Teenage hackers in AFP's sights

Australian Federal Police are monitoring hacking forums for tech-savvy teenagers. Source: Supplied

AUSTRALIAN Federal Police ''interventions'' are aiming to turn teen hackers into cyber-crime fighters.

A News Limited investigation has discovered that the AFP has been monitoring hacking forums for tech-savvy teenagers in the hope of guiding them away from a path of crime.

Children as young as 15 are being identified.

It's hoped these clever teens can be coaxed into later joining authorities in the fight against cyber thieves and vandals.

''We have had a series of interventions over time where we will go out and explain . . . what they're doing and how that could actually get themselves into serious trouble if they continue on the way they're going,'' Australian Federal Police cyber crime operations coordinator Superintendent Brad Marden told News Limited.

He said reactions were generally positive.

''And at some stage in their future if they've got that interest in crime and we've obviously managed to stop them from doing anything particularly criminal at a younger age, they would be the kind of people who may end up working for us one day in the future.''

The revelation that child hackers are using coding skills to hack accounts on social media and also to breach government websites comes as a senior lecturer in law and IT warned universities needed to do more to ensure they are not training the next generation of computer criminals.

In March, Reserve Bank of Australia confirmed its computer networks had been repeatedly hacked in a series of cyber-attacks to infiltrate sensitive internal information, including by Chinese developed malicious software - or malware.

Hackers penetrated computers at the Reserve Bank in an email scam targeting employees in an incident in November 2011 but details only emerged this year.

And late last year, the AFP helped Romanian officials charge 10 people in the Eastern European country over Australia's largest credit card data theft.

A criminal syndicate had access to 500,000 credit cards and had already spent $30 million on 30,000 of them in transactions in Hong Kong, Europe, Australia and the US.

Superintendent Marden confirmed officers policed hacking forums where up-and-comers sharpened their skills before potentially joining syndicates that hack financial information.

Police track down under 18s, turn up at their door and discuss their online pursuits with them and their parents.

Superintendent Marden said the youngest teen police had spoken to was 15, but they had come across people in forums as young as 13.

''People are getting into these forums quite young,'' he said.

''By the time they get to over 18, they've probably been doing it for quite a while.''

Meanwhile, Sydney University of Technology senior lecturer John Taggart said it was a challenge for universities to train law enforcement without turning out hackers.

He wants ethics better addressed by educators.

Mr Taggart said people who would fight cyber crime needed to understand how hackers compromise security in order to police it.

But there was the possibility those valuable skills may be sought out by criminals, he said.

''If you are going to examine the subject, there's a line there between looking at it and seeing how it's done for the purposes of catching criminals and perhaps going across the line and encouraging people to become criminals or giving them the tools whereby they could,'' he said.

Mr Taggart said people who understood the cyber world were in high demand from authorities.

''They're sought after and they're quite rare . . . so I can only assume the same sort of thing goes on amongst the criminals,'' he said.

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Wanted: Hackers for Telstra

Cyber attack identity theft hackers Source: Supplied

TELSTRA, the Federal Government and Microsoft have invited a bunch of university students to participate in a hacking competition to raise awareness of cyber security issues.

Their goal was to break into a company, and then figure out how to fix security flaws.

Hardware and software has been built for the imaginary company which were be used for the competition, which has been dubbed "Synergise cyber security".

Forty-three teams of students spent 24 hours trying to access the systems, in order to see whether they can penetrate areas where sensitive data is stored and find malicious code. They will be assessed on their ability to highlight and communicate vulnerabilities in the fictional company's security software.

A team from the University of NSW was named the winner.

But what's the point in creating fictional software when there are already hackers out there trying to damage real businesses with real security concerns?

Mike Burgess, Telstra's chief information security officer told news.com.au that inviting "real world hackers" to test the systems of real businesses would be too risky.

"Would it be better if all the world's systems were more secure? Absolutely," he said. "But the reason I wouldn't recommend opening yourself up to the world to come test out their systems is that you'd get lots of other people out there who choose to do malicious things in cyber space and you become a target. They could take your product offline."

"By having a fictitious company with real hardware and software is that if anything goes wrong it's not going to impact anyone."

Mr Burgess said that targeting students with hacking capabilities while they are young is an important way to incentivise them against falling in with cyber criminals.

The winners of the competition will travel to San Francisco to attend one of the world's largest hacking conferences, Black Hat.

Mr Burgess said it's also more than likely that many of the participants will walk away with a job, either with Telstra, Microsoft or the Federal Government.

"Hopefully we're instilling that this is an exciting area to work in and that the students participating will want to have careers as a security professional," he said. "If they end up working for someone else that's ok as well. We need more people in this space."

"People need to make sure their systems are secure. Telstra for example holds a lot of information for its customers. The more people in this career stream, the better it is for everyone."

View the original article here

Hackers attack N Korea news website

Anonymous hackers appeared to have posted this picture to the Flickr page of of Uriminzokkiri, which distributes news and propaganda from the North's state media. Source: Supplied

ACTIVIST hackers appear to have infiltrated North Korea's official news website and its accompanying Twitter and Flickr feeds, posting unflattering images of leader Kim Jong-Un.

The China-based website of Uriminzokkiri, which distributes news and propaganda from the North's state media, was inaccessible and its companion feeds attacked and defaced.

On Twitter, the Uriminzokkiri account's profile photo was changed to one of a couple dancing the Tango, and a series of tweets read "Hacked" and "Tango Down".

The male dancer was wearing a Guy Fawkes mask -- a trademark of the "Anonymous" hacktivist group.

The website's Flickr page showed a number of images, including one which simply read "We Are Anonymous" and a mock-up "Wanted" poster featuring Kim with a pig's nose and ears and a Mickey Mouse tattoo on his chest. The poster claimed the UN had offered a $1 million reward for Kim's capture due to his "threatening world peace" and wasting money while people starve to death".

Uriminzokkiri is best known for posting propaganda videos excoriating the United States and including images like the White House framed in the crosshairs of a sniper's rifle sight.

The attack came amid soaring military tensions on the Korean peninsula with Pyongyang, Seoul and Washington engaged in a bout of high-stakes brinkmanship.

More detail of the Anonymous "Wanted" poster.

It also followed a major cyber attack that crashed the computer networks at South Korean TV broadcasters and banks last month and was widely blamed on North Korean hackers.

North Korea appears to have moved a medium range missile capable of hitting targets in Sth Korea and Japan.

View the original article here

Hackers attack N Korea news website

Anonymous hackers appeared to have posted this picture to the Flickr page of of Uriminzokkiri, which distributes news and propaganda from the North's state media. Source: Supplied

ACTIVIST hackers appear to have infiltrated North Korea's official news website and its accompanying Twitter and Flickr feeds, posting unflattering images of leader Kim Jong-Un.

The China-based website of Uriminzokkiri, which distributes news and propaganda from the North's state media, was inaccessible and its companion feeds attacked and defaced.

On Twitter, the Uriminzokkiri account's profile photo was changed to one of a couple dancing the Tango, and a series of tweets read "Hacked" and "Tango Down".

The male dancer was wearing a Guy Fawkes mask -- a trademark of the "Anonymous" hacktivist group.

The website's Flickr page showed a number of images, including one which simply read "We Are Anonymous" and a mock-up "Wanted" poster featuring Kim with a pig's nose and ears and a Mickey Mouse tattoo on his chest. The poster claimed the UN had offered a $1 million reward for Kim's capture due to his "threatening world peace" and wasting money while people starve to death".

Uriminzokkiri is best known for posting propaganda videos excoriating the United States and including images like the White House framed in the crosshairs of a sniper's rifle sight.

The attack came amid soaring military tensions on the Korean peninsula with Pyongyang, Seoul and Washington engaged in a bout of high-stakes brinkmanship.

On Twitter, the Uriminzokkiri account's profile photo was changed to one of a couple dancing the Tango, and a series of tweets read "Hacked" and "Tango Down".

It also followed a major cyber attack that crashed the computer networks at South Korean TV broadcasters and banks last month and was widely blamed on North Korean hackers.

More detail of the Anonymous "Wanted" poster.

North Korea appears to have moved a medium range missile capable of hitting targets in Sth Korea and Japan.

On Twitter, the Uriminzokkiri account's profile photo was changed to one of a couple dancing the Tango, and a series of tweets read "Hacked" and "Tango Down".

View the original article here

North Korea training thousands of hackers

South Korea believe hacking attack originated in North Korea. Julie Noce reports.

INVESTIGATORS have yet to pinpoint the culprit behind a synchronized cyberattack in South Korea last week.

