Russia's 'Info Warrior' Hackers

At WSJ, "How Russia’s ‘Info Warrior’ Hackers Let Kremlin Play Geopolitics on the Cheap":

The sprawling SolarWinds hack by suspected Russian state-backed hackers is the latest sign of Moscow’s growing resolve and improving technical ability to cause disruption and conduct espionage at a global scale in cyberspace.

The hack, which compromised parts of the U.S. government as well as tech companies, a hospital and a university, adds to a string of increasingly sophisticated and ever more brazen online intrusions, demonstrating how cyber operations have become a key plank in Russia’s confrontation with the West, analysts and officials say.

Moscow’s relations with the West continue to sour, and the Kremlin sees the cyber operations as a cheap and effective way to achieve its geopolitical goals, analysts say. Russia, they say, is therefore unlikely to back off from such tactics, even while facing U.S. sanctions or countermeasures.

“For a country that already perceives itself as being in conflict with the West practically in every domain except open military clashes, there is no incentive to leave any field that can offer an advantage,” said Keir Giles, senior consulting fellow at Chatham House think tank.

The scope of Russia’s cyber operations has grown in tandem with Moscow’s global ambitions: from cyberattacks on neighboring Estonia in 2007 to election interference in the U.S. and France a decade later, to SolarWinds, seen as one of the worst known hacks of federal computer systems.

“We can definitely see that Russia is stepping on the gas on cyber operations,” said Sven Herpig, a former German government cybersecurity official and expert at German independent public-policy think tank Stiftung Neue Verantwortung. “The development of new tools, the division of labor, the creation of attack platforms, has all increased in sophistication over the years,” he said.

Jamil Jaffer, a former White House and Justice Department official, said that cyber operations have become “a significant part of [Russia’s] play.”

“It’s allowed them to level up,” said Mr. Jaffer, senior vice president at IronNet Cybersecurity.

Russia has consistently denied engaging in state-backed hacking campaigns, including SolarWinds, maintaining that the country isn’t conducting offensive cyber operations. In September, Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed a reset of U.S.-Russia information-security relations.

“Russia is not involved in such attacks, particularly in [SolarWinds]. We state this officially and resolutely,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said recently. “Any allegations of Russia being involved are absolutely groundless and appear to be the continuation of a kind of blind Russophobia,” he said.

But analysts say that Moscow has added hacking to its arsenal of so-called gray-area activities—a type of warfare that stops short of actual shooting—alongside disinformation campaigns and the use of “little green men,” the masked soldiers in green uniforms who appeared with Russian arms on Ukrainian territory in 2014.

Jeffrey Edmonds, a former White House and Central Intelligence Agency official who studies Russia at CNA, a nonprofit research organization that advises the Pentagon, said that Russia’s cyber operations have numerous simultaneous goals, including gathering intelligence, testing capabilities, preparing for potential conflict by mapping adversaries’ critical infrastructure and laying the groundwork for cyber negotiations.

Such operations are a relatively inexpensive and effective way to conduct geopolitics, said Bilyana Lilly, researcher at think tank Rand Corp. That is crucial for Russia, which is facing considerable economic and demographic challenges and whose economy is smaller than Italy’s. A 2012 article in an official Russian military journal said that the “complete destruction of the information infrastructures” of the U.S. or Russia could be carried out by just one battalion of 600 “info warriors” at a price tag of $100 million.

Responding to Moscow’s increased cyber activity has been a challenge. Washington’s retaliation measures—sanctions, property seizures, diplomatic expulsions, even the cyber equivalent of warning shots—appear to have done little to deter hacks...

Ben Buchanan, The Hacker and the State

At Amazon, Ben Buchanan, The Hacker and the State: Cyber Attacks and the New Normal of Geopolitics.

'Juice Jacking'

Never heard of it before, but this totally makes sense.

At Instapundit, "USB IS TERRIBLY UNSECURE: Here’s why you should never use a public phone charger. “You could be the victim of ‘juice jacking’."

Grand Jury Returns Indictment Against 13 Russian Nationals Over Election Interference

Seen just now on Twitter. Louise Mensch must be going crazy, lol.

