BREAKING Orca calf that was trapped in B.C. lagoon for weeks swims free
An orca whale calf that has been stranded in a B.C. lagoon for weeks after her pregnant mother died swam out on her own early Friday morning.
A U.S.-based private cybersecurity company said Wednesday it has uncovered evidence that an Indian media conglomerate, a police department and the agency responsible for the country's national identification database have been hacked, likely by a state-sponsored Chinese group.
The Insikt Group, the threat research division of Massachusetts-based Recorded Future, said the hacking group, given the temporary name TAG-28, made use of Winnti malware, which it said is exclusively shared among several Chinese state-sponsored activity groups.
Chinese authorities have consistently denied any form of state-sponsored hacking and said China itself is a major target of cyberattacks.
The allegation has the possibility of increasing friction between the two regional giants, whose relations have already been seriously strained by a border dispute that has led to clashes this year and last year.
In its report, the Insikt Group suggested the cyberattack could be related to those border tensions.
"As of early August 2021, Recorded Future data shows a 261% increase in the number of suspected state-sponsored Chinese cyber operations targeting Indian organizations and companies already in 2021 compared to 2020," the organization said in a report.
The Insikt Group said it detected four IP addresses assigned to the Bennett Coleman And Co. Ltd. media company in "sustained and substantial network communications" with two Winnti servers between February and August.
It said is observed approximately 500 megabytes of data being extracted from the network of the privately owned Mumbai company, whose publications include The Times of India.
Insikt said it could not identify the content of that data, but noted that the company frequently publishes reports on China-India tensions, and that the hack was likely motivated by "wanting access to journalists and their sources as well as pre-publication content of potentially damaging articles."
Rajeev Batra, chief information officer for Bennett Coleman, said the company also received information on the suspected hack from CERT-In, the government agency that deals with cybersecurity threats, and responded to it several weeks ago.
Most of the data was in the "DNS queries category, which got blocked/dropped at our defense infrastructure," he said in an emailed comment. The company's own investigation of the hack classified the incident as "non-serious alerts and false alarms," he said.
The Insikt Group said it also observed about 5 megabytes of data transferred in a similar fashion from the police department of Madhya Pradesh state, whose chief minister, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, called for a boycott of Chinese products after June 2020 border clashes with India.
The police department did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
As the group was investigating the Bennett Coleman hack, it said it also identified a compromise in June and July of the Unique Identification Authority of India, or UIDAI, the government agency that oversees the national identification database.
In that case, it detected about 10 megabytes of data downloaded from the network and almost 30 megabytes uploaded, "possibly indicating the deployment of additional malicious tooling from the attacker infrastructure."
It suggested such a database could be used by hackers to identify "high-value targets, such as government officials, enabling social engineering attacks or enriching other data sources."
UIDAI told The Associated Press that it had no knowledge of a "breach of the nature described."
"UIDAI has a well-designed, multi-layered robust security system in place and the same is being constantly upgraded to maintain the highest level of data security and integrity," the agency said.
Recorded Future said all victims of the hacks were notified ahead of the publication of the report and provided with its full findings.
------
Associated Press writers Krutika Pathi and Chonchui Ngashangva in New Delhi contributed to this report
An orca whale calf that has been stranded in a B.C. lagoon for weeks after her pregnant mother died swam out on her own early Friday morning.
After the Assembly of First Nations' national chief said her headdress was taken from an airplane cabin this week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the incident 'unacceptable' and a 'mistake' on the part of Air Canada.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
Health Canada issued recalls for various items this week, including kids’ bathrobes, cribs and henna cones.
A pair of Montreal designers' work has now been viewed over 41 million times. Taylor Swift dons a Victorian throwback black gown in her latest music video, 'Fortnight', designed by UNTTLD due Simon Belanger and Jose Manuel Saint-Jacques.
Breast cancer rates are rising in Canada among women in their 20s, 30s and 40s, according to research by the University of Ottawa (uOttawa).
A CSIS officer's allegations that she was raped repeatedly by a superior in agency vehicles set off a harassment inquiry, but also triggered an investigation into her that concluded the alleged attacks were a “misuse” of agency vehicles by the woman.
An Ontario man who took out a loan to pay for auto repairs said his car was repossessed after he missed two payments.
Charlie Woods failed to advance in a U.S. Open local qualifying event Thursday, shooting a 9-over 81 at Legacy Golf & Tennis Club.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.