Chinese Military Tied to Prolific Hacking Group Targeting U.S. Aerospace Industry
Posted: June 9, 2014 Filed under: China, Science & Technology, Space & Aviation | Tags: Ars Technica, China, Crowdstrike, Mandiant, People Liberation Army, Shanghai, Signals Intelligence, United States 1 CommentIn operation since 2007, “Putter Panda” is latest group to be implicated by researchers
For Ars Technica, Dan Goodin reports: Investigators said they have identified a secretive hacking group that has spent years systematically targeting US partners in the space and satellite industry, most likely on behalf of the Chinese military.
“Putter Panda is a determined adversary group, conducting intelligence-gathering operations targeting the Government, Defense, Research, and Technology sectors in the United States, with specific targeting of the US Defense and European satellite and aerospace industries.”
— Crowdstrike researchers
The group typically gains a foothold in sensitive networks by attaching booby-trapped documents to e-mails, according to a 62-page report published Monday by Crowdstrike, a firm that conducts forensic investigations on behalf of customers who have suffered security breaches. When employees click on the documents, the attackers are able to gain control over their PCs. The attackers then use the PCs to take control of servers housing blueprints, customer lists, or other sensitive data. The group, dubbed as Putter Panda, is connected to Unit 61486 of the People Liberation Army’s (PLA’s) Third General Staff Department, according to the report. Read the rest of this entry »
“This is just warming up Russian pig!”
Posted: March 15, 2014 Filed under: Science & Technology, War Room | Tags: Ars Technica, Denial-of-service attack, Kremlin, Media of Russia, Moscow Kremlin, RUSSIA, Ukraine, Vladimir Putin 1 Comment
The website Kremlin.ru, the page of the office of Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin’s government, was taken offline this morning by a distributed denial of service attack.
Kremlin gets DDoS’d by Anonymous Caucasus
For Ars Technica, Sean Gallagher reports: In the latest round of a wave of cyberattacks on Russian targets, the official websites of the Russian Federation’s president and central bank were taken offline this morning in what the Kremlin’s press office called a “serious DDoS attack.” The attack also targeted “a number of other Web portals,” according to the Kremlin statement. The sites are back online for most users, but the attack is still ongoing.
Reality-Based World to Tim Cook: ‘Screw You’
Posted: March 2, 2014 Filed under: Mediasphere | Tags: Apple, Ars Technica, Climate Alarmism, Climate change, climate change religion, cultism, Environment, National Center for Public Policy Research, religion, Shareholder, Sustainability, Tim Cook 1 Comment
Influenced by board member Al Gore? Apple CEO Tim Cook: Guzzling the climate-alarmist Kool Aid
“If you want me to do things only for ROI reasons, you should get out of this stock.”
As Glenn Reynolds says “Duly noted”
At Apple shareholder’s meeting, Tim Cook tells off ‘climate change deniers’ | Ars Technica

Taliban fails to BCC an e-mail, reveals its entire PR mailing list
Posted: November 16, 2012 Filed under: Mediasphere, War Room | Tags: ABC News, Ars Technica, Blind carbon copy, Email address, Mailing list, Qāriʾ, Taliban, Zabiullah Mujahid Leave a commentFundamentalist militant groups sometimes fail at e-mail, too
An apparent slip of the hand by a Taliban spokesperson has revealed the members of the group’s mailing list, according to a report Friday from ABC News. The 400 e-mail addresses include many journalists, but also a few members of government as well as “academics and activists.”
The Taliban regularly sends e-mail blasts with press releases highlighting its latest activities, usually from the e-mail account of spokesperson Qari Yousuf Ahmedi. But this time, the press release Ahmedi intended to send was forwarded from the account of another spokesperson, Zabihullah Mujahid. Ahmedi forwarded the e-mail on to the mailing list, but CC’d all 400 members, rather than BCC’ing them, so the full list of e-mail addresses was laid bare to all who received it.
According to ABC News, the list included “a provincial governor, an Afghan legislator” and an “Afghan consultative committee.” We can only imagine the chain of reply-alls that followed, but we’re certain it’s the stuff of nightmares.
via Ars Technica