Indictment introduction against 13 Russian nationals and 3 Russian entities: "Beginning as early as 2014, defendant began operations to interfere with the U.S. political system, including the 2016 U.S. presidential election." pic.twitter.com/WapdqvxvYg

— NBC News (@NBCNews) February 16, 2018

Breaking News: The special counsel filed the first charges for 2016 election meddling, accusing 13 Russians of using social media to influence U.S. voters https://t.co/hGmaR9yAxA

— The New York Times (@nytimes) February 16, 2018

Hackers Could Program Sex Robots to Kill

At Instapundit, "I DON’T TRUST THE INTERNET OF THINGS."

The Pakistani Hackers Working for the Democratic National Committee

From Roger Kimball, at American Greatness, "The Pakistani Hackers Working for the DNC":

At last, I am in a position to help the New York Times. It’s a good feeling. As anyone who has stumbled upon their website knows, our former paper of record, underscoring its insatiable appetite to provide the public with all the news that fits its agenda, prominently features a solicitation for hot tips: Got a confidential news tip? it asks. Click and amaze the world.

I have a tip, an important one, though I cannot in truth call it “confidential.” Over the last few days, in fact, it has been blazoned across the samizdat press, outlets that your typical Times reader may never have heard of, or, if he has, that he reflexively discounts.

What’s it all about, Alfie? Computer hacking. A senior political figure threatening law enforcement officials. Destruction of evidence. Collusion with foreign powers. Financial corruption. Incompetence. Maladministration. Hot stuff.

Russia? Trump, Sr., Jr., or both? Nope.

It’s U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), former head of the Democratic National Committee, Hillary Clinton groupie, and, right now, the Barbie Doll in the center of (at last!) a real scandal involving a Pakistani computer guru called Imran Awan, his wife Hina Alvi, various other family members, and the computer servers of various Democratic congressmen, including Schultz.

Last week, Awan was nabbed by the FBI at Dulles Airport trying to flee to Pakistan. His wife had already flown the coop for Lahore in March, taking $12,400 with her. (The poor thing forgot to read the fine print you see in all those travel advisories that it is a felony to transport more than $10,000 in currency without reporting it.)

Sunday is a big day of the week for The New York Times. Were you or (per impossible) I the editor of the Gray Lady, this story would have occupied a prominent place on the front page of Sunday’s edition. And sure enough, there it was, above the fold . . . Oh, wait, I was mistaken. It was not DWS after all. Silly mistake. It was actually an African herder surrounded by a bunch of goats. Also above the fold was a rare Times story lambasting Donald Trump. About Wasserman Schultz and the Iwan scandal there was precisely . . . nothing...

More.

Also at National Review, "Debbie Wasserman Schultz and the Pakistani IT Scammers."

East Coast Hacking Vendetta

I blogged this morning and logged onto Twitter no problem, but then not too long later no dice.

I couldn't access the site, and I saw the news of the massive DDoS attack.

And now, at Bloomnberg, "The Possible Vendetta Behind the East Coast Web Slowdown" (via Memeorandum):

Millions of internet users lost access to some of the world’s most popular websites Friday, as hackers hammered servers along the U.S. East Coast with phony traffic until they crashed, then moved westward.
A global attack on one provider of Domain Name System services, Dyn Inc., took down sites including Twitter, Spotify, Reddit, CNN, Etsy and The New York Times for long stretches of time -- from New York to Los Angeles.

Kyle York, chief strategy officer of Dyn, said the hackers launched a so-called distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack using “tens of millions” of malware-infected devices connected to the internet. Speaking during a conference call Friday afternoon, York said Dyn was “actively” dealing with a “third wave” of the attack.

By Friday evening, Dyn said it had stopped the hacks. "As you can imagine it has been a crazy day," Dyn spokesman Adam Coughlin wrote in an e-mail. "At this moment (knock on wood) service has been restored."

Security professionals have been anticipating a rise in attacks coming from malware that targets the "Internet of Things," a new breed of small gadgets that are connected to the internet. That was after a hacker released software code that powers such malware, called Mirai, several weeks ago.

Gillian M. Christensen, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, said the agency and the FBI are aware of the incidents and “investigating all potential causes.”

Keep reading.

Edward Majerczyk Pleads Guilty in Celebrity Hacking Scandal

I wondered why search results were pulling up my old Jennifer Lawrence posts.

At LAT, "Man convicted of hacking Gmail and iCloud accounts of at least 30 celebrities in L.A."

Hackers Trick Email Systems Into Wiring Them Large Sums

It's a jungle out there.

