/
Navigation
Chronicles
Browse all articles
Explore
Semantic exploration
Research
Entity momentum
Nexus
Correlations & relationships
Story Arc
Topic evolution
Drift Map
Semantic trajectory animation
Posts
Analysis & commentary
Pulse API
Tech news intelligence API
Browse
Entities
Companies, people, products, technologies
Domains
Browse by publication source
Handles
Browse by social media handle
Detection
Concept Search
Semantic similarity search
High Impact Stories
Top coverage by position
Sentiment Analysis
Positive/negative coverage
Anomaly Detection
Unusual coverage patterns
Analysis
Rivalry Report
Compare two entities head-to-head
Semantic Pivots
Narrative discontinuities
Crisis Response
Event recovery patterns
Connected
Search: /
Command: ⌘K
Embeddings: large
TEXXR

Chronicles

The story behind the story

days · browse · Enter similar · o open

An analysis of publicly available web records shows SolarWinds hackers accessed the networks at Cox Communications and the local government in Pima County, AZ

LONDON (Reuters) - Suspected Russian hackers accessed the systems of a U.S. internet provider and a county government in Arizona

Reuters

Discussion

  • @file411 @file411 on x
    Good LORD: “whole SolarWinds compromise led to the discovery of an additional malware that also affects the SolarWinds Orion product but has been determined to be likely unrelated to this compromise and used by a different threat actor...” https://www.microsoft.com/... https://tw…
  • @gossithedog Kevin Beaumont on x
    In depth technical look at SolarWinds nation state activity from MS peeps, including more hunting details etc. Really proud of the teams here, everything been thrown at protecting everyone. https://www.microsoft.com/...
  • @file411 @file411 on x
    I have to say this breach is probably one of the most flawless reverse engineering Ops I've ever read “The envelopes” passed through numerous built-in security checks. This takes meticulous planning, discipline & serious coding chops It's impressive https://www.microsoft.com/... …
  • @file411 @file411 on x
    If I'm reading this correctly because the envelope passed the built-in security protocols the C2 Server was like: secret handshake valid, come on in Also take note of the domains too (see next tweet) https://www.microsoft.com/... https://twitter.com/...
  • @file411 @file411 on x
    Hey remember when someone was like: Oh GOD they can accurately & quickly map out a target network. Thus they know where to hide because they can see you coming HERE. WE. ARE. Big props to @Microsoft for their transparency because this helps understand https://www.microsoft.com/..…
  • @msftsecintel @msftsecintel on x
    Here's our analysis of the compromised DLL that led to the Solorigate attack. While the extent of the compromise is being investigated, we want to continue providing the defender community with intel, remediation guidance, and protections we have built: https://www.microsoft.com/…
  • @kaspersky @kaspersky on x
    While the #SolarWinds Orion IT packages reached about 18,000 customers, only a handful of these was interesting to the attackers referred to as UNC2452 or DarkHalo. @craiu and @2igosha share new findings on @Securelist. https://kas.pr/k75e https://twitter.com/...
  • @e_kaspersky Eugene Kaspersky on x
    #Sunburst: connecting the dots in the DNS requests ⇒ https://kas.pr/j5yo TL;DR Three of the requests from FireEye's Github repository can be mapped to two domain names that belong to a government organization and a telecommunications company in the US. https://twitter.com/...
  • @lululemew @lululemew on x
    LONDON (Reuters) - Suspected Russian hackers accessed the systems of internet provider, Cox Communications & the local government in Pima County, AZ as part of sprawling cyber-espionage campaign https://www.reuters.com/...
  • @bambenek John Bambenek on x
    Some more updates on the Sunburst/Solarwinds breach. We have found what looks like at least two targets of interest based on my research and research by @kaspersky https://www.reuters.com/...
  • @profwoodward Alan Woodward on x
    This kind of passive DNS work and analysis of the malware now released is what will lead to identifying where the Sunburst attacks came from - it's a slow process https://securelist.com/...
  • @sub8u Subrahmanyam Kvj on x
    Ouch... This doesn't bode well at all... First Microsoft, and now Cisco as well impacted by Solarwinds hack! The age of tech recklessness, where individuals/companies/countries focus on their selfish needs is well upon us! https://www.theverge.com/... https://www.bloomberg.com/..…
  • @business @business on x
    Cisco was compromised as part of a suspected Russian campaign that has roiled the U.S. government and private sector https://www.bloomberg.com/...
  • @kimzetter Kim Zetter on x
    New: SolarWinds hackers did test-run of spy operation in Oct 2019, when malicious SolarWinds files were first downloaded by customers. That version didn't have backdoor in it, however. Indicates hackers were in SolarWinds network in 2019, if not earlier. https://news.yahoo.com/..…
  • @dangoodin001 Dan Goodin on x
    Reason No. 5 gazillion why the SolarWinds hack is so impressive. The hackers had full control of SolarWinds' software build system since October 2019. We know this because the hackers performed a dry run exercise that month. Great reporting by @KimZetter https://news.yahoo.com/..…
