Saturday, 25 July 2015
Hacking underworld riddled with secret FBI informants
The underground world of computer hackers has been so thoroughly infiltrated in the US by the FBI and secret service that it is now riddled with paranoia and mistrust, with an estimated one in four hackers secretly informing on their peers, a Guardian investigation has established.
Cyber policing units have had such success in forcing online criminals to co-operate with their investigations through the threat of long prison sentences that they have managed to create an army of informants deep inside the hacking community.
In some cases, popular illegal forums used by cyber criminals as marketplaces for stolen identities and credit card numbers have been run by hacker turncoats acting as FBI moles. In others, undercover FBI agents posing as “carders” – hackers specialising in ID theft – have themselves taken over the management of crime forums, using the intelligence gathered to put dozens of people behind bars.
So ubiquitous has the FBI informant network become that Eric Corley, who publishes the hacker quarterly, 2600, has estimated that 25 per cent of hackers in the US may have been recruited by the federal authorities to be their eyes and ears. “Owing to the harsh penalties involved and the relative inexperience with the law that many hackers have, they are rather susceptible to intimidation,” Corley told the Guardian.
“It makes for very tense relationships,” said John Young, who runs Cryptome, a website depository for secret documents along the lines of WikiLeaks. “There are dozens and dozens of hackers who have been shopped by people they thought they trusted.”
The best-known example of the phenomenon is Adrian Lamo, a convicted hacker who turned informant on Bradley Manning, who is suspected of passing secret documents to WikiLeaks. Manning had entered into a prolonged instant messaging conversation with Lamo, whom he trusted and asked for advice. Lamo repaid that trust by promptly handing over the 23-year-old intelligence specialist to the military authorities. Manning has now been in custody for more than a year.
For acting as he did, Lamo has earned himself the sobriquet of Judas and the “world’s most hated hacker”, though he has insisted that he acted out of concern for those he believed could be harmed or even killed by the WikiLeaks publication of thousands of US diplomatic cables.
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Local hospital says patient information targeted by hackers
BATESVILLE, Ind. (WKRC) — A local hospital said patient information was targeted by hackers. Cyber thieves got into the patient information portal at Margaret Mary Health in Batesville. The breach happened in late May and was reported to the FBI cyber squad. Agents said it was a sophisticated attack. The information that was compromised includes: names, addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, birth dates, Social Security numbers and insurance numbers. Investigators do not believe clinical information like test results and medical histories were affected. Experts said cyber security attacks on medical facilities were becoming more common
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Anonymous” hackers claim to have breached Census Bureau database
The infamous hacking group Anonymous managed to swipe data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
He added: “Security and data stewardship are integral to the Census Bureau mission”.
Anonymous hackers have swiped databases from servers used by the US Census Bureau, and dumped their contents online. The group tweeted about the attack on Wednesday and began posting links to troves of data and documents it had obtained.
The Census Bureau insists the breach is not that severe, acknowledging “unauthorized access” to its systems but telling IBTimes the data taken was “non-confidential” and that it came from “an external system that is not part of the Census Bureau internal network”. “Access to the external system has been restricted while our IT forensics team investigates”, Census Bureau spokesman Michael Cook said in a statement on Thursday first published by The Register. The leaked files also include a database of usernames and hashed passwords, which appear to have been run through the MD5 or an Oracle DES algorithms. Those responsible are believed to be associated with the loose-knit hackers’ collective Anonymous (as opposed to, say, the Chinese government, the Russian government, or similarly well-armed non-American state actors). “We will remain vigilant in continuing to take every necessary precaution to protect all information”.
Although designed to remove trade barriers between the US, Europe and Asian countries, there are fears, as with any such deal, that the agreements could lead to a loss of US sovereignty and jobs. Among the many oppositions to the twin agreements is the way they have been drawn up in secret, with Anonymous being vocal in its opposition.
The incident comes after the Office of Personnel Management admitted earlier this month that it suffered a massive database breach, resulting in the loss of personally identifiable information of 21.5 million current, former, and prospective federal employees and contractors.
