Indian Air Force issues strict orders to tackle hacking

Indian Air Force issues strict orders to tackle hacking

New Delhi: Every officer of the Indian Air Force (IAF) will now have to sign a declaration that they will not save or view any official document on personal computers. Failure to adhere to this directive will lead to a court marshal and prosecution.

The recent directive from the IAF headquarters to all its formations across the country comes after repeated leaks of sensitive documents - some of which are of operational and sensitive in nature - from personal computers of officers and men.

In a recent case, operational documents were found on the personal computer of a young pilot posted at an airbase in Tamil Nadu. A court of inquiry has been initiated.

In another incident this July, it was found that classified data regarding Indian Naval operations were transmitted to IP addresses in China. Later, inquiries revealed that a few naval officers had, against the rules, taken copies of the plans in pen drives from a naval computer, to study. The Chinese-made pen drives allegedly had malwares which transmitted the data back to IP addresses in China once they were used on computers connected to the internet.

Earlier last year, a major with the Indian Army posted in the crucial Andaman and Nicobar Command was investigated by the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and the National Investigative Agency (NIA) when classified Army plans and other sensitive operational data stored in his personal computer reached Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence Agency (ISI). The inquiry revealed that the Major was preparing for a course, and had taken copies of presentations and plans in his personal computer, which was subsequently hacked by malware originating from Pakistan.

In almost every case of cyber leak, subsequent inquiries have revealed that officers wanting to study the documents at leisure copied the data from the official systems into their personal computers, and the data later found its way into the cyberspace.

Over the years, cyberspace has emerged as a critical frontier for espionage as the use of computers and dependence on the internet has grown. Thus, document security has emerged as one of critical areas of concern for the government. It is perhaps alluding to these increasing instances of the cyberspace being used by foreign agencies to collect critical information. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, while addressing top cops of the country at the annual security conference hosted by the Intelligence Bureau earlier this month, said, "Our country's vulnerability to cybercrime is escalating... Large-scale computer attacks on our critical infrastructure and economy can have potentially devastating results. The government is working on a robust cyber security structure."

The Indian armed forces are considering a joint cyber command to deal with document security and hackers, many of whom are funded and used by foreign governments searching for sensitive and strategic information. The Indian Navy has come up with an exclusive Information Technology brigade to be deployed on warships and various sensitive establishments on shore to manage and secure the network and data.

As a general rule, computers in which sensitive information are stored or prepared are never connected to the internet. "The IAF internal communication network, for instance, is not only a stand-alone network with no connection to the net, but also has the system configured in such a way that it doesn't allow external storage devices like pen drives or CDs," a senior MoD official told NDTV. Nonetheless, some officers have been found "keeping copies or preparing documents using critical information in their personal computers, which have subsequently passed out by malwares in the system or hacked," the officer added.

Banks Fail To Repel Cyber Threat

Banks Fail To Repel Cyber Threat

Attacks that have tied up bank websites show U.S. financial institutions' vulnerability to electronic terrorism.

A shadowy but well organized hacker group in the Middle East has disrupted the electronic banking operations of America's largest financial institutions in recent days, underscoring U.S. vulnerability to online terrorism.

A group identifying itself as Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Cyber Fighters attacked the websites of Wells Fargo, U.S. Bancorpand Bank of America. The strikes left customers temporarily unable to access their checking accounts, mortgages and other services.

The banks said account and personal information for their tens of millions of online and mobile customers were not compromised. Still, experts said the size and ferociousness of the attacks highlight the broader threat posed by electronic crime and the susceptibility of financial targets.

Of particular concern, experts said, is that the attackers used the Internet to warn the institutions ahead of time — but the banks still couldn't repel the assaults.

"The banks put a lot of effort into cyber security. But they're so desirable as a target, even with all that effort they still have problems," said James Lewis, an expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "If you can pull together enough resources, you can overwhelm any defense temporarily."

The attacks on banks began last week on the largest institutions in the country: JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Bank of America. They spread to Wells Fargo on Tuesday and U.S. Bank on Wednesday. Another attack has been threatened against PNC Financial Services on Thursday.

The U.S. government and banks have been working feverishly to learn more about the attackers. A financial executive not authorized to speak publicly described a "war room" where bankers were coordinating efforts with the Department of Homeland Security

Izz ad-Din al-Qassam is the name of the military wing of Hamas, the political party that governs theGaza Strip. Experts say the attacks appear to have originated from the Middle East, thought it isn't clear who is behind them or the motivation.

However, on Tuesday the group posted a manifesto on the Internet saying attacks would continue until a video insulting the Islamic prophet Muhammad was removed from the Internet. That video, "Innocence of Muslims," has caused violent clashes in the Middle East, and led to the attack of the U.S. embassy in Libya.

