Citibank

16-31 July 2013 Cyber Attacks Timeline

Post author:Paolo Passeri
Post last modified:May 29, 2015
Post category:Uncategorized
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Reading time:8 mins read
Post published:August 5, 2013

So, the second half of July is ready to show us what happened in the cyber-landscape.

It’s Summer, the dog days are among us, and the temperatures are quite high even under the Infosec Sun. Most of all for software companies that, even if for different motivations, were the unwelcome targets of the most remarkable attacks of these two weeks: Ubuntuforums.org has been hacked, putting at risk 1.82 million of accounts, and even three well-know mobile services TrueCaller, Viber and TangoMe suffered the same fate.

But this month will be probably remembered for the indictment of five est European men who, between 2005 and 2012 infiltrated some of the world’s biggest financial institutions, pilfering data for more than 160 million credit cards.

Other noticeable events include the infiltration against apple.developer.com and the breach against Stanford University affecting potentially 72,000 users.

As usual, if you want to have an idea of how fragile our data are inside the cyberspace, have a look at the timelines of the main Cyber Attacks in 2011, 2012 and now 2013 (regularly updated). You may also want to have a look at the Cyber Attack Statistics, and follow @paulsparrows on Twitter for the latest updates.

Also, feel free to submit remarkable incidents that in your opinion deserve to be included in the timelines (and charts).

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16-31 March 2013 Cyber Attacks Timeline

Post author:Paolo Passeri
Post last modified:May 29, 2015
Post category:Cyber Attacks Timelines Security
Post comments:0 Comments
Reading time:7 mins read
Post published:April 2, 2013

First part here: 1-15 March 2013 Cyber Attacks Timeline

March is gone and hence it is time to analyze the events that characterized the past month.

Two events in particular gained the first pages of the magazines: the wiper malware in Korea and the DDoS attack against Spamhaus that, maybe exaggerating, has been defined the “biggest attack in history”.

But these were not the only noticeable attacks in this second part of the month: the Operation Ababil of the Izz ad-din al-Qassam Cyber Fighters against U.S. banks achieved a new phase, constantly disrupting the connectivity of several high profile financial targets, including Chase, USBank, etc.; Telenor admitted to have been hacked by high-tech spies emptying the content of executives’ personal computers, and also the Anonymous claimed to have breached the Mossad, despite there are many doubts about this last attack.

Other important events include a breach against MTV Taiwan (600,000 accounts), McDonald’s (200,000 accounts), the Turkish Ministry Of Economy (96,000 accounts), and Renault Colombia (31,000 accounts leaked).

If you want to have an idea of how fragile our data are inside the cyberspace, have a look at the timelines of the main Cyber Attacks in 2011, 2012 and now 2013 (regularly updated). You may also want to have a look at the Cyber Attack Statistics, and follow @paulsparrows on Twitter for the latest updates.

Also, feel free to submit remarkable incidents that in your opinion deserve to be included in the timelines (and charts).

(more…)

16-31 January 2013 Cyber Attacks Timeline

Post author:Paolo Passeri
Post last modified:May 29, 2015
Post category:Cyber Attacks Timelines Security
Post comments:1 Comment
Reading time:12 mins read
Post published:February 7, 2013

Two Weeks Living Dangerously! I have no other words to describe this second half of January (first two weeks here) that has shown an unprecedented level of attacks! And if a good day starts with the morning, this will be a very troubled year from an information security perspective.

Not only the peaks of DDoS attacks against the US Banks have reached an unstoppable peak, but, most of all, at the end of the month details have been unveiled about a massive cyber-espionage campaign allegedly orchestrated by Chinese hackers against some major US media including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and Bloomberg News.

A very very long list of targets this month, with some high profile victims such as the U.S. Sentencing Commission, whose web site has been hacked twice and turned into an Asteroid game, but also Renault Argentina that suffered 37,000 accounts leaked.

To summarize this month is really impossible, you just have to scroll down the timeline to realize the hacking spree in this January 2013.

If this trend continues, I will have to decrease the frequency of publication…

If you want to have an idea of how fragile our data are inside the cyberspace, have a look at the timelines of the main Cyber Attacks in 2011 and 2012 and the related statistics (regularly updated), and follow @paulsparrows on Twitter for the latest updates.

