US facing 'dedicated' hacking enemy

[Jan2017]

US facing 'dedicated' hacking enemy
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-33028158 (http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-33028158)

one excerpt . . .
An unnamed US official told the Reuters news agency that some of the stolen information includes
security clearances and background checks from as far back as 1985.

Some of the sensitive personal information could be used to access critical weapons systems, according to the official.
Susan Collins, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the hackers were believed to be based in China..

[Jan2017]

US facing 'dedicated' hacking enemy
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-33028158 (http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-33028158)

one excerpt . . .
An unnamed US official told the Reuters news agency that some of the stolen information includes
security clearances and background checks from as far back as 1985.

Some of the sensitive personal information could be used to access critical weapons systems, according to the official.
Susan Collins, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the hackers were believed to be based in China..

China . . . ?

[Natural Citizen]

Be careful with this. Recall that reserve currency status isn't any longer the prize that goes to he who rules the seas and ports. Nope. That prize goes to the feller who rules space. Of course, space is where all of these nations who are running away from the western system in order to jump in on the Asian Infrastructure Development Bank and the BRICS Bank will be transferring currency. Alternative currency. This comes, largely, as a result of the fact that those nations are beginning to see historically hidden systems of finance make it's way into the public sector. As well, that coup in the Ukraine demonstrated just how much of a failure our foreign policy actually is in the eyes of nations abroad. And, so, they are reconfiguring. They don't want to be next, so to say. And there are some other goings-on.

Anyhow, international and domestic financial clearing models by those nations are happening in space, I've spent a great deal of time sharing backdrpop with regard to space mergers by these nations and infrastructure that they are putting up there in the BRICS tgread. Nobody fuggin pays attention, though. Heh..

Of course, we'd do well to recall that the bulk of intelligence spying that was done during that whole NSA thing was dedicated toward the financial clearing infrastructure of nations abroad.

So, what we should expect to see , and perhaps we are seeing it, could be a manufactured boogeyman in order to fund "cyber-security"

I've been reading a lot of news about Russian and Chinese hackers lately. I don't think it is a coinky dink. But who knows...

[Natural Citizen]

Relevant reading - http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?456224-72-points-of-BRICS-Summit-Declaration&p=5813660&viewfull=1#post5813660

[pcosmar]

China . . . ?

They have "Been Sure" of that before.. and been proven wrong.

Who cares who? That is the highly irrelevant part.

[tod evans]

War on hackers!

[enhanced_deficit]

US should also buy good anti-virus program.

Why AV not used during US led negotiations? (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?476599-Why-AV-not-used-during-US-led-negotiations&)

[timosman]

US should also buy good anti-virus program.

Why AV not used during US led negotiations? (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?476599-Why-AV-not-used-during-US-led-negotiations&)

I've heard Russians make pretty good ones ;)

[tod evans]

From Drudge;


OPM Hack Far Deeper Than Publicly Acknowledged, Went Undetected For More Than A Year, Sources Say

http://abcnews.go.com/ABCNews/opm-hack-deeper-publicly-acknowledged-undetected-year-sources/story?id=31689059

The massive hack into federal systems announced last week was far deeper and potentially more problematic than publicly acknowledged, with hackers believed to be from China moving through government databases undetected for more than a year, sources briefed on the matter told ABC News.

"If [only] they knew the full extent of it," one U.S. official said about those affected by the intrusion into the Office of Personnel Management's information systems.

It all started with an initial intrusion into OPM's systems more than a year ago, and after gaining that initial access the hackers were able to work their way through four different "segments" of OPM's systems, according to sources.

Much of that data has been stored on OPM systems housed by the Department of the Interior in a Denver-area data center, sources said. And one of the four "segments" compromised held forms filled out by federal employees seeking security clearances.

As ABC News previously reported, the 127-page forms — known as SF-86's and used for background investigations — ask applicants for personal information not only about themselves but also relatives, friends, and potentially even college roommates.

China Suspected in Hack of US Government
President Obama Takes on Cyber Security Threats
Feds Looking Into Whether Hack of US Government Affected Private Citizens Too
OPM insists the information compromised by the intrusion into its systems does "not [include] the names of family members."

"Family members of employees were not affected by this breach," OPM says on its website.

