FBI Conducts Cyber Offensive Operations

 

FBI director Christopher Wray told senate lawmakers that his agency has been conducting offensive cyber operations against STATE and non-state actors.

Fancy phrases aside, this means that FBI does cyber attacks. Well most of the people would find it quite normal. Which intelligence agency doesn't? Well, we all knew it. Head of FBI only declared it. So be a good guy else...

What was the saying? Umm... "The best defense is a good offense"? Or something like that? And what did legendary Sun Tzu say about it? Here it comes: "Attack is the secret of defense; defense is the planning of an attack." (Maybe Christopher Wray just finished the book "The Art of War". Who knows? =)) )

https://thehill.com/policy/cybersecurity/3740758-wray-tells-lawmakers-that-fbi-conducts-cyber-offensive-operations/

“'Offense is a critical part of our overall effort to push back against cyber adversaries,' Wray said during a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing in which he was testifying."

"Although Wray did not provide specifics into the type of cyber offensive operations the agency has conducted, he did say that the department engages in other types of activities, including conducting counterintelligence operations, targeting adversaries’ infrastructure, disrupting malicious cryptocurrency schemes, and indicting cyber criminals."

"Other U.S. agencies have also said that they’ve engaged in cyber offensive operations against nation-state threat actors.

In June, Gen. Paul Nakasone, the head of U.S. Cyber Command, publicly confirmed for the first time that the U.S. had helped Ukraine on the offensive side."

"However, he warned that deterring nation-state threat actors from continuing to engage in illegal cyber activity is much more difficult than disrupting their operations.

'We’re not going to deter the Chinese or the Russians from spying, but we can make it hellishly difficult for them to do it,' Wray said. "

Australia's Medibank Ransomware Attack

 

Australian health insurer Medibank suffered a ransomware attack where the names, dates of birth, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses of 9,7 million customers is -allegedly- leaked. (Quite huge amount of data.)

In this ransomware attack, the victim's files are not encrypted but threatened to be exposed. The ransomware gang began to expose some information in the internet to be more persuasive that they really have the data.

Medibank refused to pay the ransom in order not to encourage such attacks. (Brave but risky decision which I think a correct decision.)

It is believed that the attack is carried on by the ransomware gans REvil or BlogXXX.

And yeah... It is seen one more time that cyber security is not a game or not an abstract concept. On the contrary, cyber threats are real and can have serious effects on our real lives.

https://www.theregister.com/2022/11/07/medibank_breach_n0_ransom_payment/

"Australian health insurer Medibank – which spent October discovering a security incident was worse than it first thought – has announced it will not pay a ransom to attackers that made off with personal info describing nearly ten million customers."

"Medibank also confirmed that primary identity documents, such as drivers licenses, were not accessed for most of its clients – but around 1.8 million international customers weren't so lucky and also had details of the visas that permit them to reside in Australia exposed. The Australian national health scheme (Medicare) ID numbers of 2.8 million customers were also leaked."

Mondelez International Cybersecurity Lawsuit Against Zurich American Insurance Company

 

Can a cyber attack cause a damage of $10 billion (yeah $10 billion) damage for a company? No way? Can't be? In your dreams?

Well well it did. Yeah it really did.

Have I ever mentioned here that cybersecurity is not a joke or not a game? (Oh yeah, I remember. Many times)

A USA based giant multinational snack company Mondelez International was suffered a cyber attack in year 2017 because of the NotPetya malware. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petya_and_NotPetya) This malware caused a huge damage (1,700 servers and 24,000 computers) by the systems of Mondelez International.

Well, what if this company had a cybersecurity insurance against cyber attacks? Do you think that they could afford their $10 billion loss from their insurance company? Or any part of it? Well... The answer is both: yes and/or no. Things became a LITTLE complicated here for the victim company and for the insurance company.

Mondelez International demanded a $100+ million compensation from Zurich American Insurance Company for their loss after the cyber attack they suffered. (Their loss was around $10 billion though.) But the insurance company -allegedly- declined to pay this little bill.

So a lawsuit has settled between them since 2018. Both companies came to an agreement but the details are unknown which can be a game changer for the cybersecurity insurances that will end up with the bankruptcy of some of the insurance companies all around the world. (Maybe that's why we don't know the details.)

Apparently, it can be seen how enorm the damage of a cyberattack for a company can be. (Depending on the size of a company of course.)

Cybersecurity is not a game. You can lose real money. (Oh yeah, I've told this also many times.)

https://www.theregister.com/2022/11/02/mondelez_zurich_notpetya_settlement/

#cyberinsurance #mondelez #zurichinsurance

"Mondelez, which owns Oreo cookies, Sour Patch Kids candy, Ritz crackers, and dozens of other brands, declined to comment on the settlement. A Zurich American spokesperson, however, told us 'the parties have mutually resolved the matter.' Details of the deal have not been disclosed."