Russians Suspected of Uroburos Spy Malware 137
judgecorp writes "While Russia's political activity is center stage, its cyber-espionage apparently continues. Russian intelligence is strongly suspected of being behind the Uroburos malware which is targeting Western governments and commercial organizations. There are Russian-language strings in the code, and it searches its victims' systems for Agent BTZ, malware used in previous attacks believed to have been carried out by Russia."
Re:Script Kiddie? (Score:2, Interesting)
Which says a lot about our current computing environment - even Windows: one has to be a real expert (like PhD level) to find current exploits.
You can find exploits by stumbling upon them when doing something related to the exploitable functionality. Utilizing them requires skill, though.
Re:That's all the proof I need .. (Score:4, Interesting)
Except that GP was not talking about copying the US' computer-based espionage operations, but the US' various illegal wars.
You know, there is a bit of a mess unfolding in Ukraine. There are pro-russian and pro-european factions and the russians are obviously supporting the former -- with a completely illegal show of force.
Less well known is that the pro-european factions supported by the West are largely far-right nationalists. Neonazis, pretty much. See, e.g. this piece [salon.com] by Max Blumenthal.
Re:Script Kiddie? (Score:4, Interesting)
The problem is that there are -so many- weak links these days. Anything, be it the application, web server, backend server, DB server, Web browser, Web browser add-ons, OS, firmware, NIC firmware, router, switch, can have a weakness that can be easily exploited to cause a lot of issues. Air-gapping will help prevent those attacks, but I'm sure if it is a big organization wanting the data, rich enough to buy 0-day exploits from an auction, they are rich enough to have "boots on the ground" in a target country to perform physical attacks (sticking a USB flash drive into a machine and letting Autorun/Autoplay do the rest, for example.)
In the '90s, the computer industry had two choices, go the secure route, or go the cheap route. It is obvious how the industry went. Even languages that could offer provable security with known states are all but dead [1], so there is no way other than just keep patching holes, to have any semblance of solid security these days.
It would be nice to start from scratch. There are still ways to have provable states and know how a program will function, even with edge/corner cases. Similar with hardware. If we go with known good embedded operating systems, an attack on an IP stack will have limited consequences.
[1]: Ada may be ugly, but it does offer provable security.
Re:Proof? (Score:5, Interesting)
You think the US gives a damn about that? Only to the extent that this is a new justification for the NSA's spying. The terrorist thing was wearing thin, so let's go back to the tried and true enemy of the Cold War. The FSB - if you can't beat 'em, imitate 'em (or is it the other way around these days?).
Uhh... How does this get +5 insightful? Have you read the news the past few days? The past few years for that matter? Russia is currently invading the Ukraine, which borders several NATO members (let's not forget they invaded Georgia in 2008 and took territory as well). Not to mention they are trying to strong arm old Soviet States back into a new economic and military union. Meanwhile, China is making new outlandish territorial claims of land and sea that would be comical if it weren't for their threats to use military force. I think our Cold War troubles are long from over and the world is far from being in a state where we will not need intelligence agencies.
Re:Proof? (Score:3, Interesting)
China is good at economic espionage. The US solar industry is a good example, where companies started reporting hacking attempts... then six months later, China started selling panels cheaper than the rare earths it took to make them.
We are seeing two countries more than willing to throw their weight around because when trade and economies don't provide expansion, tanks and soldiers definitely will... It is only a matter of time before China takes over Taiwan, and possibly Japan. (Think the US will risk a nuclear exchange over either nation? Won't happen.) I wouldn't be surprised if Russian tanks are knocking on Germany's eastern door because Europe has their head in the sand on this issue.
History repeats itself. My biggest fear is that the novel, "The Guns of August" are replaying, except staged a century later.
Re:That's all the proof I need .. (Score:4, Interesting)
The problem is that people have forgotten the atrocities of the Soviets...all the many atrocities done by the USSR or their puppets are history virtually forgotten since the Berlin Wall fell.
Maybe that's because the Soviets/USSR doesn't exist anymore, and hasn't since 1991. If you think Putin's regime is equivalent to the USSR, then you should probably do a re-fresh of your geo-political perspective.
Instead, the focus is on how evil the US is...
You're right! Instead, let's focus on the past evils of the USSR and ignore the more recent evils of the US. Forget the NSA...KGB! US invasion of Iraq? No no no! Soviet invasion of Afghanistan! Abu Ghraib was nuthin compared to Kolyma, Norilsk, or Vorkuta!!! USA! USA! USA!
Your strategy should really improve the credibility and moral authority of the US in the eyes of the rest of the world going forward. Why didn't someone think of this earlier?!?