US Government Taking Creative Steps to Counter Cyberthreats
Voice of America
WASHINGTON - An FBI operation that gave law enforcement remote access to hundreds of computers to counter a massive hack of Microsoft Exchange email server software is a tool that is likely to be deployed "judiciously" in the future as the Justice Department, aware of privacy concerns, develops a framework for its use, a top national security official said Wednesday.
The department this month announced that it had obtained a warrant from a federal judge in Texas to remove web shells, or malicious code that gives hackers a foothold into networks, from hundreds of vulnerable computers affected by a hack that Microsoft has blamed on a group operating from China. The FBI operation was designed to disrupt the effects of a hack that affected many thousands of servers running the Microsoft Exchange email program. Many victims took steps on their own to safeguard their systems, but for those that who did not, the Justice Department stepped in to do it for them with a judge's approval. It was the virtual equivalent of police going around the neighborhood locking doors that criminals had opened remotely.In this image provided by Giant Screen Films, Liam Fisher, Kaiden Madsen and Jessin Fisher pose for a celebratory photo on the day their fossil find was determined to be a juvenile T. rex, in North Dakota. In this photo provided by Giant Screen Films, Jessin Fisher digs for fossils on public lands near his home in Marmath, N.D. (Sam Fisher/Giant Screen Films via AP) The Hell Creek badlands of southwestern North Dakota, U.S., where a fossil of a juvenile Tyrannosaurus rex was discovered, is seen in this July 2016 handout photo. (Erik Freeman/Handout via Reuters)
This image released by Sony Pictures shows characters Jon, voiced by Nicholas Hoult, clockwise from left, Vic, voiced by Samuel L. Jackson, and Garfield, voiced by Chris Pratt, in a scene from the animated film "The Garfield Movie." This image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows a scene from "Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga."
Engineer Guillermo D. Christy photographs a steel pillar filled with concrete that was installed inside the Aktun Tuyul cave system to support the Maya Train track on the outskirts of Playa del Carmen, Mexico, March 3, 2024. A passenger looks at the passing jungle landscape while traveling on the Maya Train from Cancun to Valladolid, Mexico, March 6, 2024. When it's completed, the high-speed Maya Train will wind around Mexico's southern Yucatan peninsula. A line of the Mayan Train is built using material dug out from the nearby tropical forest near Playa del Carmen, Mexico, March 1, 2024. When it's completed, the high-speed Maya Train will wind around Mexico's southern Yucatan peninsula. Workers build a Maya Train railway track near Playa del Carmen, Mexico, March 10, 2024. Engineer Guillermo D. Christy shows his hand stained with rust after touching a steel pillar in the Aktun Tuyul cave system. Construction of the Maya Train is rapidly destroying much of the hidden underground world of caverns and sinkhole lakes. A Mayan Train worker waits for passengers to board in Cancun, Mexico, March 6, 2024. ight shines through a hole made by massive metal drills to introduce a steel pillar filled with concrete that will be used to support a part of the Maya Train track, inside the Aktun Tuyul cave system on the outskirts of Playa del Carmen, Mexico, March 3, 2024. A hat sits on a Maya Train passenger seat en route to Valladolid, Mexico, Wednesday, March 6, 2024.
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