US agencies circulate warning about 'aggressive' Chinese hacking effort to steal secrets

guest · Jul 19, 2021

US agencies circulate warning about 'aggressive' Chinese hacking effort to steal secrets from a range of targets
July 16, 2021
https://www.cyberscoop.com/china-hacking-fbi-biden-alert-ip/

Chinese government-backed hackers’ rampant appetite for intellectual property represents a “major threat to U.S. and allied cyberspace assets,” according to a U.S. government assessment obtained by CyberScoop.

The analysis from the National Security Agency, FBI and Department of Homeland Security’s cyber agency warns that Beijing-linked hackers are still “aggressively” targeting U.S. and allied defense and semiconductor firms, medical institutions and universities to steal sensitive corporate data and personally identifiable information.

“NSA, [the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency], and FBI have observed increasingly sophisticated Chinese state-sponsored cyber activity targeting U.S. political, economic, military, educational, and [critical infrastructure] personnel and organizations,” says the advisory. “These cyber operations support China’s long-term economic and military development objectives.”
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The advisory is part of a recurring U.S. effort to share technical details of foreign hacking with the private sector and state and local governments, so that organizations can take defensive measures.

Chinese hackers tend to scour the internet for vulnerable devices soon after a flaw in popular software is made public, according to the interagency analysis. They then sometimes use publicly available “proof of concept” hacking tools to exploit the software, the document says.
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guest · Jul 19, 2021

Microsoft Exchange email hack was caused by China, US says
July 19, 2021
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/business/article252873808.html#storylink=mainstage

The Biden administration on Monday blamed China for a hack of Microsoft Exchange email server software that compromised tens of thousands of computers around the world earlier this year.

The administration and allied nations also disclosed a broad range of other cyberthreats from Beijing, including ransomware attacks from government-affiliated hackers that have targeted companies with demands for millions of dollars.
Even though the finger-pointing was not accompanied by any sanctions of Beijing, a senior administration official who disclosed the actions to reporters said that the U.S. has confronted senior Chinese officials and that the White House regards the multination public shaming as sending an importance message.
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The European Union also blamed China for what it said were malicious cyber activities with “significant effects” that targeted government institutions and political organisations in the EU and its 27 member states, as well as key European industries.

In a statement, the EU's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the hacking was “conducted from the territory of China for the purpose of intellectual property theft and espionage.”
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hawki · Jul 19, 2021

mood said: ↑

Microsoft Exchange email hack was caused by China, US says
July 19, 2021
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/business/article252873808.html#storylink=mainstage
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"NSA, CISA, and FBI detail Chinese State-Sponsored Actions, Mitigations

The National Security Agency (NSA), Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) released a Cybersecurity Advisory, Chinese State-Sponsored Cyber Operations: Observed TTPs. This advisory describes over 50 tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) Chinese state-sponsored cyber actors used when targeting U.S. and allied networks, and details mitigations..."

https://www.nsa.gov/news-features/p...-chinese-state-sponsored-actions-mitigations/

EASTER · Jul 19, 2021

When are those dipsticks ever going to learn. You don't invent a network, tie it into remote transfers all over the world, and not expect it's like hanging your clothes out on the line in the middle of a busy motor street.

If it wasn't so pure dumb it would be laughable. Microsoft the top proliferator of all the massive trickster techniques to sell their master plan and stuff their coffers.

I doubt even a witchdoctor could pull such tomfoolery.

hawki · Jul 19, 2021

DOJ charges four members of Chinese government hacking group

"Four Chinese Nationals Working with the Ministry of State Security Charged with Global Computer Intrusion Campaign Targeting Intellectual Property and Confidential Business Information, Including Infectious Disease Research

Indictment Alleges Three Defendants Were Officers in the Hainan State Security Department (HSSD), a provincial arm of China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS)..."

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/four...te-security-charged-global-computer-intrusion

guest · Jul 19, 2021

How China's Hacking Entered a Reckless New Phase
The country's hackers have gotten far more aggressive since 2015
July 18, 2021
https://www.wired.com/story/china-hacking-reckless-new-phase/

For years, China seemed to operate at the quieter end of the state-sponsored hacking spectrum.
China quietly focused on more traditional—if prolific—espionage and intellectual property theft. But a collective message today from dozens of countries calls out a shift in China's online behavior—and how its primary cyber-intelligence agency's trail of chaos increasingly rivals that of the Kim Regime or the Kremlin.

