THREAT LEVELS
The threat to the UK from International Terrorism is SEVERE
The threat to Great Britain from Irish Republican Terrorism is MODERATE
Threat levels are designed to give a broad indication of the likelihood of a terrorist attack.
LOW means an attack is unlikely
MODERATE means an attack is possible, but not likely
SUBSTANTIAL means an attack is a strong possibility
SEVERE means an attack is highly likely
CRITICAL means an attack is expected imminently
BRIEFING
The Dutch government has defended a decision not to detain four Russians accused of an attempted cyber-attack on the global chemical weapons watchdog in The Hague. The suspected Russian agents were sent home as it was not a criminal inquiry, Prime Minister Mark Rutte said. The US and UK have joined the Netherlands in blaming Russian spies for a series of cyber-plots worldwide.
Russian spies have been accused of involvement in a series of cyber-plots across the globe, leading the US to level charges against seven agents. The US justice department said targets included the global chemical weapons watchdog, anti-doping agencies and a US nuclear company. The allegations are part of an organised push-back against alleged Russian cyber-attacks around the world.
Australia’s government believes Russian military officials hacked and leaked the emails of senior US Democrats during the 2016 presidential election campaign, before the documents were published online.
Apple and Amazon are among US companies and agencies who have had data stolen by Chinese spies, claims Bloomberg. The data had been siphoned off via tiny chips inserted on server circuit boards made by a company called Super Micro Computer, reported the news agency.
An elite group of North Korean hackers has been identified as the source of a wave of cyberattacks on global banks that has netted “hundreds of millions” of dollars, security researchers said on Wednesday. A report by the cybersecurity firm FireEye said that the newly identified group, dubbed APT38, is distinct from but linked to other North Korean hacking operations, and has the mission of raising funds for the isolated Pyongyang regime.
A DNSchanger-like attack first spotted in August on D-Link routers in Brazil has expanded to affect more than 70 different devices and more than 100,000 individual piece of kit. Radware first identified the latest campaign, which started as an attack on Banco de Brasil customers via a DNS redirection that sent people to a cloned Website that stole their credentials.
Now, Quihoo's Netlab 360 folk have warned that the attack, which they've dubbed GhostDNS, is “starting to ramp up its effort significantly with a whole bunch of new scanners."
[UK] Tesco Bank has been fined £16.4m by the UK financial regulator for failings surrounding a cyber-attack on its customers in November 2016.
The latest hack on Facebook that allowed outside parties the ability to control about 50 million people's accounts was "a sophisticated attack," according to Carolyn Everson, Facebook's vice president of global marketing solutions.
The Special Cell of Delhi Police has arrested a 17-year-old boy for hacking the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) website on September 10. Police said the boy belongs to Uttar Pradesh and is pursuing a technical course from a central university in Delhi and stayed in a rented house.
Default passwords such as "admin" and "password" will be illegal for electronics firms to use in California from 2020. The state has passed a law that sets higher security standards for net-connected devices made or sold in the region.
A report alleging that Apple and Amazon had data stolen by Chinese spies has been strongly disputed by both tech firms. Apple and Amazon have both responded publicly to claims made by Bloomberg Businessweek which described the cyber-attack.
The CIP Weekly Cyber Security Brief is published in partnership with Dilitas.com, and is gathered from current, open source data supplied through contacts within diplomatic posts, law enforcement agencies & UK intelligence services.