But in Seoul, the focus remains fixed on North Korea, where South Korean security experts say Pyongyang has been training a team of computer-savvy "cyber warriors'' as cyberspace becomes a fertile battleground in the standoff between the two Koreas.

Malware shut down 32,000 computers and servers at three major South Korean TV networks and three banks last Wednesday, disrupting communications and banking businesses, officials said.

The investigation into who planted the malware could take weeks or even months.

South Korean investigators have produced no proof yet that North Korea was behind the cyberattack, and on Friday said the malware was traced to a Seoul computer.

But South Korea has pointed the finger at Pyongyang in six cyberattacks since 2009, even creating a cyber security command centre in Seoul to protect the Internet-dependent country from hackers from the North.

It may seem unlikely that impoverished North Korea, with one of the most restrictive Internet policies in the world, would have the ability to threaten affluent South Korea, a country considered a global leader in telecommunications.

North Korean students surf the Internet at a computer terminal inside a computer lab at Kim Il Sung University in Pyongyang. North Korea is training an army of "cyber warriors" to hack systems in South Korea and the US, say experts. File image: P Photo/David Guttenfelder

The average yearly income in North Korea was just $1190 per person in 2011 - just a fraction of the average yearly income of $22,200 for South Koreans that same year, according to the Bank of Korea in Seoul.

But over the past several years, North Korea has poured money and resources into science and technology.

In December, scientists succeeded in launching a satellite into space aboard a long-range rocket from its own soil. And in February, North Korea conducted an underground nuclear test, its third.

"IT'' has become a buzzword in North Korea, which has developed its own operating system called Red Star.

The regime also encouraged a passion for gadgets among its elite, introducing a Chinese-made tablet computer for the North Korean market. Teams of developers came up with software for everything from composing music to learning how to cook.

But South Korea and the U.S. believe North Korea also has thousands of hackers trained by the state to carry its warfare into cyberspace, and that their cyber offensive skills are as good as or better than their counterparts in China and South Korea.

South Korean computer researchers check the computer servers of Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) as a police officer from the Digital Forensic Investigation watches at the Cyber Terror Response Center at the National Police Agency in Seoul after a synchronized cyberattack which Seoul has blamed on North Korea. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man, File)

"The newest addition to the North Korean asymmetric arsenal is a growing cyber warfare capability,'' James Thurman, commander of the U.S. forces in South Korea, told U.S. legislators in March 2012.

"North Korea employs sophisticated computer hackers trained to launch cyber-infiltration and cyber-attacks'' against South Korea and the US.

In 2010, Won Sei-hoon, then chief of South Korea's National Intelligence Service, put the number of professional hackers in North Korea's cyber warfare unit at 1000.

North Korean students are recruited to the nation's top science schools to become "cyber warriors,'' said Kim Heung-kwang, who said he trained future hackers at a university in the industrial North Korean city of Hamhung for two decades before defecting in 2003.

He said future hackers also are sent to study abroad in China and Russia.

In 2009, then-leader Kim Jong Il ordered Pyongyang's "cyber command'' expanded to 3000 hackers, he said, citing a North Korean government document that he said he obtained that year.

North Koreans work at computer terminals inside the Grand People's Study House in Pyongyang, North Korea. Investigators have yet to pinpoint the culprit behind a synchronized cyberattack in South Korea but in Seoul, the focus remains fixed on North Korea. File image: AP /David Guttenfelde

The veracity of the document could not be independently confirmed.

Kim Heung-kwang, who has lived in Seoul since 2004, speculated that more have been recruited since then, and said some are based in China to infiltrate networks abroad.

What is clear is that "`North Korea has a capacity to send malware to personal computers, servers or networks and to launch DDOS-type attacks,'' he said. "Their targets are the United States and South Korea.''

Expanding its warfare into cyberspace by developing malicious computer codes is cheaper and faster for North Korean than building nuclear devices or other weapons of mass destructions.

The online world allows for anonymity because it is easy to fabricate IP addresses and destroy the evidence leading back to the hackers, according to C. Matthew Curtin, founder of Interhack Corp.

Thurman said cyberattacks are ``ideal'' for North Korea because they can take place relatively anonymously. He said cyberattacks have been waged against military, governmental, educational and commercial institutions.

