Cybersecurity Advisors Network Nick Kelly

In today's conversation, Craig Rowland joins us to talk about the often overlooked significance of Linux as a key part of global communications and computing infrastructure, and discuss various types threats targeting Linux systems.  
Malware, attackers, and techniques are often very distinct from those seen on Windows; Craig shares insights all of these from his extensive experience both writing and reverse-engineering Linux malware.
Craig is CEO of Sandfly Security, a New Zealand-based provider of Linux threat behavior scanning tools.  Full disclosure:  John Salomon is a paid consultant to Sandfly Security.
Notes from the video:
03:48 I can't find a source for the 95% figure, but a 2023 ZDNet article says 90%, which seems to be the most common figure:  https://www.zdnet.com/article/linux-has-over-3-of-the-desktop-market-its-more-complicated-than-that/
03:55 Percentage of top million websites running Linux is another interesting statistic, which seems to be well above 90%.  For example:  https://gitnux.org/linux-statistics/
04:08 https://www.linuxinsider.com/story/the-flying-penguin-linux-in-flight-entertainment-systems-65541.html etc. etc.
05:54 France's Gendarmerie Nationale:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GendBuntu
06:40 https://www.zdnet.com/article/linux-not-windows-why-munich-is-shifting-back-from-microsoft-to-open-source-again/
14:10 A propos, F5 has some interesting ways of using web shells as an attack vector:  https://www.f5.com/labs/learning-center/web-shells-understanding-attackers-tools-and-techniques
14:40 "attacks on kubernetes" is a fun web search string.  Same for "attacks on S3 buckets".  Enjoy.
14:56 https://redis.io/solutions/messaging/
15:42 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patch_Tuesday
17:40 To be fair, Bob in Accounting is a pretty powerful entry point to the organization for various types of cyberattackers.
19:35 Mirai botnet:  https://www.cloudflare.com/learning/ddos/glossary/mirai-botnet/
19:37 NoaBot:  https://www.akamai.com/blog/security-research/mirai-based-noabot-crypto-mining
20:35 Chroot (change root directory):  https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/chroot
27:42 PuTTY:  https://www.putty.org/
29:45 There are several cryptojackers that try to neutralize competing malware, e.g. ChaosRAT https://www.trendmicro.com/en_th/research/22/l/linux-cryptomining-enhanced-via-chaos-rat-.html or Jenkins https://www.f5.com/labs/articles/threat-intelligence/new-jenkins-campaign-hides-malware--kills-competing-crypto-miner
35:30 For example LockBit:  https://www.akamai.com/blog/security/learning-from-the-lockbit-takedown
35:37 My mistake - AvosLocker is also a Linux port of Windows malware:  https://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/us/security/news/ransomware-spotlight/ransomware-spotlight-avoslocker - HiddenWasp may be a better example:  https://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/us/security/news/cyber-attacks/hiddenwasp-malware-targets-linux-systems-borrows-code-from-mirai-winnti
35:42 Diamorphine LKM rootkit:  https://github.com/m0nad/Diamorphine
36:44 https://core.vmware.com/esxi - an example is ESXiArgs ransomware:  https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/cybersecurity-advisories/aa23-039a
38:42 Abuse.ch MalwareBazaar:  https://bazaar.abuse.ch/
38:49 Fraunhofer FKIE Malpedia:  https://malpedia.caad.fkie.fraunhofer.de
39:35 You could just run a Linux version of the virus aquarium:  https://xkcd.com/350/
39:52 A few examples of VM detection:  https://www.cynet.com/attack-techniques-hands-on/malware-anti-vm-techniques/
41:15 Joe Sandbox:  https://www.joesandbox.com/
42:10 No I won't, because I can't find it.  Bit of Baader-Meinhof going on there...
42:59 https://www.youtube.com/@SandflySecurity
Craig on LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/craighrowland/
Sandfly Security:  https://sandflysecurity.com
Check out the rest of CyAN's media channels on https://cybersecurityadvisors.network/media - and visit us at https://cybersecurityadvisors.network
Intro/outro music court

In today's episode of State of (Cyber)War, Hugo Tarrida and John Salomon talk about the background and current state of cyber conflict in the Middle East.  
We give an overview of some of the major state actors involved, and zero in on the structures, groups, and motivations of the two main regional adversaries - Iran and Israel.
