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Tag: Cyber-attack

  • ‘Cyber-attack’ targets mobile network of Ukraine

    ‘Cyber-attack’ targets mobile network of Ukraine

    Ukraine’s biggest cellphone company, Kyivstar, says it has been attacked by a strong hacker.

    Some people don’t have phone or internet, and the air raid sirens in one city don’t work. The boss of Kyivstar suggested that Russia might be to blame.

    Ukraine’s police is looking into the situation. Moscow has not said anything.

    The Kyivstar network has about 24 million people who use their mobile phones and about a million people who use their home internet.

    On Tuesday morning, there were reports that people and businesses couldn’t use their mobile phones or internet.

    The air raid sirens in Sumy, a city in the northeast, did not work because of the power failure.

    The military in the area said they will use police and emergency vehicles to warn people if a missile or drone is coming.

    PrivatBank, the biggest bank in Ukraine, said that some of their cash machines are not working and may be unreliable or have no internet connection.

    The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) is looking into the matter.

    SBU is looking into the possibility that Russian special services are responsible for the hacker attack.

    Russia has not said anything and nobody has admitted to doing it.

    Kyivstar asked the police for help because they were being illegally interfered with.

    The CEO of the company, Oleksandr Komarov, also said that Russian actors might be responsible.

    “He said there are many parts to the war with Russia, and one of them is online. ”

    “We are trying to fix the communication as fast as we can,” he said. “We will also give money to customers who were affected. ”

    The person in charge said that no one’s private information was illegally accessed.

    In February 2022, Russia started a big war with Ukraine, and it has been going on for over a year now.

    The company from the Netherlands, Veon, said it will work with Kyivstar to make sure something like this doesn’t happen again by adding more security.

    Ukraine’s military intelligence says they did a cyber-attack on Russia’s tax system.

    “During a special mission, Ukraine’s military intelligence successfully accessed a heavily guarded central server of the federal tax service,” said a statement on Telegram.

    Russian efforts to fix the services have been going on for four days now.

  • Liz Truss phone hack claim prompts calls for investigation

    The government has been urged to investigate the claims that former prime minister Liz Truss’s phone was hacked while she was foreign secretary.

    The Mail on Sunday reported private messages between Ms Truss and foreign officials, including about the Ukraine war, fell into foreign hands.

    The hack was discovered during the summer Tory leadership campaign but the news was suppressed, the paper said.

    The government said it had “robust” cyber-threat protection in place.

    The spokesperson added that the government “did not comment on individuals’ security arrangements”.

    Details about the hack were suppressed by then-prime minister Boris Johnson and Cabinet Secretary Simon Case, The Mail on Sunday claimed, citing what it said amounted to a “news blackout” imposed by Mr Case.

    The newspaper also said private messages exchanged between Ms Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng, her close friend whom she made chancellor when she became prime minister, were also uncovered by the alleged hack.

    It is not clear how any hack happened, but opposition parties have seized on the issue.

    “There are immensely important national security issues raised by an attack like this by a hostile state which will have been taken extremely seriously by our intelligence and security agencies,” said shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper.

    “There are also serious security questions around why and how this information has been leaked or released right now which must also be urgently investigated.”

    The Mail on Sunday reported agents suspected of working for Russia had been responsible for the alleged hacking, citing unnamed sources, but the BBC has not been able to verify this.

    The Liberal Democrat’s foreign affairs spokesperson Layla Moran MP raised concerns about why the alleged hack had not been made public earlier.

    “We need an urgent independent investigation to uncover the truth,” Ms Moran said. “If it turns out this information was withheld from the public to protect Liz Truss’s leadership bid, that would be unforgivable.”

    The government has refused to comment on any of the details reported by the Mail on Sunday.

    “The government has robust systems to protect against cyber threats,” a spokesman said. “That includes regular security briefings for ministers and advice on protecting their personal data and mitigating cyber threats.”

    Source: BBB.com 

  • Cyberattack: Albania ends diplomatic relations with Iran

    Albania has severed diplomatic ties with Iran and ordered Iranian embassy staff to leave, accusing it of orchestrating a major cyber-attack.

    Prime Minister Edi Rama said a review had discovered “incontrovertible evidence” that Iran “hired four organizations to mount the attack on Albania” on 15 July.

    The hackers tried to paralyse public services, delete and steal government data, and incite chaos, he added.

    Mr Rama described Albania’s response as “extreme… but entirely forced on us”.

    The United States said it strongly condemned the cyber-attack on a Nato ally and vowed to hold Iran accountable for actions that threatened Albania’s security and “set a troubling precedent for cyber-space”.

    There was no immediate comment from the Iranian government. But relations between Tirana and Tehran have been tense since Albania offered asylum to thousands of Iranian dissidents nine years ago.

    Mr Rama said the goal of the hacking groups had been “the destruction of the digital infrastructure of the government of the Republic of Albania, as well as the theft of data and electronic communications of governments systems”.

    But he added: “The said attack failed its purpose… All systems came back fully operational and there was no irreversible wiping of data.”

    The prime minister nevertheless said the Albanian government’s decision to sever diplomatic relations with Iran was “proportionate to the seriousness and danger posed by the cyber-attack”.