Dmitri Alperovitch, a computer security expert investigating the recent attacks, said they are the latest in a series of cyber assaults by the group. The attacks were not only on financial firms, he said, although he declined to identify other industries. Alperovitch said Izz ad-Din al-Qassam has demonstrated "advanced capabilities."

He said it was unlikely that the anti-Islamic video alone had triggered the attacks. He said his firm, CrowdStrike Inc., has linked the group to attacks on other targets since January, long before the trailer for the anti-Islamic film was posted on YouTube.

Wells Fargo, based in San Francisco, had intermittent service interruptions all day Tuesday, distressing many of its 21 million online customers.

Similar problems occurred Wednesday at U.S. Bank. The Minneapolis-based bank said it was experiencing unusually high Web traffic and that the coordinated attacks were "very similar" to those at other major banks. "We are working very closely with federal law enforcement," spokesmanTom Joyce said.

Pittsburgh-based PNC, facing the threatened attack on Thursday, was preparing for the worst. "We've seen the posting" on the Internet, PNC spokesman Fred Solomon said. "We're taking appropriate measures."

Security consultant Alperovitch said the volume of phony demands on bank sites was two to three times heavier than previous records for denial of service attacks, and 10 to 20 times higher than the average such attack. Still, the onslaught so far has had a "very limited impact," resulting in only brief shutdowns of websites.

"The attacks, while very, very large and historic in that sense, are not super sophisticated," he said. Although evidence points to a group "certainly of Middle Eastern origin," his company could not tell whether a state or private group was behind the attacks.

Some speculation centered on whether Iran might be retaliating for economic sanctions placed on the country because of its nuclear program and enforced by U.S. banks.

"I don't believe these were just hackers," Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) said last week in an interview on C-SPAN's "Newsmakers" program. "I think this was done by Iran and the Quds Force," a secretive Iran military unit blamed for terrorist activity.

Lieberman was observing Yom Kippur and could not be reached Wednesday. The FBI and Justice Department declined to comment on the origin of the attacks.

Two bankers, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said their banks were also on the alert for cyber thieves who might use the attacks as a diversion.

Google patches 24 Chrome bugs, pays out $29K to bounty hunters

Google patches 24 Chrome bugs, pays out $29K to bounty hunters

Google yesterday patched 24 vulnerabilities in Chrome, and paid out $29,500 in bounties to nine researchers, more than half of that to one of the company's most prolific bug finders.

Chrome 22, which Google started pushing to current users on Tuesday, also debuted improvements in how the browser renders 3-D web apps, including games.

The 24 vulnerabilities include one rated "critical," Google's highest threat ranking, 15 tagged "high," five pegged "medium," and three labeled "low."

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Critical bugs are rare in Chrome: Yesterday's, in fact, was not in the browser itself but rather in Windows. In Tuesday's update notification, Google called it a "Windows kernel memory corruption" and attributed the report to a pair of researchers at a Finnish company, Documill, that specializes in creating software for accessing Microsoft Office and Adobe Reader documents through a browser.

For their work, Google awarded the pair $5,000.

The company also paid $15,000 to long-time bug contributor Sergey Glazunov for reporting a pair of critical universal cross site scripting (UXSS) vulnerabilities, one in the browser's frame handling, the other in how it interacts with Google's V8 JavaScript engine.

Glazunov was one of two security researchers who hacked Chrome at Google's inaugural "Pwnium" contest last March. That feat earned him $60,000.

With Tuesday's $15,000 check, Glazunov has taken home nearly $80,000 for his research efforts this year.

So far in 2012, Google has paid over $290,000 in bounties, a number sure to climb. Last month, Google raised the bonuses it pays, saying the change was triggered by a decline in submitted reports.

Several of the researchers who received bounties for the bugs patched in Chrome 22 benefited from the increase, including Glazunov, the two from Documill, and others who received $1,000, the new bonus basement.

Chrome 22 includes few if any visible changes, but yesterday Google touted some behind-the-scenes improvements, notably support for the Pointer Lock JavaScript API, or "Mouse Lock."

The feature should improve play of first-person, 3-D games within Chrome, said Google engineer Vincent Scheib in a Tuesday blog post.

Google also called out some unspecified enhancements to Chrome in preparation for the Oct. 26 launch of Windows 8 by Microsoft.

Although Google announced a Windows 8 version of Chrome -- one that will include not just a desktop browser for that traditional UI, but also one for what was formerly called the "Metro" environment -- in mid-June, it has not shifted the latter from the rough-around-the-edges "Dev" channel since then.

Chrome 22 can be downloaded for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux from Google's website. The browser is updated automatically through its silent service.

China's cyber theft could be more serious than reported: official

 China's cyber theft could be more serious than reported: official

Taipei, Sept. 27 (CNA) China's cyber hacking of Taiwanese websites could be more serious than has been officially reported, Taiwan's intelligence chief said Thursday.

