state-sponsored attacks

Pierluigi Paganini October 17, 2015
The ISIL is trying to hack American electrical power companies

US authorities confirmed that hackers belonging to the Islamic State (ISIL) are trying to hack American electrical power companies. According to the U.S. law enforcement, the ISIL is trying to hack American energy firms, the news arrives while the US Government  has charged for the first time a man of cyberterrorism. The news was revealed […]

Pierluigi Paganini November 19, 2014
The US energy industry is constantly under cyber attacks

Data related to the number of incidents occurred to national infrastructure confirms that the US Government energy industry is constantly under attack. The US Government is aware that nation’s energy grid is constantly under attack by state-sponsored hackers and cyber criminals. Recently The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) revealed that Russian hackers have infiltrated several critical […]

Pierluigi Paganini May 04, 2014
Possible evolution of the dispute between Russia and Ukraine

Intelligence Analysts analyzing signals from the cyberspace have tried to predict the evolution of the dispute between Ukraine and Russia. The correlation of the events in the reality with ongoing activities in the cyber space is an essential part of the OSINT analysis. Security experts at Recorded Future, a firm partly funded by the CIA venture capital […]

Pierluigi Paganini April 07, 2014
Windows XP deadline and security concerns

The end of support for Windows XP OS is at hand, the consequences could be serious for specific industries and in counties where the OS is dominant. Timing is running out for Windows XP because the end of support is very close, tomorrow, April 8th 2014, the support for the popular OS will end. After 12 years, support for Windows […]

Pierluigi Paganini February 07, 2014
Disconcerting Report on cybersecurity for US Government entities

A report issued by The Federal Government’s Track Record provides a scaring picture on cybersecurity for US Government entities. The US Government is a privileged target for cybercriminals, state-sponsored hackers and hacktivists, for years now, officials and politicians have warned of the risks related to a cyber attack. Leon Panetta, former Director of the Central […]

Pierluigi Paganini February 05, 2014
US Intelligence warns on Counterintelligence and cyber espionage

Intelligence officials now view the threat from counterintelligence, foreign spying and the leaking, as the No. 2 danger facing the country. Top U.S. Intelligence officials released a new Worldwide Threat Assessment Report during a Senate hearing last week, they highlighted the top risks to national security. Let’s give a look to the list, cybersecurity  is still perceived […]

Pierluigi Paganini November 11, 2013
FireEye has identified a new IE zero-day exploit

FireEye Labs has identified a new IE zero-day exploit used for a watering hole attack in the US. As usual it is crucial to track and mitigate so dangerous threats in time to avoid serious problems. FireEye Labs has detected a new series of attacks based on the exploit of a new IE zero-day vulnerability […]

Pierluigi Paganini November 05, 2013
LinkedIn – How to exploit social media for targeted attacks

  The professional social network LinkedIn is a mine of information for any king of attackers, a Websense post described a typical attack scenario. Recently I read an interesting post published on the Websense security labs blog on the use of social network LinkedIn for the reconnaissance phase of an attack. The concept is not […]

Pierluigi Paganini October 20, 2013
Syrian Electronic Army attacked most major Qatar websites

Syrian Electronic Army attacked most major Qatar websites to protest against the support of the government to the rebels against Assad. The Syrian Electronic Army (SEA) has hit a new series of targets in a large hacking campaign against high profile Qatar based websites. The Syrian Electronic Army is considered one of the most active and dangerous group of […]

Pierluigi Paganini October 05, 2013
Reading IBM X-Force 2013 Mid-Year Trend and Risk Report

IBM issued the X-Force 2013 Mid-Year Trend and Risk Report, a detailed analysis of current security landscape, including data on main cyber threats and information on mitigation techniques. IBM issued the X-Force 2013 Mid-Year Trend and Risk Report, a study that identifies Social media as the main target of cyber criminal activities. The powerful social networking […]