“[M]y real concern is that [the OPM breaches] desensitized the public and government officials to smaller but still damaging breaches like the attack on the Census Bureau”, Merza said.
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Customer data on major Vietnamese websites vulnerable to hackers: report
A new cybersecurity report warned that customer data on Vietnam’s major websites can be stolen easily.
Hanoi-based online security firm BKAV said 1,507 gigabytes from 1,300 databases of many websites, including major online retailers, gaming websites, news websites and a government website, are vulnerable to hack.
Nguyen Minh Duc, an Internet expert, said the data from online shopping sites are “quite sensitive” as they can contain bank account information and transaction information.
Some people can exploit personal and financial information for bad purposes, Duc said.
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1.4 million vehicles recalled after hackers show they can disable Jeep on the highway
Fiat Chrysler is to recall 1.4 million vehicles after hackers remotely took control of a 2014 Jeep Cherokee on a US highway. The car firm’s aim: to close the software loophole that allowed the attack to take place near St Louis.
The company said it had “applied network-level security measures” to block hackers from the ability to remotely access its vehicles via their Internet-ready Uconnect radios.
The recall, according to AdAge, involves a software patch that stops the type of hack attack demonstrated by professional hackers Charlie Miller and Chris Valasek.
On Monday, Wired magazine detailed how Miller and Valasek were able to take command of an unmodified 2014 Jeep Cherokee while it was being driven on a St. Louis highway by journalist Andy Greenberg.
The hackers did so via the SUV’s Internet-connected Uconnect radio, which receives data through the Sprint cellular network.
Working via laptop computers from home, the hackers blasted the Cherokee’s radio, turned on the wipers and washer fluid and eventually shut off the Cherokee’s engine while it was traveling on the highway.
The patch to stop that type of attack can either be installed at the dealer, or downloaded by a consumer and installed into the radio via a USB flash drive.
Previously, Fiat Chrysler had only advised owners to download the software patch or take their vehicle to a dealer to have it installed. The campaign was stepped up to a formal recall and broadened yesterday by the company to include more vehicles, all equipped with 8.4-inch touchscreen Uconnect radios:
2013-15 Dodge Viper specialty vehicles
2013-15 Ram 1500, 2500 and 3500 pickups
2013-15 Ram 3500, 4500, 5500 Chassis Cabs
2014-15 Jeep Grand Cherokee and Cherokee SUVs
2014-15 Dodge Durango SUVs
2015 Chrysler 200, Chrysler 300 and Dodge Charger sedans
2015 Dodge Challenger sports coupes
The Dodge Dart and Journey, which also have 8.4-inch touchscreen Uconnect radios, are not affected, a spokesman confirmed.
To install the software patch, Fiat Chrysler said customers should visit a dedicated website and update and input their vehicle identification number and determine whether their vehicles are included in the recall.
The car firm said that to perform their remote takeover of the 2014 Cherokee, the hackers “required unique and extensive technical knowledge, prolonged physical access to a subject vehicle and extended periods of time to write code.”
Later, in a parking lot, the hackers demonstrated to Wired how they could take control of the Cherokee’s steering wheel, but only while the transmission was in reverse, and even disable the brakes, sending the SUV into a ditch.
Fiat Chrysler has come under fire from federal regulators and could face possible fines or other penalties for its handling of recent recalls.
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration chief Mark Rosekind said in a statement yesterday that the agency “encouraged” the company to elevate the voluntary software update to a full recall.
The move was needed to demonstrate the “swift and strong response” that should follow the discovery of vehicle cyber vulnerabilities, Rosekind said.
He added: “NHTSA appreciates that FCA has already taken action to partially address this vulnerability by working with its cellular provider.
“Launching a recall is the right step to protect Fiat Chrysler’s customers and it sets an important precedent for how NHTSA and the industry will respond to cybersecurity vulnerabilities.”
At the same time, the agency today opened an investigation to assess the effectiveness of FCA’s software patch as part of the recall, Rosekind said.
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