Wednesday, December 15, 2021

g-f(2)734 THE BIG PICTURE OF THE DIGITAL AGE (12/15/2021), WSJ, Hackers Backed by China Seen Exploiting Security Flaw in Internet Software




ULTRA-condensed knowledge


"g-f" fishing of golden knowledge (GK) of the fabulous treasure of the digital age, Digital transformation, Cybersecurity threats (12/15/2021) 


ALERT, WSJ

Researchers call it one of the most dire cybersecurity threats to emerge in years and could enable devastating attacks



  • Hackers linked to China and other governments are among a growing assortment of cyberattackers seeking to exploit a widespread and severe vulnerability in computer server software, according to cybersecurity firms and Microsoft Corp.
  • The involvement of hackers whom analysts have linked to nation-states underscored the increasing gravity of the flaw in Log4j software, a free bit of code that logs activity in computer networks and applications.
  • Cybersecurity researchers say it is one of the most dire cybersecurity threats to emerge in years and could enable devastating attacks, including ransomware, in both the immediate and distant future. Government-sponsored hackers are often among the best-resourced and most capable, analysts say.


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        References


        Hackers Backed by China Seen Exploiting Security Flaw in Internet Software, Robert McMillan and Dustin Volz, December 15, 2021, The Wall Street Journal, WSJ.


        ABOUT THE AUTHOR(S)


        Robert McMillan


        Reporter, The Wall Street Journal

        Robert McMillan writes about computer security, hackers and privacy. Previously, he has written about cloud computing, business technology, bitcoin, and artificial intelligence.


        Dustin Volz


        Reporter, The Wall Street Journal

        Dustin Volz covers cybersecurity and intelligence for The Wall Street Journal and is based in Washington, D.C. He came to the Journal from Reuters, where he wrote about cyber conflict, government surveillance and Russian election-related hacking. Dustin also has covered tech policy at National Journal, reported from Germany and the Dominican Republic, and spent a year in Indonesia as a Fulbright teaching assistant.



        Extra-condensed knowledge


        Lessons learned, WSJ


        • A spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington said Wednesday that Beijing opposes “cyberattacks of any kind” and highlighted that the Log4j vulnerability was first reported by a security team in China.
        • Security researchers have seen no signs to date, however, that China or another nation-state hacking group is attempting widespread exploitation of the Log4j issue on the same scale as the Microsoft Exchange attacks, which infected hundreds of thousands of servers across the globe.


        Condensed knowledge



        Lessons learned, WSJ 


        • U.S. officials this week said it was inevitable that adversarial governments would seek to exploit the security hole, but said that they hadn’t yet identified specific foreign groups acting on it. The U.S. government is often slower to formally attribute cyberattacks to foreign governments than companies like Mandiant and Microsoft.
        • By Tuesday evening, the cybersecurity firm Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. had counted close to 600,000 attempts to exploit the Log4j bug by malicious cybercriminals. About 44% of corporate networks world-wide had been hit by these attempts, the company said.
        • Corrections & Amplifications
          • In an update to its website posted late Tuesday, Microsoft said that it had also seen nation-backed hackers from North Korea and Turkey using the attack. An earlier version of this article misstated the day that Microsoft updated its website. (Corrected on Dec. 15, 2021.)


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        • Category 2: The Big Picture of the Digital Age
        • [genioux fact deduced or extracted from WSJ]
        • This is a “genioux fact fast solution.”
        • Tag Opportunities those travelling at high speed on GKPath
        • Type of essential knowledge of this “genioux fact”: Essential Analyzed Knowledge (EAK).
        • Type of validity of the "genioux fact". 

          • Inherited from sources + Supported by the knowledge of one or more experts.


        References


        “genioux facts”: The online programme on MASTERING “THE BIG PICTURE OF THE DIGITAL AGE”, g-f(2)734, Fernando Machuca, December 15, 2021, blog.geniouxfacts.com, geniouxfacts.com, Genioux.com Corporation.


        ABOUT THE AUTHORS


        PhD with awarded honors in computer science in France

        Fernando is the director of "genioux facts". He is the entrepreneur, researcher and professor who has a disruptive proposal in The Digital Age to improve the world and reduce poverty + ignorance + violence. A critical piece of the solution puzzle is "genioux facts". The Innovation Value of "genioux facts" is exceptional for individuals, companies and any kind of organization.



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