On Monday, the White House joined the UK government, the EU, NATO, and and governments from Japan to Norway in announcements that spotlighted a string of Chinese hacking operations, and the US Department of Justice separately indicted four Chinese hackers, three of whom are believed to be officers of China's Ministry of State Security or MSS.
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hat long list of digital sins represents a significant shift in Chinese hackers' modus operandi, much of which China watchers say can be traced back to the country's 2015 reorganization of its cyber operations. That's when it transferred much of the control from the People's Liberation Army to the MSS, a state security service that has over time become more aggressive both in its hacking ambitions and in its willingness to outsource to criminals.

"They go bigger. The number of hacks went down but the scale went up," says Adam Segal, the director of the Digital and Cyberspace Policy program at the Council on Foreign Relations, who has long focused on China's hacking activities. That's in no small part because the non-government hackers that the MSS works with don't necessarily obey the norms of state-sponsored hacking.
"There does seem to be kind of greater tolerance of irresponsibility," Segal says.
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guest · Jul 19, 2021

U.S. Government Releases Indictment and Several Advisories Detailing Chinese Cyber Threat Activity
July 19, 2021
https://us-cert.cisa.gov/ncas/curre...s-indictment-and-several-advisories-detailing

CISA, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the National Security Agency (NSA) have observed increasingly sophisticated Chinese state-sponsored activity targeting U.S. political, economic, military, educational, and critical infrastructure personnel and organizations.

In response:
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• The White House has released a statement attributing recent Microsoft Exchange server exploitation activity to the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
• The Department of Justice has indicted four Chinese cyber actors from the advanced persistent threat (APT) group APT40 for malicious cyber activities, carried out on orders from PRC Ministry of State Security (MSS) Hainan State Security Department (HSSD). These activities resulted in the theft of trade secrets, intellectual property, and other high-value information from companies and organizations in the United States and abroad, as well as from multiple foreign governments.
• CISA and FBI have released Joint Cybersecurity Advisory: TTPs of Indicted APT40 Actors Associated with China’s MSS Hainan State Security Department to help network defenders identify and remediate APT40 intrusions and established footholds.
• CISA, NSA and FBI have released Joint Cybersecurity Advisory: Chinese Observed TTPs, which describes Chinese cyber threat behavior and trends and provides mitigations to help protect the Federal Government; state, local, tribal, and territorial governments; critical infrastructure, defense industrial base, and private industry organizations.
• CISA, NSA and FBI have released CISA Insights: Chinese Cyber Threat Overview for Leaders to help leaders understand this threat and how to reduce their organization's risk of falling victim to cyber espionage and data theft.
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CISA also encourages users and administrators to review the blog post, Safeguarding Critical Infrastructure against Threats from the People’s Republic of China, by CISA Executive Assistant Director Eric Goldstein and the China Cyber Threat Overview and Advisories webpage.
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guest · Jul 20, 2021

China says Microsoft hacking accusations fabricated by US and allies
China has denied allegations that it carried out a major cyber-attack against tech giant Microsoft
July 20, 2021
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-57898147

The US and other Western countries on Monday accused China of hacking Microsoft Exchange - a popular email platform used by companies worldwide.
They said it was part of a broader pattern of "reckless" behaviour that threatened global security.

China says it opposes all forms of cyber-crime, and has called the claims "fabricated".

"The US has mustered its allies to carry out unreasonable criticisms against China on the issue of cybersecurity," foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters.
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The group, known as Hafnium, was found by Microsoft's Threat Intelligence Centre to be state-sponsored and operating out of China.
Western security sources believe Hafnium obtained advance knowledge that Microsoft planned to deal with the vulnerability, and so shared it with other China-based groups to exploit it while they could.

Western security services say the hack seems to signal a shift from a targeted espionage campaign to a smash-and-grab raid, leading to concerns that Chinese cyber-behaviour is escalating.
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The UK Foreign Office said the Chinese government had "ignored repeated calls to end its reckless campaign, instead allowing state-backed actors to increase the scale of their attacks".
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guest · Jul 20, 2021

NZ cyber agency chief worried China hacks exploiting security weakness
July 20, 2021
https://asiapacificreport.nz/2021/0...f-worried-china-hacks-exploiting-nz-security/

New Zealand’s cyber security agency believes China has been behind numerous hack attacks spanning years.

