Opportunists have always looked for the weak link, that chink in the armour that can be exploited. The pandemic has provided many opportunities for cyber criminals to take advantage.
Falling victim to a cyber fraud attack can have devastating outcomes on a business and can result in major financial losses. Data breaches severely damage trust and impact reputation, which is hard to regain.
Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Zhao Lin Jian has denounced as “groundless” assertions in a recent Canadian national cyber threat assessment report that named China, as well as Iran, North Korea and Russia, as its greatest cyber-crime risks, fearing espionage and attacks on critical Canadian infrastructure.
The report by the Canadian Communications Security Establishment (CSE) released Monday acknowledged that since the Covid-19 pandemic, many individual and organisation activities have migrated onto the digital sphere, while cyber-threats are becoming more sophisticated due to the increase of hacking talent and cyber tools’ usage world-wide. The CSE said it was aware of the potential that Canadian proprietary information and intellectual property related to the fight against Covid-19 might be stolen by cyber threat actors. The CSE also noted that there has been ongoing online foreign activity trying to influence elections in multiple states around the world. Even though Canada is considered a low priority target, its close media ties with the US could potentially result in some form of collateral political manipulation.
The cybercrime ecosystem is growing despite a global effort to enact cyber-crime related legislation. This is because cybercriminals take advantage of jurisdictions that have lenient or no cyber-crime laws. The CSE insisted that any future safeguards must include taking the social and technical aspects of internet usage, pledging to advance and invest in cybersecurity while providing arms-length support to Canada’s critical infrastructures. The report also declared that a key component to successfully combat cyber-crime is reciprocal participation with other jurisdictions to prosecute cyber-criminals.
Canada’s relationship with China has recently been strained by the arrest of Huawei’s CFO Meng Wanzhou and Canada’s repeated condemnations of China’s treatment of Hong Kong and of ethnic Uighurs in XinJiang.
Despite U.S. and U.N. sanctions designed to stop the illicit financing of nuclear weapons, North Korea continues to baffle the world with its unprecedented success in sanctions evasions and cybercrime. As countries scramble to find consensus on cybersecurity protocols, North Korea has moved quickly to expand its cyber capabilities both at home and abroad. This signals to U.S. policymakers that as sanctions tighten in other areas, North Korea continues to exploit the vulnerabilities in cybersecurity to acquire funds for its dangerous nuclear weapons development program.
The cyber market’s size and lack of legal safeguards is a major attraction for North Korean financial crime as the country’s cyber operations are low-risk and low-cost, with potentially high gains. According to Nam Jae-joon, former director of South Korea’s National Intelligence Service, Kim Jong Un himself equated the importance of developing cyber capabilities to that of nuclear power, claiming that “cyber warfare, along with nuclear weapons and missiles, is an ‘all-purpose sword’ that guarantees our [North Korea’s] military’s capability to strike relentlessly.”
Republic at the Center of Cyber Crime Charges in Three Cases
Criminal charges announced this week against multiple alleged hackers in Iran show the breadth of the cyber threat emanating from that country and the FBI and partner agency efforts to neutralize it and hold the individuals accountable.
The hacks included cyber intrusions and fraud, vandalism of U.S. websites, and intellectual property theft from U.S. aerospace and satellite technology companies. In each of the cases, the suspects were believed to be operating at the behest of the Iranian government, or in support of it.
While the cases filed in federal courts in Boston, Alexandria, and Newark are separate and unique, prosecutors and FBI investigators said they send a message that hackers will face consequences regardless of distance and borders.
“No cyber actor should think they can compromise U.S. networks, steal our intellectual property, or hold our critical infrastructure at risk without incurring risk themselves,” said Executive Assistant Director Terry Wade of the FBI’s Criminal, Cyber, Response, and Services Branch. “The FBI will continue to work with our partners to protect U.S. interests and to impose consequences on those cyber actors working on behalf of the Government of Iran in furtherance of their nefarious goals.”
On Tuesday, Behzad Mohammadzadeh, of Iran, and Marwan Abusrour, of the Palestinian territories, were indicted in Massachusetts on charges of damaging multiple websites as retaliation for U.S. military action in January that killed the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force, a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization.
https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/iran-at-center-of-cyber-crime-charges-in-three-cases-091820
There is a cartoon in The New Yorker of March 30, 2020 showing four mobsters, one with a gun, sitting around a table. The caption reads: “For health and safety reasons, we’ll be transitioning to cyber crime.” You can see the cartoon at https://www.newyorker.com/cartoon/a24009
No kidding! The huge increase in cyberattacks since the pandemic began is absolutely staggering, but not unexpected. I said as much in my BlogInfSec column of March 23, 2020, with the title: “Cybercriminals’ Motivations during Catastrophic Times.”
But now, some five months later, we are beginning to see some statistics in the press. One such source is the article, “Top Cyber Security Experts Report: 4,000 Cyber Attacks a Day Since COVID-19 Pandemic,” available at https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/top-cyber-security-experts-report-4-000-cyber-attacks-a-day-since-covid-19-pandemic-301110157.html
The article attributes the rise to many more “people working from home, shopping online, and generally being more connected than ever.” While this explains the supply of opportunities, as it were, the demand by cybercriminals is likely exacerbated by the hardships of the times and the vulnerabilities and gullibility of a frightened population confronting a dreadful disease, economic collapse, and social upheavals—all at once.
New Delhi: India will soon have a new cyber security policy, announced Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his speech on India’s 74th Independence Day Saturday.
Modi said that his government is aware of the threats emanating from cyber space and how they had the potential to impact India’s society, economy and development.
“Cyber security is a very important aspect, which cannot be ignored. The government is alert on this and is working on a new, robust policy,” he added.
The announcement was made in the backdrop of the government’s initiative to connect 1.5 lakh gram panchayats through optical fibre network, thereby increasing the country’s internet connectivity.
Two people have been arrested in Cork on Thursday as part of a major Garda and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigation into tra...
