Biodun Iginla, BBC News

Biodun Iginla, BBC News
Showing posts with label nsa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nsa. Show all posts

Sunday, May 14, 2017

BREAKING: global cyber-attack a wake-up call, Microsoft warns


  • May 14, 2017 23H:55 GMT/UTC/ZULU TIME
  •  
  • From the sectionTechnology



Media captionHow to protect yourself online

by Tamara Kachelmeier and Biodun Iginla, BBC News Technology reporters, New York
Cyber-attacks that have hit 150 countries since Friday should be treated by governments around the world as a "wake-up call", Microsoft says.
The computing giant said software vulnerabilities hoarded by governments have caused "widespread damage".
The latest virus exploits a flaw in Microsoft Windows first identified by US intelligence.
There are fears of further "ransomware" attacks as people return to work on Monday.
Many firms have had experts work over the weekend to prevent new infections. The virus took control of users' files, demanding payments to restore access.
The spread of the virus slowed over the weekend but the respite might only be brief, experts have warned. More than 200,000 computers have been affected so far.
A statement released by Microsoft on Sunday criticised the way governments store up information about security flaws in computer systems.
"We have seen vulnerabilities stored by the CIA show up on WikiLeaks, and now this vulnerability stolen from the NSA has affected customers around the world.
"An equivalent scenario with conventional weapons would be the US military having some of its Tomahawk missiles stolen."



Media captionFirms must patch their systems before Monday morning, Europol chief warns

It added: "The governments of the world should treat this attack as a wake-up call."
Microsoft said it had released a Windows security update in March to tackle the problem involved in the latest attack, but many users were yet to run it.
"As cybercriminals become more sophisticated, there is simply no way for customers to protect themselves against threats unless they update their systems," the company said.

Temporary fix

Meanwhile Europol's chief told us at the BBC that that the ransomware was designed to allow "infection of one computer to quickly spread across the networks", adding: "That's why we're seeing these numbers increasing all the time."
Although a temporary fix earlier slowed the infection rate, the attackers had now released a new version of the virus, he said.
A UK security researcher known as "MalwareTech", who helped to limit the ransomware attack, predicted "another one coming... quite likely on Monday".
MalwareTech, who wants to remain anonymous, was hailed as an "accidental hero" after registering a domain name to track the spread of the virus, which actually ended up halting it.

Map of areas hit by the cyber attack

Becky Pinkard, from Digital Shadows, a UK-based cyber-security firm, told AFP news agency that it would be easy for the initial attackers or "copy-cat authors" to change the virus code so it is difficult to guard against.
"Even if a fresh attack does not materialise on Monday, we should expect it soon afterwards," she said.
In England, 48 National Health Service (NHS) trusts reported problems at hospitals, doctor surgeries or pharmacies, and 13 NHS organisations in Scotland were also affected.
Other organisations targeted worldwide included Germany's rail network Deutsche Bahn, Spanish telecommunications operator Telefonica, French carmaker Renault, US logistics giant FedEx and Russia's Interior Ministry.

Related Topics

More on this story

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Edward Snowden joins Twitter and follows NSA

by Tamara Kachelmeier and Biodun Iginla, Technology Reporters, BBC News, New York

57 minutes ago


Fugitive US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden has opened an account on the social network website Twitter.
His opening tweet was: "Can you hear me now?"
In his profile, Mr Snowden says he "used to work for the government. Now I work for the public". He quickly gathered thousands of followers.
So far, Mr Snowden, who is wanted in the US for leaking secrets, only follows one other Twitter user - the US National Security Agency (NSA).
He is believed to be living in Moscow where he is sheltering from US prosecutors.
In his second tweet - a reply to US astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson - Mr Snowden joked: "Now we've got water on Mars! Do you think they check passports at the border? Asking for a friend."
And in another tweet he said: "Hero, traitor - I'm just a citizen with a voice."
The @Snowden account was verified by Twitter and within two hours of joining, Mr Snowden had accumulated more than 266,000 followers.
In June, former Olympian and reality TV star Caitlyn Jenner became the fastest person on Twitter to reach one million followers - in just over four hours.

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

US 'spied on French presidents' - Wikileaks

by Melissa Gruz and Biodun Iginla, BBC News, Washington DC

30 minutes ago


The US National Security Agency (NSA) spied on French Presidents Jacques Chirac, Nicolas Sarkozy and Francois Hollande in 2006-12, WikiLeaks says.
The whistleblower website cites "top secret intelligence reports and technical documents" from the NSA.
The US would not confirm the veracity of the documents, while Mr Hollande called a defence council meeting on the issue for Wednesday, an aide said.
In 2013 the NSA was accused of spying on German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
On Tuesday, Wikileaks said it began publishing the files under the heading "Espionnage Elysee" - a reference to the French presidential palace.
It said the secret files "derive from directly targeted NSA surveillance of the communications" of the three French presidents as well as French ministers and the ambassador to the US.
One of the files, dated 2012, is about Mr Hollande discussing Greece's possible exit from the eurozone, while another one - from 2011 - alleges that Mr Sarkozy was determined to resume peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, possibly without US involvement.
It is unclear whether the material comes from data stolen by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, the BBC's security correspondent Gordon Corera says.
The WikiLeaks files have now been published by France's Liberation newspaper and the Mediapart investigative website.
WikiLeaks carried a statement by its founder, Julian Assange, who said: "The French people have a right to know that their elected government is subject to hostile surveillance from a supposed ally.
"French readers can expect more timely and important revelations in the near future."

Wikileaks spokesperson Kristinn Hrafnsson told the BBC that although its revelations of NSA phone tapping against Mrs Merkel had not included any actual content, this time they were producing what he said were secret reports.
"It shows the lengths the NSA and the top officials in the US are willing to go," he said.
In response to the alleged leaks, National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said: "We are not going to comment on specific intelligence allegations.
"As a general matter, we do not conduct any foreign intelligence surveillance activities unless there is a specific and validated national security purpose. This applies to ordinary citizens and world leaders alike."
He later added: "We are not targeting and will not target the communications of President Hollande. We work closely with France on all matters of international concern, and the French are indispensable partners."
The French presidential aide told AFP news agency that Mr Hollande would hold a defence council meeting "to evaluate the nature of the information published by the press on Tuesday evening and to draw useful conclusions".
Former French defence and foreign affairs minister Michele Alliot-Marie told iTele TV that France had long known the US was able to intercept conversations.
"We are not naive, the conversations that took place between the defence ministry and the president did not happen on the telephone," she said.
"That being said, it does raise the problem of the relationship of trust between allies."

German anger

The allegation that the US had spied on Germany's Chancellor Merkel arose from documents leaked by Mr Snowden about large-scale US surveillance in 2013.

When the allegations were made the White House made no outright denial, but said Mrs Merkel's phone was not being bugged currently and would not be in future.
The alleged spying shocked public opinion in Germany, with Mrs Merkel saying that "spying between friends just isn't on".
But German media later reported that Germany's national intelligence agency had spied on top French officials and on the EU's headquarters on behalf of the US.
There were also reports that German intelligence had eavesdropped on phone calls by US Secretary of State John Kerry and his predecessor Hillary Clinton. Unnamed German government sources said the calls had been picked up accidentally.
Earlier this month, Germany dropped its investigation in the alleged tapping of Mrs Merkel's phone, saying there was not enough evidence to justify legal action.
In 2013 Brazilian media reported that NSA documents showed the agency had also spied on Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and President Enrique Pena Nieto of Mexico.
Although initially outraged, President Rousseff later took steps to smooth things over, saying the Obama administration had not been directly responsible.