Security News

US bans Chinese firms – including one linked to HPE’s China JV – for feeding tech to Beijing's military
2021-11-25 01:11

The US Dept of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security has added 27 companies to its list of entities prohibited from doing business with the USA on grounds they threaten national security - and one of the firms is associated with HPE's Chinese joint venture H3C. A preliminary announcement [PDF] of the bans lists a company named New H3C Semiconductor Technologies Co., Ltd on the grounds of its "Support of the military modernization of the People's Liberation Army.". The addresses given by Uncle Sam for this semiconductor business matches those listed on the website of H3C, the Chinese company formed as a joint venture between HPE and Tsinghua Unigroup to build networking products.

Office 365 Spy Campaign Targets US Military Defense
2021-10-12 17:46

The threat actor's goal is Microsoft Office 365 account takeovers. Microsoft, which began tracking the activity in late July 2021, detailed the attacks in an alert released Monday, adding that the culprits appear to be bent on espionage and have ties to Iran.

Transnational Fraud Ring Bilks U.S. Military Service Members Out of Millions
2021-10-04 15:22

More than 3,300 U.S. military service members, military dependents and civilians employed by the Department of Defense were compromised as part of a transnational cybercrime ring created to defraud them out of $1.5 million in military benefits from the DoD and the Department of Veterans Affairs. A former civilian medical records technician and administrator with the U.S. Army was at the center of the scheme, according to court documents filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas.

Military’s RFID Tracking of Guns May Endanger Troops
2021-09-30 19:32

Reports that the military has started outfitting firearms with RFID tags for tracking have raised security alarms. The Department of Defense, the Marines and the Navy have already rejected the RFID tagging tech for that specific reason, according to the AP. However, five Air Force bases are operating at least one RFID armory, along with a Florida-based Green Beret unit that uses RFID in what officials said were a "Few" armories.

Porn Problem: Adult Ads Persist on US Gov’t, Military Sites
2021-09-17 17:16

Cities, states, federal and military agencies should patch the Laserfiche CMS post-haste, said the security researcher whose jaw dropped at 50 sites hosting porn and Viagra spam. Gov domain hosting the offending files and displaying a specific Laserfiche error message.

Ex-US intel, military trio were cyber-mercenaries for UAE, say prosecutors
2021-09-15 06:45

Three former US intelligence and military operatives broke America's weapons export and computer security laws by, among other things, helping the United Arab Emirates hijack and siphon data from people's iPhones, it emerged on Tuesday. US citizens Marc Baier, 49, and Ryan Adams, 34, and ex-citizen Daniel Gericke, 40, were charged [PDF] with using "Illicit, fraudulent, and criminal means, including the use of advanced covert hacking systems that utilized computer exploits obtained from the United States and elsewhere, to gain unauthorized access to protected computers in the United States and elsewhere and to illicitly obtain information ... from victims from around the world."

More Military Cryptanalytics, Part III
2021-08-31 11:37

Late last year, the NSA declassified and released a redacted version of Lambros D. Callimahos’s Military Cryptanalytics, Part III. We just got most of the index. It’s hard to believe that there...

DeadRinger: A Three-Pronged Attack by Chinese Military Actors against Major Telcos
2021-08-03 04:00

Researchers have discovered three separate Chinese military affiliated advanced threat groups simultaneously targeting and compromising the same Southeast Asian telcos. The attack groups concerned are Soft Cell, Naikon, and a third group, possibly Emissary Panda.

AnyVision OnPatrol: A tactical surveillance mobile app for law enforcement and military personnel
2021-07-23 02:30

AnyVision announced the availability of OnPatrol, a tactical surveillance mobile application that protects law enforcement and military personnel by recognizing persons of interest and alerting officers in real-time via their mobile device. "Public trust in the safety and security provided by law enforcement agencies is of paramount importance. AnyVision OnPatrol can help de-escalate potential threats and prevent physical harm by identifying criminals and dangerous individuals in real-time through our Recognition AI technology," said Dieter Joecker, AnyVision's CTO. "It is designed specifically to recognize and check individual faces against a designated watchlist - even when people are in motion, captured in poor lighting, or partially obscured by surrounding people."

Facebook Suspends Accounts Used by Iranian Hackers to Target US Military Personnel
2021-07-18 22:59

Facebook on Thursday disclosed it dismantled a "Sophisticated" online cyber espionage campaign conducted by Iranian hackers targeting about 200 military personnel and companies in the defense and aerospace sectors in the U.S., U.K., and Europe using fake online personas on its platform. The social media giant pinned the attacks to a threat actor known as Tortoiseshell based on the fact that the adversary used similar techniques in past campaigns attributed to the threat group, which was previously known to focus on the information technology industry in Saudi Arabia, suggesting an apparent expansion of malicious activity.