Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft Says Discovers Hacking Targeting Democratic Institutions in Europe (reuters.com)
Microsoft said today it had discovered hacking targeting democratic institutions, think tanks and non-profit organizations in Europe and plans to offer a cyber security service to several countries to close security gaps. From a report: The hacks occurred between September and December 2018, targeting employees of the German Council on Foreign Relations and European offices of The Aspen Institute and The German Marshall Fund, the company said. Microsoft said it found out about the hacks through the company's Threat Intelligence Center and Digital Crimes Unit, and the hacks targeted 104 employee accounts in Belgium, France, Germany, Poland, Romania, and Serbia. Hackers in most cases create malicious weblinks and spoofed email addresses that look legitimate, aiming to gain access to employee credentials and deliver malware, the company said.
this is why i never trusted the Discovers credit card, not that AMEX is much better but at least they are not Hacking...
Slashdot says discovers English. Says much English with headlines soon. Maybe says grammar next!
Steve Martin was right when he said: "Some people have a way with words. Other people...not have way."
Who the fuck is writing these headlines? Sloth feom the Goonies?
I'm not sure who Discovers is, but at least communist, socialist, and even monarchist institutions aren't being impacted.
BlameBillCosby.com
Are you sure? Look harder.
There is nothing democratic about them. Two of them are literally Americans trying to steer European politics. All of them have been founded to exert more than their fair share of political influence.
Democratic Party in the US.
In fact the "attacked" sites don't even seem to be EU democrats.
I wonder if the people being attacked because they have something in common, like using Microsoft tools to provice web access. /s
I can haz cheezburger?
the hacks targeted 104 employee accounts in Belgium, France, Germany, Poland, Romania, and Serbia. Hackers in most cases create malicious weblinks and spoofed email addresses that look legitimate, aiming to gain access to employee credentials and deliver malware, the company said.
Phishing right?
Not hacking. Maybe if it was Targeted Phishing, but the article doesn't mention that. It just says they create malicious weblinks, and spoofed email addresses to get employee credentials and install malware. They don't say where the weblinks were, but I'm guessing people got emails with embedded links that users followed.
Sorry, but I get at least 4 of these e-mails a day which get caught by the spam filter. I would recommend they get a better spam filter. I would also recommend a round of user training, ie never follow a link in an email, even if it looks legit.
I'm willing to guess there was a particular state actor directing the hacking. I would have been more surprised if the article was about Russia and/or China finding ways to support western democracies rather than undermining them.
I had problems signing into slashdot the last couple of days. I kept getting stuck in a loop, punctuated only by some GDPR form, but whenever I hit enter, I'd get sent right back to the login screen. No matter what scripts I allowed, cookies cleared, or settings I adjusted, I couldn't sign in. Was it the GDPR form? Was it the website? My browser? I kinda resigned myself to not using slashdot any more (despite it being one of the first sites I used when I got onto the internet many years ago) after it all got me thinking about how little use I get from the site these days. Dropping by is more habit than anything. It was a little sad, but, y'know ... whatever; all things must pass and all that.
But it's content like "Microsoft Says Discovers Hacking Targeting Democratic Institutions in Europe" and the taxing intellectual puzzle it presents, firing all my neurons in a despetrate attempt at pattern-matching, as I try to figure out what the author is actually trying to say, that made me remember why I just can't quit you, Slashdot!
I'M BACK BABY!
(Actually I'm back because the login unfucked itself.)
Corporation, n. An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility. - Ambrose Bierce
Hackers hack something something hacking hacker you LUDDITE hacker hack hacking(??) Something something APPS!! or wait no HACKS!! Sorry they sound the same and I'm kinda stoned.
Maybe that's the same company that provides Microsoft support that is closing down and needs me to call them back to get a refund on my service contract?
So Microsoft will help to secure ? Ah ah ah.
I would prefer to ban all proprietary software from any public organization... Or continue to pay Microsoft consultancy to fix Microsoft bugs.