Chinese man arrested over US cyber attacks

-

 

Los Angelese airport
Photo credits: REUTERS

 A Chinese man has been arrested in the US for allegedly selling malware used to hack into American companies. US authorities claim in court papers that Yu Pingan bought and sold malicious software including the rarely used Sakula program.

That malware has been implicated in the 2014 hack attack on the US federal Office of Personnel Management (OPM).

Information on a huge number of US workers employed in sensitive or secret work was stolen in that data breach.

Software bugs

Mr Yu was arrested earlier this week soon after he disembarked from a flight that landed at Los Angeles international airport. He has been charged with breaching computer networks owned by several US firms.

Legal papers filed to support the arrest do not explicitly mention the OPM as one of the targets of the suspected attacks. Instead, they claim Mr Yu was a key member of a gang that carried out hack attacks on US firms between 2011 and 2014.

The hackers are alleged to have used fake web domains and previously unseen software vulnerabilities to gain a foothold on the networks of companies being targeted, say the court documents.

The targeted firms have not been named but the papers say they were based in California, Massachusetts and Arizona.

The arrest is believed to be linked to the OPM breach because, unlike many other malicious programs, Sakula has only been used to carry out a small number of attacks. As well as being implicated in the OPM breach it was also used in a 2015 attack on US health insurance giant Anthem.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Five Incredible Technology Trends for 2018

-
Image
Photo credits: Odd ANDERSEN / AFP You don't have to be a technology enthusiast, you will always look forward to the tech developments especially the tech trends that will make a difference in the future or New Year. Jumia Travel , the leading online travel agency, highlights 5 technology set to define 2018. Artificial Intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) will be bigger this year. More and more organisations will embrace AI which is made possible through machine learning algorithms and will be incorporated in uncountable applications. 5 Generation Technology This year, developers and engineers are getting ready to make a new generation of internet possible. By the end of 2019, 5G networks and phones with 5G will be available. 5G internet has the potential to be almost 10 times faster than 4G, making it even better than most home internet services. Data overload In 2018, data collection is going to become an even higher priority as companies have seen the advantage of coll...
Read more

Food: Four Popular Bukkas in Lagos

-
Image
Bukka meal Local resturants popularly unknown as "Bukka" is considered unsafe for few while some takes pleasure patronizing them. Maybe because it is affordable and offers quality local meals and it's easy to find one around. They are usually small or fairly sized rooms with wooden or plastic tables and chairs, with the cooking pots in view, in most cases. Eating out in bukkas is a very major part of Nigerian life, at least 70 percent of Nigerians have eaten in a bukka and a very good number visit frequently. Bukka food Bukka, which is also known as "Mama Put" is Nigeria’s version of street food. Food is a major part of tourism and  bukkas are a good way to experience the local and authentic food culture of Nigerians. Bukkas are on almost every corner of Lagos. Here is a list of four safe and popular ones in Lagos. Amala Shitta Location: 26 Rabiatu Thomson Crescent, Shitta, Surulere, Lagos. Amala Shitta has been named the best place to get amala i...
Read more

Chromium,it's health benefits

-
Image
  Photo by Alex Munsell on Unsplash Today, we will be discussion a juicy topic in which most folks might be wondering of what importance it is. Chromium is present in most of our diets that we consume on a daily, but it’s unknown to most of us. I discovered it’s a relevant mineral necessary for human. Seat back as we unfold/breakdown it’s importance. Chromium is a mineral our bodies use in small amounts for normal for normal body functions, such as digestion of food. It can also be described as a type of chemical element that’s actually a hard and brittle metal. Health Benefits of Chromium -           Chromium plays an important role in the insulin-signaling pathways that allows our body to control the amount of sugar we take in. -           It helps to balance blood glucose levels and giving us stable energy. Diabetes control, heart health, weight management and brain ...
Read more

Samsung Electronics' record-breaking earnings

-
Image
Image credit:AFP PHOTO / JUNG Yeon-Je South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics posted record-breaking earnings Thursday, putting it on course to better rival Apple’s quarterly profits as it seeks to move past a bribery scandal and a damaging recall debacle. The firm said huge sales of its new Galaxy S8 smartphone and demand for its memory chips were behind the jump in April-June and predicted another blockbuster report for the current quarter to September. Operating profit soared a forecast-beating 72.9 percent from the previous year to 14.07 trillion won ($12.6 billion), compared with consensus forecasts of $10.6 billion for US titan Apple, which is due to report next week. However, Greg Roh, an analyst at HMC Investment Securities, told AFP: “Samsung has surpassed its rivals for now but Apple usually sees little fluctuation in its profits whereas Samsung’s profits fluctuate largely on memory chip prices.” Apple is expected to outstrip Samsung in full-year resul...
Read more