Notes and links:
Due to the volume of supporting links and text, we've listed them on the CyAN blog, available here:  https://cybersecurityadvisors.network/2024/04/10/state-of-cyberwar-episode-5-notes/
Original video episode avaialable at https://youtu.be/X3wkTszRlck
Hugo Tarrida on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hugo-tarrida-32915a204/
John Salomon on LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnsalomon/
Check out the rest of CyAN's media channels on https://cybersecurityadvisors.network/media - and visit us at https://cybersecurityadvisors.network
Intro music courtesy of AlexiAction via Pixabay: https://pixabay.com/users/alexiaction-26977400
Outro music courtesy of Studio Kolomna via Pixabay: https://pixabay.com/users/studiokolomna-2073170
 

In today's episode of State of (Cyber)War, Hugo Tarrida and John Salomon talk about China's approach to cyberwar.  What is the history behind Chinese cyber capabilities?  What are Chinese geopolitical, economic, and social objectives that drive their international cyber activities?  What are some of the biases that we should be aware of when evaluating the trajectory of China and its cyberwar abilities?
Also don't forget to check out our previous video about Chinese disinformation activities here:  https://youtu.be/xBAJ2rBKrMc
Notes and links:
Hugo Tarrida on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hugo-tarrida-32915a204/
John Salomon on LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnsalomon/
Wikipedia article worth reading about Chinese cyber warfare:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberwarfare_by_China
05:42 Granted, Stuxnet was a joint US-Israeli venture - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuxnet
07:06 https://www.reuters.com/world/russia-says-its-working-major-new-agreement-with-iran-2023-12-12/
14:05 Titan Rain - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titan_Rain
 Related:  Operation Aurora (2009) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Aurora
15:20 https://www.npr.org/2022/05/11/1098368201/a-spying-scandal-and-the-fate-of-western-sahara
17:07 The case of Wen Ho Lee, one of several perpetrators of military espionage:  https://sgp.fas.org/crs/nuke/RL30143.pdf
20:30 https://nattothoughts.substack.com - Nellie Ohr and her team do excellent analysis work
20:50 "An Analysis of China's Great Cannon" - https://www.usenix.org/system/files/conference/foci15/foci15-paper-marczak.pdf
 Shoutout to fellow UC Berkeley CSUA member Nick Weaver for co-authoring this paper)
27:48 E.g. "The 'Century of Humiliation' and China's National Narratives" - https://www.uscc.gov/sites/default/files/3.10.11Kaufman.pdf
29:42 Belt and Road Initiative - https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/chinas-massive-belt-and-road-initiative
32:38 Referenced here:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_information_operations_and_information_warfare ("Definitions" section)
32:45 The Three Warfares:  https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/ADB372300.pdf
34:04 The Nine-Dash Line:  https://chinaus-icas.org/research/map-spotlight-nine-dash-line/
34:52 In fact, ruled to be explicitly illegal by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in 2016:
 https://pca-cpa.org/en/news/pca-press-release-the-south-china-sea-arbitration-the-republic-of-the-philippines-v-the-peoples-republic-of-china/
36:19 US FBI director Christopher Wray recently warned about this:  https://www.npr.org/2024/01/31/1228153857/wray-chinese-hackers-national-security
The State of (Cyber)War is a project by members of the Cybersecurity Advisors Network (CyAN), with an interest in information security topics relevant to geopolitics, military cyberdefence, diplomacy, and other international topics.  We discuss various aspects of both current and past issues from the point of view of interested amateurs with varying degrees of experience in the field, in a not-always-entirely-serious format.  
Visit the Cybersecurity Advisors Network at https://cybersecurityadvisors.network
Intro music courtesy of AlexiAction via Pixabay: https://pixabay.com/users/alexiaction-26977400/
Outro music courtesy of Studio Kolomna via Pixabay: https://pixabay.com/users/studiokolomna-2073170/
Original YouTube video at https://youtu.be/HLVPDojARh0

Join James Briscoe and John Salomon in the latest episode of the State of (Cyber)War podcast as they discuss the People's Republic of China and some of its disinformation capabilities.
This informal conversation includes discussion about Chinese foreign election interference, domestic social media manipulation, Taiwan, China's foreign political and economic interests and more.  
