United States Foreign Policy Group Attacked By China Based Hackers

Jan 022013
 

Chines based hackers penetrated the web group of the New York based Council on Foreign Relations last week and used their access to attack members and visitors to the website.

The sophisticated attack utilized a recently developed method known as “drive-by” cyber attacks which targets anyone visiting the compromised  site.

The Washington Free Beacon a conservative online publication, reported “computer hackers traced to China carried out an advanced cyberespionage attack against one of America’s most elite foreign policy web groups – the website of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR).

According to private computer-security forensic specialists, the hacking incident involved a relatively new type of ploy called a “drive-by” website cyber attack that was detected around 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday.

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New Research On Computer Backdoors Reveals Disturbing Long Term Risks For All Netizens

Nov 052012
 

Research by the University of Toronto Citizen Lab shows that computer back doors are a permanent security risk to users through out the world.

Their research based on events in the middle east demonstrates readily available commercial software is being used by governments to infiltrate computers used by critics and dissidents.

Bloomberg news reported the case of Ahmed Mansoor who was sitting in “his study in Dubai and made the mistake of clicking on a Microsoft Word attachment that arrived in an e-mail, labeled “very important” in Arabic, from a sender he thought he recognized.

“With that click, the pro-democracy activist unwittingly downloaded spyware that seized on a flaw in the Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) program to take over his computer and record every keystroke. The hackers infiltrated his digital life so deeply they still accessed his personal e-mail even after he changed his password.

Since then, Mansoor, 42, an electrical engineer and father of four, says he has suffered two beatings by thugs in September during his campaign for citizens’ civil rights in the Persian Gulf federation of the United Arab Emirates. While those assailants remain unknown, researchers say they’ve figured out what was behind the virtual assault.

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China Cites Hacker Arrests To Counter Accusations Of State Initiated Cyber Attacks

Dec 022010
 

China has moved into damage control mode following the release of diplomatic cables on Wikileaks that links Beijing to concentrated cyber attacks including a widespread hacking rampage last year.

Authorities have published information on the arrest of hackers and successful cyber-crime prosecutions saying these show it is serious about dealing with the problem which they attribute to the work of criminals.

It has also cut off online access to Wikileaks.

There has been widespread concern outside the country that the attacks were actually the work of the Chinese Government either directly or by people trained and instructed by them but not in direct government employ.

Today Online quoted China’s  Ministry of  Public Security as saying China has “solved 180 cyber attack cases and arrested more than 460 suspects this year, but prospects for preventing future assaults on computer security remain grim.”

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No Quick Fixes For Internet Freedom and Censorship

Nov 202010
 

There are no quick fixes for online censorship and restrictions on internet freedom says media and internet expert Rebecca MacKinnon.

Published in the Wall Street Journal MacKinnon’s comments brings some much needed perspective to the size of the job to protect free access to information.

“I study how governments seek to stifle and control online dissent. Activists from the Middle East to Asia to the former Soviet states have all been telling me that they suffer from increasingly sophisticated cyber-attacks. Such attacks disable activists’ websites at politically crucial times. Email accounts are hacked and computer systems are breached, enabling intruders to install spyware and monitor every electronic move. They are desperate for training and technical help to fight increasingly sophisticated, well-funded adversaries,” she says.

USA Internet Kill Switch – Political Censorship or Responsible Security Precaution

Jun 282010
 
A new cyber-security bill moving through the US Government at the moment has provisions for the President to pull the plug on the internet if he deems it necessary for national security reasons.
Critics have raised concerns about what could be seen as the ultimate on-line censorship but supporters contend it is necessary to stop a wide spread cyber attack. In addition they say the bill actually limits the President’s current powers over national communications as outlined in a 1934 bill.
The bill does not appear to allow the selective screening and interception of on-line traffic that regimes such as China and Vietnam practise instead it is an emergency security measure
Writing on the website  Daily Finance Sam Gustin argues the bill is not something to be scared of.