Security News

Report: CIA runs secret cyberwar with little oversight after Trump gave the OK, say US government officials
2020-07-16 01:58

The CIA is running a secret cyberwar including Russian-style hack-and-leak operations with little or no oversight, US officials have warned. The approval for the operations stems from a National Security Presidential Memorandum signed in 2018 by President Trump which has long been known about but the contents of which remain top secret.

Top Trump Aide Warns of 'Strong Actions' on TikTok, Angering China
2020-07-14 11:49

A top White House official said he expected President Trump to act firmly against the TikTok and WeChat social media apps, prompting an angry response from China on Monday. Trump last week had said he is considering banning the wildly popular TikTok app as a way to punish China over the coronavirus pandemic.

Trump Confirms U.S. Launched Cyberattack on Russian Troll Farm in 2018
2020-07-13 12:00

U.S. President Donald Trump has confirmed that a cyberattack was launched in 2018 against a Russian company believed to be behind some major disinformation campaigns, including ones targeting elections. The Washington Post reported in February 2019 that the U.S. Cyber Command, supported by the NSA, had launched an attack on the Internet Research Agency, a Saint Petersburg-based firm that is said to conduct online influence operations for the Russian government.

Trump reveals US cyber-attack on Russian election-misdirection troll farms
2020-07-13 08:02

In 1965, Gordon Moore published a short informal paper, Cramming more components onto integrated circuits. Based on not much more but these few data points and his knowledge of silicon chip development - he was head of R&D at Fairchild Semiconductors, the company that was to seed Silicon Valley - he said that for the next decade, component counts by area could double every year.

Trump's 2020 Reelection App Exposed Secrets, Keys
2020-06-18 04:02

An analysis of the "Official Trump 2020" application revealed that keys to various parts of the app were being exposed to attacks, Website Planet reports. While investigating the app, Website Planet's cybersecurity analysts Noam Rotem and Ran Locar discovered that the Android APK was exposing information such as Twitter application keys and secrets, Google apps and maps keys, and Branch.io keys.

Phishing Attacks against Trump and Biden Campaigns
2020-06-08 11:13

Google's threat analysts have identified state-level attacks from China. I hope both campaigns are working under the assumption that everything they say and do will be dumped on the Internet before the election.

Biden, Trump Campaigns Targeted by Foreign Hackers: Google
2020-06-04 20:48

Campaign staffs for both President Donald Trump and Democratic rival Joe Biden have been targeted recently by foreign hackers, Google researchers said Thursday, highlighting persistent data security concerns ahead of the November US election. A tweet from Google's threat analysis chief Shane Huntley said the internet giant warned the Biden campaign about "Phishing" efforts from China and the Trump campaign from Iran.

Trump, Biden Campaign Staffers Targeted By APT Phishing Emails
2020-06-04 20:10

With the U.S. presidential election months away, advanced persistent threat groups are targeting the campaign staffers of both Donald Trump and Joe Biden in recent phishing attacks. A China-linked APT group targeted Biden's campaign staff, while an Iran-linked APT targeted Trump's.

Surveillance Bill Vote Scrapped After Opposition From Trump, DoJ
2020-05-28 09:45

House Democrats on Wednesday decided to abandon a vote on the reauthorization of several government surveillance programs under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. A similar amendment proposed earlier this week by Representatives Zoe Lofgren and Warren Davidson saw broad support in the House of Representatives, but the vote on the USA FREEDOM Reauthorization Act was abandoned on Wednesday, after both the Department of Justice and President Donald Trump publicly opposed the bill.

Cybercriminals threatening to auction off stolen files from Lady Gaga, Madonna, and (maybe) Donald Trump
2020-05-20 17:18

The hackers have now turned to Dark Web auction houses instead. "Putting the data out there for free to do extortion or to leverage the extortion isn't effective because now the police are involved, the FBI is involved, the Secret Service is involved because Trump was mentioned. They then turned to this auction house called Jokerbuzz," Turnage said. Because of DarkOwl's work offering access to the world's largest dataset of Dark Net and deep web content, the company's researchers have seen the files related to Lady Gaga, Sherwood, and the initial documents related to President Trump.