San Francisco, April 17: Cyber security representatives from the US and Britain have warned of Russian state-sponsored cyber-attacks that are targeting network infrastructure devices such as routers and firewalls, to compromise government and private sectors globally.
According to a US Computer Emergency Response Team (US-CERT), the Technical Alert (TA) provided information on the worldwide cyber exploitation of network infrastructure devices (routers, switches, firewalls, Network-based Intrusion Detection Systems) by Russian state-sponsored cyber actors.
The joint TA is the result of analytic efforts between the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the UK's National Cyber Security Centre, according to information on the official website of the DHS.
"Victims were identified through a coordinated series of actions between US and international partners. The report builds on previous DHS reporting and advisories from the UK, Australia and the European Union," the website said.
"The FBI has high confidence that Russian state-sponsored cyber actors are using compromised routers to conduct man-in-the-middle attacks to support espionage, extract intellectual property, maintain persistent access to victim networks, and potentially lay a foundation for future offensive operations," the website added.
Since 2015, the US government has been receiving information from multiple sources -- including private and public sector cyber security research organisations and allies -- that cyber actors were exploiting large numbers of enterprise-class and residential routers and switches worldwide.
The US government assessed that cyber actors supported by the Russian government carried out this worldwide campaign.
These operations enable espionage and intellectual property that supports the Russian Federation's national security and economic goals, the website said.
Russian cyber actors leverage a number of legacy or weak protocols and service ports associated with network administration activities.
Cyber actors use these weaknesses to identify vulnerable devices, extract device configurations, harvest login credentials, modify device firmware, and copy or redirect victim traffic through Russian cyber-actor-controlled infrastructure.
Organisations can use publicly available cyber security guidance and best practices from DHS, allied governments, vendors and the private-sector cyber security community on mitigation strategies for the exploitation vectors to safeguard their networks.
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Bangladesh Supreme Court acquits former prime minister Khaleda Zia
Dhaka, Jan 15: Bangladesh Supreme Court on Wednesday acquitted former prime minister and BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia in a corruption case, overturning the High Court’s earlier 10-year prison sentence.
The verdict was delivered by a bench led by Chief Justice Dr Syed Refaat Ahmed after reviewing 79-year-old Zia’s appeal against the High Court’s ruling on Wednesday, the Dhaka Tribune reported.
The Supreme Court acquitted Zia, the party’s Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman, and all other suspects in their appeal over the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case, the report added.
The Appellate Division noted that the case was motivated by revenge.
Zia was sentenced on February 8, 2018, by Dhaka’s Special Judge Court-5 to five years of imprisonment for alleged embezzlement of government funds in the name of the Zia Orphanage Trust.
The same verdict handed down 10 years of rigorous imprisonment for five other accused, including Zia's son Tarique and former chief secretary Kamal Uddin Siddiqui. Each of the accused was also fined Tk2.1 crore.
Among the accused, Tarique, Siddiqui, and Ziaur Rahman’s nephew Mominur Rahman have remained absconding.
Zia appealed the trial court’s verdict to the High Court, but the sentence was increased to 10 years by a High Court bench comprising Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Md Mostafizur Rahman on October 30, 2018.
Zia subsequently filed a leave-to-appeal petition against this sentence.
Following years of delays due to legal procedural issues and a lack of initiative from lawyers, the Appellate Division accepted Zia’s leave-to-appeal on November 11, 2024.
The court also stayed the High Court’s 10-year sentence pending the final hearing of the appeal.
After concluding the hearing, the Appellate Division announced its decision to acquit Zia, officially clearing her of the charges in the case.
Zia is ailing and travelled to London earlier this month for medical treatment.
Zia served as the prime minister of Bangladesh from March 1991 to March 1996, and again from June 2001 to October 2006.
