On Friday November 12th, a malicious hacker was able to send over one hundred thousand emails from an FBI server. These spam emails were sent to publicly listed administrators of websites published on the American Registry for Internet Numbers, and although the FBI reports the actor was unable to recover any personally identifiable information, this cyber attack highlights yet another recent high profile breach of US government networks.
The recent cyber attack on the FBI was possible due to a flaw in the configuration of the agency’s messaging system. The temporary software misconfiguration allowed the hacker to leverage the Law Enforcement Enterprise Portal to send fake emails under the guise of the US Department of Homeland Security’s Cyber Threat Detection and Analysis Group, a group which has not existed for over two years. Furthermore the fake email sent by the hacker is said to be an “incoherent warning” referencing cyber security writer Vinny Troia and a cybercriminal group dubbed, The Dark Overlord. This comes after a recent report published by Troia’s cyber security company, Night Lion Security, exposing data breaches conducted by the cybercriminal group.
Earlier this year Microsoft announced that a Russian based hacking group targeted one hundred and fifty American organizations by gaining access to a marketing account of the US Agency for International Development. Microsoft reports that this cyber attack campaign appears to target government agencies, think tanks, and nongovernmental organizations.
Microsoft experienced yet another extreme cyber attack earlier this year. Although this time from a hacker group they have high confidence to believe is working for the Chinese government. In response to this threat the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency issued a rare order to demand all US agencies to update their software systems in order to prevent the hackers from gaining, “persistent system access”. Those targeted include infectious disease researchers, law firms, higher education institutions, and defense contractors.
This blog post is part of the CIMA Law Group Blog. If you are in need of legal help, the CIMA Law Group is a law firm in Phoenix, Arizona which possesses expertise in Immigration Law, Criminal Defense, Personal Inquiry, and Government Relations.
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