CyberWire Daily

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Can public/private partnerships prevent a Cyber Pearl Harbor? [CyberWire-X] Dec 14, 2020

Show notes

For many years, public and private sector cybersecurity experts have warned of a large-scale, massively impactful cyber attack on critical infrastructure (CI). Whether you call it a cyber doomsday, a cyber extinction, or as former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta termed it, a “Cyber Pearl Harbor,” the message is clear: it's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when, and it's not just critical infrastructure that's vulnerable. More recently, experts have started to raise the alarm around not just CI, but other systems as well, notably position, navigation and timing (PNT) services. PNT includes things like GPS devices -- extensions of IT systems which are widely used by both private and public sector organizations, and particularly vulnerable to attack thanks to their open source origins and lack of native security controls. While there is no magic bullet to solve the cybersecurity challenge, there's growing consensus that an effective strategy is going to require large-scale cooperation and coordination between the public and private sectors. While the government is uniquely equipped to source and promulgate guidelines and standards like the Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) and NIST Special Publication 800 Series, private sector partners have the expertise to implement these standards across industries. The private sector is also a major driver of innovation in security, making use of sophisticated analytics, AI, and other tools to improve not only native security controls but also hygiene, threat detection, and response. In this episode of Cyberwire-X, guests will discuss the benefits of public/private partnership for cybersecurity, the roles of each, and how the threat of a "Cyber Pearl Harbor" informs the priorities of both.

Joining us today are Keith Mularski from EY, Rob Lee from Dragos, and Egon Rinderer from Tanium.

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Andrea Little Limbago: Look at the intersection of the of humans and technology. [Social Science] [Career Notes] Dec 13, 2020

Show notes

Computational Social Scientist Andrea Little Limbago shares her journey as a social scientist in cybersecurity. Andrea laments that she wishes she'd known there is no straight line between what you think you want to do and then where you end up going. Beginning her career in international relations and courted by the Department of Defense's Joint Warfare Analysis Center while teaching at New York University, Andrea began her work in cybersecurity. Her team was one of the first to start thinking about the intersection of cybersecurity and geopolitics and quantitative modeling. Andrea reminds us there are many paths and skills needed in cybersecurity and hopes she opened some doors for others. We thank Andrea for sharing her story with us.

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Following DOJ indictment, a look back on NotPetya and Olympic Destroyer research. [Research Saturday] Dec 12, 2020

Show notes

From US Department of Justice: "On Oct. 15, 2020, a federal grand jury in Pittsburgh returned an indictment charging six computer hackers, all of whom were residents and nationals of the Russian Federation (Russia) and officers in Unit 74455 of the Russian Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU), a military intelligence agency of the General Staff of the Armed Forces.

These GRU hackers and their co-conspirators engaged in computer intrusions and attacks intended to support Russian government efforts to undermine, retaliate against, or otherwise destabilize: (1) Ukraine; (2) Georgia; (3) elections in France; (4) efforts to hold Russia accountable for its use of a weapons-grade nerve agent, Novichok, on foreign soil; and (5) the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games after Russian athletes were banned from participating under their nation’s flag, as a consequence of Russian government-sponsored doping effort.

Their computer attacks used some of the world’s most destructive malware to date, including: KillDisk and Industroyer, which each caused blackouts in Ukraine; NotPetya, which caused nearly $1 billion in losses to the three victims identified in the indictment alone; and Olympic Destroyer, which disrupted thousands of computers used to support the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics. The indictment charges the defendants with conspiracy, computer hacking, wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and false registration of a domain name."

Returning to Research Saturday this week to discuss their research of NotPetya and Olympic Destroyer are Cisco Talos' Craig Williams and Matt Olney.

The indictment and Cisco's research can be found here:

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OceanLotus tracked. Threats to K-12 distance education. Adrozek is credential-harvesting adware. MountLocker gains criminal affiliates. FCC acts against Chinese companies. CISA internships. Dec 11, 2020

Show notes

Tracking OceanLotus. US advisory warns of cyberthreats active against schools trying to deliver distance learning. Adrozek joins credential harvesting and adware. MountLocker’s criminal affiliate program. The FCC takes action against Chinese companies deemed security risks. Predictions, and holiday advice. Johannes Ullrich from the SANS technology institute wonders what’s in your clipboard? Our guest is Nina Jankowicz from Wilson Center on her new book - How to Lose the Information War - Russia, Fake News, and the Future of Conflict. And internship opportunities at CISA.