Biden mulls punishments for Russia over suspected role in government hack

Secretary of state is first in administration to point to Russia but Trump attacks media over reportsWhat we know – and still don’t – about the cyber-attackNot long after Mike Pompeo became the first member of the Trump administration to blame Russia for wide-ranging hacks of US government agencies and private companies which have sent Washington scrambling to fill the breach, the president sought to play the hack down. Related: US scrambling to understand fallout of suspected Russia hack Continue reading…

Nearly a week after federal agencies were targeted, investigators are still unclear on what information may have been stolenTrump downplays hack after Pompeo blames it on RussiaNearly a week after the US government announced that multiple federal agencies had been targeted by a sweeping cyber-attack, the full scope and consequences of the suspected Russian hack remain unknown. Related: US scrambling to understand fallout of suspected Russia hack Continue reading…

Breach blamed on Russia saw hackers gain access to systems used by top department officials, says Ron WydenDozens of email accounts at the treasury department were compromised in a massive breach of US government agencies being blamed on Russia, with hackers breaking into systems used by the department’s highest-ranking officials, a senator said Monday after being briefed on the matter.Senator Ron Wyden, of Oregon, provided new details of the hack following a briefing to the Senate finance committee by the IRS and treasury department. Continue reading…

Group behind attack on US software firm used malware tied to hackers with FSB security service links The group behind a global cyber-espionage campaign discovered last month deployed malicious computer code with links to spying tools previously used by suspected Russian hackers, researchers have said.Investigators at the Moscow-based cybersecurity firm Kaspersky said the “backdoor” used to compromise up to 18,000 customers of the US software maker SolarWinds closely resembled malware tied to a hacking group known as Turla, which Estonian authorities have said operates on behalf of Russia’s FSB security service. Continue reading…

Citizen Lab researchers say cyber-attack using NSO Group software likely ordered by Saudia Arabia and UAEiPhones vulnerable to hacking tool for months, researchers saySpyware sold by an Israeli private intelligence firm was allegedly used to hack the phones of dozens of Al Jazeera journalists in an unprecedented cyber-attack that is likely to have been ordered by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, according to leading researchers.In a stunning new report, researchers at Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto said they discovered what appears to be a major espionage campaign against one of the world’s leading media organisations, which is based in Qatar and has long been a thorn in the side of many of the region’s autocratic regimes. Continue reading…