    US National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said American experts had also concluded that Iran “conducted this reckless and irresponsible cyber-attack” and that it was “responsible for the subsequent hack and leak operations”.

    Iran’s conduct, she warned, “disregards norms of responsible peacetime state behaviour in cyber-space”, including one on refraining from damaging critical infrastructure providing public services.

    Earlier this month, US cyber-security firm Mandiant said it had concluded “with moderate confidence” that “one or multiple threat actors who have operated in support of Iranian goals” were involved in the attack.

    Mandiant noted that the disruption had come days before the start of a conference in the Albanian town of Manez that was affiliated with the exiled Iranian opposition group Mujahideen-e-Khalq (MEK). The event was subsequently postponed following warnings of “terrorist” threats.

    The firm likewise cited a video featuring the Albanian residence permits of purported MEK members that was posted on the Telegram channel used by a group named “HomeLand Justice” to claim credit for the cyber-attack.

    It said a ransomware sample also included the text: “Why should our taxes be spent on the benefit of DURRES terrorists?” Manez is a town in Durres County and is the location of a camp where about 3,000 MEK members have been allowed to live since 2013 at the request of the US and United Nations.

  • Holiday Inn hotels rocked by cyber-attack

    Holiday Inn owner, Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG), has verified the company has been hit by a cyber-attack.

    IHG, which has some of the world’s largest hotel chains, issued a statement saying it was investigating “unauthorized access” to a number of its technology systems.

    The UK-based company said its “booking channels and other applications” had been disrupted since Monday.

    It manages the Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza, and Regent hotels.

    “IHG is working to fully restore all systems as soon as possible,” the company said.

    IHG confirmed it was assessing the nature, extent, and impact of the incident and had implemented its response plans, including appointing external specialists to investigate the breach.

    The company is also in the process of notifying regulatory authorities.

    In a statement, the company said: “We will be supporting hotel owners and operators as part of our response to the ongoing service disruption. IHG’s hotels are still able to operate and to take reservations directly.”

    But many people trying to book accommodation have been complaining.

    The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.

    The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.

    The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. View the original tweet on Twitter

    IHG did not say there had been any loss of customer data.

    It also did not specifically say it was a ransomware attack, but most of the speculation points in that direction.

    Last month, a Holiday Inn in Istanbul was breached by LockBit, which released data stolen from the company.

    It is not known if there is a connection between the attacks.

    The hotel chain was also the target of a three-month security breach in 2017 when more than 1,200 of its franchised hotels in the US were affected.

    The hack comes amid increased scrutiny on appropriate defences against cyber-attacks, particularly on Western financial institutions, in the wake of heightened geopolitical tensions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine early this year.

     

  • Cyber criminals target Ashfoam

    Mr George Massih, General Manager, AshFoam Ghana, says the activities of cyber criminals are targeting the activities of the furniture and bedding producing company.

    Mr Massih said Ashfoam as an organization had issues with cybercrime activities where people had been imitating the websites, Facebook, Instagram and other social media platforms of the company and putting up fake accounts and numbers to dupe clients.

    “This is a big problem and very alarming to us as an organization and other companies but it looks like authorities do not seem equipped to handle this kind of threat,” Mr Massih said.

    He made the statement when Mr Albert Kwabena Dwumfour, Organizing Secretary and aspiring presidential candidate of Ghana Journalist Association ( GJA) paid a visit to the Ashfoam head office in Accra.

    He added that Mr Dwumfour was familiar with the distress and challenges of the Organization and was hopeful he would continue from where the predecessor’s left off when given the opportunity as GJA President.

    Mr Massih said the Organization had directly employed 4000 and about 13000 indirectly but the high rate of sneaking second hand mattresses and products into the country was affecting them, saying it might lead to a decline in employment rate if authorities did not stop it.

    “We have tried as much as possible to stop this activity but it is still prevailing so we need a voice to let the authorities know and realize that it is still happening and affecting us, because we cannot compete with something that is free, “he added.

    He urged the Media, GJA to engage authorities on pressing issues affecting organizations, to let authorities know and understand their plight and hold them to task.

    Mr. Albert Kwabena Dwumfour, Organizing Secretary, and aspiring President of GJA, said there was the need to strategically positioned GJA to deepened and strengthened the relationship that existed between the Association and other corporate bodies to understand their plight, and challenges confronting them and informed authorities to come to their aid.

    He said the meeting was to assure the Organization that as the National Organizing Secretary, an executive and aspiring candidate for GJA, would work closely with support and ensure that businesses thrive and grow in an enabled environment, championing and protecting local businesses.

    Mr Dwumfour appealed to the media to cease unnecessary attacks on businesses, adding that organisations had endured trying moment under Covid-19 and there was the need for surviving businesses to be protected.

    ” We don’t need to encourage attitudes where somebody will deliberately attack businesses for their selfish gain because if the corporate thrives in an enabling business environment, the media stand to gain, “he said.

    Mr Gabriel Asante Bosompem, the campaign manager, urged all aspirants to understand each other and remained calm, truthful and be factual about issues on the ground.

    Source: GNA