Kaspersky - Clandestine State Sponsored Hacking

[Renegade]

What good are hacking laws if the worst culprits are governments?

http://www.kaspersky.com/about/news/virus/2013/Kaspersky_Lab_Identifies_Operation_Red_October_an_Advanced_Cyber_Espionage_Campaign_Targeting_Diplomatic_and_Government_Institutions_Worldwide

Kaspersky Lab Identifies Operation “Red October,” an Advanced Cyber-Espionage Campaign Targeting Diplomatic and Government Institutions Worldwide

Attackers Created Unique, Highly-Flexible Malware to Steal Data and Geopolitical Intelligence from Target Victims’ Computer Systems, Mobile Phones and Enterprise Network Equipment

Today Kaspersky Lab published a new research report which identified an elusive cyber-espionage campaign targeting diplomatic, governmental and scientific research organizations in several countries for at least five years. The primary focus of this campaign targets countries in Eastern Europe, former USSR Republics, and countries in Central Asia, although victims can be found everywhere, including Western Europe and North America. The main objective of the attackers was to gather sensitive documents from the compromised organizations, which included geopolitical intelligence, credentials to access classified computer systems, and data from personal mobile devices and network equipment.

The paper:

http://www.securelist.com/en/blog/785/The_Red_October_Campaign_An_Advanced_Cyber_Espionage_Network_Targeting_Diplomatic_and_Government_Agencies
http://www.securelist.com/en/analysis/204792262/Red_October_Diplomatic_Cyber_Attacks_Investigation

It's all pretty darn sophisticated. Certainly would be nice if people smart enough to pull that off turned to more productive and uplifting activities.

[Tinman57]

What good are hacking laws if the worst culprits are governments?

  LOL!  I was just about to post this myself and saw you beat me to it.  You can also read about it here:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2025328/red-october-malware-discovered-after-years-of-stealing-data-in-the-wild.html

  From the time this came about and I read that it had been in the wild for over 5 years, I strongly suspected that it was government developed/sanctified.

[CWuestefeld]

On the other hand, an article in a recent Wired magazine (sorry, don't have link handy) makes one wonder if Kaspersky is itself in the espionage business.

[Joe Hone]

That would be a bit too cutesy for Kaspersky to "discover" this on behalf of a client and then announce it to the world to cover its own tracks. But stranger things have happened.

[Stoic Joker]

What good are hacking laws if the worst culprits are governments?

It keeps out the riffraff and maintains the playing field at a manageable size?

[40hz]

Wow! What a surprise. Can you believe it? An actual government involved with something like that!

[Tinman57]

Wow! What a surprise. Can you believe it? An actual government involved with something like that!

  I know, Right.  Now whodathunkit?

[Tinman57]

Red October Attackers Shutting Down C&C Infrastructure

It appears that the attackers behind the Red October cyberespionage campaign are taking their ball and going home. Since the attack came to light on Monday, the attackers have begun shutting down their infrastructure and the hosting providers and registrars involved with some of the command-and-control domains are shutting those down, as well.

https://threatpost.com/en_us/blogs/rocra-espionage-malware-campaign-uncovered-after-five-years-activity-011413

[40hz]

^Makes sense they would. Now that it's been "painted" it would only be a matter of time before it ultimately got analyzed and tracked back home to mother. Especially the longer it stayed up.

Like they said in the movie The Sting: If Lonigan puts the finger on you we gotta fold the con.

Yup. Fold the tent and get the hell outta there. "Cover your tracks as best you may - and thus live to fight another day."

These people have the tools and the talent. This isn't the last we'll be seeing of whoever was behind it.

[Tinman57]

^Makes sense they would. Now that it's been "painted" it would only be a matter of time before it ultimately got analyzed and tracked back home to mother. Especially the longer it stayed up.

Like they said in the movie The Sting: If Lonigan puts the finger on you we gotta fold the con.

Yup. Fold the tent and get the hell outta there. "Cover your tracks as best you may - and thus live to fight another day."

These people have the tools and the talent. This isn't the last we'll be seeing of whoever was behind it.

  Yep, once they tweak the code and set up different command & control centers, they'll be back.  Then the only problem will be "We Won't Know It!"