Employees react at the newsroom of the all-news cable channel YTN as the broadcaster's computer network was paralysed in Seoul.

North Korean officials have not acknowledged allegations that computer experts are trained as hackers, and have refuted many of the cyberattack accusations. Pyongyang has not commented on the most recent widespread attack in South Korea.

In June 2012, a seven-month investigation into a hacking incident that disabled news production system at the South Korean newspaper JoongAng Ilbo led to North Korea's government telecommunications center, South Korean officials said.

In South Korea, the economy, commerce and every aspect of daily life is deeply dependent on the Internet, making it ripe grounds for a disruptive cyberattack.

In North Korea, in contrast, is just now getting online. Businesses are starting to use online banking services and debit cards have grown in popularity.

But only a sliver of the population has access to the global Internet, meaning an Internet outage last week - which Pyongyang blamed on hackers from Seoul and Washington - had little bearing on most North Koreans.

"North Korea has nothing to lose in a cyber battle,'' said Kim Seeongjoo, a professor at Seoul-based Korea University's Department of Cyber Defense.

"Even if North Korea turns out to be the attacker behind the broadcasters' hacking, there is no target for South Korean retaliation.''

View the original article here

North Korea training thousands of hackers

South Korea believe hacking attack originated in North Korea. Julie Noce reports.

INVESTIGATORS have yet to pinpoint the culprit behind a synchronized cyberattack in South Korea last week.

But in Seoul, the focus remains fixed on North Korea, where South Korean security experts say Pyongyang has been training a team of computer-savvy "cyber warriors'' as cyberspace becomes a fertile battleground in the standoff between the two Koreas.

Malware shut down 32,000 computers and servers at three major South Korean TV networks and three banks last Wednesday, disrupting communications and banking businesses, officials said.

The investigation into who planted the malware could take weeks or even months.

South Korean investigators have produced no proof yet that North Korea was behind the cyberattack, and on Friday said the malware was traced to a Seoul computer.

But South Korea has pointed the finger at Pyongyang in six cyberattacks since 2009, even creating a cyber security command centre in Seoul to protect the Internet-dependent country from hackers from the North.

It may seem unlikely that impoverished North Korea, with one of the most restrictive Internet policies in the world, would have the ability to threaten affluent South Korea, a country considered a global leader in telecommunications.

North Korean students surf the Internet at a computer terminal inside a computer lab at Kim Il Sung University in Pyongyang. North Korea is training an army of "cyber warriors" to hack systems in South Korea and the US, say experts. File image: P Photo/David Guttenfelder

The average yearly income in North Korea was just $1190 per person in 2011 - just a fraction of the average yearly income of $22,200 for South Koreans that same year, according to the Bank of Korea in Seoul.

But over the past several years, North Korea has poured money and resources into science and technology.

In December, scientists succeeded in launching a satellite into space aboard a long-range rocket from its own soil. And in February, North Korea conducted an underground nuclear test, its third.

"IT'' has become a buzzword in North Korea, which has developed its own operating system called Red Star.

The regime also encouraged a passion for gadgets among its elite, introducing a Chinese-made tablet computer for the North Korean market. Teams of developers came up with software for everything from composing music to learning how to cook.

But South Korea and the U.S. believe North Korea also has thousands of hackers trained by the state to carry its warfare into cyberspace, and that their cyber offensive skills are as good as or better than their counterparts in China and South Korea.

South Korean computer researchers check the computer servers of Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) as a police officer from the Digital Forensic Investigation watches at the Cyber Terror Response Center at the National Police Agency in Seoul after a synchronized cyberattack which Seoul has blamed on North Korea. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man, File)

"The newest addition to the North Korean asymmetric arsenal is a growing cyber warfare capability,'' James Thurman, commander of the U.S. forces in South Korea, told U.S. legislators in March 2012.

"North Korea employs sophisticated computer hackers trained to launch cyber-infiltration and cyber-attacks'' against South Korea and the US.

In 2010, Won Sei-hoon, then chief of South Korea's National Intelligence Service, put the number of professional hackers in North Korea's cyber warfare unit at 1000.

North Korean students are recruited to the nation's top science schools to become "cyber warriors,'' said Kim Heung-kwang, who said he trained future hackers at a university in the industrial North Korean city of Hamhung for two decades before defecting in 2003.

He said future hackers also are sent to study abroad in China and Russia.

