Cybersecurity

Judge rejects ex-CIA worker's try to dismiss hacking charges

A former CIA employee cannot get espionage charges against him dismissed on the grounds that there weren’t enough Hispanic or Black individuals on the grand jury that indicted him, a judge ruled Wednesday. U.S. District Judge Paul A. Crotty issued his ruling in the case against Joshua Schulte, finding that there was nothing illegal about […]

Facebook finds Chinese hacking operation targeting Uyghurs

Hackers in China used fake Facebook accounts and impostor websites to try to break into the computers and smartphones of Uyghur Muslims, the social network said Wednesday. The company said the sophisticated, covert operation targeted Uyghur activists, journalists and dissidents from China’s Xinjiang region, as well as individuals living in Turkey, Kazakhstan, the U.S., Syria, […]

Tool created to aid cleanup from Microsoft hack in broad use

A tool designed to help businesses protect themselves from further compromises after a global hack of Microsoft email server software has been downloaded more than 25,000 times since it was released last week, the White House’s National Security Council said Monday. As a result, the number of vulnerable systems has fallen by 45%, according to […]

Cyber attack tied to China boosts development bank's chief

The cyberattack crested just as finance officials from across Latin America were descending on Washington to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Inter-American Development Bank. On Sept. 24, 2019, requests from more than 15,000 internet addresses throughout China flooded the bank’s website, knocking part of it intermittently offline. To unclog the network, the bank took […]

Chinese hacker group attempts to steal 5G secret from telcos, McAfee reports

Cybersecurity researchers at U.S.-based security firm McAfee uncovered Tuesday a cyber espionage campaign targeting telcos around the world attempting to steal 5G technology secrets. According to the McAfee, the hacker campaign – dubbed Operation Dianxun and originating from China – was done using malicious downloads to steal sensitive 5G data from compromised victims, primarily telecoms […]

Despite hacks, US not seeking widened domestic surveillance

The Biden administration is not planning to step up government surveillance of the U.S. internet even as state-backed foreign hackers and cybercriminals increasingly use it to evade detection, a senior administration official said Friday. The official said the administration, mindful of the privacy and civil liberties implications that could arise, is not currently seeking additional […]

Security camera hack exposes hospitals, workplaces, schools

Hackers aiming to call attention to the dangers of mass surveillance say they were able to peer into hospitals, schools, factories, jails and corporate offices after they broke into the systems of a security-camera startup. That California startup, Verkada, said Wednesday it is investigating the scope of the breach, first reported by Bloomberg News, and […]

FireEye CEO: Reckless Microsoft hack unusual for China

Cyber sleuths have already blamed China for a hack that exposed tens of thousands of servers running its Exchange email program to potential hacks. The CEO of a prominent cybersecurity firm says it now seems clear China also unleashed an indiscriminate, automated second wave of hacking that opened the way for ransomware and other cyberattacks. […]

Microsoft server hack has victims hustling to stop intruders

Victims of a massive global hack of Microsoft email server software — estimated in the tens of thousands by cybersecurity responders — hustled Monday to shore up infected systems and try to diminish chances that intruders might steal data or hobble their networks. The White House has called the hack an “active threat” and said […]

Casting a wide intrusion net: Dozens burned with single hack

The SolarWinds hacking campaign blamed on Russian spies and the “grave threat” it poses to U.S. national security are widely known. A very different — and no less alarming — coordinated series of intrusions also detected in December has gotten considerably less public attention. Nimble, highly skilled criminal hackers believed to operate out of Eastern […]