Also, feel free to submit remarkable incidents that in your opinion deserve to be included in the timelines (and charts). To do so, you can use this form.

(more…)

June 2012 Cyber Attacks Timeline (Part II)

Post author:Paolo Passeri
Post last modified:May 24, 2015
Post category:Cyber Attacks Timelines Security
Post comments:1 Comment
Reading time:7 mins read
Post published:July 5, 2012

Part I (1-15 June) at this link

From an information security perspective, the second half of June has been characterized by the hacking collective UGNAZI (and its members) and also by an individual hacker: .c0mrade AKA @OfficialComrade.

Both entities have left behind them a long trail of Cyber Attacks against different targets (in several cases the real extent of the attack is uncertain) and with different techniques, although it is likely that the UGNAZI collective will be forced to change the plans after the arrest of the group’s leader, JoshTheGod, nearly at the end of the month (27^thof June), effectively they have considerably reduced the rate of their cyber attacks in the second part of the analyzed period.

On the other hand, hospitals, banks, several major airlines are only few examples of the preys fallen under the attacks carried on by .c0mrade. Plese notce that from Cyber Crime perspective, is also interesting to notice the High Roller Operation, a giant fraud against the banking industry, unmasked by McAfee.

Needless to say, the Cyber War front is always hot, most of all in Middle East, were several DDoS attacks targeted some Israeli institutions and, most of all, an alleged unspecified massive Cyber Attack targeted tje Islamic Republic of Iran.

The hacktitic landscape is completely different: maybe hacktivists have chosen to go on vacation since June 2012 has apparently shown a decreasing trend, in sharp contrast with an year ago, when the information security community lived one of its most troubled periods.

If you want to have an idea of how fragile our data are inside the cyberspace, have a look at the timelines of the main Cyber Attacks in 2011 and 2012 (regularly updated), and follow @paulsparrows on Twitter for the latest updates.

Also, feel free to submit remarkable incidents that in your opinion deserve to be included in the timeline.

(more…)

The Quassam Group Stops the Cyber Attacks Against US Banks

Post author:Paolo Passeri
Post last modified:May 24, 2015
Post category:Cyberwar Security
Post comments:1 Comment
Reading time:8 mins read
Post published:January 30, 2013

Finally it looks like the DDoS attacks against US Banks, carried on by the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Cyber Fighters in name of the infamous Operation Ababil, have been temporarily suspended. The decision is a consequence of the removal of the controversial video “The innocence of Muslim” from Youtube.

Actually only one copy has been removed (the one which collected more views) and a dozen of copies are still available to visitors. Nevertheless the hacktivists have appreciated this action and have consequently suspended the cyber attacks.

The sudden stop came in the moment of maximum peak: in the last two weeks the wave of DDoS has reached an unprecedented level, with 35 attacks against 25 banks. An apparently unstoppable storm that has dramatically shown the fragility of the system. Here the details of the banks impacted (of course you will find them in the forthcoming Cyber Attack Timeline.

Date	Target	Details
Jan 22		The seventh week of Operation Ababil 2 begins with the following banks taken down: BB&T[i] PNC[ii] Bank Of America[iii] Wells Fargo[iv] Regions Bank[v] Harris Bank[vi] CitiBank[vii]
Jan 23		Other US banks are targeted: Bank Of America; [viii] Zions Bank[ix] Harris Bank[x] PNC[xi] Huntington Bank[xii] Capital One[xiii] Wells Fargo[xiv]
Jan 24		Again, other DDoS attacks against US Banks. The wave is unprecedented and the list of the targets is very long, including: Comerica[xv] Wells Fargo[xvi] PNC[xvii] Bank Of America[xviii] Fifth Third Bank[xix] Key Bank[xx] BBVA[xxi] Citizens Bank[xxii] First Citizens Bank[xxiii] M&T Bank[xxiv] Huntington Bank[xxv] Patelco[xxvi] People’s United Bank[xxvii] UMB Financial Corporation[xxviii] Union Bank[xxix] Umpqua Bank[xxx] Bank Of the West[xxxi] Capital One[xxxii] Zions Bank[xxxiii] Synovus Bank[xxxiv] Federal Credit Union[xxxv]