Hasta La Gadget!

The latest national security related revelation to come from the documents leaked by Edward Snowden is an account of how offensive computer operations work, and how many there are. The Washington Post reports that in 2011, 231 took place with about three quarters of them against “top-priority” targets, which its sources indicate include Iran, Russia, China and North Korea. Also interesting are details of software and hardware implants designed to infiltrate network hardware, persist through upgrades and access other connected devices or networks. The effort to break into networks is codenamed Genie, while the “Tailored Access Operations” group custom-builds tools to execute the attacks. One document references a new system “Turbine” that automates control of “potentially millions of implants” to gather data or execute an attack. All of this access isn’t possible for free however, with a total cyber operations budget of $1.02 billion which includes $25.1 million spent this year to purchase software vulnerabilities from malware vendors. Get your fill of codenames and cloak-and-dagger from the article posted tonight, or check out the “Black Budget” breakdown of overall intelligence spending.

Filed under: Internet

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Source: Washington Post (1), (2)

Hackers were able to access personal details of thousands of U.S. troops posted in Korea, and that information has reportedly been leaked on multiple sites online

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The U.S. National Intelligence Director says that PRISM program is lawful and has been authorized by Congress. A fact sheet has also been released so as to ‘dispel some of the myths’ related to PRISM.

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A report claims that Chinese hackers were allegedly able to access information of more than two dozen U.S. weapons systems. China has denied any involvement in such attacks.

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Huawei has confirmed that it is shifting the focus of its carrier business from the U.S. Chief Technology Office for Huawei’s carrier networking group, Li Sanqi, said that “Apparently, due to whatever the geopolitical reasons, we are not focusing on the U.S. market.” In October last year a Congressional report stated that Huawei’s networking equipment could be a national security risk, the report advised telecom operators in the country to avoid purchasing such equipment from this company, which it believes to have ties with the Chinese government. Officials believe that Huawei’s equipment can be used by China to launch hacking attacks against the country, and seeing as how Chinese attack traffic reportedly tripled in the final quarter of 2012, it can prove to be difficult to refute this claim.

The U.S. accounts for 30% of the world’s carrier market and Huawei definitely wants to have a piece of it. However now it will be focusing its energies towards opportunities in growing markets such as China. U.S. is also going to take a firm stand against Chinese cyberattacks, the administration is reportedly considering a number of options which includes, but is not limited to, economic sanctions.

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