US government takes control of Internet domains used by SolarWinds hackers
June 3, 2021 Leave a comment
THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT has taken control of two Internet domains used last month in a large-scale phishing campaign by the same Russian-linked hacker group that was behind SolarWinds. The Department of Justice said on Tuesday it seized the two domains, theyardservice[.]com and worldhomeoutlet[.]com, on May 28, following a decision by a US court that authorized the action.
The large-scale attack was detected on May 25, and was delivered in over 3,000 emails sent from a compromised account belonging to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The compromised account was paired with the services of a legitimate email marketing company called Constant Contact. It was subsequently used to deliver phishing emails to the employees of over 150 organizations worldwide, most of them American.
The phishing emails featured an official USAID logo, beneath which was an embedded link to a purported “USAID Special Alert” titled “Donald Trump has published new documents on election fraud”. The link sent users to one of the two illicit subdomains, which infected victim machines with malware. The latter created a back door into infected computers, which allowed the hackers to maintain a constant presence in the compromised systems.
According to Microsoft Corporation, the hackers behind the phishing attack originated from the same group that orchestrated the infamous SolarWinds hack in 2020. The term refers to a large-scale breach of computer systems belonging to the United States federal government and to organizations such as the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The threat actor behind the attack is referred to by cybersecurity experts as APT29 or Nobelium, among other names.
Speaking on behalf of the US Department of Justice’s National Security Division, Assistant Attorney General John C. Demers said on Tuesday that the seizure of the two Internet domains demonstrated the Department’s “commitment to proactively disrupt hacking activity prior to the conclusion of a criminal investigation”.
► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 03 June 2021 | Permalink
intelNews.org 
FBI’s top New York official urges personnel to ‘dig in’ for ‘battle’ with White House
February 3, 2025 by intelNews 4 Comments
On January 31, President Donald Trump’s administration summarily dismissed nine senior FBI officials. The following day, the Bureau’s interim leadership received a DOJ directive instructing them to provide information on all employees involved in the January 6 investigation. This request applies not only to special agents but also to thousands of FBI personnel who provided support services for what remains the largest investigation in the agency’s history.
Approximately 15% of the FBI’s workforce —an estimated 6,000 employees— was involved in the investigation. On Sunday, around 4,000 of them received an email from the Department of Justice asking them to voluntarily disclose their role in the probe. Reports indicate that recipients must submit the requested information by 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time today. Many within the FBI fear this inquiry is part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to remove rank-and-file employees who worked on January 6 cases.
In response, Dennehy, a former U.S. Marine who joined the FBI after seven years in the Corps, sent an email on Sunday afternoon to personnel in the New York field office, delivering what appears to be a message of defiance. “Today,” he wrote, “we find ourselves in the middle of a battle of our own, as good people are being walked out of the FBI and others are being targeted because they did their jobs in accordance with the law and FBI policy.”
Dennehy praised the Bureau’s interim leaders, Brian Driscoll and Robert C. Kissane, for resisting DOJ requests to provide lists of FBI personnel, calling them “warriors.” He also recounted his Marine Corps experience, describing a time when he had to dig a five-foot-deep foxhole to survive, stating he would “dig in” similarly now. He emphasized that he had no plans to resign from the FBI or step down from his current position. Read more of this post
Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Brian Driscoll, Donald Trump, FBI, FBI New York Field Office, James Dennehy, News, politicization, Robert Kissane, US Department of Justice