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CYBER WARS
US to send cyber soldiers to the battlefield; 3 plead guilty in botnet attack
by Staff Writers
Washington (AFP) Dec 14, 2017


Three plead guilty in Mirai botnet attacks
Washington (AFP) Dec 13, 2017 - US officials unveiled criminal charges Wednesday against a former university student and two others in the Mirai botnet attacks which shut down parts of the internet in several countries starting in mid-2016.

The Justice Department announced plea agreements for Paras Jha, 21 -- a former Rutgers University computer science student who acknowledged writing the malware code -- and Josiah White, 20, and Dalton Norman, 21, who helped profit from the attacks.

In documents unsealed Wednesday, Jha admitted writing the code for the botnet which harnessed more than 100,000 "internet of things" (IoT) devices such as cameras, light bulbs and appliances to launch the attacks.

By commanding an army of bots -- or computers under control of the attackers -- the malware shut down networks and websites in the United States, Germany, Liberia and elsewhere.

Jha admitted he "set up and managed command and control servers to manage the infected computers" in the scheme.

Officials said the three used the botnet "to conduct a number of powerful distributed denial-of-service" attacks which flood the internet and can shut down networks.

Later, Jha posted the source code for the Mirai malware on a criminal forum, allowing other groups to use it.

The malware was used to make money through "click fraud," a scheme that makes it appear that a real user has clicked on an advertisement for the purpose of artificially generating revenue, according to officials.

The three generated some $180,000 from the scheme in bitcoin, Justice officials added.

Jha was identified as a suspect earlier this year by security blogger Brian Krebs -- who was himself a victim of the attacks.

Krebs said Jha used the online moniker Anna-Senpai, who had claimed responsibility for earlier denial of service attacks using various versions of Mirai -- including some targeting Rutgers University, the school in New Jersey where Jha was studying.

In January 2017, "Jha and his co-conspirators leased access to their botnet to other criminals in exchange for payment," according to the plea agreement in federal court.

According to Krebs, Jha and White operated ProTraf Solutions LLC, which masqueraded as a security firm that dealt with "denial of service" attacks it created.

The three face possible prison terms and monetary fines as a result of the conspiracy and fraud charges.

Jha pleaded guilty separately to a series of attacks which shut down the Rutgers computer networks from 2014 to 2016, officials said.

The US Army will soon send teams of cyber warriors to the battlefield, officials said Wednesday, as the military increasingly looks to take the offensive against enemy computer networks.

While the Army's mission is generally to "attack and destroy," the cyber troops have a slightly different goal, said Colonel Robert Ryan, who commands a Hawaii-based combat team.

"Not everything is destroy. How can I influence by non-kinetic means? How can I reach up and create confusion and gain control?" he told reporters.

The cyber soldiers have been integrated for six months in infantry units, and will tailor operations according to commanders' needs, said Colonel William Hartman of the Army's Cyber Command.

The Army has for the past three years conducted training for such operations at a huge center in southern California.

Hartman didn't give details on what the cyber troops can achieve, except to say that they would be scooping up information or intercepting planned attacks.

According to the New York Times, CYBERCOM has previously placed "implants" in Islamic State group networks that let experts monitor the group's behavior and ultimately imitate or alter commanders' messages so they unwittingly direct fighters to areas likely to be hit by drone or plane strikes.

Another technique likely being employed is a common type of cyber attack known as a denial of service.

Cyber Command had previously been a subordinate part of the US Strategic Command, but President Donald Trump in August ordered the Pentagon to elevate it to its own command, in a sign of its growing importance.

CYBER WARS
Facing dissent from abroad, Ethiopia turns to spyware
Addis Ababa (AFP) Dec 12, 2017
As soon as Ethiopian opposition activist Henok Gabisa read the email, he knew something was not right. With the subject line "Democracy in Ethiopia: Can it be saved?", the message seemed tailor-made for him. Yet the US-based academic, who teaches law at Washington and Lee University, said it was written vaguely and contained a suspicious hyperlink. Indeed, the email was an attempt t ... read more

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