Hasbara Buster
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US government involved in extensive cyber operations against world: Report
A new report has revealed that the US government is behind massive hacking operations, allocating tens of millions of dollars each year to cyber attacks and cyber espionage activities against various countries around the globe.
According to a recent article by American journalist Joseph Menn, the White House and the contractors of the Defense Department have gone to great lengths to exploit “security flaws” in the computers of foreign countries for extensive cyber espionage and offensive cyber warfare.
In his report, Menn stated that the United States is investing heavily on discovering, identifying and exploiting vulnerabilities, and gaining access to the systems and networks of international targets.
“... it (the US) has become the biggest buyer in a burgeoning gray market where hackers and security firms sell tools for breaking into computers,” he wrote.
Menn also said that a large proportion of Washington’s current cyber efforts involves hacking operations that are aimed at wreaking havoc on the computers of other countries.
“Computer researchers in the public and private sectors say the US government, acting mainly through defense contractors, has become the dominant player in fostering the shadowy but large-scale commercial market for tools known as exploits, which burrow into hidden computer vulnerabilities.”
The American journalist added, “In their most common use, exploits are critical but interchangeable components inside bigger programs. Those programs can steal financial account passwords, turn an iPhone into a listening device or, in the case of Stuxnet, sabotage a nuclear facility,” he wrote.
According to computer security software company McAfee, the United States is home to the largest number of botnets or “zombie armies - a collection of internet-connected computers that are used to generate spam, relay viruses or flood a network or server with excessive requests to cause it to fail - in the world, and control servers used to hack computers worldwide.
Data from Germany’s Deutsche Telekom shows that far more attacks against its networks come from the United States.
US-based HostExploit, which detects and exposes internet malpractice, also says the US has the world's most malicious servers.
Between September 2012 and March of this year, 85 Chinese government and company websites were hacked, with 39 of the attacks having their origins in the United States, according to Chinese media.
Chinese officials also said that US-based servers had hosted 73 percent of cyber attacks on Chinese citizens during roughly the same period.
PressTV - US government involved in extensive cyber operations against world: Report
A new report has revealed that the US government is behind massive hacking operations, allocating tens of millions of dollars each year to cyber attacks and cyber espionage activities against various countries around the globe.
According to a recent article by American journalist Joseph Menn, the White House and the contractors of the Defense Department have gone to great lengths to exploit “security flaws” in the computers of foreign countries for extensive cyber espionage and offensive cyber warfare.
In his report, Menn stated that the United States is investing heavily on discovering, identifying and exploiting vulnerabilities, and gaining access to the systems and networks of international targets.
“... it (the US) has become the biggest buyer in a burgeoning gray market where hackers and security firms sell tools for breaking into computers,” he wrote.
Menn also said that a large proportion of Washington’s current cyber efforts involves hacking operations that are aimed at wreaking havoc on the computers of other countries.
“Computer researchers in the public and private sectors say the US government, acting mainly through defense contractors, has become the dominant player in fostering the shadowy but large-scale commercial market for tools known as exploits, which burrow into hidden computer vulnerabilities.”
The American journalist added, “In their most common use, exploits are critical but interchangeable components inside bigger programs. Those programs can steal financial account passwords, turn an iPhone into a listening device or, in the case of Stuxnet, sabotage a nuclear facility,” he wrote.
According to computer security software company McAfee, the United States is home to the largest number of botnets or “zombie armies - a collection of internet-connected computers that are used to generate spam, relay viruses or flood a network or server with excessive requests to cause it to fail - in the world, and control servers used to hack computers worldwide.
Data from Germany’s Deutsche Telekom shows that far more attacks against its networks come from the United States.
US-based HostExploit, which detects and exposes internet malpractice, also says the US has the world's most malicious servers.
Between September 2012 and March of this year, 85 Chinese government and company websites were hacked, with 39 of the attacks having their origins in the United States, according to Chinese media.
Chinese officials also said that US-based servers had hosted 73 percent of cyber attacks on Chinese citizens during roughly the same period.
PressTV - US government involved in extensive cyber operations against world: Report
