The War of Ones & Zeros

The gauntlet has been thrown

I doubt many among you have been paying particular attention to this recent and most serious-ever (that we know of) unfolding salvo of cyber-intrusions—probably by Russia, certainly to have ramifications we can’t even predict on the course and conflicts of nations.

This may be a state-against-state matter now, but don’t think it will never touch you and me. This is a public news topic less than a week old.

If you’re interested, just search the Key Terms below. No commentary here, only a few of the excerpts from my notes, markup intact because I’m lazy; emphasis is mine. FYI…

1. [[CYBERSECURITY]]

   1. KEY TERMS: Sunburst FireEye SolarWinds

      • RELATED TO: Omniviolence, collapse

        • #icn:notes A: Omniviolence Is Coming and the World Isn’t Ready from [[Jane C…]] #article

   2. SolarWinds: Why the Sunburst hack is so serious - BBC News

      • Experts say the case highlights that government communications are vulnerable to the same hacks as private companies. Mr Lord, who now runs cyber-security company PGI, said: "The victims here are key to our national and personal economic well-being, and protection is essential to allow us to function safely in a digital world.

      • "There is also the personal dimension. We saw that when the Office of Personnel Management was hacked in the US, the private details of many government employees were potentially accessed. These details are reserved for those who have undergone security vetting and are incredibly sensitive."

      • Russia explicitly demonstrates that they are not intimidated and are not going to slow down with their cyber-activities. This will further escalate relationships between the US and Russia and in the long run, and create severe political conflicts."

      • The '[[Sunburst]]' hack may well represent a major salvo in the virtual skirmishes between rival nations - an escalation which could have serious consequences.

   3. 24 Sept 20 How worried should we be about deadly cyber-attacks? - BBC News A series of short videos related to what might happen (now having happened).

   4. US cyber-attack: US energy department confirms it was hit by Sunburst hack - BBC News

   5. Hackers targeted US nuclear weapons agency in massive cybersecurity breach, reports say | The Independent

   6. Nuclear weapons agency breached amid massive cyber onslaught - POLITICO

      • They found suspicious activity in networks belonging to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), Sandia and Los Alamos national laboratories in New Mexico and Washington, the Office of Secure Transportation at NNSA, and the Richland Field Office of the DOE.

      • The hackers have been able to do more damage at FERC than the other agencies, and officials there have evidence of highly malicious activity, the officials said, but did not elaborate.

      • The Office of Secure Transportation is tasked with moving enriched uranium and other materials critical for maintaining the nuclear stockpile.

   7. Dec 9 2020 Top cybersecurity firm hit by ‘state-sponsored’ hacking | The Independent

      • FireEYE

        • FireEye is a publicly traded cybersecurity company headquartered in Milpitas, California. It has been involved in the detection and prevention of major cyber attacks. It provides hardware, software, and services to investigate cybersecurity attacks, protect against malicious software, and analyze IT security risks. FireEye was founded in 2004.

      • SolarWinds Inc.

        • is an American company that develops software for businesses to help manage their networks, systems, and information technology infrastructure. SolarWinds is headquartered in Austin, Texas, with sales and product development offices in a number of locations in the United States and several other countries around the world.

        • The company was publicly traded from May 2009 until the end of 2015, and again from October 2018. It has also acquired a number of companies, some of which it still operates under their original brand names including Pingdom, Papertrail, and Loggly. It had about 300,000 customers as of December 2020, including nearly all Fortune 500 companies and numerous federal agencies.