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Feds Urge Cyber Pros to Assist Preparations for Quantum Cyberattack: ‘Please Help Us’

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Federal officials are bracing for a quantum computer cyberattack and asking private businesses to help prevent widespread devastation.

National security officials fear a super code-breaking cryptanalytically relevant quantum computer, or CRQC, will crack the encryptions of modern systems, exposing state secrets, financial transactions and other sensitive information. Researchers warn darkly of “Q-Day,” when a combination of quantum-classical computing power and artificial intelligence technologies threaten to undermine data security encryption methods.

The U.S. intelligence community is asking private businesses to help defend against such a powerful machine, and the Commerce Department is working to get new encryption tools into the hands of defenders. At the Department of Homeland Security, officials are developing guidance to address quantum technology risk.

Kathryn Knerler, the U.S. intelligence community’s chief information security officer, told a gathering of cybersecurity experts and hackers in Las Vegas this month that the quantum computing age is approaching. She said quantum computing will be a “very large game-changer” and people must secure artificial intelligence systems before the world takes the quantum leap.

“We have, in my estimation, about five or six years to look at how we secure artificial intelligence,” Ms. Knerler said at the Black Hat USA 2024 conference. “So my challenge to all of you is please help us to secure artificial intelligence and come up with the guardrails.” (Read more from “Feds Urge Cyber Pros to Assist Preparations for Quantum Cyberattack: ‘Please Help Us’” HERE)

Why This New Cybersecurity Flaw Is the ‘Most Serious’ in Decades

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A newly discovered cybersecurity flaw is affecting vast swaths the internet from Google and Amazon to the systems used to run militaries and hospitals, with US Homeland Security’s top cybersecurity official calling it the most serious vulnerability in decades.

The flaw is present within a popular piece of software called Log4j, which is part of the ubiquitous programming language Java. Log4j is used by millions of websites and apps — and the software’s flaw potentially allows hackers to take control of systems by typing a simple line of code, according to cybersecurity experts.

“The log4j vulnerability is the most serious vulnerability I have seen in my decades-long career,” Jen Easterly, the director of the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, said Thursday on CNBC.

Most hacking attempts using Log4j so far have involved attackers trying to install cryptocurrency “mining” software on victims’ computers. However, an Iranian hacking group called “Charming Kitten” has also tried to use the vulnerability to breach government agencies and businesses in Israel, according to the cybersecurity company Check Point.

The Log4j flaw is more serious than other cybersecurity flaws because of its “ubiquity, simplicity and complexity,” according to Easterly.

(Read more from “Why This New Cybersecurity Flaw Is the ‘Most Serious’ in Decades” HERE)

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Top Cybersecurity Firm: Massive Russian Cyberattack Was Waged From Within U.S.

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The hackers behind the major cyberattack against several federal government agencies used computers within the U.S., according to the cybersecurity firm FireEye.

The massive cyberattack was conducted using servers and computers within the U.S. and often from within the same town or city as the victims of the attack, FireEye told The New York Times. Because the attack came from domestic servers, the perpetrators were able to evade the National Security Agency’s (NSA) authority, which does not extend to domestic private sector networks.

“[Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR)] is deliberate, they are sophisticated, and they don’t have the same legal restraints as we do here in the West,” former government intelligence analyst Adam Darrah told The Times.

The extent of the cyberattack, meanwhile, is now estimated to be much larger than originally expected, according to The Times. It is now expected that Russian actors accessed about 250 U.S. networks, including Fortune 500 companies and several government agencies such as the Department of Homeland Security, the Treasury Department and the National Nuclear Security Administration. (Read more from “Top Cybersecurity Firm: Massive Russian Cyberattack Was Waged From Within U.S.” HERE)

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