ISIS – Cyberwar

Citizen Lab, an interdisciplinary laboratory based at the Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto, Canada focusing on advanced research and development at the intersection of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), human rights, and global security, is reporting on a targeted attack using spearphishing that appears to be the work of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). This attack was targeted at Raqqah is being Slaughtered Silently (RSS), a Syrian group of citizen journalists which focuses its advocacy on documenting human rights abuses by ISIS elements occupying the city of Ar-Raqah.

The attack was the classic spearphishing cyberattack.  Learn more at our new blog.

ICANN Can’t, Can You?

ICANN is responsible for the coordination of maintenance and methodology of the internet domain names. On December 16, 2104, ICANN announced that it had be compromised by a spearphishing attack.

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Spearphishing Damages German Steel Plant

SecurityWeek is reporting that a cyber attack which used spearphishing to gain system access has resulted in substantial damage to a steel plant in Germany.

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CNN – Simple Spearphishing Attacks Very Effective

Writing in CNN Opinion, Professor Arun Vishwanath of the University at Buffalo discusses the ease with which hackers can invade networks using spearphishing.

This is an article that everyone should read. Learn more at our new blog.

Iconix Issued Sixth U.S. Patent For Email

On December 2, 2014, the United States Patent and Trademark Office issued Iconix its sixth patent titled “RAPID IDENTIFICATION OF MESSAGE AUTHENTICATION.” The abstract for U.S. Patent 8,903,742, dated December 2, 2014, states: “Techniques are presented for uniquely identifying authentication associated with messages.” Iconix filed the patent on October 10, 2011.

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Canadian National Research Council Infiltrated

The Canadian National Research Council has been compromised in a cyberattack. The Canadian National Research Council (NRC) is the Government of Canada’s premier research and technology organization.

The attack forced the shut down of NRC’s computer network in July.  The attackers sought to steal valuable trade secrets and intellectual property.  The attack is being blamed on China.

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Iran – Cyber Superpower

Cylance has just released its “Operation Cleaver” report. After two years of investigation, Cylance concludes:

Since at least 2012, Iranian actors have directly attacked, established persistence in, and extracted highly sensitive materials from the networks of government agencies and major critical infrastructure companies in the following countries: Canada, China, England, France, Germany, India, Israel, Kuwait, Mexico, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, and the United States.

Cylance provides this map of the victims:

Source: Cylance

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Sony Hacked Again

Sony has been hacked again.

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