- Three Arrested for Distributing Virus
- Cracking 14 Character Complex Passwords in 5 Seconds (This one's kind of old. Also read the article about NTLM passwords linked at the end. You can download their password cracker - Ophcrack. Just use your powers for good and not evil!)
- The Hunt for Red October (with due respect to Tom Clancy)
- US Power Plants Hit with Malware
- 3.6 Million Social Security Numbers Exposed (You can also read a chronology of how they responded.)
Your responses should be posted no later than 9:00 AM on Monday, 04 February 2013 to receive credit.
7 comments:
My response is to the article "Three arrested for allegedly distributing global Gozi computer virus: Feds". I wonder if we will ever hear about what happens to these people who were arrested. You don't hear much in the news or on TV about cyber crime. It seems that it is looked at differently than other crimes. It isn't a victimless crime by any means of the imagination, to steal someone's banking information and in turn steal their money. I believe crimes like this, although not as significant, happen a lot more often than we hear about. I'm not sure that there are any answers on how to prevent crimes like this, but maybe a little more publicity might help. Along with stiff penalties.
After reading the article, "Three arrested for allegedly distributing global Gozi computer virus: Feds" I am really surprised by a couple things. Number 1, at how lucrative the diabolical side technology can be. $50,000 for a virus!! That's crazy but I guess that is what motivates people to the "dark side" in the 1st place. Then the other thing that baffles me is how long it takes for cyber criminals to be to get caught. In the article above,
the NASA Breach occurred from 2007 until 2012. Why did it take so long? Was the virus really that undetectable? I find that to be very disturbing.
The article "Red October espionage platform unplugged hours after its discovery" explains a serious of attacks that attacked different government and scientific research organizations around the world. Red October's used multiple internet domains and servers to mask it's true purpose. There were over 60 internet domains as listed by Kaspersky in which malware and stolen data was funneled through. The Red October attacked users based on specific system configuration and profiles. This shows how sophisticated this organization was not only stealing important government information, but able to pose as something legit.
I am responding to the article "US plants hit by USB stick malware attack". It is amazing that we really don't hear anything in the news about any attack on major industrial systems. Another thing is one would think that the internet security at a major industrial plant would be a little bit better than the programs that the general public has access to because, for one, they have access to more funds to buy state-of-the-art antivirus software and, two, because so much more is riding on their systems one would think they want to protect their sensitive and operational systems. If I get a virus or I am attacked by a malware program I will have problems but my system won't shut down systems at a nearby plant. The other thing is if they are going to update their systems with USB sticks they need to find a way to put antivirus software on the stick to prevent this situation from happening again or at least run a program on the stick to check it frequently for viruses and other harmful programs.
I am replying to the article US plants hit by USB stick malware attack. I am alarmed after reading this article to find out just how easy it is for something as simple as a USB flash drive could make such a big impact. The fact that a virus can be planted in a place such as a power plant should be a real wakeup call to us as citizens. We are at war now with cyber criminals and they now seem to just as or more dangerous as the enemies that can be seen
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