Hacktivists allegedly affiliated with Anonymous have been covertly breaking into US government systems and pilfering sensitive information for nearly a year, the FBI warned last week.
The attacks (which began last December and are thought to be ongoing) exploit flaws in Adobe's ColdFusion web app development software to plant backdoors on compromised systems, according to an FBI memo seen by Reuters. The memo said the US army, Department of Energy, Department of Health and Human Services, and others had all been targeted.
Officials told the news agency that the warning was linked to attacks allegedly carried out by Lauri Love, 28, of Stradishall, England and others. Love alone was indicted in New Jersey last month over a string of attacks that matches that latest warnings.
A DoJ statement on the indictment lists 10 attacks against US government systems, eight of which are blamed on ColdFusion exploits1. The remaining two attacks were blamed on SQL injection-style assaults.
Some of the breaches have been publicised by Anonymous under the a campaign dubbed Operation Last Resort (#OpLastResort), which aims to protest against the overzealous prosecution of computer crime suspects including Aaron Swartz, a programmer who committed suicide under the shadow of a prosecution for computer crimes after he systematically downloaded academic journal articles from the JSTOR digital library.
The FBI is urging government sysadmins and website administrators to take urgent remedial action to contain the problem, which it warns is more serious than recent press reports of hack against US government systems might suggest.
"The majority of the intrusions have not yet been made publicly known," the Feds warned, Reuters reports. "It is unknown exactly how many systems have been compromised, but it is a widespread problem that should be addressed."
News of the warning broke late last week shortly after Anonymous affiliated hacker Jeremy Hammond was jailed for 10 years for hacking into the systems of private intelligence firm Stratfor and stealing credit card details and emails.
Hammond claimed in court that LulzSec suspect turned super-snitch Hector "Sabu" Monseigneur had encouraged him to hack into the websites of various governments under the AntiSec banner. An earlier (more concise) statement from Hammond along the same lines can be found on the FreeJeremy support website here.
The harsh sentence against Hammond prompted elements of Anonymous to re-launch OpLastResort, with a video about the ongoing Edward Snowden revelations that refers to "Global Cyberwar II". Apparently Global Cyberwar I happened two years ago. ®
Bugnote
1 Separately security firm Hold Security has linked attacks against ColdFusion version 8 to the recent high-profile theft of Adobe source code as well as attacks against LexisNexis and others.
[Politico] A federal judge has refused Attorney General Eric Holder's request that he be allowed to proceed now with an appeal in a case where the House of Representatives is seeking to enforce subpoenas for documents related to the controversial Operation F&F gun investigation.
In a ruling Monday afternoon, U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson said her September 30 ruling rejecting Holder's request to dismiss the lawsuit was not such a close call that it deserved immediate review from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
"While the Court agrees with defendants characterization of the matter as significant, that is not the test," Jackson wrote in her new four-page decision posted here.
#5
I believe the old coin of the Left is 'institutional bigotry', the inherit culture of the place makes it OK to behave this way (see Lefty rants about 'male white culture'). Of course for the Left it's always been - one set of rules for me, another set of rules for thee.
#6
One has to wonder what the talk around the water-cooler at MSNBC is that he feels he can say such things.
Because you have to figure that what is said on the air is probably quite tame compared to what they say among themselves in private.
#7
So Bashir gets off with an apology which is most likely most insincere while Alec Baldwin gets fired for his slurs. I'm not trying to defend Baldwin but it seems there are different levels of punishment depending on who one slurs.
#8
... While all animals are equal, some animals are more equal than others. Got to have an official 'Social Justice' scoring card to know the hierarchical ranking of special interest groups.
[Al Ahram] Mauritanian police on Monday crushed a protest by hundreds of youths demanding a boycott of upcoming elections, wounding several.
An AFP news hound saw police beat the activists and spray them with tear gas as they waved placards and rolled their eyes, jumped up and down, and hollered poorly rhymed slogans real loud outside the offices of the election commission in the capital Nouakchott, calling for a boycott of Saturday's parliamentary and local elections.
"The police violently attacked the demonstrators despite the peaceful nature of their movement, using tear gas and batons," said Idoumou Ould Mohammed Lemine, front man for the Coordination of Democratic Opposition (COD) that organised the protest.
"Many people, mostly women, were maimed and transported to hospitals in Nouakchott," he added, condemning "these acts of violence which are contrary to democracy and the free expression that the government prides itself on".
The injuries appeared to be minor, according to the AFP journalist at the scene.
Mauritania, a mainly Musselmen republic and a former French colony, is seen by Western leaders as strategically important in the fight against Al-Qaeda-linked groups within its own borders, in neighbouring Mali and across Africa's Sahel region ... North Africa's answer to the Pak tribal areas... .
Posted by: Fred ||
11/19/2013 00:00 ||
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[Pak Daily Times] Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... on Monday invited foreign investment in the upcoming spectrum auction for next generation mobile services (3G) and establishment of technology parks.
"We invite foreign companies to be our partners in harnessing the rich potential of our country that is open for business and keen on working with international investors," the prime minister said in his key-note address at the Connect Asia Pacific Summit 2013, which began in Bangkok on Monday morning. Prime Minister Nawaz said the government of Pakistain was committed to accelerated digitisation of the country to enable socio-economic development, creating a knowledge-based economy and promoting economic growth.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/19/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
"we're relatively safer than Venezuela!"
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/19/2013 7:45 Comments ||
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#2
It's crazy I know Frank... but if you have any racehorse money, Vz bonds nearing maturity are interesting.
Of course, now if I had racehorse money I'd buy, well um a racehorse.
#4
LOL usually that's what it means. But the damn things are yielding near 16% and their payment record is pretty good.... well except for the Sincor um... deferment.
...I used to think Bitcoin was a quirky and somewhat positive thing. Now, not so much... Pretty stoopid idea. States are the ones with the heavy artillery. A price on Putin's head could result in those controlling and using the "bitcoin assassination market" being hunted down and rubbed out like the blotches on humanity they are. Some people never think beyond Step 2.
In its preliminary evaluation resume, NHTSA said it is "aware of two incidents occurring on U.S. public highways in which the subject vehicles caught fire after an undercarriage strike with metallic roadway debris. The resulting impact damage to the propulsion battery tray (baseplate) initiated thermal runaway. In each incident, the vehicle's battery monitoring system provided escalating visible and audible warnings, allowing the driver to execute a controlled stop and exit the vehicle before the battery emitted smoke and fire.
Based on these incidents, NHTSA is opening this preliminary evaluation to examine the potential risks associated with undercarriage strikes on model year 2013 Tesla Model S vehicles."
Posted by: Au Auric ||
11/19/2013 11:34 ||
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#1
No word yet if Tesla has asked the Boeing 787 Easybake Airliner battery 'experts' to assist......
#4
how is this any different from a rupture gas tank with road sparks to ignite it?
Statistically similar to regular vehicle fires. Of course, this is new technology which means major media interest (read hysteria) and WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!.
They are all alather about green technology panting after every environmentally friendly save us from global warming gizmo. And then when something like this happens...they blast the news everywhere as if it is a major problem with Teslas exploding like napalm. If you aren't paying attention to the news, you would think it was several fires when it has been TWO.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
11/19/2013 16:02 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Nawaz Sharif
