Cyber Crime on a Global Scale

ScaleOfCyberCrime.jpg

Cyber bad guys operate at all levels, from intercepting your car's bluetooth, to using apps and the Internet to steal private financial details of tens of millions of citizens.
Even a single person can create cybercrime mayhem.
In April 2015, Navinder Singh Sarao, a 36-year-old, appeared in court in the UK wearing baggy sweatpants, running shoes and a hoodie. This small-time investor drove a broken-down car, and lived in his parents' run-down flat near the flight path of Heathrow airport. But back on 6th May 2010, he had used off-the-shelf software to manipulate high-frequency trading algorithms to create the infamous 'flash crash'.
He sent the Dow Jones industrial average on a wild ride up and down some 1000 points. He briefly wiped over $1 trillion from the stock markets. To put that in perspective, that's about 1/60 of the gross domestic product of the entire planet, for a whole year. And along the way, using techniques called 'spoofing' and 'layering', he picked up $40 million, all done using a simple home computer.
Given it's that easy for one person to create havoc, think how much easier it would be for a government with all of its resources. People talk about 'cyber warfare', but it is a fairly vague term, referring to governments attacking other governments. Specifically, what happens when governments use the internet for sabotage, espionage and subversion.
Financial markets, military assets, communication networks, infrastructure of many types, if it's got a computer, it can be hacked.
In September 2010, the nuclear enrichment facilities in Iran were attacked by the Stuxnet-worm.
The Iranians were purifying uranium up to weapons-grade using centrifuges. These centrifuges were taken over by this worm. They spun so quickly they destroyed themselves. But while the attack was actually happening, the control panels of the Iranian operators wrongly indicated that the centrifuges were spinning normally.
This attack delayed the Iranian weapons-grade uranium program by over a year. Who did this? In June 2012, the New York Times claimed that President Obama had authorised this sabotage.
A modern country relies absolutely on infrastructure — sewerage, transport, drinking water, power, and so on. In 2009, President Obama said: "cyber intruders have probed our electrical grids".
Then, in 2012, an American company that monitors over 50 per cent of the gas and oil pipelines in the USA discovered that the Chinese had hacked its computer systems.
Were the Chinese simply looking for industrial secrets? Or were they planting bugs, so that they could shut down the US energy grid if China and the USA were to have a conflict sometime in the future?

In 2012, Iranian hackers took control of 30,000 computers belonging to the world's largest oil producer, Saudi Aramco. We know they changed the Aramco logo to a burning US flag. But what else did they do?

In March 2013, the major banks and broadcasting TV stations in South Korea were hacked. Was North Korea to blame, or was it somebody pretending to be North Korea?
In the Middle East, the Syrian Electronic Army hacked into the Twitter account of Associated Press. They then published a fake news item about a bomb at the US White House. That incident alone sucked $136 billion out of the US Equity Market.
One of the beauties of cyber warfare is its anonymity. While there are suspects, there is often still not enough information to positively identify the culprits.
Cyber warfare can also be done relatively cheaply. But of course, you get better results if you spend more.
In May 2010, the four-star general, Keith Alexander, was put in charge of the newly formed US Cyber Command. By 2014, its budget had jumped from $1 billion to $4.7 billion. They claim they need this money to deal with incessant attacks from other governments.
As part of their recruitment, the US Defense Department has annual competitions with cyber warriors running banks of military computers. Each team typically has to protect five computers (which are running seven different operating systems) against relentless waves of ever-sophisticated cyber attacks. 
China and many other countries are doing the same. After all, since time immemorial, teenagers have been given weapons and told to fight. Apparently this is the 21st-century version.
Ein News:  http://bit.ly/1Llc8Bs

 

« FBI Director says ISIS Could Cyberattack the US
Silicon Valley a Major Player in Cyberwarfare »

CyberSecurity Jobsite
Perimeter 81

Directory of Suppliers

ZenGRC

ZenGRC

ZenGRC - the first, easy-to-use, enterprise-grade information security solution for compliance and risk management - offers businesses efficient control tracking, testing, and enforcement.

Syxsense

Syxsense

Syxsense brings together endpoint management and security for greater efficiency and collaboration between IT management and security teams.

CYRIN

CYRIN

CYRIN® Cyber Range. Real Tools, Real Attacks, Real Scenarios. See why leading educational institutions and companies in the U.S. have begun to adopt the CYRIN® system.

DigitalStakeout

DigitalStakeout

DigitalStakeout enables cyber security professionals to reduce cyber risk to their organization with proactive security solutions, providing immediate improvement in security posture and ROI.

LockLizard

LockLizard

Locklizard provides PDF DRM software that protects PDF documents from unauthorized access and misuse. Share and sell documents securely - prevent document leakage, sharing and piracy.

Enigmedia

Enigmedia

Enigmedia provide solutions for the encryption of audio and video calls across all devices including Smartphones, Tablets and PCs.

Maryman & Associates

Maryman & Associates

Maryman & Associates are specialists in computer forensic investigations, incident response and e-discovery services.

SCIPP International

SCIPP International

SCIPP’s courses are based on internationally recognized best business practices for security awareness, for both technical and non-technical staff and to comply with regulatory mandates.

Cybernetic Global Intelligence (CGI)

Cybernetic Global Intelligence (CGI)

CGI is a global IT Security firm that helps companies protect their data and minimize their vulnerability to cyber threats through a range of services such as Security Audits and Managed Services.

Awen Collective

Awen Collective

Awen Collective develops software-based tools for performing Digital Forensics, Incident Response and Cyber-Crime Investigation.

Incognito Forensic Foundation Lab (IFF Lab)

Incognito Forensic Foundation Lab (IFF Lab)

IFF Lab is a premier cyber and digital forensics lab in India that offers forensic services and solutions, cyber security analysis and assessment, IT support, training and consultation.

Statice

Statice

Statice develops state-of-the-art data privacy technology that helps companies double-down on data-driven innovation while safeguarding the privacy of individuals.

Identifi Global Recruitment

Identifi Global Recruitment

Identifi Global is one of the UK's leading Cyber Security & IT Recruitment specialists.

Jump Capital

Jump Capital

Jump provides series A and B capital to data-driven tech companies within the FinTech, IT & Data Infrastructure, B2B SaaS and Media sectors.

MassMutual Ventures

MassMutual Ventures

Mass Mutual ventures backs companies building category-defining businesses in markets including enterprise software, digital health, cybersecurity, and fintech.

Guardara

Guardara

Guardara's mission is to help our customers to continuously improve in every aspect of software development.

SurePassID

SurePassID

SurePassID is a provider of highly secure, highly extensible multi-factor authentication (MFA) solutions.

HacWare

HacWare

HacWare is a data driven cybersecurity awareness product that leverages machine learning and behavior analytics help IT professionals combat phishing.

Bigbee Technology

Bigbee Technology

Bigbee Technology are an IT solutions company based in Dar es Salaam founded by a group of professionals from around the globe.

xdr.global

xdr.global

Xdr.global is a cybersecurity consulting firm, focused on promoting and aligning Extended Detection and Response (XDR) security solutions.

Databarracks

Databarracks

Databarracks deliver award winning IT resilience and continuity services. We help organisations get the most out of the cloud and protect their data, wherever it lives.