However, U.S. officials speaking on the condition of anonymity say unequivocally such information was put at serious risk by the OPM hack. Of utmost concern are U.S. employees stationed overseas, including in countries such as China, whose government would covet personal information on relatives and contacts of American officials living in the communist country, according to officials.

"If the SF-86's associated with this hack were, in their entirety, part of the stolen information, then that would mean the potential release of a staggering amount of information, affecting an exponential amount of people," one U.S. official told ABC News on Sunday.

Acting as the government's human resources division, OPM conducts about 90 percent of background investigations for the federal government. Information from SF-86 forms dating back three decades could have been exposed in the cyber-attack, which the U.S. government strongly suspects was carried out by hackers in China, sources said.

Applicants seeking U.S. security clearances are required to provide the full names, dates of birth, places of birth and social security numbers of spouses or partners. Relatives' full names, dates of birth, current addresses and in some cases employment information are also required. And applicants are asked to the full names, dates of birth and addresses of "foreign contacts" — defined as a foreign national, including relatives, "with whom you, or your spouse, or cohabitant are bound by affection, influence, common interests, and/or obligation."

It's still unclear exactly what was compromised by the OPM hack, particularly because OPM officials and other authorities still don't have a good handle on how much information was actually stored by OPM in the first place, one U.S. official said. Nearly 50 government agencies send data to OPM for storage in some form, according to the official.

The intrusion was only noticed after OPM began to upgrade its equipment and systems. As soon as anomalies within the systems were noticed, the Department of Homeland Security and FBI were notified.

Over the next two weeks, OPM will be sending notifications to an estimated 4 million current and former government employees whose "Personally Identifiable Information" may have been compromised by the hack.

Those notifications "will state exactly what information may have been compromised," OPM says on its website.

And "since the investigation is ongoing, additional PII exposures may come to light," an OPM official acknowledged Sunday. "In that case, OPM will conduct additional notifications as necessary."

In a statement last week, an FBI spokesman said, "We take all potential threats to public and private sector systems seriously, and will continue to investigate and hold accountable those who pose a threat in cyberspace."

An OPM spokesman did not immediately return a call seeking comment for this article.

[fisharmor]

China . . . ?

People actually believe this shit.
I had a conversation with my FiL and his wife last weekend about how my employer is getting clients in China, and they were genuinely surprised.
I said something like "Yeah there's all sorts of IT work in China these days" and both of them said "Yeah, like hacking into US!!!!!!"

I was genuinely thrown back by that statement. "No", I said, "I'm talking about IT work in the private sector."
"Well their government is spending a lot of money to try to hack us!"
"Look, reach into your pocket and show me your cellphone. You DO realize that was made in China... don't you? That there are tens of thousands of acres of factory in China where they make stuff like this... and that this is all IT work? And that it's all being done on behalf of non-Chinese companies?"

Didn't stick. They're still convinced that the economic power of China rests solely in their ability to hack into US servers and steal secrets.

[muh_roads]

Smells like bullshit. Critical weapon systems should change their credential access every few weeks. Most businesses force windows to change passwords all the time. The military doesn't do this?

Come on.

[fisharmor]

Smells like bullshit. Critical weapon systems should change their credential access every few weeks. Most businesses force windows to change passwords all the time. The military doesn't do this?

Come on.

Makes perfect sense to me...
With no exceptions, all state operations are rewarded for failure and punished for success.
The more military secrets are given up, the more money there is getting dumped into the military.

[VIDEODROME]

lulz

It's probably domestic hackers.

[pcosmar]

lulz

It's probably domestic hackers.

Disgruntled employees.

Like the last one they blamed on China.

[tod evans]

Disgruntled employees.

Like the last one they blamed on China.

I'd laugh my ass off if Mr. Snowden piped up and said he planted a worm.....

[pcosmar]

I'd laugh my ass off if Mr. Snowden piped up and said he planted a worm.....

Would not have had to..

It has already been stated that security was well below lax..

the entire system was run by the utterly incompetent.. Nothing more,,nothing less.

[idiom]

I know, the NSA should put backdoors into the governments military grade encryption in case terrorists get a hold of the equipment....

Fuckwits. The NSA has been sabotaging the USA's strategic Defence Systems. This is what Rand should be attacking the NSA for, not for tracking phone calls but for making the USA less safe from *real* enemies.