So I read this interesting chart. What are your greatest fears? ISIS and other terrorist groups came in at number one. Then came climate change. But the third has to do with a huge tech threat: cyberattacks. Cyber crimes are a major fear.
And this is a global fear, not just a US one. In fact, 51% of people surveyed said cyber crimes are a major threat to humanity. In some countries, it’s higher. For example, in Japan, it’s the biggest fear. And in Germany, United Kingdom, it’s the second biggest fear. But what about here in the USA? Cyber attacks are the second biggest fear in this country as well.
Well, look at the number of major global attacks in just 2017 alone. The most infamous was WannaCry. Here, hackers hold entire systems hostage until they got hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of Bitcoin. I’ll never forget how it messed up the UK’s hospital system, to the point people couldn’t even get life-saving surgery. Then came Petya, a month later. This cyber attack hit world wide, from US big pharma to Russian oil. They hit Ukraine so hard it almost brought that country to it’s knees. Other major hacks include Wikileaks CIA Vault 7, Cloudbleed, and France’s Macron campaign.
But I notice a couple of things. Russia and China did not take part in the survey. I find this interesting because many believe Russia and China play a huge part in these cyber crimes. North Korea plays a major, major part in cyber crimes, but they’re not in the survey for obvious reasons. So yes, cyber attacks are a huge concern in the US. We hear that concern in our Boston computer service shop. Silicon Valley and Washington need to hear us. But it seems like they’re too busy fighting each other. We have a real enemy and concern to fight here. Are they listening? Does either side even care?
American President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin met this past weekend. Yes, they did discuss cyber security, although they mostly talked about election fraud. But don’t expect some cyber security alliance anytime soon. Trump and Putin vs Cyber Hacking: can it happen?
I guess not. Because hours after this meeting, Trump backfired. He tweeted this cyber security unit can’t happen. However, Trump does want to continue working with Putin. But I doubt cyber security is going to be a factor. If it is, it will probably be to fight election fraud. Even Republicans blasted this idea. For example, Lindsey Graham (R-SC), said, “”It’s not the dumbest idea I have ever heard, but it’s pretty close”. ?Talk about not mincing words.
But Marco Rubio ?(R-FL) went even further. He compared a Trump-Putin ‘Cyber Security Unit’ to a Syrian ‘Chemical Weapon Unit’. Those are almost fighting words! But there is another reason this won’t work. Since November 2016, the Trump Administration ?fought rumors of Russia interfering in the last election. And these rumors are coming from everywhere. Are they true? I don’t know. But Putin sure denies it. That’s why very few want this cyber security alliance. Even Trump himself backed out on it.
But is seems to me this is has little to do with cyber security. This seems more like a political witch hunt. I am not here to side with any party. But we need to do something about cyber security. It’s a global threat that stares down every person in the world. Haven’t Wannacry and Petya taught us anything? Furthermore, don’t they know there are cyber crooks that will sell your identity for literally a few dollars? And then there are groups that could really mess up our world through hacking. This is what the world needs to address. Global hacking is one of the biggest threats to any IT service. ?Let’s stop the witch hunt and start focusing on what really threatens us all. So I ask you. Trump and Putin vs Cyber Hacking: can it happen?
Cyber security is a major issue for nations around the world. But if it’s not, it should be. However, some nations are doing better than others. Most secure nations: Who wins cyber security war?
So apparently, Singapore is winning. According to the UN and their ITU (International Telecommunications Union), Singapore has the best way to beat cyber crooks. My fellow Americans, don’t feel bad. The USA ranks second in fighting cyber crime. But others in the top 10 might surprise you. Then again, some won’t. Canada and Australia are the top 10 best cyber crime fighting nations. That’s not surprising to me. However, Oman and Estonia are good at cyber security too. Because they’re in the top 10.
Then what about other leading tech nations, like China, India, Russia and Germany? Russia ranked 11th. Then Germany ranked 24th. India placed right behind them at 25th. Meanwhile, China gallops to 34th place. The ITU bases these ranks on education, research, crime fighting, technical facilities, and network sharing. And the most disturbing thing of all: Half of nations surveyed have no plan in fighting cyber crime at all. In fact, small rich countries like Monaco and San Marino rank dead last in cyber security. That is a huge problem.
Because wealth often attracts cyber crime. That’s not always the case. Political tensions and sexual perversion often have a lot to do with cyber crime. But much of it has to do with money. So of course, they will go after money. Small nations like Monaco and San Marino have it. But these are the most venerable. And it’s only going to be a matter of time before they catch on. I think nations like Singapore and the US should help other nations fight cyber crime. Now I’m no fan of globalization, but when it comes to this issue, we need each other. It’s all hands on deck. That’s why we need the most secure nations to help those that aren’t. Does that explain why in our Boston computer service shop, we’ve never seen Wannacry or?Petrwrap?
Yesterday, I talked about a dangerous ransomware. The attack hit around the world, but hit Russia and Ukraine really hard. However, don’t think it’s over. I don’t believe it is. The Patya ransomware attack: What we know.