John Salomon - https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnsalomon/
James Briscoe - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimbriscoe/
02:10 Xi Jinping's new year's address, via CCTV:  https://youtu.be/TEd3CtcL1pU?si=MAiKGP-SPjm8cjCe
02:50 Xi Zhongxun, Chinese revolutionary leader:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xi_Zhongxun
04:00 Taiwanese elections 2024:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_Taiwanese_general_election
04:08 Kuomintang:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuomintang
04:27 Democratic Progressive Party:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Progressive_Party
05:45 1992 Consensus:  https://thediplomat.com/2022/07/the-1992-consensus-why-it-worked-and-why-it-fell-apart/
07:15 These are the Valemax ore carriers:  https://vale.com/w/fleet-of-ships-serving-vale-receives-first-ore-carrier-in-the-world-equipped-with-rotor-sails
09:12 50 Cent Party:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/50_Cent_Party
09:52 Nine-dotted line:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine-dash_line
10:04 Belt and Road Initiative:  https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/chinas-massive-belt-and-road-initiative
13:00 https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSSIN277923/
13:43 NY Times article on the topic:  https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/11/us/politics/china-disinformation-ai.html
14:15 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Chinese_balloon_incident
14:42 A lot of this is obviously speculation.  https://www.wired.com/story/east-palestine-ohio-train-derailment-tiktok/
16:42 Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank:  https://www.aiib.org/en/index.html
19:35 An article about PRC influence on the Taiwanese elections:  https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/09/taiwan-presidential-election-china-influence
20:32 https://www.npr.org/2023/11/30/1215898523/meta-warns-china-online-social-media-influence-operations-facebook-elections
21:05 A US State Department briefing on this topic:  https://www.state.gov/briefings-foreign-press-centers/how-the-prc-amplifies-russian-disinformation
24:15 United Front Work Department:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Front_Work_Department
26:25 Some points about interference in US elections:  https://gdil.org/russian-and-chinese-influence-actors-and-operations-against-the-american-electorate/
29:34 Hundred Years of Humiliation:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Century_of_humiliation
30:30 The Avoidable War, by Kevin Rudd:  https://www.avoidablewar.com/
32:23 Natto Thoughts:  https://nattothoughts.substack.com/
32:26 The disinformation handbook (part I):  https://nattothoughts.substack.com/p/disinformation-handbook-a-concise
A few links on the topic worth reading:
Chinese information operations against Taiwan:
https://therecord.media/taiwan-elections-china-interference
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/09/taiwan-presidential-election-china-influence
https://thediplomat.com/2024/01/beijing-tries-to-capitalize-on-taiwans-controversial-rocket-alert/
https://thediplomat.com/2024/01/rip-off-the-blindfold-let-taiwanese-civil-society-learn-from-ukraine/
https://fpri.org/article/2023/12/whats-at-stake-in-upcoming-taiwan-election/
General Chinese disinfo operations:
https://www.rand.org/pubs/commentary/2023/10/dismantling-the-disinformation-business-of-chinese.html
https://www.defenceconnect.com.au/joint-capabilities/13356-report-massive-chinese-disinformation-campaign-uncovered-on-youtube
https://medium.com/doublethinklab/propaganda-analysis-how-different-actors-in-chinas-information-ecosystem-portray-the-ukraine-war-ac82713c2f68
https://www.npr.org/2023/11/30/1215898523/meta-warns-china-online-social-media-influence-ope

Welcome to episode 2 of CyAN's State of (Cyber) War series.
Today, James Briscoe and John Salomon talk about Japan - its national cyberdefence capabilities, the regional and global threat landscape, regulations and laws, and how all of these are evolving in the face of changing geopolitical realities and technologies.
