Photo: MANDEL NGAN / AFP / Getty Images
By: EFE
Friday, October 4
FBI supports sending of fake emails from server, confirms hacking of external network
The FBI assured that “no actor ” has accessed or compromised any data on their network, after that hackers used an external server operated by that US investigative agency to send emails with false warnings of a possible cyberattack .
“ No actor was able to access or compromise any data or PII (personally identifiable information) from the FBI network, “said the Federal Bureau of Investigation in a statement released this Sunday.
He pointed out, however, that he is aware that a “ incorrect software configuration “temporarily allowed an” actor “who did not identify to take advantage of a portal used by that agency to communicate with its” partners police and local state ”.
In concret or, according to the note, the emails were sent from the Company Portal Law Enforcement Rial (LEEP).
According to the FBI, although “the illegitimate email originated from a server operated “by that agency, it” was dedicated to sending notifications for the LEEP “and was not part of their corporate email service .
The agency added that, once learned of the incident, “quickly remediated the software vulnerability” and warned its partners to ignore the fake emails.
In addition, it said confirmed the “integrity” of their networks.
The international non-profit organization Project Spamhaus noted on its Twitter account on Saturday that it had been informed of emails “terrified ores ” sent in the last hours that purported to come from the FIB and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS, in English).
Spamhaus, dedicated to tracking spam and cyber threats, clarified that, despite the fact that the emails were sent from the LEEP portal, their investigation determined that they were “false” .
We have been made aware of “scary” emails sent in the last few hours that purport to come from the FBI / DHS. While the emails are indeed being sent from infrastructure that is owned by the FBI / DHS (the LEEP portal), our research shows that these emails are fake.
– Spamhaus (@spamhaus ) November 13, 2021
The FBI specified that the messages were sent from an account it identified as @ ic.fbi.gov.
Local media cited reports that the attacks began at midnight on Saturday in New York.
The alleged hacker, identified as Pompompurin, indicated to the specialized blog KrebsonSecurity that the attack allowed to point out a vulnerability that said there were “several times “, but never” on a government website, and a lot least in one run by the FBI. ”
However, Spamhaus did not rule out that the action was aimed at attacking Vinny Troia, author of the book “Hunt for Cybercriminals” and founder of the intelligence companies NightLion and Shadowbyte, who is mentioned in the emails.
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