12.01.14

Computer Security for the 1 Percent (continued)

Posted in Culture of Lickspittle, Cyberterrorism, The Corporate Bund at 4:03 pm by George Smith

In this week’s chapter of computer security news from corporate America of no value to 99 percent of the people who live here:

Security researchers say they have uncovered a cyber espionage ring focused on stealing corporate secrets for the purpose of gaming the stock market, in an operation that has compromised sensitive data about dozens of publicly held companies.

Cybersecurity firm FireEye Inc, which disclosed the operation on Monday, said that since the middle of last year, the group has attacked email accounts at more than 100 firms, most of them pharmaceutical and healthcare companies.

Victims also include firms in other sectors, as well as corporate advisors including investment bankers, attorneys and investor relations firms, according to FireEye.

The cybersecurity firm declined to identify the victims.

How can you tell if you’re a computer security servant for the corporate dictatorship and its precious loot?

1. Part of your business plan is to find hackers targeting Wall Street, the “stock market,” company e-mail folders of bloated, parasitic American financial and business titans (and their flunkies), etc.

2. Your business is leasing computer security services to Wall Street, big companies on the “stock market,” and trying to secure the e-mail folders of bloated, parasitic American financial and business titans (and their flunkies).

3. Your business is news writing about the great problem of potential wealth stealing by hackers targeting Wall Street, big American corporations, and the invasion of e-mail folders belonging to bloated, parasitic American financial and business titans (and their flunkies).

You good computer security servant, you! A grateful nation thanks you.

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From the Keepin’ It Real in the Corporate Dictatorship desk:

Amid empty talk in Washington about corporate tax reform, the study said the seven companies, which in 2013 reported more than $74 billion in combined U.S. pre-tax profits, came out ahead on their taxes, gaining $1.9 billion more than they owed.

At the same time, the CEOs at each of the seven companies last year was paid an average of $17.3 million, said the study, compiled by two Washington think tanks.

The seven companies cited were Boeing Co (BA.N), Ford Motor Co (F.N), Chevron Corp (CVX.N), Citigroup Inc (C.N), Verizon Communications Inc (VZ.N), JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) and General Motors Co (GM.N) …

Earlier this month, on the protecting-the-shit-of-the-plutocrats-or-the-country-will-fall beat:

The huge cyberattack on JPMorgan Chase that touched more than 83 million households and businesses was one of the most serious computer intrusions into an American corporation. But it could have been much worse.

Questions over who the hackers are and the approach of their attack concern government and industry officials. Also troubling is that about nine other financial institutions — a number that has not been previously reported — were also infiltrated by the same group of overseas hackers, according to people briefed on the matter…

“It was a huge surprise that they were able to compromise a huge bank like JPMorgan,??? said Al Pascual, a security analyst with Javelin Strategy and Research. “It scared the pants off many people.???

Several financial regulators have warned that a coordinated attack on the banking system could set off another financial crisis.

I’ll bet. I want to see another financial crisis. Don’t disappoint us now.

Priceless quote:

The push by government officials is a stark acknowledgment of the vulnerability of financial institutions — even after they have spent hundreds of millions of dollars to protect themselves — to an attack if one of their vendors is not fully prepared. The problem is causing some security consultants to privately consider whether the sprawling financial firms with operations across the globe may be “too big to secure.???

Hundreds of millions of dollars to protect themselves! Why, that’s only an order or more of magnitude less than the money Uncle Sam paid them back on its tax returns in 2013.

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