Archive for March 14, 2022

Rosneft Energy Plant Hit With A Cyber Attack

Posted in Commentary with tags , , on March 14, 2022 by itnerd

German newspaper die Welt is reporting ‘Hackers meet German Rosneft (translation here) subsidiary’, citing Germany’s BSI cybersecurity watchdog, which issued a cybersecurity warning to companies in the energy sector after a cyber attack occurred sometime between Friday night and early Saturday morning. While the attack has currently not effected Rosneft’s business or the supply situation, the company’s systems have been affected. And it’s thought that the hacker collective Anonymous might be behind this as the company has a relationship with Russia. Who aren’t the most popular people at the moment.

Saryu Nayyar, CEO and Founder, Gurucul had this to say:

 “With the global opposition to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, I doubt there is much sympathy for Rosneft, even as a subsidiary in Germany. This attack shows that globally, threat actor groups and nation states are both potential disruptors to critical infrastructure or any private sector company. All organizations should stay vigilant and continue to invest in cyber security solutions that employ advanced analytics and automated detection and response to thwart threat actors from disrupting operations, stealing sensitive data, or detonating ransomware. Certainly, solutions that employ a large set of machine learning models that are self-training to adapt to newer attacks and techniques is absolutely critical.”

I for one will be interested to see what the damage of this hack is, and if it makes other German companies reconsider their security posture if they have a relationship with Russia.

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Facebook Kind Of Flip Flops On Letting People Call For The Death Of Putin And Muddies The Waters In The Process

Posted in Commentary with tags , on March 14, 2022 by itnerd

Last week, I highlighted a policy change by Facebook which let a handful of countries around Russia do things like call for the death of Vladimir Putin. At the time I said this:

Not that I want to defend Putin. But if I put up a post on this blog calling for the death of US President Joe Biden, I am certain that some US law enforcement agency would be on my doorstep looking for me by the end of the day. In other words, while rules cannot be absolute, this doesn’t seem right to me. Even if its application is limited in scope as is the case here. And I have to wonder if this policy will do more harm than good. Because everything that Facebook does does more harm than good.

It now seems that Facebook has flipped flopped on this… Sort of:

Last week, Facebook temporarily relaxed its policies so that Ukrainian users could post threats of violence against the Russian military, which invaded its neighbor in late February. The change led to some public confusion as to what was allowed, and what was not, on Facebook and Instagram. Meta’s President of Global Affairs Nick Clegg posted a statement Friday saying the move is aimed at protecting Ukrainian rights and doesn’t signal tolerance for “discrimination, harassment or violence towards Russians.” On Sunday, he tried to further explain the company’s stance to employees in an internal post. “We are now narrowing the focus to make it explicitly clear in the guidance that it is never to be interpreted as condoning violence against Russians in general,” Clegg wrote in the internal post, which was reviewed by Bloomberg.

So, is that clear? You can post a threat of violence against the military but not Putin? Right. This change doesn’t help.

#Fail Facebook.

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Instagram Now Blocked In Russia By Russia

Posted in Commentary with tags , on March 14, 2022 by itnerd

Russia followed through on its threat to block Meta-owned Instagram on Monday, cutting off access to tens of millions of users in the country:

Instagram is popular in Russia. It’s Meta’s second most popular app there, according to data from Sensor Tower, behind ubiquitous messaging service WhatsApp. The app has been installed 166 million times across the Russian App Store and Google Play since 2014, making it three times as popular as Facebook. After Russian censor Roskomnadzor announced that the government would restrict access to the app following a 48-hour “transition period,” Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri condemned Russia’s actions, which will affect 80 million people in the country.

This is likely in response to things like Facebook allowing people in a handful of countries around Russia to post things like death threats on Facebook. Which led to attempts by the Russian Government to brand Facebook and Instagram “extremist”.

Clearly the Kremlin wants to cut people off from any information that isn’t favourable to the Russian regime. And they’re willing to do that even if it upsets their own citizens because roughly 60 million of them use the platform, and some make money off of the platform:

On the platform, emotions ran high Sunday among Russians who were about to lose thousands of dollars they received to promote various products, as well as access to millions of followers amassed over the years.

“I’m writing this post now and crying,” Olga Buzova, a Russian reality television star, wrote, saying she hoped “it’s all not true and we will remain here.”

I’m going to be watching this as I can see a scenario where this causes a backlash inside of Russia. And that may make this rather situation go in directions that nobody expected.

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A Significant Gap In Cyber Incident Response Is Communication

Posted in Commentary with tags on March 14, 2022 by itnerd

Effectively communicating during a cyber breach is crucial for companies to beat any misinformation. Organizations often fail to disclose details of a cyber breach because they don’t know what happened or have the tools to fight cyberattacks. While legislation like this forces companies to report such incidents, it’s pretty clear that companies need to do more on the communication front. David Masson of Darktrace agrees:

Organizations can be slow or hesitant in getting their message out after experiencing a cyber incident, and this can sometimes give an impression of reluctance to say anything at all, which sows seeds of doubt. In this world of communication immediacy, businesses should have disclosure as part of their cyber response plans and be ready to discuss the incident as soon and as openly as possible in the public domain. Strong and confident communications that promptly offer clear and accurate information will help avoid mistakes or other narratives becoming the truth and instead drive home reassurance about what has happened, how the organization is remedying the situation and the fact that the business is in charge of its future. A failure to disclose or disclose appropriately won’t actually stop eventual disclosure, but it won’t be on your terms, and you won’t have control of the message.

That’s helpful advice and something that business should build into their plans for dealing with a cyber incident. On top of having the proper defences in place to keep a cyber incident from happening.

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Ukraine Using Clearview AI Tech To Fight Russia

Posted in Commentary with tags , on March 14, 2022 by itnerd

To be honest, I am not sure how I feel about this news that Ukraine has apparently turned to Clearview AI to help them fight Russia:

Ukraine’s defense ministry on Saturday began using Clearview AI’s facial recognition technology, the company’s chief executive told Reuters, after the U.S. startup offered to uncover Russian assailants, combat misinformation and identify the dead. Ukraine is receiving free access to Clearview AI’s powerful search engine for faces, letting authorities potentially vet people of interest at checkpoints, among other uses, added Lee Wolosky, an adviser to Clearview and former diplomat under U.S. presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

The plans started forming after Russia invaded Ukraine and Clearview Chief Executive Hoan Ton-That sent a letter to Kyiv offering assistance, according to a copy seen by Reuters. Clearview said it had not offered the technology to Russia, which calls its actions in Ukraine a “special operation….”

The Clearview founder said his startup had more than 2 billion images from the Russian social media service VKontakte at its disposal, out of a database of over 10 billion photos total. That database can help Ukraine identify the dead more easily than trying to match fingerprints and works even if there is facial damage, Ton-That wrote…. Ton-That’s letter also said Clearview’s technology could be used to reunite refugees separated from their families, identify Russian operatives and help the government debunk false social media posts related to the war.

The exact purpose for which Ukraine’s defense ministry is using the technology is unclear, Ton-That said. Other parts of Ukraine’s government are expected to deploy Clearview in the coming days, he and Wolosky said.

Part of me thinks that this is a good use of this technology. But another part of me screams “this is Clearview AI and they’re evil.” This is clearly an interesting (if “interesting” is a right way of saying it) dilemma. Using some evil tech for a good cause. I root for Ukraine as we all do, but where is the border between the right and wrong time to use facial recognition and how do we make sure it is stopped when this war is over? That’s the question that needs to be answered.

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