Cyber War under way

Cyber War under way on many fronts.

By Gerald: Internet Anthropologist Think Tank

1.31.09

Russian 'cybermilitia' knocks Kyrgyzstan offline

Same tactics used in '08 attack against Georgia, but hackers getting faster, says researcher

By Gregg Keizer

January 28, 2009 (Computerworld) A Russian "cybermilitia" has knocked the central Asian country of Kyrgyzstan off the Internet, a security researcher said today, demonstrating that the hackers are able to respond even faster than last year, when they waged a digital war against another former Soviet republic, Georgia.

Since Jan. 18, the two biggest Internet service providers in Kyrgyzstan have been under a "massive, sustained distributed denial-of-service attack," said Don Jackson, the director of threat intelligence atSecureWorks Inc.

The attacks, which are ongoing, have knocked most of the country offline and disrupted e-mail to and from a U.S. air base there, Jackson said. The public affairs officer at Manas Air Base in Kyrgyzstan was not immediately available to answer questions about whether the attacks have disrupted operations or other activities.

According to Jackson, the distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks -- essentially a flood of requests that overwhelm servers and effectively knock them off the Internet -- can be traced to the same groups of Russian and ethnic Russian hackers who assembled in militia-like fashion last August to launch similar attacks against Georgia.

"The traffic we've collected has all the hallmarks of the tools that were used in the Georgia attacks," said Jackson. "And they're from the same network [of IP addresses] that we associated with the cybermilitia last year." Researchers have also found two groups, led by "two specific players," in common with the 2008 attacks against Georgia, he added.

Speculation about why Kyrgyzstan's Internet infrastructure was attacked center around an investment deal that Russia is negotiating the country. Russia has indicated that it wants Kyrgyzstan to oust foreign air forces, including those of the U.S., before it will agree to loan the country $300 million and invest another $1.7 billion in its energy industry.

Opposition to the current administration in Kyrgyzstan has relied heavily on the Internet, while President Bakiyev's government has ignored the Web, said Jackson. "Any attack by Russians would do no collateral damage to their ally in the area, and would only impact the opposition," he explained.

Beyond the immediate effect on Kyrgyzstan, what's worrisome to Jackson is the speed with which this attack was mounted. "To put some perspective on this, it's been an escalating pattern from Estonia to Georgia to here," he said, referring to the 2007 and 2008 attacks against other former Soviet republics. "The attacks are more closely coinciding with events that are core to the Russian interest, with increasingly fast response and quick mobilization.

"When it once took days or weeks, now we're seeing it within hours," Jackson said.

In fact, the attacks on Kyrgyzstan were mobilized in much the same way that the so-called militia was formed last year to cripple Georgia. "It was the same kind of mobilization, where word is put out by a few and then other [hackers] respond," he said. One difference: The attacks against Kyrgyzstan lacked the kind of wide support that the Georgian DDoS attacks gained. At one point, Russian social network were involved in the latter, something not yet seen in the attacks against Kyrgyzstan.

"We haven't seen a broad base of support by Russian citizens," said Jackson. "It's more the core of the militia group."

Researchers have not found any direct connection between the attacks -- which originate on botnets and servers that send more mundane pharmaceutical spam or conduct phishing campaigns -- and the Russian government. But to Jackson, that hardly matters.

"People who once were in the KGB, or other parts of the government, and who now are in computer security, have in the past said, 'We will rely on this capability because there is no risk for us doing so,'" said Jackson. "Using cybermilitias shelters the Russian government from culpability."

SOURCE:

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

We have warned of a Cyber Pearl Harbor for over a year now 8/01/2007 01:14:00 PM

It can be prevented. It takes action in advence of the attack.

We have the paradigm and have noted a solution in many

of our posts.

3.5 million bots:

The 'Downadup' worm is spreading quickly and now infects more than 3.5 million PCs, according to the security company F-Secure. Another huge bot net, it could be taken over or stolen and used for an attack on the WWW.

There is a group of Arab hackers mostly using kiddie scripts that have taken down 100+ Israel web sites. ( google formating has locked the txt to BLACK, SORRY g.)

They are called the "Moroccan Snipers".
Our BSU's report the number is closer to 300 sites total.
And our recon teams believe they have progressed
to using a Trojan that takes out your PC.
Win32:KillWin-Y
It is a very new variant, and we have managed to
get our hands on it. It was sent to one of our C company troops.
We are examining it now.
It is new but an updated strain of an older Trojan.
Our BSU's have monitored their recruiting operation.
And they are on line daily attempting to recruit new
members to spread the Trojan.
These groups web sites should be taken down
and ANY web site that carries their message
or information.

From a hacked site:

"This Hack iS To DeFend Islam That Has Been Harrased by Denmark and USA and Israel"

! Stop ! This is not a dream it's a reality
"Thanx To Allah For being MuSliMs"

( E X I T )

( Made . In . MoRocco )

Its true, they are in Morocco.
We are collecting IP's and locations.
With held for opsec reasons.

Another group is the:

Hacked By MoroCcaN Inject0r5 Crew

We have seen the jahiddies grow from a small group

the al jinan group which was attacking USA

with a cyber attack in Nov. Which we killed.

To defacing sites to spreading trojans that take out

your PC. ( Google formatting is screwing up again )

Now the cell phones are under attack by a disabling Trojan.

http://jorhack.blogspot.com/2009/01/blog-post_616.html

Even though most of them arrested and do years in PRISON.

The kids think its cool to call themselves hackers and use

kiddie scripts. Years in prison and a criminal record.

Because they think this qualifies them as hackers, but

their just little wanabees going to jail.

They like to tell and show their non computer

literate friends their "Hacking". And many

think this is the door to a hacking education,

not knowing they will actually have to learn  coding

and that bieng part of these groups brands them

as "wanabee fakes".

More coming.

Gerald

Tactical Internet Systems analyst

Morocco spiders BURNED: