Drudge Report, WND Go Dark Amid FBI Warning Of Sony Hack

[Ryan Ruck]

Interesting how this targeted Conservative sites. I have Drudge set as my home page and noticed this last night.

Drudge Report, WND Go Dark Amid FBI Warning Of Sony Hack

December 2, 2014

The Drudge Report and the conservative news site WND.com were both down early Tuesday morning for at least two hours — a curious coincidence that came amid the FBI’s warning of a widespread malicious software attack that began with a security breach at Sony Pictures Entertainment.

The Blaze reported both websites were off-site for hours and gave visitors the message: “This webpage is not available.” It’s not clear if the website difficulties at Drudge and WND.com were tied to the cyberattack, or if their host was simply experiencing an outage.

But the timing is suspicious.

The FBI had just sent a warning to businesses in the United States that hackers were using malicious software to infiltrate various websites — and that this follows a massive hit at Sony Pictures Entertainment last week that exposed the personal information of several Hollywood bigwigs.

The FBI didn’t say how many companies had been involved in the attacks.

“I believe the coordinated cyberattack with destructive payloads against a corporation in the U.S. represents a watershed event,” said Tom Kellermann, chief cybersecurity officer with security software maker Trend Micro Inc., the New York Post reported. “Geopolitics now serve as harbingers for destructive cyberattacks.”

The FBI put out its warning to businesses late Monday via a five-page “flash” memo, the New York Post said. The warning gave directions to counter the malware and also asked victims to alert the FBI to the software.

A week ago, Sony suffered what industry analysts describe as an unprecedented cyberattack that crippled corporate email for a week, and damaged other computer files and systems in the firm. Sony said in a statement that the firm had “restored a number of important services” but was still “working closely with law enforcement officials to investigate the matter,” the New York Post said.

Both Drudge and WND.com were back up and operating normally early Tuesday morning.

[American Patriot]

All right. So some left wing asswipe is targeting conservative sites. It's not Islam. It's not ISIS. They couldn't hack their way out of a wet paper sack with a sword.

[American Patriot]

Yeah, I was right, Liberal assholes.

Guardians of Peace my ass.

FBI Warns U.S. Companies About Malware After Sony Hack

• By Stephanie Mlot
• December 2, 2014 12:12pm EST
• 0 Comments

Four unreleased Sony Pictures films were also published to the Web, including the upcoming "Annie" remake.
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The FBI is warning U.S. businesses to be on the lookout for malicious malware like the kind that took down the internal network of Sony Pictures.
The Bureau reportedly emailed a five-page confidential notice to security staff at some U.S. companies, alerting them to malicious software like the kind that affected Sony.
As reported by Reuters, the "flash" FBI warning reached inboxes late Monday, and provided technical details about how the Sony Pictures hack was pulled off, as well as advice on how to respond to similar malware.
"The overwriting of the data files will make it extremely difficult and costly, if not impossible, to recover the data using standard forensic methods," the report said, according to Reuters.
An FBI spokesman told PCMag that "the targeting of public and private sector computer networks remains a significant threat, and the FBI will continue to identify, pursue, and defeat individuals and groups who pose a threat in cyberspace."
He also confirmed the FBI bulletin, though declined to provide further details, saying that it is not uncommon for the agency to share information with the private sector.
"In furtherance of public-private partnerships, the FBI routinely advises private industry of various cyber threat indicators observed during the course of our investigations," the spokesman said. "This data is provided in order to help systems administrators guard against the actions of persistent cyber criminals."
Sony employees last week were met with an ominous skeleton image on their PCs, released by a group called #GOP (Guardians of Peace), who threatened to publish "top secret" data if undisclosed demands were not met. The collective followed up by leaking a large ZIP file with two lists detailing the extent of the doxxing, and have released even more documents - not to mention some of Sony's upcoming films - this week.
The movies, according to Deadline, include Fury starring Brad Pitt (which hit U.S. theaters in October), as well as the upcoming Annie remake, Still Alice, Mr. Turner, and To Write Love on Her Arms.
According to Re/code, North Korea might be involved in retaliation for one of Sony's upcoming films—a James Franco-Seth Rogan comedy depicting a CIA plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un.
When asked by the BBC if the country had anything to do with the hack, a spokesman for the government simply said, "Wait and see."
In April 2013, South Korea blamed its northern relative for a cyber attack that crippled banks and TV stations in the country. Weeks before, North Korea's official Twitter and Flickr accounts were hacked—reportedly as part of Anonymous's efforts to disrupt the country's Web presence.