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FBI Blames Federal Hacks On Anonymous Campaign
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samicksha
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samicksha,
 User Rank: Apprentice
11/22/2013 | 2:07:56 AM
Re: Something should be done?
Point that this is not the first DoE has been impacted, i guess earlier this year in Feb also DoE had been victim of cyber and why only DoE, just go in flash back where three top American newspapers, The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post were hacked and chinese hackers are believed to have been behind hackings.
Mathew
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Mathew,
 User Rank: Apprentice
11/20/2013 | 5:13:48 AM
Re: FBI Sees Shift in Focus
Interesting. What's your take on the observation that al-Qaeda and other terrorist networks previously posed the #1 national security threat to the United States? Do you think that was true, or overstated the actual risk? 
WKash
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WKash,
 User Rank: Apprentice
11/19/2013 | 5:17:38 PM
FBI Sees Shift in Focus
FBI Director James Comey testified last Thursday before a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing that the risks of cyberattacks is now likely to exceed the danger posed by al-Qaeda and other terrorist networks as the #1 national security threat to the US -- and will become the dominant focus of law enforcement and intielligence services.
Tom Murphy
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Tom Murphy,
 User Rank: Apprentice
11/19/2013 | 12:53:15 PM
Government Insecurity
I would think that the DOE (which oversees US nuclear facilities) would be above blaming outdated, third-party software for any security breaches.  (And that's not to excuse Adobe for its recent problems.)
Mathew
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Mathew,
 User Rank: Apprentice
11/19/2013 | 8:27:47 AM
Re: How was he caught?
David, the FBI has been mum on the bust particulars, which may relate to the Department of Justice perhaps seeking to extradite Love -- who's Scottish and Finish -- from the UK, as well as the fact that the alleged co-conspirators haven't been named or apparently arrested yet. But the Department of Justice press release about Love's arrest did say that he and the other the alleged attackers used VPN services and Tor to attempt to disguise what they were doing.

Given the FBI's previous success at subpoenaing "anonymous" VPN providers and correlating their subscribers' access times with service providers' records -- to unmask people's real identities -- as well as the FBI reportedly using malware as part of a sting operation that de-anonymized Tor users, the bureau likely employed one or both of those approaches.
Mathew
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50%
Mathew,
 User Rank: Apprentice
11/19/2013 | 6:51:55 AM
Re: Something should be done?
Good question on the DoE hack front. The hack was traced to an outdated -- and Internet-accessible -- version of ColdFusion that sported known vulnerabilities. The Department of Energy hasn't gotten rid of the ColdFusion system, because the agency has continued to build applications that rely on the that HR system to validate users or retrieve employee-related information.

This has been a known problem for some time, officials say, yet the agency has continued to build applications that reference the ColdFusion HR system. Fast-forward to today, and the DoE has an insecure mess on its hands, and the cost of fixing it -- never mind the cost of data breach notifications to employees and contractors (current/former), as well as their spouses and children, or the hit to agency morale -- will continue to grow, the longer the agency waits to fix the underlying problem. 
samicksha
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50%
samicksha,
 User Rank: Apprentice
11/19/2013 | 3:49:54 AM
Re: Something should be done?
 Sounds like DoE has been frequent target and favorite of hackers, curious to learn how they were able to gain entry to the computer systems via a flaw in Adobe's ColdFusion web development software.

Tom Murphy
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50%
Tom Murphy,
 User Rank: Apprentice
11/18/2013 | 1:02:53 PM
Something should be done?
It's rather startling to average citizens how easy it is for sophisticated hackers to infiltrate what should be highly secure government files. And it does little to bolster one's confidence to hear the FBI say "it is a widespread problem that should be addressed."  

Well, duh! What exactly is the FBI waiting for?
David F. Carr
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50%
David F. Carr,
 User Rank: Strategist
11/18/2013 | 11:25:03 AM
How was he caught?
Do we know how this suspect was caught, what tripped him up?


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