Technology deranges Nigeria’s used-car market

-
Image
Technology is fast becoming a major influencer of the already thriving used-car market in Nigeria, hence disrupting the entire value chain of auto business in the country. Nigeria spends an estimated N1.2 trillion on importation of vehicles as recent statistics has shown. PriceWaterhouseCooper (PwC), Nigeria’s professional service firm in a recent report release mentioned that more than 70 per cent of these imported vehicles are used ones, also known as Tokunbo. This trend has created a thriving used-car market, spurred more by Nigeria’s new automotive policy – a development that saw car import tariff hiked by 35 per cent. Over the past five years, technology has proven handy in playing a vital role in the success of the used-car market. Specifically, technology has reared its head in creating online marketplaces, curating inventories of used-cars and connecting buyers with sellers. According to Lukmon Oloidi, who is a used-car dealer in Lagos., technology has made it easy for deal...
Read more

NCC aims to checkmate SIM Swap fraud

-
Image
 Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) on Friday said that the commission has put in place a regulation to checkmate SIM Swap fraud. Ms Helen Obi, Head of Zonal Operations, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Jos. A SIM is a smart card inside a mobile phone, carrying identification number unique to the owner. While SIM Swap is the process of replacing your existing SIM with a new SIM and moving your existing number, data etc. to a new SIM. She said that the new regulation put in place to stop SIM Swap fraud was in the interest of customers. According to her, SIM SWAP fraud has a lot of issues attached to it because often times, you find a lot of people who are not the owners of these numbers going to do SIM SWAP at various centres. “We have cases of fraudulent activities done on people’s bank account as a result of SIM SWAP and they complain to the commission expecting that the commission would compensate them. Some subscribers, who spoke with ...
Read more

Nigerian Oshi Agabi unveils the computer that can smell

-
Image
TEDGLOBAL Photo credits: GETTY IMAGES  Nigerian Oshi Agabi has unveiled a computer based not on silicon but on mice neurons at the TEDGlobal conference in Tanzania. The system has been trained to recognize the smell of explosives and could be used to replace traditional airport security, he said. Eventually the modem-sized device - dubbed Koniku Kore - could provide the brain for future robots. Experts said that making such systems mass-market was challenging. All of the big tech firms, from Google to Microsoft, are rushing to create artificial intelligence modelled on the human brain. While computers are better than humans at complex mathematical equations, there are many cognitive functions where the brain is much better: training a computer to recognise smells would require colossal amounts of computational power and energy, for example. Mr Agabi is attempting to reverse-engineer biology, which already accomplishes this function with a fraction of the power it would tak...
Read more

Russia exhibits statue of AK-47 inventor Kalashnikov

-
Image
Photo credits: AFP PHOTO / Maxim ZMEYEV Russian officials and Orthodox priests on Tuesday unveiled a statue in Moscow of inventor Mikhail Kalashnikov, whose iconic AK-47 assault rifle has claimed countless lives worldwide. A priest sprinkled holy water on the seven-metre tall statue of Kalashnikov gripping his deadly creation, which will now loom over motorists from a traffic island in one of the sprawling capital’s central thoroughfares. Culture minister Vladimir Medinsky praised the inventor and called the rifle — which has been reproduced an estimated 100 million times worldwide — a “cultural brand for Russia.” Kalashnikov had “the best traits of a Russian: an extraordinary natural gift, simplicity, integrity,” Medinsky said. Born in a Siberian village in 1919, Mikhail Kalashnikov died in December 2013 in Izhevsk, the capital of the Russian republic of Udmurtia, where he lived. Kalashnikov came up with the idea of inventing a new automatic rifle that could work in all conditi...
Read more

Etihad, Alibaba, Ant partner on customer experience

-
Image
AFP PHOTO / Andreas SOLARO Etihad Aviation Group (EAG), Alibaba Group Holding Limited, and Ant Financial Services Group (ANT Group) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), to expand their partnership and deliver superior products and services to Chinese customers. The group plans to expand cooperation through greater collaboration on respective loyalty programmes. In addition, new products and services will be introduced to deliver an improved guest experience and improved logistics. Under the agreement, Alibaba and Etihad Guest, the award-winning loyalty programme of Etihad Airways, will explore enhanced programme benefits and opportunities for cross-acquisition of loyalty points. This will include points’ conversion to Etihad Guest Miles, reciprocal benefits across premium tiers, and the ability to redeem Etihad Guest Miles for Alibaba products. In addition, Alibaba Group and Etihad Airways will enter into a brand partnership agreement that will integrate the Alibaba G...
Read more

Nigeria, four others to account for 40% of new smartphone connections

-
Image
 According to the Global system for Mobile Communications (GSMA),  Nigeria, China, India, Indonesia and Pakistan are markets that will account for more than 40 per cent of the 1.6 billion new smartphone connections by 2020. Currently, Nigeria’s smartphone penetration as at 2016 stood at 30 per cent, but there has been more adoption, especially as new and cheaper devices are entering the market, almost on a monthly basis. A typical example is Google ICE 2 smartphone. GSMA, which noted that smartphones account for over half of total connections globally, said as with subscriber growth, smartphone growth is being driven by developing markets. The body, which represents the interest of over 800 operators globally, informed that lower cost smartphones from local manufacturers such as Huawei, Oppo, OnePlus and Xiaomi in China, Micromax in India, and now AfriOne in Nigeria, are helping to address the affordability barrier. GSMA said though it took four years to move from four bil...
Read more