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U.S. charges 4 Russian government workers with hacking energy sector:
The U.S. Justice Department fired another legal salvo against Russia on Thursday, announcing indictments against four Russian government employees for an alleged hacking campaign targeting the energy sector that lasted for years and targeted computers in 135 countries.
An indictment in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia charges that Evgeny Viktorovich Gladkikh, who worked at a Russian Ministry of Defense research institute, conspired with others to damage critical infrastructure outside the United States, causing emergency shutdowns at one foreign facility. Thosecharged in the indictment, under seal since June 2021, also allegedly tried to hack the computers of a U.S. firm that managed similar facilities in the United States.
A separate indictment filed in Kansas alleges that a hacking campaign launched by Russian's federal security service, or FSB, targeted computers at hundreds of energy-related entities around the world. That indictment was also filed under seal last summer.
The hacking activity took place between 2012 and 2018, U.S. officials said. The decision to reveal the indictments underscores the concern U.S. and European officials have about Russia unleashing a wave of cyberattacks on the West in response to a new wave of sanctions over Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco said there is an "urgent ongoing need for American businesses to harden their defenses and remain vigilant." She said Russian state-sponsored hackers "pose a serious and persistent threat to critical infrastructure both in the United States and around the world."
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Tuesday March 29 2022, @12:35AM (10 children)
A VPN theoretically would solve the problem. I haven't tried any. Are there any that you would trust to do the job?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday March 29 2022, @01:02AM (4 children)
You may be right about a VPN. Or, you may not be. I insist that there should be no connection to the same networks accessible via the WWW. No path of communication possible. No wireless, that is far too easily hacked. Wired connections dedicated to the infrastructure.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Tuesday March 29 2022, @08:36AM (3 children)
IIRC, for years the military required all data communication be through fiber. There was (is?) some theory that someone could listen in on a wired communication. You might know about this more than I do.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday March 29 2022, @09:03AM (1 child)
Nahhh, I wouldn't know. What I know is, the military never trusted wireless, because it could be intercepted easily, and decoded with enough time and effort. Wire was always more difficult to find, or to splice into, or to remain undetected while eavesdropping - then you had to deal with decryption.
Fiber wasn't a thing when I was in the military, or, at least at that time, it was still such a secret that I didn't hear about it. And, I have no idea how to go about tapping into a fiber optic fiber. I'm sure it can be done, but it probably can't be done without being detected.
But, following that line of thought, it would make sense if all infrastructure communications were on the most secure media available. Fiber being more secure than copper, that's the way to go.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 29 2022, @10:14AM
Most comms are encrypted in the military whether wireless, wired or fiber.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 29 2022, @01:58PM
Yes, you can tap the communication across a wire. But it is also possible to tap a fiber, just more difficult.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 29 2022, @01:26AM (3 children)
A VPN lowers the attack surface, but sweetens the reward.
If the bad guy manages to break into the VPN, then he is in a system which assumes it doesn't have to worry.
Also, if you manage to hack a VPN vendor's equipment, you get each of his users in one hack.
VPN's are good in theory, but not as good as not being connected in the first place.
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Tuesday March 29 2022, @08:33AM
All excellent points. However, the context is that some kind of communication is necessary, and how best to do it as safely as possible.
Possibly, maybe likely, but not necessarily.
So how about a VPN within a VPN. And several "honeypots" in the mix with lots of somewhat veiled disinformation in them.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 03 2022, @01:31PM (1 child)
I beg to differ. No one with a VPN wants to be hacked. No one wants to be hacked !
(Score: 2) by martyb on Sunday April 03 2022, @01:36PM
Wit is intellect, dancing.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Tuesday March 29 2022, @01:32PM
There's only one VPN I've used and it's been a while since I used it. Think it was PIA or something like that. It seemed to be decent and had options to pay via non-trackable means. You didn't even need to associate your name with the service as far as I can remember.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"