In 2009, then-leader Kim Jong Il ordered Pyongyang's "cyber command'' expanded to 3000 hackers, he said, citing a North Korean government document that he said he obtained that year.

North Koreans work at computer terminals inside the Grand People's Study House in Pyongyang, North Korea. Investigators have yet to pinpoint the culprit behind a synchronized cyberattack in South Korea but in Seoul, the focus remains fixed on North Korea. File image: AP /David Guttenfelde

The veracity of the document could not be independently confirmed.

Kim Heung-kwang, who has lived in Seoul since 2004, speculated that more have been recruited since then, and said some are based in China to infiltrate networks abroad.

What is clear is that "`North Korea has a capacity to send malware to personal computers, servers or networks and to launch DDOS-type attacks,'' he said. "Their targets are the United States and South Korea.''

Expanding its warfare into cyberspace by developing malicious computer codes is cheaper and faster for North Korean than building nuclear devices or other weapons of mass destructions.

The online world allows for anonymity because it is easy to fabricate IP addresses and destroy the evidence leading back to the hackers, according to C. Matthew Curtin, founder of Interhack Corp.

Thurman said cyberattacks are ``ideal'' for North Korea because they can take place relatively anonymously. He said cyberattacks have been waged against military, governmental, educational and commercial institutions.

Employees react at the newsroom of the all-news cable channel YTN as the broadcaster's computer network was paralysed in Seoul.

North Korean officials have not acknowledged allegations that computer experts are trained as hackers, and have refuted many of the cyberattack accusations. Pyongyang has not commented on the most recent widespread attack in South Korea.

In June 2012, a seven-month investigation into a hacking incident that disabled news production system at the South Korean newspaper JoongAng Ilbo led to North Korea's government telecommunications center, South Korean officials said.

In South Korea, the economy, commerce and every aspect of daily life is deeply dependent on the Internet, making it ripe grounds for a disruptive cyberattack.

In North Korea, in contrast, is just now getting online. Businesses are starting to use online banking services and debit cards have grown in popularity.

But only a sliver of the population has access to the global Internet, meaning an Internet outage last week - which Pyongyang blamed on hackers from Seoul and Washington - had little bearing on most North Koreans.

"North Korea has nothing to lose in a cyber battle,'' said Kim Seeongjoo, a professor at Seoul-based Korea University's Department of Cyber Defense.

"Even if North Korea turns out to be the attacker behind the broadcasters' hacking, there is no target for South Korean retaliation.''

View the original article here

UK hires spy to watch cyber hackers

Hackers beware, the British government has its eye on you.
Source: News Limited

A TOP spy has been hired by the UK's House of Commons to defend MPs from cyber-attacks amid fears that foreign agents have penetrated Parliament's computer system.

Paul Martin, a senior MI5 counter-intelligence expert, has been appointed to help repel 'cyberwarriors' working for the Russian and Chinese governments, who are trawling for secret data or compromising information to use against MPs in blackmail operations.

As a Royal Palace rather than a Government department, Parliament is regarded as a 'weak link' by the Security Services because it does not automatically receive the same level of computer protection enjoyed by Whitehall.

The problem has been compounded by MPs' widespread use of taxpayer-funded iPads, which operate on Westminster's wi-fi networks.

One source has even claimed that there was 'panic' in the Commons late last year after it was discovered that hackers linked to the Chinese government appeared to have broken into the system. The suggestion has since been denied by Westminster-based security officials.

Now Mr Martin, whose 25-year intelligence career began after he responded to a coded magazine advert, has been tasked with leading the fightback. As the new Parliamentary Security Director, he is expected to call in help from MI5, MI6 and GCHQ, the world-leading communications intelligence agency based in Cheltenham, to strengthen MPs' cyber-defences.

Last night, a senior Commons source admitted that it was becoming increasingly difficult to 'hold the line' against the attacks. The source said: "The problem is that, on our own, we don't have the resources to keep up with the hackers, so we do need help from the agencies.

"The main threat is coming from groups paid by the Chinese and Russian governments to crack our systems. They devote a lot of time and resources to it, and they are stepping up their efforts."

The source added that MPs' increasing use of tablet computers and 'remote printing' – using wi-fi to send instructions to their offices in Westminster or their constituencies – had made the hackers' job easier.

"We are watching the hackers," the insider added. "We know where they are and what they are trying to do."

