arrived on the island nation.

It was reported that television screens behind cashiers in some of the 7-Eleven convenience stores—a US-based multinational retail company—were compromised to display statements like “Warmonger Pelosi, get out of Taiwan!”. In another instance, an electronic board at the Sinzuoying railway station showed a message in simplified Chinese which translated into “The visit of the old witch to Taiwan is a serious challenge to the core of the country. Those who actively welcome it will eventually be judged by people, the blood ties of the same race will continue to be separated, great China will eventually be unified”.

Audrey Tang, Taiwan’s digital minister, highlighted that before and after the visit, Taiwan observed 23 times higher cyberattacks than the previous daily record. However, without directly blaming any state or non-state actor for the attacks, Taipei underlined that the attacks originated from addresses in China and Russia.

At the recently concluded DEFCON—a US-based annual hacker convention—the White House National Cyber Director, Chris Inglis, remarked that “the way forward for cybersecurity is defence, defined roles and responsibilities, and investing in resilience and robustness”. He stressed the ‘three-wave of attacks’ observed in recent years. The three waves focus on –

Holding data and systems at risk
Keeping the data and systems at risk but abstracting it into holding critical functions at risk
Attack on confidence

He asserted that while there is a lack of imagination and anticipation of future attacks, there is also a need for clarity on roles and responsibilities, strengthening supply chains, and focus on collective defence. According to him, “the attackers seek to defeat one, and in the process, they are able to defeat all.”

From this perspective,…

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This was H1 2022: Part 3 – Beyond the War

August 18, 2022/in Internet Security

Being caught up in all the events and media attention stemming from the Russo-Ukrainian conflict, one could forget that there is still activity outside the realm of the war. True, the war shifted the focus and priorities of the nations and some crime groups alike, but others went on with their business as usual. The war, and its repercussions on the threat landscape, did not entirely eliminate pre-existing threats. I would argue that some threats are showing potential for growth in the shadow of the war. There is an upside or opportunity for rogue, organized and nation-linked agents to roam undetected and even accelerate their offensive operations.

This is the third and final blog in our three-part series, which was written to shine a light on cyber activities in the first half of 2022. This particular blog covers events, attacks and heists that took place outside the Russian and Ukraine cyber war.

Roaming APTs

The undeniable focus on threats and events relating to the invasion of Ukraine by Russia does not mean other threat actors suspended their activities. On the contrary, while the eyes of the world are upon Russia, other actors have been roaming across the internet almost unnoticed.

On January 13, 2022, Trend Micro linked cyberespionage campaigns against governments, which are typically seen in state-backed campaigns, as well as financially driven attacks against several gambling companies in China and various cryptocurrency platforms to a new Chinese actor, dubbed “Earth Lucsa.” Earth Lucsa targeted government institutions in Taiwan, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, the United Arab Emirates, Mongolia and Nigeria; educational institutions in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan and France; media agencies in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Australia, Germany and France; pro-democracy and human rights political organizations and movements in Hong Kong; COVID-19 research organizations in the United States; telecom companies in Nepal; religious movements that were banned in mainland China; and various cryptocurrency trading platforms. The threat actors leveraged spear-phishing, watering hole attacks and known vulnerabilities, such as ProxyShell and Oracle GlassFish. The payloads used during the…

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