FBI Targeted by Hackers | Critical Infrastructure Companies Targeted | Roundup of Government Data Security Threats in 2021
Article by Christopher Lauder, Delegate Relationship Executive, Rela8 Group
FBI Targeted by Hackers
To begin this week, let’s look at what has been happening in the United States where hackers have attacked the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) email system and sent spam emails warning of cyberattacks to over 100,00 people.
These fake emails have come from a legitimate FBI email address and include a subject line which reads “Urgent: Threat Actor in Systems”. Authorities have not yet determined who is behind the emails, or the motive behind the “rambling, incoherent emails, filled with technological nonsense” as described by NY Post. The sender ended the emails with a “stay safe” from the US Department of Homeland Security’s Cyber Threat Detection and Analysis Group. A group which hasn’t existed for several years.
The FBI confirmed the incident on Saturday and said that the hacked systems were quickly taken offline. In a statement the FBI said:
“This is an ongoing situation, and we are not able to provide any additional information at this time… We continue to encourage the public to be cautious of unknown senders.”
Source - FBI Email Server Hacked - Sky News
Source - FBI Email Server Hacked - NY Post
Source - FBI Email Server Hacked - Forbes
Critical Infrastructure Companies Targeted
Next up, we turn to a survey carried out by Skybox Security who questioned OT security decision makers in the UK, US, Australia, and Germany. Many of those questioned were from organisations with $1 billion or more in revenue from the manufacturing, energy, and utilities industries. Among the findings were:
- 83% of firms in the energy and other critical infrastructure industries have had at least one operational technology (OT) breach in the last 36 months.
- Many underestimate this risk, with 73% of CIO’s and CISO’s saying they are highly confident they will not suffer an OT breach in the next year.
- In comparison, only 37% of plant managers share that belief.
- 40% of all respondents say OT is an afterthought to other digital initiatives.
- Similarly, 40% of all respondents also said supply chain/third-party access to the network in one of the top three highest security risks, though less than half said their organisation has a third-party access policy that applied to OT.
Source - SkyBox Security Survey - TechCentral Summary
Source - SkyBox Security Survey - Link to Survey
Roundup of Government Data Security Threats in 2021
Lastly, an article from Security Intelligence which looks at some of this year’s top US Government security stories. This includes stories about:
- What President Biden’s executive order means for supply chain attacks.
- How President Biden’s executive order for cloud security stacks up to industry expectations.
- How the US federal government is trying to improve data security protections.
- Suggestions on how government agencies can increase their data protection, application security, and database security.
- Ways to reduce the cost of a data breach.
Check out the full article below.