Tsai De-sheng, director-general of the National Security Bureau (NSB), confirmed reports during a Legislative Yuan question-and-answer session that China has hacked some 26,000 pieces of information from Taiwan's Internet system over the past seven years.

However, the figure tallies only those cases that have been discovered, Tsai noted, adding that there are doubtless other hacking cases that have gone undetected.

During the interpellation session, opposition Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Tsai Huang-liang asked about the NSB's stance on a proposal to allow Chinese companies to invest in the local telecommunications sector.

In response, the NSB director said that countries all over the world have adopted strict restrictions on Chinese investment in their telecom sectors because China is known to be incredibly aggressive in its cyber hacking 

'Anonymous Philippines' on a Hacking Spree

'Anonymous Philippines' on a Hacking Spree  

MANILA, Philippines – A hacktivist group struck down several government websites Wednesday night in protest against the recently enacted anti-cybercrime law that imposes penalties on hacking, online libel and similar activities.

The group identified as “Anonymous Philippines” attacked the websites of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS), Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Department of Health Anti-Smoking, the University of the Philippines'Institute for Development and Econometric Analysis,Philippines’ Anti-Piracy Team (PAPT), the Department of Environmental and Natural Resources Region 3 and theAmerican Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines.

The hackers replaced the websites with a predominantly black interface, an animated logo and a statement against the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012. The group calls the new law "the most notorious act ever witnessed in the cyber-history of the Philippines."

Anonymous Philippines, whose Facebook page boasts over 250 fans, also called the new law's provisions on libel "cunningly deceptive" in implying that everyone can be imprisoned even for their licit online activities.

"It can imprison anyone who commits libel either by written messages, comments, blogs or posts in sites such as Facebook, Twitter or any other comment-spaces of other social media in the Internet," the group claimed, tagging themselves with the lines "We are Legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect us."

As of posting time, some of the hacked websites have not been restored.

Traditionally, .gov domains are considered the most secure online sites.

'Up and restored'

Certain links at the official website of the BSP remain inaccessible to public hours after the portal was defaced by a group condemning the passage of the anti-cybercrime law..

"As of 2 a.m. today, the website of the (BSP) has been up and running, restored and able to serve the public once again," a statement released on Thursday said.

"The BSP's internal Information Technology Group worked on the immediate restoration of our website after ensuring that our security firewall kept our databse protected," it added.

The BSP website was one of the government portals hacked by Anonymous Philippines in its protest against Republic Act No. 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act, which the group sees as a form of online censorship. A group of journalists on Tuesday filed a stay order petition against the law before the Supreme Court.

However upon checking, despite the website already being restored, certain links to electronic files of BSP issuances and publications remained unavailable.
Recently, the Department of Science and Technology’s Information and Communications Technology Office issued directives to all government system administrators to review their websites’ security to prevent more hacking attacks.
The directive was issued after a series of attacks on government websites at the height of the tense territorial dispute between China and the Philippines over the Panatag Shoal in the West Philippine Sea.

Administrative Director of Social Participation Hacked By P@KhTuN~72

Administrative Director of Social Participation Hacked By P@KhTuN~72

Administrative Director of Social Participation has been Hacked By a Pakistani Hacker named P@KhTuN~72 . The Hacker had hacked it after U.S made an Anti-Islamic Movie.
The Hacker had left the message below on the deface page:

<--------------------------------------------> 

Hello Admin .... 

Pakistani Muslim Soldier P@KhTuN~72 is here 

Muslims want peace all over the world.. 

But Insult of Our Holy Prophet Muhammad ( P.B.U.H), We Can't bear it..

We are more more and more stronger than you that you cannot imagine..

But We Want Peace & Brotherhood 

But You Boobish People and Your Boobish acts Provoked me... :@

And am Again here to Destroy Your CYber Space

And This Is Only The Index Change for Warning...

I Do Not Want Bad Effect On Your Site;)

<--------------------------------------------> 

Site Hacked: http://www.participacionsocialmeta.gov.co/

Mirror: http://z-z0ne.net/mirror/id/46816

Syria Information Ministry Email Hacked

Syria Information Ministry Email Hacked

Syria's ministry of information on Monday denied the sacking of the country's ambassador to Lebanon and said a previous email announcement was a result of hacking, state television reported.

"The email account of the ministry was hacked in order to publish inaccurate information" about the reported dismissal of the Syrian Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdel Karim Ali, the ministry said in a statement carried by state television.

The ministry said it "denounces this piracy" and confirmed that "Ambassador Ali is still in his post in Lebanon, and the announcement of his dismissal is baseless." Syrian official news agency SANA also said on Monday that its Facebook page had been hacked.

"As part of an aggressive campaign against our national media, hostile parties have hacked the SANA Facebook page," the agency said, adding that it had no links with the contents of the page, which it was working to deactivate. In late August, SANA said a fake email was sent on its behalf announcing the dismissal of Vice President Faruq al-Shara.