• SolarWinds Hack Bigger, More Dangerous than Previously Thought, Tech Execs Warn

    Executives with technology companies impacted by the massive cybersecurity breach known as the SolarWinds hack are giving U.S. lawmakers more reason to worry, warning the intrusion is both bigger and more dangerous than first realized.

  • French Companies Targeted by Russian Cyberattack between 2017 and 2020

    A broad Russian cyberattacks in France was carried out via French software Centreon, which serves large companies and government agencies. The cyberattack resembles Russia’s exploitation of vulnerabilities in SolarWinds to attacks American companies and government agencies. The scope of Russia’s cyberattack in France is still uncertain.

  • Preventing Cybersecurity Disruptions by Training Workforce

    Two cybersecurity researchers have published a new book to help train employees at public utilities to recognize cybersecurity vulnerabilities and develop measures to defend their networks from increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks.

  • A Key Step in Preventing a Future SolarWinds

    In the weeks since news of the SolarWinds incident became public, commentators have offered no shortage of prescriptions for responding to the incident. Natalie Thompson writes that as information continues to emerge about the scope and scale of the incident and policymakers struggle with thorny questions regarding appropriate responses, urgent attention also is needed to actions that could prevent such large-scale catastrophes in the future.

  • North Korea Targeted Cybersecurity Researchers Using a Blend of Hacking and Espionage

    North Korean hackers have staged an audacious attack targeting cybersecurity researchers, many of whom work to counter hackers from places like North Korea, Russia, China and Iran. The attack involved sophisticated efforts to deceive specific people, which raises the level of social engineering, or phishing attacks, and enters the realm of spy tradecraft.

  • Espionage Attempts Like the SolarWinds Hack Are Inevitable, So It’s Safer to Focus on Defense – Not Retaliation

    Since taking office, President Joe Biden has ordered a thorough intelligence review of Russian aggression around the world, which includes hacking, election interference, poisoning political opponents and posting bounties for killing U.S. soldiers. His administration faces pressure from members of Congress in both parties and former government officials to respond forcefully to the SolarWinds breach. But the U.S. government may not be able to stop future intrusions into American computer systems. Scholarship describes how difficult it can be to effectively deter cyberattacks or punish those responsible, and suggests that retaliation – in whatever form it might take – will almost certainly invite counterhacks from Russia, worsening tensions between the countries and potentially escalating into the offline world.

  • The SolarWinds Hack Can Directly Affect Control Systems

    Much of the initial discussion around the SolarWinds cyberattack focused on its impact on the affected information technology (IT) systems. Joe Weiss and Bob Hunter write that this overlooks an equally destructive yet unexamined operational technology (OT) portion of the attack, and much of the OT impact may not be seen for months or longer. Weiss and Hunter note that researchers have long warned about the dangers posed by OT attacks, and that Russian hackers have become extremely adept at control system cyberattacks.

  • The Internet of Things Brings a Web of Promises and Perils to the Smart Grid

    Scientists and engineers research energy and security issues, so they are well aware that Internet of Things (IoT) combined with technologies such as 5G telecommunications and artificial intelligence (AI) are ushering in an era of fine-grained insight and control over infrastructure from smart microwaves to the entire electric power grid. On the flip sidethe growing number of connected devices increases the attack surface from a cybersecurity perspective.

  • Hackers “Manipulated” Stolen COVID Vaccine Papers, Says EU Agency

    Documents and emails about the BioNTech-Pfizer and Moderna jabs were taken in a cyberattack late last year. The EU’s drug regulator thinks hackers are trying to damage public trust in the COVID vaccines.

  • The Sunburst Hack Was Massive and Devastating – 5 Observations from a Cybersecurity Expert

    So much remains unknown about what is now being called the Sunburst hack, the cyberattack against U.S. government agencies and corporations. U.S. officials widely believe that Russian state-sponsored hackers are responsible. The attack gave the perpetrators access to numerous key American business and government organizations. The immediate effects will be difficult to judge, and a complete accounting of the damage is unlikely. However, the nature of the affected organizations alone makes it clear that this is perhaps the most consequential cyberattack against the U.S. to date.

  • Revelations of Cyberattacks on U.S. Likely Just “Tip of the Iceberg”

    Russian government hackers have infiltrated the computer networks of some of the nation’s biggest corporations, leading defense contractors, and top U.S. government agencies, including those in national security branches, in what security analysts believe is a “very significant” breach. The Russian espionage campaign was “sustained, targeted, far-reaching,” analysts say.

  • Election security It’s Official: The Election Was Secure

    Election officials and election security experts have long been clear: voter fraud is extraordinarily rare and the U.S. system has strong checks in place to protect the integrity of our voting process. “These are the facts,” says the Brennan Center for Justice. “But the facts have not stopped bad actors from trotting out baseless claims of ‘systemic voter fraud’ to suppress votes and undermine trust in our democracy for political gain.” Government officials, judges, and elected leaders, overwhelmingly Republican —and, in the executive branch and the judiciary, mostly Trump appointees — have publicly acknowledged confidence in the November election.

  • Online Users Manipulated into Sharing Private Information Online

    Online users are more likely to reveal private information based on how website forms are structured to elicit data, BGU researchers have determined.

  • The Strategic Implications of SolarWinds

    Recent reports of a broad Russian cyber infiltration across U.S. government networks are a sign of how great-power competition will play out in the twenty-first century. Benjamin Jensen, Brandon Valeriano, and Mark Montgomery write that the SolarWinds operation demonstrates that U.S. Cyber Command’s vision of persistent engagement, which calls for preventively imposing costs as adversaries to shape competition in cyberspace, appears not to have worked as expected. “In the future, what is required is a deeper focus on denial-based approaches: How can the U.S. limit the attack surfaces available to the opposition and harden targets to ensure resilience?” they write.

  • Memory Card May Be Used to Steal Data

    Researchers have published new research detailing a technique to convert a RAM card [a memory module that is plugged into a computer’s motherboard that stores the data being used by the computer] into an impromptu wireless emitter and transmit sensitive data from inside a non-networked air-gapped computer that has no Wi-Fi card.