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Cybersecurity experts said the malicious software described in the alert appeared to describe the one that affected Sony, which would mark first major destructive cyber attack waged against a company on U.S. soil. Such attacks have been launched in Asia and the Middle East, but none have been reported in the United States. The FBI report did not say how many companies had been victims of destructive attacks. "I believe the coordinated cyberattack with destructive payloads against a corporation in the U.S. represents a watershed event," said Tom Kellermann, chief cybersecurity officer with security software maker Trend Micro Inc. "Geopolitics now serve as harbingers for destructive cyberattacks."
The five-page, confidential "flash" FBI warning issued to businesses late on Monday provided some technical details about the malicious software used in the attack. It provided advice on how to respond to the malware and asked businesses to contact the FBI if they identified similar malware. The report said the malware overrides all data on hard drives of computers, including the master boot record, which prevents them from booting up. "The overwriting of the data files will make it extremely difficult and costly, if not impossible, to recover the data using standard forensic methods," the report said.
An entrance gate to Sony Pictures Entertainment at the Sony Pictures lot is pictured in Culver City, California
The document was sent to security staff at some U.S. companies in an email that asked them not to share the information. The FBI released the document in the wake of last Monday's unprecedented attack on Sony Pictures Entertainment, which brought corporate email down for a week and crippled other systems as the company prepares to release several highly anticipated films during the crucial holiday film season. A Sony spokeswoman said the company had “restored a number of important services” and was “working closely with law enforcement officials to investigate the matter.” She declined to comment on the FBI warning.
The FBI said it is investigating the attack with help from the Department of Homeland Security. Sony has hired FireEye Inc's (FEYE.O) Mandiant incident response team to help clean up after the attack, a move that experts say indicates the severity of the breach. While the FBI report did not name the victim of the destructive attack in its bulletin, two cybersecurity experts who reviewed the document said it was clearly referring to the breach at the California-based unit of Sony Corp (6758.T). "This correlates with information about that many of us in the security industry have been tracking," said one of the people who reviewed the document. "It looks exactly like information from the Sony attack."
MORE
Already embroiled in a row with President Donald Trump amid his claims that spies are leaking secrets against him, now the CIA is facing its own damaging leaks. This time it's the American intelligence community's familiar foe - Wikileaks - with another cache of what look like highly sensitive secret documents, this time about the CIA's technical capabilities. The National Security Agency faced its problems when Edward Snowden passed on documents to journalists - but this time it's the NSA's sister agency.
While the NSA is the agency charged with collecting what is called signals intelligence and the CIA's job is to recruit human spies, the reality is that the technical and the human side of espionage have been drawing closer for years. The CIA created a Directorate of Digital Innovation whose director told me the priority was making sure the agency stayed on top of technology. While the NSA may sift global internet traffic looking for intelligence, the CIA prioritises close access against specific targets who it is interested in. And getting into someone's electronic devices can be vital if you are trying to target them - either to recruit them as an agent or for a drone strike against a suspected terrorist.
Tracking the source
These latest leaks will be a huge problem for the CIA as the Snowden leaks were for the NSA (although there will be less surprise about these capabilities now since we learned so much from the Snowden files). There is the embarrassment factor - that an agency whose job is to steal other people's secrets has not been able to keep their own. This will be added to by the revelations that the US consulate in Frankfurt was used as a base for the technical operations which may cause problems in Germany where the Edward Snowden revelations caused intense domestic debate. Then there will be the fear of a loss of intelligence coverage by the CIA against their targets who may change their behaviour because they now know the spies can do. And then there will be the questions over whether the CIA's technical capabilities were too expansive and too secret.
The CIA is alleged to have found a way to listen to conversations that took place close to Samsung TVs
Because many of the initial documents point to capabilities targeting consumer devices, the hardest questions may revolve around what is known as the "equities" problem - when you find a vulnerability in a piece of technology, how do you balance the benefit of leaving that vulnerability in place so the intelligence agency can exploit it to collect intelligence with the benefit to the public of informing the manufacturer so they can close it and improve everyone's security? If an intelligence agency has found a vulnerability then other hackers might do as well. The NSA faced questions about whether it had found the right balance and now it may be the CIA's turn.
There will be anger in the CIA and some of that will be directed at Wikileaks. Wikileaks has said the source of this latest cache of documents came from a former US government hacker or contractor. But it is an organisation that the US intelligence community has claimed may have been a route for information hacked from the Democrats by the Russians during last year's election to make it into the public domain. No doubt the CIA will be trying to establish the exact source of the latest leak and understand the timing - coming right in the middle of an intensifying row between American spies and their own president.
CIA faces huge problem over malware claims - BBC News
In the last few days, whenever I log on to this message board, my internet security program warns me in no uncertain terms. I have taken taken futher steps to overcome this issue...Anyone have similar problems?
I was using Malwarebytes (Premium) and in the last week when I logged on to this site, it would go into overdrive. Just in the last few days, several times I would be trying to respond to a post and it would take almost a minute to type "one" word.TE]
I use Malwarebytes (Premium) and I am often informed of dangerous sites. I have never received warnings about USMB.
I was using Malwarebytes (Premium) and in the last week when I logged on to this site, it would go into overdrive. Just in the last few days, several times I would be trying to respond to a post and it would take almost a minute to type "one" word.TE]
I use Malwarebytes (Premium) and I am often informed of dangerous sites. I have never received warnings about USMB.
I was using Malwarebytes (Premium) and in the last week when I logged on to this site, it would go into overdrive. Just in the last few days, several times I would be trying to respond to a post and it would take almost a minute to type "one" word.TE]
I use Malwarebytes (Premium) and I am often informed of dangerous sites. I have never received warnings about USMB.
In the last few days, whenever I log on to this message board, my internet security program warns me in no uncertain terms. I have taken taken futher steps to overcome this issue...Anyone have similar problems?
SO, what does Mal wear?
SO, what does Mal wear?
The same Maoist pantsuits Hillary and Jake wear.
No, it's not just a coincidence ...
In the last few days, whenever I log on to this message board, my internet security program warns me in no uncertain terms. I have taken taken futher steps to overcome this issue...Anyone have similar problems?
SO, what does Mal wear?
I was using Malwarebytes (Premium) and in the last week when I logged on to this site, it would go into overdrive. Just in the last few days, several times I would be trying to respond to a post and it would take almost a minute to type "one" word.TE]
I use Malwarebytes (Premium) and I am often informed of dangerous sites. I have never received warnings about USMB.
That's the same problem I've been having! And for me, it is only on this site. What's more I have 2 phones, and it happens to both of them. Now I am convinced that this issue is site related.I was using Malwarebytes (Premium) and in the last week when I logged on to this site, it would go into overdrive. Just in the last few days, several times I would be trying to respond to a post and it would take almost a minute to type "one" word.TE]
I use Malwarebytes (Premium) and I am often informed of dangerous sites. I have never received warnings about USMB.
Ive had that happen a couple times with taking forever to type one word, then it speeds up and types the whole line. Its a royal pain.
I need to update my malware protection. I dont think its just this site.
Most of the anti-virus and anti-malware stuff is itself viruses and malware.