  • @diakopter @diakopter on x
    @thespybrief “The DOJ, FBI and DOD..., have moved routine communication onto classified networks that are believed not to have been breached, according to two people briefed on the measures. They are assuming that the non-classified networks have been accessed” https://www.reuter…
  • @scottmstedman Scott Stedman on x
    “Like other SolarWinds customers, we have been actively looking for indicators of this actor and can confirm that we detected malicious Solar Winds binaries in our environment, which we isolated and removed,” a Microsoft spokesperson said https://www.reuters.com/...
  • @nicoleperlroth Nicole Perlroth on x
    Hearing Microsoft has no proof of this. https://twitter.com/...
  • @rainnwilson @rainnwilson on x
    In case you didn't know, dozens of governmental orgs were hacked by Russia. This is not fake news. https://www.cnbc.com/...
  • @theintercept @theintercept on x
    It is now clear that a group of highly sophisticated state-sponsored hackers, likely Berserk Bear, breached Austin's network, using it as infrastructure to stage additional cyberattacks. https://theintercept.com/...
  • @dnvolz Dustin Volz on x
    You might call this...rumor control https://twitter.com/...
  • @briankrebs @briankrebs on x
    VMware vulnerability a vector in the SolarWinds incident? The company says it has received no notification/indication this is the case, but the timing, MO of the flaw (forging single sign-on tokens) and recent NSA/CSIA advisories seem to suggest otherwise. https://krebsonsecurity…
  • @crimealytics Jeff Asher on x
    Important point raised about the strength of the public SVR attribution in this great piece from @dnvolz and @bobmcmillan. The SVR doesn't make much sense IMHO. https://www.wsj.com/... https://twitter.com/...
  • @dnvolz Dustin Volz on x
    The suspected Russian hackers were victims of their own success and hubris. After breaching scores of targets undetected for many months, they went after a harder one: a huge cyber firm with vast investigative resources. That led to the hack's unraveling. https://www.wsj.com/...
  • @dnvolz Dustin Volz on x
    FireEye CEO Kevin Mandia said the hack of his firm through SolarWinds was like “a sniper round through a bulletproof vest.” Once SolarWinds was suspected, FireEye analysts scoured 50,000 lines of code in search of a “needle in a stack of needles.” https://www.wsj.com/...
  • @carter_pe Phillip Carter on x
    “The attack blended extraordinarily stealthy tradecraft, using cyber tools never before seen in a previous attack, with a strategy that zeroed in on a weak link in the software supply chain that all U.S. businesses and government institutions rely on...” https://twitter.com/...
  • @nicoleperlroth Nicole Perlroth on x
    Microsoft president Brad Smith says Reuters report is false. “We have no indication of this.” Microsoft stands by Sunday statement: “We also want to reassure our customers that we have not identified any Microsoft product or cloud service vulnerabilities in these investigations.”…
  • @kimzetter Kim Zetter on x
    Second supply chain hack in SolarWinds campaign announced. Microsoft was also breached in the SolarWinds hack operation. Once in Microsoft's network, the company's own “products were then used to further the attacks on others”. Story from @josephmenn https://www.reuters.com/...
  • Vox Alex Ward on x
    How the US government hack happened, and what it means, explained by an expert
  • @craiu Costin Raiu on x
    We are releasing some new findings in the #Solarwinds #Sunburst #darkhalo #unc2452 story. Our analysis plus an opensource tool that decodes and matches the UIDs from the CNAME records against publicly available pDNS data: https://securelist.com/...
  • @briankrebs @briankrebs on x
    In an SEC filing, SolarWinds says “the vulnerability was not evident in the Orion Platform products' source code but appears to have been inserted during the Orion software build process.” https://d18rn0p25nwr6d.cloudfront.net/ ...
  • @dangoodin001 Dan Goodin on x
    Of the 18,000 customers who downloaded a backdoored Orion update, only a few dozen, or about 0.2%, of them received a follow on attack, according to Microsoft telemetry. This super elite group was 44% tech cos, 18% gov agencies and 18% think tanks/NGOs. https://arstechnica.com/..…
  • @arstechnica @arstechnica on x
    The #SolarWinds hack is shaping up as one of the worst espionage hacks of the past decade if not of all time. https://arstechnica.com/...
  • @skirchy Stephanie Kirchgaessner on x
    For a long time, the proliferation of spyware by private companies, including NSO Group, seemed to be a problem mostly for journalists and human rights activists. Then WhatsApp got involved. Now, big guns: Microsoft joins the fray. https://www.theguardian.com/ ...
  • @kevincollier Kevin Collier on x
    This is a slightly weird framing for how the US is thinking of attribution for the SolarWinds campaign, but I can assure you that plenty of legislators who get briefed on cyber matters miss some of the nuance of how to talk about it, esp when unclassified. https://twitter.com/...
  • @cstross Charlie Stross on x
    These are so totally NOT “Smiley's People”, these cyberspooks who hit their targets like a gang of ram-raiders robbing an Apple store instead of infiltrating quietly over decades and sneaking out the goods on microfilm hidden in hollow shoe-heels. https://twitter.com/...
