THE INTERNET OF THINGS

THE INTERNET OF THINGS

ICT and Cybersecurity experts warned that companies need to pay greater attention to their computer networks' cybersecurity and add that Telecoms company TalkTalk got hacked because “it wasn’t paying enough attention to its cybersecurity,” and that the recent  Ashley Madison attack,  is just the “the tip of  iceberg”.  They add that the growing threat by hackers is very real and that the cyber attacks comparable to the 9/11 event can be expected but needs to be thwarted before they happen.  With the arrival of the Internet of Things (IoT) a lot more devices are connected to the Internet and this number is constantly growing,  and provides new ways for hackers to gain access to private and confidential data. Experts recommend that network security must be part of a company’s core infrastructure because the few professional cybersecurity companies globally just aren't  enough to stop the constant barrage of cyber threats. 

 Barack Obama and  Xi Jinping

President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping met as recent as the 25 Sept 2015 in Washington and reached an “understanding” not to use cyber spies to commit economic espionage and not to hack private firms in each other’s country for economic gain. But in less tan 20 days  a U.S. cybersecurity company claims that it has evidence that hackers linked to the Chinese government tried to violate a recent agreement between Washington and Beijing. American business have complained for a number of years that Chinese hackers have sought to steal trade secrets from U.S. corporate computers. In retaliation U.S. spy organizations have hacked into Chinese companies claiming that American officials performed these hacks  for national security purposes and not to steal Chinese trade secrets. Washington’s determination to eradicate Chinese cyber theft and ban all forms of digital protectionism resulted in regional trade pact with Pacific Rim countries  requiring  them to criminalize hacking attacks on U.S. companies.

US officials currently working on the Iran policy determined that the recent surge of cyber attacks by the Iran’s Revolutionary Guards to email and social media accounts of Obama administration officials it possibly  linked to arrest of  Siamak Namazi an Iranian-American businessman. The Iranian military  Revolutionary Guards have regularly made hacking attacks on US government agencies in recent years but has increased  after the landmark international agreement to eased severe economic sanctions on Iran in return for Tehran curbing its nuclear program.  

The World  Wide Web is the direct consequence of  all the hacking taking place globally but even though these hacks cost global business move than  £200bn last year, the Internet is non-the-less an indispensable  global resource which no country can function without. It is in this sense that ministers of the Obama administration are demanding answer with respect to the protection of the vital undersea Internet cables.  The Russian government recently spooked US officials by dispatching a submarine equipped to cut undersea cables along the East Coast of the United States. 

However the threat is much closer to home. A  teenage hacker crew has been casing John Brennan director of the CIA and other  government officials. A hacker with the alias "Cracka",  hacked into an email account belonging to the FBI Deputy Director Mark Giuliano  getting into a Comcast email that’s under Giuliano’s wife’s name.  They even provided several screenshots to prove they hacked the account but declined to reveal how they did it.

GETTING PAID TO HACK

GETTING PAID TO HACK

During most of 2014 numerous hacking stories made it to the head lines of several newspapers. Data worth millions of dollars were stolen, websites were defaced and confidential client data was released to the general public. These acts drove fear into the hearts of Governments and fortune 500 companies, to the point that Tech Companies like Google, Tesla, Facebook, Apple and several other incentivized hackers and hacker crews to attempt to breach their computer network security, in exchange for a handsome payout should they be successful. Movies like Hackers and Blackhat, and TV series like Mr Robot,, NCIS, Criminal Minds and Continuum only served to entice White Hat and Grey Hat hacker squads to go "Black hat" and chase the bounty. However the objective of these companies were to identify weaknesses in the network security and plug it after getting feedback from hackers as to how they got in. Well that happens when they hire the wrong ITC people and especially network administrators with mediocre hacking skills.

The Hacker in Mr Robot

In September, a  bounty of  $1 million was publicly offered to anyone who could successfully hack the latest versions of Apple’s mobile operating system, iOS 9.1 and 9.2b, on a new iPhone or iPad. The rules stated that the iPhone hack must “be achievable remotely, reliably, silently, and without requiring any user interaction, other than visiting a web page or reading a text message”.  Only Google Chrome and Apple’s own Safari browsers were allowed to be used for the hack.  On Monday 2 November,  security company Zerodium  announced that they have agreed to pay out that seven-figure sum to the hacker crew who successfully developed a technique that can hack any iPhone or iPad and can trick them into visiting a carefully crafted web site. Two hackers teams have been actively working on the challenge both keeping their eyes on the prize. But only hacker crew  managed to develop  a complete remote jailbreak however the second team  may qualify for a partial bounty. Zerodium will brief Apple on the exploit so that the holes in the iOS  can be plugged. The procedures of this hack is especially valuable, given that government agencies including the NSA and CIA have had difficulty hacking into iPhones.

Europe’s Chaos Computer Club is very disappointed that Apple rejected the group’s streaming video app. The Apple app would've allowed interested parties to watch  the  Chaos Communications Congress event talks in real time. But it turns out the Apple is still pissed because members of the conference had previously hacked iOS. Apple claims they don’t want to help spread the hacking word even though  fellow hacker Steve Wasniak and co-founder of Apple was part of the “white hat” hacker community.  Shame on you Apple for depriving the hacker community and denying the principals upon which Apple was built. However the conference live streams are available on both the Chaos Computer Club’s official website and on YouTube and still accessible to Apple users.

Electric caremaker Tesla Motors invited hackers to try to breach their vehicle's systems and offered hackers attending the SyScan conference in Beijing $10,000 earlier this month if they could hack and control its electric Model S sedan. A "white hats" hacking crew from Zhejiang University was awarded $1,700  for their efforts because they didn't achieve the goal within the specified time frame even though they gained access. After the hackers explain how they did, Tesla patched many of the vulnerabilities to make the Tesla a safer car.

The all electric Tesla car

Wauconda's website was hacked on Friday 30 October or sometime during the past weekend  The hackers  or hacker replaced much of the onsite municipal information  by anti-American and anti-Israeli photographs and pro-Islam messages. Turns out Doug Maxeiner the village Administrator was quite offended by the image of the burning U.S. flag but its more likely that he is his pissed because he got hacked and couldn't do anything about it. Blaming the hack on their web hosting company in Charleston inability to block them because he believes the hacker or hackers achieved accessed the website through the ISP's system. Wauconda police are aware of the hacking who was also asked to notify the FBI of the incident. The Mayor said this also happened to the Wauconda police website and ads that it was also done a radical Islamist group. That's sander and without proof it could be anyone, perhaps even the Pope. 

Anonymous Hacker crew Philippines wearing Guy Fawkes Masks

Anonymous Philippines, is an anti-government hacking crew with a mission to “fight for freedom, truth, and justice” and their  latest victim is non other than the Ku Klux Klan. A hacking campaign dubbed "Operation KKK" with the sole intent to  harass members of the racist group online, embarrass and intimidate then and shame them  publicly.  "Anonymous"  have released two lists of alleged KKK members retrieved from a KKK database. The "Anonymous" crew  have previously targeted  the electronics giant Sony, the Church of Scientology, the anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church. Earlier this year, the "Anonymous" crew hacked and defaced 20 government websites seeking justice for the 44 fallen policemen at the Mamasapano incident. Last September, they did the same thing to the National Telecommunications Commissions (NTC) website. They are known to wear Guy Fawkes masks in public and instigated the "Million Mask March" planed for November 5, 2015--Guy Fawkes Day.  Anonymous claimed responsibility for breaking into the social media twitter account of Maine on Tuesday morning to get access to her 2.4 million followers and inform them all of the "Million Mask March".

KKK lighting up a cross with gasoline.