At the Wall Street Journal, "Cybercriminals are exploiting publicly available information and weaknesses in corporate email systems to trick small businesses into transferring large sums of money into fraudulent bank accounts."

Day Before Hack Announced, OPM Released ‘Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Discrimination’ Guide

From Ed Driscoll, at Instapundit, "FOCUSING ON THE IMPORTANT ISSUES."

PREVIOUSLY: "OPM Director Katherine Archuleta Resigns After Massive, Devastating Data Breaches."

OPM Director Katherine Archuleta Resigns After Massive, Devastating Data Breaches

This should be an even bigger story. She resisted resignation up to the last minute.

At the New York Times, "Katherine Archuleta, Director of Office of Personnel Management, Resigns" (at Memeorandum):

WASHINGTON — Katherine Archuleta, the director of the Office of Personnel Management, resigned Friday, one day after it was revealed that sweeping cyberintrusions at the agency resulted in the theft of the personal information of more than 22 million people.

Ms. Archuleta went to the White House on Friday morning to personally inform Mr. Obama of her decision, saying that she felt new leadership was needed at the federal personnel agency to enable it to “move beyond the current challenges,” a White House official said. The president accepted her resignation.

Beth Cobert, the deputy director of management at the Office of Management and Budget, will step in to temporarily replace Ms. Archuleta while a permanent replacement is found.

Ms. Archuleta, who assumed her post in November 2013, had been under pressure to resign since last month, when she announced the first of two separate but related computer intrusions that compromised the personal information of 4.2 million current and former federal workers, including Social Security numbers, addresses, health and financial histories and other private details.

On Thursday, she divulged the breach had also led to the theft of personal data of 21.5 million people who had applied for government background checks, likely affecting anyone subjected to such an investigation since 2000.

On a conference call detailing the scope of the intrusion late Thursday afternoon, Ms. Archuleta, the first Latina director of the agency, insisted she would not step down despite calls from members of Congress in both parties that she do so.

More.

Also from Ed Driscoll, at Instapundit, "BREAKING: OPM HEAD KATHERINE ARCHULETA RESIGNS."

Pamela Geller in Garland, Texas

Pamela headlined a huge free speech really in the Lone Star State yesterday.

At Breitbart Texas, "PAMELA GELLER: MUSLIMS TRYING TO RESTRICT FREE SPEECH IN TEXAS."

Video of Pamela's speech, "Pamela Geller Free Speech Rally, Garland,Texas."

And at iOWNTHEWORLD REPORT, "Success In Garland, Texas":

Pamela’s site is not back and up and running. What you’re seeing online is not a 100% usable site. Pamela is most likely going to abandon it and come back bigger, better and stronger.

This move isn’t entirely due to the attack. She’s been working on a new site prior to the attack (I know this to be true because I’ve been doing some design work on it), so the timing is serendipitous.

Be sure to follow Pamela on Twitter.

Leftist haters gotta hate.

Hackers Take Down Pamela Geller's 'Atlas Shrugs'

I just tried to log on to Pamela' site and got a huge error warning.

She's got an update on Twitter here. And via Twitter, the current message at the error page is here.

It's more than a DDoS attack.

Hackers Target Emma Watson, Threaten to Release Nude Photos

At Telegraph UK, "Emma Watson Targeted by Hackers Who Say They Will Release Naked Photos in Four Days":

The hackers are threatening to publish nude photos of Emma Watson in retaliation for her speech where she announced that she was a feminist.

The actress Emma Watson is being targeted by hackers who are threatening to publish nude photos of her in retaliation for her speech where she announced that she was a feminist.

Although the countdown does not specifically say that naked pictures will be published, the site is believed to have been made by members of the internet forum 4chan, who were behind the recent release of hacked pictures of celebrities such as Jennifer Lawrence and Kate Upton.

US website Gawker quoted posts, since deleted, that appear to show the timing of the release is no accident and that the publication of pictures would be a direct response to her speech.

One of the comments quoted says: "She makes stupid feminist speeches at UN, and now her nudes will be online."
The hackers say they will leak nude photos of the Harry Potter star in under five days time.

An image of Emma Watson wiping away a tear appears on the site beside a digital timer which is counting down the seconds until the release.

The words: "Never forget, the biggest to come thus far" are written in capital letters on the bottom of the screen.

More.