  • @rhifionn Rhiannon Fionn-Bowman on x
    Excerpt: ... effect of Thursday's revelations was confirmation that no single person or agency — including the highest reaches of the U.S. government — is certain of exactly what the hackers had infiltrated, let alone the full extent of what was taken. https://www.bloomberg.com/.…
  • @williamturton William Turton on x
    New: Members of a consortium of major financial firms that share cybersecurity information with each other and the government, expressed concern the the US govt could be so deeply penetrated that its confidential data could be seen by Russian hackers: https://www.bloomberg.com/..…
  • @campuscodi Catalin Cimpanu on x
    Kaspersky says it “identified approximately ~100 customers who downloaded the trojanized package containing the Sunburst backdoor” Company also said it identified two victims who received 2nd-stage payloads in IOCs posted online by FireEye https://securelist.com/... https://twitt…
  • @shashj Shashank Joshi on x
    “One of the more chilling developments this year has been what appears to be new steps to use AI to weaponize large stolen datasets about individuals and spread targeted disinformation ... this too will become a permanent part of the threat landscape."' https://blogs.microsoft.co…
  • @shashj Shashank Joshi on x
    Microsoft: 'This is not “espionage as usual,” even in the digital age. Instead, it represents an act of recklessness that created a serious technological vulnerability for the US and the world" https://blogs.microsoft.com/ ... https://twitter.com/...
  • @tariqkrim Tariq Krim on x
    According to Microsoft, the recent Slora winds hack has also exposed Europe. It would be good for European institutions to give more details about it. the source is here : https://blogs.microsoft.com/ ... https://twitter.com/...
  • @ericgeller Eric Geller on x
    Microsoft has identified 40 customers hacked by the suspected Russian operatives after the initial SolarWinds compromise, @BradSmi says. 80% in US, + Canada, Mexico, Belgium, Spain, UK, Israel, & UAE. 44% of victims were in IT, 18% think tank, 18% gov. https://blogs.microsoft.com…
  • @bradsmi Brad Smith on x
    The latest nation state attack is not espionage as usual, even in the digital age. Instead, it's an act of recklessness that has created a serious and eye-opening vulnerability for the US and the world. Governments and industry must do more. https://blogs.microsoft.com/ ...
  • @kursed Abdullah Saad on x
    Most spine chilling read of the day. This is really scary stuff. https://blogs.microsoft.com/ ...
  • @andrewsweiss Andrew S. Weiss on x
    Once again, Microsoft's @BradSmi is taking the lead in saying thoughtful things that rightfully should be coming from a US President and other world leaders https://twitter.com/...
  • @natashabertrand Natasha Bertrand on x
    SCOOP/BREAKING NEWS: The Energy Department and National Nuclear Security Administration, which maintains the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile, have evidence that hackers accessed their networks, officials directly familiar with the matter said. https://www.politico.com/...
  • @axios @axios on x
    A Trump administration official tells Axios that the cyberattack on the U.S. government and corporate America, apparently by Russia, is looking worse by the day — and secrets may still be being stolen in ways not yet discovered. https://www.axios.com/...
  • @waltshaub Walter Shaub on x
    The new president is already doing what the outgoing president has consistently failed to do: hold Russia accountable. No wonder the Russians love Trump. His weakness has been an open invitation to harm America. That ends January 20. https://twitter.com/...
  • @jeremymgoldberg Jeremy M. Goldberg on x
    This is important: “My administration will make Cybersecurity a priority at every level of government.” The Education sector, in particular public / K-12 schools & systems, have been a target for years. And, yes, hybrid and remote models in 2020 introduced even more risk. https:/…
  • @reppaulmitchell Rep. Paul Mitchell on x
    It is time for POTUS and the Administration to address this forcefully. Put Putin on notice and take steps to punish him and those involved. Engage our govt resources to address this both@in agencies and private companies. Critical infrastructure at risk! https://twitter.com/...
  • @maxabrahms Max Abrahms on x
    Terrifying how the Biden administration will respond to Russia. The media will eat it up. https://twitter.com/...
  • @davidmweissman David Weissman on x
    Hackers have access to the National Security Administration but let's be more outraged that Jill Biden rightfully puts the title Dr. next to her name because she's an educated woman. https://twitter.com/...
  • @sethabramson Seth Abramson on x
    Remember me saying here a week ago that I was gravely concerned that we would discover that the Department of Energy had also been hacked, and that the Russians' focus would be on nuclear energy issues? Well, here we go. And Donald Trump is doing *nothing about it whatsoever*. ht…
  • @apolyakova Dr Alina Polyakova on x
    Russia launched “the biggest cybersecurity breach of federal networks in more than two decades” - this is what happens when we have no cyber deterrence strategy https://www.nytimes.com/...