A few notes from our chat:
02:25 US-Japan 1960 joint security treaty:  https://www.mofa.go.jp/region/n-america/us/q&a/ref/1.html
02:37 Article 9 Japanese constitution:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_9_of_the_Japanese_Constitution
02:45 SCAP:  Supreme commander allied powers
02:58 Japan Self Defense Forces:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_Self-Defense_Forces
05:01 2019 US-Japan security treaty update:  https://www.mofa.go.jp/files/000470738.pdf
06:54 national security strategy end of 2022:  https://www.cas.go.jp/jp/siryou/221216anzenhoshou/nss-e.pdf
08:14 Lazarus Group:  https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/12/9/us-japan-south-korea-launch-new-efforts-to-counter-n-korea-cyber-threats
10:35 Lazarus Group's cryptocurrency thefts:  https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2023/12/01/north-korean-hackers-lazarus-group-stolen-3b-in-cryptocurrency/
11:29 https://www.dragonflyintelligence.com/news/japan-shift-to-a-more-offensive-cyber-posture-in-2023/
11:35 https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/Japan-to-quadruple-cyber-defense-forces-meeting-threats-head-on
12:47 The 2016 revision in question:  https://www.mofa.go.jp/files/000143304.pdf
13:37 The spending increase to 2% request:  https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/japan-makes-record-defence-spending-request-amid-tension-with-china-2023-08-31/
13:59 It's actually 2% as well:  https://www.nato.int/docu/review/articles/2023/07/03/defence-spending-sustaining-the-effort-in-the-long-term/index.html
14:39 CCDCOE:  https://ccdcoe.org/
14:46 Locked Shields exercise:  https://ccdcoe.org/exercises/locked-shields/
15:33 The official in question was former US Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair:  https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/politics/political-series/20221122-72394/
16:05 The Japanese National Security Strategy allows for development of a posture for information warfare and introduction of active cyber defence in cybersecurity. It will create a government information warfare department, allowing government to aggregate and analyze the situation on disinformation originated abroad.  The National Center for Incident Readiness and Strategy for Cybersecurity is to be restructured to establish an new organisation to coordinate policies between the police and JSDF. This will allow for active cyber defence against attackers. Training for 4000 cyber ‘warriors’ and 16k cyber-capable JSDF members over 5 years is also foreseen.  The Ministry of Foreign Affairs plans AI to enhance monitoring of information and intelligence analysis. Furthermore, defence industry profit margin will be permitted to increase to a max of 15%.
16:45 The Nagoya port ransomware attack of July 2023:  https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-07-06/nagoya-port-delays-restart-following-alleged-ransomware-attack
17:10 The Chinese cyberattack on the Japanese defence network:  
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2023/08/08/japan/japan-china-hack-defense-network/ - WaPo article:  https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/08/07/china-japan-hack-pentagon/
17:23 KillNet ceases attacks on Japan:  https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2022/09/9846d4bf7aee-pro-russia-hacker-group-stops-cyberattacks-on-japan-due-to-money-woes.html
20:17 2023 Amendments to Telecommunications Business Act:  https://www.dataguidance.com/news/japan-amendments-telecommunications-business-act-enter
20:20 Unauthorized Computer Access Law (UCAL):  https://iclg.com/practice-areas/cybersecurity-laws-and-regulations/japan
James Briscoe on LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimbriscoe/
John Salomon on LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnsal

Welcome to episode 1 of CyAN's new State of (Cyber) War series.
Join John Salomon and James Briscoe in a discussion of offensive cyberoperations involving Russian actors, parallels to historical attacks on civilians, expectations and limitations of information operations, and more.
A few notes from our chat:
05:10  James' research paper on Russia/Ukraine:  https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6899132398601162752/
05:30  Conti ransomware group:  https://flashpoint.io/blog/history-of-conti-ransomware/
08:55  2016 Ukraine power grid attacks:  https://www.wired.com/story/russia-ukraine-cyberattack-power-grid-blackout-destruction/
11:15  Stuxnet:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuxnet
12:47  James' follow-up work: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6944843584533581824/
14:35  The Dukes:  https://www.cfr.org/cyber-operations/dukes
 Cozy Bear:  https://www.crowdstrike.com/adversaries/cozy-bear/
 NotPetya:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_Ukraine_ransomware_attacks
18:32  Lazarus Group:  https://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/pl/security/news/cybercrime-and-digital-threats/a-look-into-the-lazarus-groups-operations
20:11  2022 Yandex Moscow taxi hack:  https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2022/09/02/gridlock-as-hackers-order-hundreds-of-taxis-to-same-place-in-moscow
20:25  2023 GUR Russian state tax service hack:  https://therecord.media/ukraine-intelligence-claims-attack-on-russia-tax-service
23:22  2022 Belarus railway hack:  https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/25/cyberpartisans-hack-belarusian-railway-to-disrupt-russian-buildup
24:04  Alexander Lukashenko and the Ukraine invasion map:  https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/lukashenko-ukraine-russia-belarus-invasion-map-b2026440.html
25:23  Syrian Electronic Army:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_Electronic_Army
29:03  Momotarō no Umiwashi came out in 1942:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Momotar%C5%8D_no_Umiwashi
Original YouTube video is at https://youtu.be/VlP_L3xX2Lo
James Briscoe on LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimbriscoe/
John Salomon on LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnsalomon/
Check out the rest of CyAN's media channels on https://cybersecurityadvisors.network/media - and visit us at https://cybersecurityadvisors.network
Intro/outro music courtesy of AlexiAction via Pixabay: https://pixabay.com/users/alexiaction-26977400/