Articles

Biden administration, US allies condemn China’s malicious hacking, espionage…

Global coalition calls on China to curtail its cyber activities. For the first time, the US blames China directly for ransomware attacks.

Following a  push by the White House to address the ransomware crisis emanating from Russia and the imposition of sanctions on Russia for its spree of malicious cyber actions, the Biden administration has launched a multi-part strategy to shame another digital security adversary, China, into halting its digital malfeasance.

First, the administration formally accused China of breaching Microsoft’s Exchange email servers to implant what most experts consider reckless and damaging surveillance malware. Although Microsoft has long attributed that incident to a Chinese hacking group it calls HAFNIUM, the White House has now finally and officially acknowledged China’s role in that supply chain attack.

In a statement, the White House said it is attributing “with a high degree of confidence that malicious cyber actors affiliated with PRC’s MSS conducted cyber-espionage operations utilizing the zero-day vulnerabilities in Microsoft Exchange Server disclosed in early March 2021.”

Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said in a statement that “the United States government, alongside our allies and partners, has formally confirmed that cyber actors affiliated with the MSS exploited vulnerabilities in Microsoft Exchange Server in a massive cyber-espionage operation that indiscriminately compromised thousands of computers and networks, mostly belonging to private sector victims.”

This article appeared in CSO Online. To read the rest of the article please visit here.

Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash

Articles

US sanctions Russian government, security firms for SolarWinds breach,…

The Biden administration places economic sanctions on Russian government organizations, individuals, and companies including several security firms.

The Biden Administration announced a robust, coordinated series of punitive measures to confront Russia’s growing malign behavior, including its massive hack of SolarWind’s software, attempts to interfere with the 2020 elections, and other destructive deeds against the US. The administration’s actions levy financial sanctions on the country and the companies usually involved in malicious cyber activity against the US. It also exposes previously withheld details about the Russian ruling regime’s digital and disinformation operations. In addition to the White House, the National Security Agency (NSA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Department of Homeland Security, and Treasury Department all play a role in the complex set of actions against Russia.

First, President Biden signed a new sanctions executive order that strengthens authorities to “impose costs in a strategic and economically impactful manner on Russia if it continues or escalates its destabilizing international actions.” Under the EO, the Treasury Department is implementing multiple actions to target “aggressive and harmful activities” against the Russian government, including a directive that “generally prohibits US financial institutions from participating in the primary market for ruble or non-ruble denominated bond issued after June 14, 2021.”

This article appeared in CSO Online. To read the rest of the article please visit here.

 

Alejandro Mayorkas

Experts fear that Biden’s cybersecurity executive order will repeat…

President Biden is expected to issue an executive order soon in response to the SolarWinds and Exchange Server attacks. Leaked details suggest it might not focus on the most effective actions.

Since December, the US has been in a cybersecurity crisis following FireEye’s bombshell that Russian hackers implanted espionage malware throughout US private sector and government networks through the SolarWinds supply chain hack. Despite growing pressure from Congress, the still-new Biden administration has released few details on how it plans to respond to this massive intrusion or the more concerning discovery in January of widespread and scattershot attacks by Chinese state operatives on Microsoft Exchange email server software.

Although the administration reportedly won’t release a formal executive order (EO) addressing these and other cybersecurity matters for weeks, Alejandro Mayorkas, the new head of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), did reveal that the administration is working on nearly a dozen actions for the order. Meanwhile, some details of the order have leaked, generating mostly skepticism among many top cybersecurity professionals.

This article appeared in CSO Online. To read the rest of the article please visit here.

Photo by Mackenzie Weber on Unsplash