cyber war

News: Is STUXNET the beginning of a new era in cybercrime?

Submitted by kakroo on Thu, 2010-09-30 11:52.

stuxnetNew means through which the Stuxnet worm, which is able to infect industrial facilities and take over their control systems, spreads have been identified. According to Symantec analysts, Stuxnet is able to reinfect previously disinfected Windows systems that are running Siemens STEP 7 industrial automation software by writing itself into the project folders created by the development environment for STEP 7 programmable logic controllers. The worm modifies certain files and saves infected DLLs, some of them encrypted.

Through a mechanism comparable to that exposed by the Windows DLL search path vulnerability disclosed in August, when a STEP 7 project with a dormant infection is opened the library is loaded. This DLL then decrypts and launches the actual Stuxnet library. The result is reinfection. Forwarding of project folders can also lead to infection.

Russia and Georgia - the Oil game continues?

Submitted by Kai on Mon, 2008-08-11 06:49.
Russia is moving in to Georgia. Is the Big Bear securing it's oil reserves? Are they trying to close the West's access to the Caspian sea? Where will Putin head after Georgia? Is Putin the new Stalin?

These and many other questions have surfaced around the world for a while now. To many of us, Georgia is far away, thus the news are easily downgraded on our scale of importance. And this might very well be Putin's exact calculations - that Russia can go out and grab Georgia with little or no reactions from the international communities.

I hope that reactions will come. That the international community will raise it's voice and tell Russia and Putin that theft is not acceptable. That Georgia will receive support and help on their path to independence and democracy.

In our globalized market, we are all interdependent. That should also mean that we are equally responsible for each other, that we should care and that we need to voice our concerns.

Larko opened my eyes - by pointing my radar to the incident. Thus, I changed the filter mode in my brain, and interesting bits of information started to appear. Some of them are listed below.

I encourage you to spend a few seconds (as a minimum) to consider the questions I pose above. By spending that little investment of your time, you may find that you need to do something more. If you do, please go ahead! Thanks!

Please feel free to air your voice - and submit other interesting stories on this potentially global security threat! (Yes, I may exaggerate on a short term - but what are the long term damage that may occur?)

Cyber Jihad or counter intelligence?

Submitted by Kai on Sat, 2007-11-03 11:34.

A couple of days back, the Debka.com claimed to have picked up an Osama Bin Laden message calling for an electronic Jihad against western and anti-Muslim websites.  

 

This so called news has caused a storm in the water glass as it passed around the news channels.

 

Personally, I find it highly unlikely that such a Jihad is on its way now. And I list several reasons (not conclusive list, feel free to add your own!):

  • Debka.com is a military intelligence news website, which have a strange way of coming up with news no one else have heard about. True, they do have a (large) network, but equally true – they do have their own agenda.
  • The so called cyber terrorism or cyber war has been going on for years. You may even download your own Jihad tool and start hammering away right now. It is nothing more than a hacking tool, branded as a weapon.
  • It is highly unlikely that a publication like this is ONLY picked up by one source. In the past, when Osama has something to say, he calls Al Jazzera. Why not this time?

 

I call this to be a hoax – a poor attempt by war lovers and anti-Muslims to “prove” the dangers of the Muslims. A PR stunt.

 

Some links:

The original Debka story

Analysis by PC World

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