Last year, Jonathan Evans, the Director General of MI5, warned that an 'astonishing' level of cyber-attacks from both enemy states and criminals posed an escalating threat. Their techniques include placing "Trojan" software into terminals to replicate and transfer sensitive data, or intercepting wireless signals.

Russian agents working for the FSB, the successor agency to the KGB, have been linked to cyber-warfare assaults on Nato and other military institutions, while attacks on Western computer systems have also been traced to computer addresses linked to China's People's Liberation Army.

It has even been claimed the Chinese managed to hack into computers in the office of German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Mr Martin, 54, who started his career as a lecturer in behaviouralism at Cambridge University, joined MI5 aged 28. Within a week of spotting the coded advert in New Scientist magazine, he had received a 'brown envelope' inviting him to an interview. After 'fieldwork' in the Middle East, he rose swiftly through the ranks.

A Commons spokesman said: "Mr Martin took up post as Parliamentary Security Director on February 4. The Director is responsible for the strategy, planning and overall delivery of security across the Parliamentary Estate."
 

View the original article here

UK hires spy to watch cyber hackers

Hackers beware, the British government has its eye on you.
Source: News Limited

A TOP spy has been hired by the UK's House of Commons to defend MPs from cyber-attacks amid fears that foreign agents have penetrated Parliament's computer system.

Paul Martin, a senior MI5 counter-intelligence expert, has been appointed to help repel 'cyberwarriors' working for the Russian and Chinese governments, who are trawling for secret data or compromising information to use against MPs in blackmail operations.

As a Royal Palace rather than a Government department, Parliament is regarded as a 'weak link' by the Security Services because it does not automatically receive the same level of computer protection enjoyed by Whitehall.

The problem has been compounded by MPs' widespread use of taxpayer-funded iPads, which operate on Westminster's wi-fi networks.

One source has even claimed that there was 'panic' in the Commons late last year after it was discovered that hackers linked to the Chinese government appeared to have broken into the system. The suggestion has since been denied by Westminster-based security officials.

Now Mr Martin, whose 25-year intelligence career began after he responded to a coded magazine advert, has been tasked with leading the fightback. As the new Parliamentary Security Director, he is expected to call in help from MI5, MI6 and GCHQ, the world-leading communications intelligence agency based in Cheltenham, to strengthen MPs' cyber-defences.

Last night, a senior Commons source admitted that it was becoming increasingly difficult to 'hold the line' against the attacks. The source said: "The problem is that, on our own, we don't have the resources to keep up with the hackers, so we do need help from the agencies.

"The main threat is coming from groups paid by the Chinese and Russian governments to crack our systems. They devote a lot of time and resources to it, and they are stepping up their efforts."

The source added that MPs' increasing use of tablet computers and 'remote printing' – using wi-fi to send instructions to their offices in Westminster or their constituencies – had made the hackers' job easier.

"We are watching the hackers," the insider added. "We know where they are and what they are trying to do."

Last year, Jonathan Evans, the Director General of MI5, warned that an 'astonishing' level of cyber-attacks from both enemy states and criminals posed an escalating threat. Their techniques include placing "Trojan" software into terminals to replicate and transfer sensitive data, or intercepting wireless signals.

Russian agents working for the FSB, the successor agency to the KGB, have been linked to cyber-warfare assaults on Nato and other military institutions, while attacks on Western computer systems have also been traced to computer addresses linked to China's People's Liberation Army.

It has even been claimed the Chinese managed to hack into computers in the office of German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Mr Martin, 54, who started his career as a lecturer in behaviouralism at Cambridge University, joined MI5 aged 28. Within a week of spotting the coded advert in New Scientist magazine, he had received a 'brown envelope' inviting him to an interview. After 'fieldwork' in the Middle East, he rose swiftly through the ranks.

A Commons spokesman said: "Mr Martin took up post as Parliamentary Security Director on February 4. The Director is responsible for the strategy, planning and overall delivery of security across the Parliamentary Estate."
 

View the original article here

Hackers bite into Apple's system

Hackers have broken into Apple's computer system but seemingly failed to steal anything.  Source: AP

APPLE said it was hit by hackers who wormed their way into the company's system but failed to steal any data.

The maker of iPhones, iPads, iPods, and Macintosh computers said it is working with law enforcement officials to hunt down the hackers, who appeared tied to a series of recent cyber attacks on US technology firms.

