nuclear-news

Security researchers recently identified an elite team of possibly state-sponsored hackers that infiltrate hotel Wi-Fi networks to gain access to the computers of high-level executives and leaders, probably to steal nuclear secrets. They’re calling this band of cyber-spies DarkHotel.

Wired‘s Kim Zetter recently published a report about Kaspersky Labs and its efforts to track down the hacker group and one of the most unnerving things about DarkHotel is how insanely talented the hackers are. While the security researchers have managed to identify the group’s tactics and trace some of its members back to South Korea, they’re still not entirely sure who these hackers are and why they’re doing what they’re doing.

“[The primary targets are] all nuclear nations in Asia,” Kaspersky’s Costin Raiu told Wired. “Their targeting is nuclear themed, but they also target the defence industry base in the U.S. and important executives from around the world in all sectors having to do with economic development and investments.”

What’s maybe most alarming out of all of this, is actually how DarkHotel operates. The attacks have been going on for at least seven years and are highly targeted. It appears that the hackers know exactly when specific executives and leaders will be staying in specific hotels and then install the malware — anything from simple Trojans to sophisticated kernal-mode key loggers — right before they arrive. Sometimes they install backdoors on the targets’ computer, so that they can break back in at a later date. After the attack is complete and the guest checks out, DarkHotel covers its tracks — very well……….http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2014/11/watch-that-wi-fi-hackers-use-hotel-internet-to-steal-nuclear-secrets/