The government joined Western allies and Japan in calling out Beijing for so-called state-sponsored hacks, including a major incursion in February when Microsoft email servers were targeted.

“What we do is when we see malicious cyber activity on New Zealand networks, that may be through our own capabilities that we have to help protect New Zealand networks or it may be something that’s reported to us, we look at the malware that’s used,” Government Communications Security Bureau Director-General Andrew Hampton told RNZ Checkpoint.
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Information shared with criminals

“Something else worth noting with regard to this most recent compromise involving the Microsoft Exchange, what we saw there is once the Ministry of State Security actors had identified the vulnerability and exploited it, they then shared that information with a range of other actors, including criminal groups, so they too could exploit it.
“This is obviously a real concern to see this type of behaviour occurring,” Hampton said.

All evidence showed the cyber attacks were all originating from mainland China, Hampton told Checkpoint.
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hawki · Jul 20, 2021

"Chinese government-backed hackers infiltrated US pipeline companies, FBI says...

State-sponsored Chinese cybercriminals successfully hacked into the control systems of several U.S. oil and natural gas pipelines between December 2011 to 2013, a Wednesday alert from the Department of Homeland Security’s cyber outfit and the FBI reveals...

The hackers stole information that would have allowed them to access control networks and provided them with 'sufficient access to allow them to remotely perform unauthorized operations on the pipeline with physical consequences,' says the alert...

'Additionally, CISA and the FBI assess that this activity was ultimately intended to help China develop cyberattack capabilities against U.S. pipelines to physically damage pipelines or disrupt pipeline operations.'..."

https://www.cyberscoop.com/chinese-...s-infiltrated-us-pipeline-companies-fbi-says/

guest · Jul 20, 2021

Norway says cyber attack on parliament carried out from China
July 19, 2021
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com...rried-out-from-china/articleshow/84552500.cms

Norway said on Monday that a March 10 cyber-attack on parliament's e-mail system was carried out from China, calling on authorities there to take steps to prevent such activities.

"This is a serious incident which has hit our most important democratic institution," foreign minister Ine Eriksen Soereide said in a statement.
An investigation by the country’s intelligence services had revealed the attack came from China and several of Norway’s allies, the European Union and Microsoft, had also confirmed this conclusion, she added.

The Chinese embassy in Norway was not immediately available for comment. Chinese officials have previously said China is also a victim of hacking and opposes all forms of cyberattacks.
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guest · Jul 21, 2021

Indictments, Attribution Unlikely to Deter Chinese Hacking, Researchers Say
July 21, 2021
https://threatpost.com/indictments-attribution-chinese-hacking/168005/

Researchers are skeptical that much will come from calling out China for the Microsoft Exchange attacks and APT40 activity, but the move marks an important foreign-policy change.

“Given there were no direct sanctions levied at the current moment towards China – unlike in previous cases with Russian malicious cyber-activity – the fact that the E.U. and NATO outwardly condemned these actions – which is uncommon given their previous hesitancy to do so given deep ties between them – showcases that there is a unified front in combating this type of behavior moving forward,” Plaggemier told Threatpost.
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That kind of inter-agency and international-government cooperation is important and can help deter future attacks, David Carrol, managing director for NTX Cyber at Nominet told Threatpost. But Carrol and Plaggemier, along with others, pointed out besides intelligence sharing and efforts to name and internationally shame the Chinese government for its actions, there’s no actual consequence being imposed for the alleged data theft.

“Given the ongoing rise in malicious activity, and the ratcheting up of tensions in the Cyber Cold War, it is unlikely that these steps alone will halt this nefarious cyberactivity in its tracks,” Plaggemier said.
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Dirk Schrader from New Net Technologies said that he fears government gestures like these indictments could have the opposite effect as intended, and end up actually being detrimental to the country’s security posture.

“The security dilemma that western nations are facing can only be solved when defensive behavior gains the advantage. Any indications of intensifying on offensive measures will only lead to more intense cyberattacks.”
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