Bulletin: Inside Cyber Security

Stratfor: The postman always knocks twice

28 marzo 2012
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Stratfor: The postman always knocks twice

February 12, 2012 by Maurizio Agazzi Hackers send out false emails with Stratfor credentials, putting credit cards at risk False emails with an attached file in PDF format (Portable Document Format) were received by Stratfor subscribers. The emails with the attached malware were sent to the email addresses extracted by the hackers in their attack on Stratfor on 24 December 2011. Responsibility for the attack was claimed on social networks, Twitter and YouTube, by a group of hackers that identify themselves with the signature Anonymous. The message which incorporated the malware makes use of the old and proven strategy of deception. The subject heading of these emails was “Stratfor: Beware of false communications”; the victim is warned to be suspicious of any false communications and to protect their computer from cyber attacks by downloading free software. The minute the victim opens the URL contained in the attachment, the home page of Stratfor is opened. But the software that is downloaded is nothing other than a trojan containing spyware specialised in the theft of credit card information. But this is not all; once the computer has been infected, the trojan opens all of the backdoors of the computer, allowing remote control

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The Middle East: The Day After Stuxnet

20 marzo 2012
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The Middle East: The Day After Stuxnet

The secret war of codes/ciphers Di Maurizio Agazzi On 8 November 2011, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) released a 25 page report; the information therein revealed that Iran has undertaken activities that are relevant to the development of a nuclear arms programme. Iran will not co-operate with the IAEA, and thus far the agency’s request for information on the current progress made on the nuclear programme has gone unanswered; the possibility exists, therefore, that Teheran has indeed, alongside its civil nuclear power programme, planned for the military use of the equipment at the nuclear power plant in Natanz to develop the bomb. In its report, the IAEA has pointed its finger at the proof; Iran has acquired information that is vital to the construction of the bomb as well as obtained the components necessary to its construction. With its resolution of 18 November 2011, the IAEA has expressed its profound concern with regard to the Iranian nuclear programme insofar as the requests it has made have in no way been answered, including those requests for clarification necessary to exclude the possible existence of a military dimension to Teheran’s nuclear programme. The agency continues to urge the country to rapidly

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Cryptography, the art of secrets

19 marzo 2012
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Cryptography, the art of secrets

By Elisa Bertacin Faced with the “challenge of transmitting messages or communications accessible to the limited few, “Cryptography” has proven to be a concept that has always fascinated man. Cryptography is that science which aims to provide an instrument capable of keeping secret all information that is not for public disclosure. The operation with which information is hidden is referred to as encryption. To encrypt information, an algorithm (cipher) is used. The message that is to be encrypted is referred to as plaintext, which, through the use of a key, is converted into the encrypted text or the ciphertext. Decryption, on the other hand, is the reverse process for which a ciphertext is converted into plaintext through the use of the key to the encryption. Throughout history, encryption methods have prevalently been used by four categories of people: the military, diplomats, diarists, and lovers. Given the context provided by the paper, it is obvious that the first two are what interest us the most, and in particular the military. In his time, Plutarch spoke of the Spartan generals, who sent and received coded messages using the scytale, a small cylinder of wood. The message was written on a thin strip

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I siti WEB della CIA e del Senato Americano sotto l’attacco degli hacker

4 marzo 2012
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I siti WEB della CIA e del Senato Americano sotto l’attacco degli hacker

di Maurizio Agazzi Il botnet non è un virus, è il virus dei virus. Nel settore della cyber security è considerato il killer del WEB. Ne ha fatto le spese la CIA il 10 febbraio 2012, quando la tempesta di byte (DDOS) si è abbattuta sul proprio server WEB (anche sul server WEB del Senato Americano), travolgendo la cyber defence del Paese ritenuto più sicuro sotto il profilo cyber security delle .gov, imbarazzando la National Security Agency e la stessa White House. Uno schiaffo all’amministrazione Obama che riorganizzò nel 2009 la direzione della NSA sotto il controllo diretto della Casa Bianca attraverso una revisione top-down  dell’operato dell’Agenzia Federale per la cyber difesa delle infrastrutture critiche. L’attacco informatico arriva mentre sono in discussione al senato Americano le proposte di legge SOPA  rivolte a contrastare la pirateria informatica e mentre si stanno rettificando gli accordi commerciali (ACTA) tra gli stati aderenti, per introdurre strumenti giuridici a livello internazionale. La SOPA e l’ACTA hanno incontrato numerosi oppositori tra il popolo della Internet. L’attacco di febbraio al sito WEB del CIA è uno strike senza precedenti a favore di quegli hacker che si identificano nel tweeted “Tango down – cia.gov for the lulz”, poiché

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