"The malware was employed in an attack against Apple and other companies, and was spread through a website for software developers," Apple said in an email response to an AFP inquiry.

"We identified a small number of systems within Apple that were infected and isolated them from our network."

The malicious software, or malware, took advantage of vulnerability in a Java prorgram used as a "plug-in" for Web browsing programs.

A "small number" of computer systems at Apple were infected but they were isolated from the main network, according the Silicon Valley based company.

"There is no evidence that any data left Apple," Apple said. "We are working closely with law enforcement to find the source of the malware."

Apple took the added steps of releasing a Macintosh computer operating system update that disables Java software that hasn't been used for 35 days or longer and a tool for finding and removing the malware.

View the original article here

China controls 'hundreds of hackers'

The Chinese army controls hundreds of hackers according to a US based IT security firm.  Picture: Annette Dew Source: News Limited

CHINA'S army controls hundreds if not thousands of cutting-edge hackers, according to a report by a US Internet security firm.

Virginia-based Mandiant Corp said its hundreds of investigations showed that groups hacking into US newspapers, government agencies, and companies "are based primarily in China and that the Chinese government is aware of them".

The 74-page report focused on one group, which it called "APT1" from the initials "Advanced Persistent Threat". The New York Times, citing experts, said the group was targeting crucial infrastructure such as the US energy grid.

"We believe that APT1 is able to wage such a long-running and extensive cyber espionage campaign in large part because it receives direct government support," Mandiant said.

The group, it said, was believed to be a branch of the People's Liberation Army called Unit 61398, and digital signatures from its cyberattacks were traced back to the direct vicinity of a nondescript, 12-story building on the outskirts of Shanghai.

"We believe the totality of the evidence we provide in this document bolsters the claim that APT1 is Unit 61398," it said, estimating it is "staffed by hundreds, and perhaps thousands of people".

China's defence ministry said its army had never supported any kind of hacking activity.

"Not only are reports that China's army has been involved in hacking unprofessional, they do not fit with the facts," the ministry said in a statement.

"Hacking attacks are a global problem. Like other countries, China also faces the threat of hacking attacks, and is one of the main countries falling victim to hacking attacks."

The country's foreign ministry rejected "groundless accusations" of Chinese involvement in hacking and also said China was itself a major victim, with most overseas cyberattacks against it originating in the US.

The Pentagon declined to comment directly on the report but said Defence Secretary Leon Panetta had voiced US dismay over digital threats in his visit to Beijing last year.

"We have repeatedly raised our concerns at the highest levels about cyber theft with senior Chinese officials, including the military, and we will continue to do so," spokesman George Little told reporters.

A series of brazen IT attacks on America's most high-profile media outlets, reported by The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, as well as on Twitter and others, have revived concerns over Chinese hackers.

The Times said hackers stole its corporate passwords and accessed the personal computers of 53 employees after the newspaper published a report on the family fortune of China's Premier Wen Jiabao.

Clients including The Times have hired Mandiant to clean up their systems after cyberattacks.

In its report, Mandiant alleged that APT1 - known also as "Comment Crew" for its practice of planting viruses on the comment sections of websites - has stolen hundreds of terabytes of data from at least 141 organisations spanning 20 industries.

The Times, which was given early access to the report, said the researchers had found that the Comment Crew was increasingly focused on companies involved in US infrastructure, including in its electrical power grid, gas lines and water works.

One target, the newspaper reported, was a company with remote access to more than 60 per cent of oil and gas pipelines in North America.

In his State of the Union address last week, US President Barack Obama said the potential ability of outsiders to sabotage critical US infrastructure was a major concern.

"We cannot look back years from now and wonder why we did nothing in the face of real threats to our security and our economy," he said.

The building pinpointed as the hacking HQ sits in Shanghai's northern suburb of Gaoqiao, near a petrochemical complex and surrounded by small shops.

There is no name plate outside, but framed posters showing soldiers are displayed on a high wall surrounding the complex, while the Chinese PLA's symbol of a red star is mounted over the main door of the building.
 

View the original article here

Hackers bite into Apple's system

Apple disclosed it has been hit by the same hackers that attacked Facebook, adding a new level of urgency to growing reports of security breaches Bobbi Rebell reports.

