Tag Archives: Cyberwar

Million Dollar Question: Michael Snyder speculates the possibility of what caused major telecommunication failure across the country

hacker-cyberwar

Important Takeaways:

  • Was America Just Attacked? We Have Now Been Put On Notice That Our Communication Infrastructure Is Extremely Vulnerable
  • [Daily Mail reported] Once the outage began, federal authorities moved very rapidly to determine whether it was a cyberattack or not…
    • Federal agencies are ‘urgently investigating’ whether the massive cellular outage that plagued Americans on Thursday was a cyberattack.
    • The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) are on the hunt to track down what disrupted service AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and a dozen other cellular providers.
    • While the agencies have not shared details, a security expert told DailyMail.com that the outage has hallmarks of a hack.
    • McKnight, associate professor at Syracuse University in New York, said the widespread nature appears to be ‘a massive Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS) attack on core Internet infrastructure.’
  • I have a feeling that they will assure the general public that it was not a cyberattack no matter what they discover.
  • In situations such as these, keeping everyone calm is often deemed more important than telling them the truth.
  • [The Express Reports] Interestingly, pharmacies all over the U.S. were also having major problems on Thursday due to a cyberattack against “one of the biggest healthcare technology companies in the nation”…
    • Pharmacies all over the country are experiencing delays in prescription orders due to a cyberattack on one of the biggest healthcare technology companies in the nation, Change Healthcare.
    • Change Healthcare first noticed the “cyber security issue” affecting its networks on Wednesday morning on the East Coast.
  • Today, there are a number of foreign powers that possess very robust cyberattack capabilities.
  • One of them is China, and the Washington Post is reporting on a trove of leaked documents that show that the Chinese “are attempting large-scale, systematic cyber intrusions against foreign governments, companies and infrastructure”…
    • A trove of leaked documents from a Chinese state-linked hacking group shows that Beijing’s intelligence and military groups are attempting large-scale, systematic cyber intrusions against foreign governments, companies and infrastructure — with hackers of one company claiming to be able to target users of Microsoft, Apple and Google.
    • The cache — containing more than 570 files, images and chat logs — offers an unprecedented look inside the operations of one of the firms that Chinese government agencies hire for on-demand, mass data-collecting operations.
    • Of course, I have no idea if China was involved in the incidents that we witnessed today.
    • But without a doubt the Chinese have some of the most advanced cyberattack capabilities in the entire world.
  • On Thursday, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio ominously warned about what China could do to us if a full-scale war breaks out…
    • ‘I don’t know the cause of the AT&T outage,’ said Sen. Marco Rubio, Fla., top Republican on the Intelligence Committee.
    • ‘But I do know it will be 100 times worse when #China launches a cyber attack on America on the eve of a #Taiwan invasion. And it won’t be just cell service they hit, it will be your power, your water and your bank,’ he went on.
  • He is right.
  • But the Russians have similar capabilities.
  • So do the North Koreans.
  • In all of human history, there has never been a “cyberwar”, and so we don’t know exactly what one would look like.
  • But it is clear that our communication infrastructure is extremely vulnerable, and what we just witnessed should definitely be a wakeup call for all of us

Read the original article by clicking here.

“Anonymous” Hackers Declare War on ISIS

The hacker collective known as “Anonymous” declared war on ISIS in a video posted on YouTube in response to the horrendous attacks that took place in Paris on Friday.

According to NBC News, the video has yet to be verified by officials, but in the video a spokesman wears the group’s signature Guy Fawkes mask and says in French that the group will use their expertise in a “war” against the Islamic terrorist group.

“Expect massive cyber attacks. War is declared. Get prepared,” the announcer says in French.

“Anonymous from all over the world will hunt you down. You should know that we will find you and we will not let you go. We will launch the biggest operation ever against you,” the spokesperson continued, according to translated transcripts of the video.

The spokesman continued to call the members of ISIS “vermin,” and that their actions would not go “unpunished.”

As of Monday at 8:30 a.m. Central Time, the video had accumulated 1.1 million views on YouTube, according to the Jerusalem Post.

The Huffington Post reports that the hacktivist group also posted on Twitter: “Make no mistake: Anonymous is at war with Daesh.” Daesh is another name for ISIS.

Anonymous is a group of international network of activist computer hackers who have claimed responsibility for numerous cyberattacks against corporate, religious, and government websites over the past 12 years. Since the Charlie Hebdo attack in January that led to the death of 17 people, Anonymous has been targeting and shutting down Twitter profiles believed to be used by ISIS and their supporters. The Jerusalem Post reports that the hacktivist group has reported more than 39,000 ISIS accounts to Twitter. Out of those, more than 25,000 have been suspended, but almost 14,000 are still active.