Global Hackers Breached 2,400 Companies, Security Firm Says

Do you see how the crisis is engineered? They want a cyber-security bill, which is nothing more than a plot to restrict the free flow of information over the internet - the internet being the number one enemy of the globalists as every single scheme they've tried has been thwarted by the independent, alternative media, ie the internet. Who would've known about the swine flu scam, or Climate Gate, or the Christmas day staged terror attack, or all of the grotesqueries of the government health bill, the stimulus robbery, the Federal Reserve, etc, were it not for the internet? Is the mainstream media driving any of these stories? No! They're forced to give passive acknowledgment to them because the internet is driving them.

So they want to be able to shut it down, but they need an excuse. It's not as if cyber-security is high on the list of Americans' priorities, ignorant, apathetic and indoctrinated though they are. They need a crisis to scare them into demanding it. So now you'll see a flood of cyber-security breaches and a compliant media demanding solutions. Classic Hegelian Dialectic: problem-reaction-solution. They generate the crisis, you freak out about it, they offer you the solution, unbeknownst to you that it was they who created the problem in the first place. It is the lifeblood of all government: if you're not afraid of something, there is no use for them. The more afraid you are, the more they can aggrandize themselves. Wisen up. I don't know if we can defeat the globalists if they shut the internet down, but I do know they don't stand a chance so long as it exists.

Bloomberg -

Hackers infiltrated the computer networks of more than 2,400 companies in almost 200 countries over an 18-month period, according to a computer security firm.

The attacks are continuing and corporate losses are still being compiled, said Tim Belcher, chief technology officer at Herndon, Virginia-based NetWitness Corp. The Wall Street Journal first reported the breach on its Web site yesterday.

The attack was first spotted on Jan. 26 and also targeted 10 federal agencies over the past several weeks, Belcher said. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, Department of State and Department of Homeland Security have been notified, he said.

The problems of protecting networks from cyber attacks have been highlighted recently by Google Inc.’s threat to leave China after the company said e-mail accounts of Chinese human rights activists were breached. Mountain View, California-based Google, owner of the most popular Internet search engine, is working with the National Security Agency to boost its computer security, a person familiar with the arrangement has said.

NetWitness has named the breach the “Kneber Botnet” after the e-mail from which it originated and the type of attack. Belcher said that while it’s difficult to confirm who is behind the recent breach, the type of software used and method of attack point to an Eastern European criminal organization.

Crime groups “running this activity are every bit as expert at compromising systems and siphoning off information as nation states,” he said. “They’re well funded, motivated and successful.”

80,000 Systems Affected

This latest attack has affected at least 2,411 companies and 80,000 computer systems, Belcher said. NetWitness is in the process of notifying people who’ve been infected, he said.

Companies in Egypt, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the U.S. are the most frequently targeted in the attack, according to a research paper released by NetWitness.

The attack uses a piece of software called ZeuS, designed in Eastern Europe, that takes control of large numbers of computers. These so-called botnets of computers are deployed to extract login and personal information related to e-mail, financial and social-networking Web sites such as Facebook Inc., according to the NetWitness report. Getting access to Facebook profiles allows criminals to use the identity of a trusted individual to get money or more security information.

ZeuS is among the top five most reported computer infections, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

If a criminal syndicate is behind the operation, it’s likely the information is being sold on the black market, Belcher said.

He declined to identify the companies. Whitehouse Station, New Jersey-based Merck & Co. and Dublin, Ohio-based Cardinal Health Inc. were among the companies targeted in the attack, according to the Journal. Voicemail messages left to spokesmen from both companies weren’t immediately returned.