Hackers have broken into Apple's computer system but seemingly failed to steal anything.  Source: AP

APPLE said it was hit by hackers who wormed their way into the company's system but failed to steal any data.

The maker of iPhones, iPads, iPods, and Macintosh computers said it is working with law enforcement officials to hunt down the hackers, who appeared tied to a series of recent cyber attacks on US technology firms.

"The malware was employed in an attack against Apple and other companies, and was spread through a website for software developers," Apple said in an email response to an AFP inquiry.

"We identified a small number of systems within Apple that were infected and isolated them from our network."

The malicious software, or malware, took advantage of vulnerability in a Java prorgram used as a "plug-in" for Web browsing programs.

A "small number" of computer systems at Apple were infected but they were isolated from the main network, according the Silicon Valley based company.

"There is no evidence that any data left Apple," Apple said. "We are working closely with law enforcement to find the source of the malware."

Apple took the added steps of releasing a Macintosh computer operating system update that disables Java software that hasn't been used for 35 days or longer and a tool for finding and removing the malware.

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China controls 'hundreds of hackers'

The Chinese army controls hundreds of hackers according to a US based IT security firm.  Picture: Annette Dew Source: News Limited

CHINA'S army controls hundreds if not thousands of cutting-edge hackers, according to a report by a US Internet security firm.

Virginia-based Mandiant Corp said its hundreds of investigations showed that groups hacking into US newspapers, government agencies, and companies "are based primarily in China and that the Chinese government is aware of them".

The 74-page report focused on one group, which it called "APT1" from the initials "Advanced Persistent Threat". The New York Times, citing experts, said the group was targeting crucial infrastructure such as the US energy grid.

"We believe that APT1 is able to wage such a long-running and extensive cyber espionage campaign in large part because it receives direct government support," Mandiant said.

The group, it said, was believed to be a branch of the People's Liberation Army called Unit 61398, and digital signatures from its cyberattacks were traced back to the direct vicinity of a nondescript, 12-story building on the outskirts of Shanghai.

"We believe the totality of the evidence we provide in this document bolsters the claim that APT1 is Unit 61398," it said, estimating it is "staffed by hundreds, and perhaps thousands of people".

China's defence ministry said its army had never supported any kind of hacking activity.

"Not only are reports that China's army has been involved in hacking unprofessional, they do not fit with the facts," the ministry said in a statement.

"Hacking attacks are a global problem. Like other countries, China also faces the threat of hacking attacks, and is one of the main countries falling victim to hacking attacks."

The country's foreign ministry rejected "groundless accusations" of Chinese involvement in hacking and also said China was itself a major victim, with most overseas cyberattacks against it originating in the US.

The Pentagon declined to comment directly on the report but said Defence Secretary Leon Panetta had voiced US dismay over digital threats in his visit to Beijing last year.

"We have repeatedly raised our concerns at the highest levels about cyber theft with senior Chinese officials, including the military, and we will continue to do so," spokesman George Little told reporters.

A series of brazen IT attacks on America's most high-profile media outlets, reported by The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, as well as on Twitter and others, have revived concerns over Chinese hackers.

The Times said hackers stole its corporate passwords and accessed the personal computers of 53 employees after the newspaper published a report on the family fortune of China's Premier Wen Jiabao.

Clients including The Times have hired Mandiant to clean up their systems after cyberattacks.

In its report, Mandiant alleged that APT1 - known also as "Comment Crew" for its practice of planting viruses on the comment sections of websites - has stolen hundreds of terabytes of data from at least 141 organisations spanning 20 industries.

The Times, which was given early access to the report, said the researchers had found that the Comment Crew was increasingly focused on companies involved in US infrastructure, including in its electrical power grid, gas lines and water works.

One target, the newspaper reported, was a company with remote access to more than 60 per cent of oil and gas pipelines in North America.

In his State of the Union address last week, US President Barack Obama said the potential ability of outsiders to sabotage critical US infrastructure was a major concern.

"We cannot look back years from now and wonder why we did nothing in the face of real threats to our security and our economy," he said.

The building pinpointed as the hacking HQ sits in Shanghai's northern suburb of Gaoqiao, near a petrochemical complex and surrounded by small shops.

There is no name plate outside, but framed posters showing soldiers are displayed on a high wall surrounding the complex, while the Chinese PLA's symbol of a red star is mounted over the main door of the building.
 

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