humble3d Posted February 26, 2014 Share Posted February 26, 2014 Hackers Target VFW WebsiteAttackers slipped malicious code into the U.S. Veterans of Foreign Wars’ website (vfw[.]org) through a previously-unknown bug in Internet Explorer 10 as part of cyberspy plot timed to the storm that swept up the East Coast Thursday, shutting down the federal government in Washington.Did you follow that?AuthorAliya Sternstein reports on cybersecurity and homeland security systems for Nextgov. She has covered technology for nine years at such publications as National Journal's TechnologyDaily, Federal Computer Week and Forbes. Before joining Government Executive, she covered agriculture and derivatives ... Full Bio“We believe the attack is a strategic Web compromise targeting American military personnel amid a paralyzing snowstorm at the U.S. Capitol in the days leading up to the Presidents Day holiday weekend,” researchers at FireEye, a startup recently acquired by cyber giant Mandiant, wrote in a blog post.It gets better.The last modified date of the exploit code — dubbed “Operation SnowMan” by the researchers — was two days ago.“This suggests that this instantiation of the exploit was very recent and was deployed for this specific strategic Web compromise,” the investigators wrote. “A possible objective in the SnowMan attack is targeting military service members to steal military intelligence.”In addition to retirees, active military members use the VFW website, they point out. “It is probably no coincidence that Monday, Feb. 17, is a U.S. holiday, and much of the U.S. Capitol shut down Thursday amid a severe winter storm,” the researchers added.Users should upgrade to IE 11 or install Microsoft’s Experience Mitigation Toolkit to silence the spyware, according to FireEye._http://www.defenseone.com/technology/2014/02/hackers-target-vfw-website/78926/?oref=d-channelriver Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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