So first of all, we know the name of the attack. They call it Patya. There was some confusion about that when I reported it 24 hours ago. There are similarities to the WannaCry of May 2017 attack. But here is what makes Patya so dangerous: it cultivates. For example, it uses several methods to spread to several computers all at once. So this thing has no limits, no boundaries.
And remember our young, British hero who virtually stopped Wannacry? Well, so far, we have no such hero for Patya. There is no kill switch, not yet. However, some are working on a ‘vaccine’ to put this ransomware down. According to Ukranian authorities, ME-Doc software played a role in the launch. We still don’t know the motive. Many in the cyber crime-fighting community doubt this was just another money making scheme. Some think this was just to hurt Ukraine. But if that’s true, then it didn’t just hurt Ukraine. We also learn a Patya hit a US nuclear power plant. Patya also hit a US pharmacy firm and a French construction company.
So what are we going to do about it? At our Boston computer service shop, we haven’t seen the Patya ransomware attack yet. I hope we never do. But I’ve heard about this file called Perfc. When certain malware meets that file, Perfc tricks the virus and stops the encryption. That works with malware, but I don’t know it that will work with Petya. We can only hope. I understand some people and some institutions are still running Windows XP, and other defunct software. If that’s you, then stop! That’s an easy target. And if you do get eaten up, there’s nothing Microsoft can do about it. But what else can we do?
Remember the Wannacry virus last month? You should because it almost crippled Great Britain’s medical industry. It got IT services, too. ?But yesterday, something worse hit Europe. Worse than Wannacry: Super cyber attack hits globe.
Ukraine got the worst of it. The virus hit over countless computers. Banks failed. The ATM’s stopped working. Also, Ukraine government systems took a blow. So did Ukaraine’s major media stations, like ?Channel 24. In fact, cyber attackers broadcast messages like, “Nobody can recover your files without our decryption service”. Russian computers went down. For example, one Russian creditor can’t even process client operations. ? The hackers demand $300 in Bitcoin. That may not sound like much, but that’s over $770,000 in US dollars. And they want $770,000 per attack! So far, they only made 3.7 Bitcoin, or around $9,500. But the hackers just keep on hacking.
However, this attack is by no means limited to Russia and Ukraine. They hacked German businesses, like Deutsche Bank. Some of India’s ports couldn’t even function because of the cyber attack. In Australia, Quantas Airlines, their main airlines, their online booking system took a hit. ?In Tazmania, they had to shut a candy factory down. The US isn’t immune. In Pennsylvania, they had to cancel surgeries (sound familiar, England?). ?A US law firm also had to shut down. In fact, no continent went unscathed.
Some experts say this isn’t as bad as Wannacry, because this virus is more limited. I beg to differ. I think it’s worse than Wannacry. Here’s why. Some experts say the attackers didn’t really care if they got paid. That’s scary because they could have a far more sinister motive. And nobody in the world has any leads on who is behind this. For all we know, a rouge dictatorship (North Korea) or terrorist group (ISIS) could be doing this. I don’t know. So the fact nobody knows whose is doing this, and very few can seem to stop is is chilling. And look at the ramifications.All it took is a few hacks to stop governments, banks, hospitals, airlines, law firms. What if they get the power to stop whole world systems at once?
Remember the Wannacry malware virus last month? If you don’t, then let me refresh you. It caused the health industry in Great Britain mass chaos. In fact, it hit dozens of other nations. Did North Korea start Wannacry?
Britian’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) says yes. They say North Korean group Lazarus was behind the hold thing. But does this hacking group sound familiar? It should. Because this group hacked Sony back in late 2014. This was their was of ahem…protesting The Interview. That was a Seth Rogan and James Franco movie that openly mocked NK dictator Kim Jong Un. In May 2017, according to British authorities, they made a comeback.
Because in May 2017, they came out with WannaCry ransomware. This virus locked computer systems all around the world. However, this was especially true in Great Britain. They wouldn’t unlock them until the businesses they hacked pay a certain ransom. It was usually to be in Bitcoin. Government and private cyber security persons worked around the clock to break their code. They saw many patterns that look like the Lazarus group. The US’s NSA also blames North Korea for this attack, though they WannaCry didn’t hit them as bad. Back in 2016, North Korean hackers ripped off the nation of Bangladesh of over $81 million.
So did North Korea start Wannacry? If the authorities are right, then why? How far up the North Korean dictatorship does this go? Let’s call the North Korean government what it really is…a dictatorship, not a leadership! But was this about money? I think that was a part of it. However, this is a lot more to this. Look at the nuclear war talk North Korea spews. Furthermore, look at how they’re testing missiles. In our Boston computer service shop, none of our clients have come down with WannaCry. Thank goodness. But my concern is this virus isn’t just about holding computer systems hostages. Could North Korea be using Wannacry to see how far they can go? Is this is a prelude to more sinister actions from them?
