Israeli cyber experts: WikiLeaks CIA papers don’t show the half of it
Top security chiefs say the cyber threat online was much greater than that shown by leaked CIA papers on WikiLeaks
Israeli cyber-security experts have said the CIA documents on WikiLeaks don’t show the half of how your computers and TVs can be hacked.
Professor Ofer Hadar, chair of the Department of Communications Systems Engineering at Ben-Gurion University in the Negev, said the threat was actually much greater than that shown by the leaked papers.
This week’s WikiLeaks dump revealed that spies at the Central Intelligence Agency in the U.S. can hack into smart TVs and covertly record conversations, even when the TV appears to be turned off. But Hadar said hacking techniques go much further.
“Any video or picture downloaded or streamed by a user is a potential vehicle for a cyber-attack,” he said. “Hackers like videos and pictures because they bypass the regular data transfer systems of even secure systems and there is a lot of space to implant malicious code.”
Video and picture downloads and video streaming now account for around 50 percent of internet traffic and this is expected to rise to around two-third of all web traffic by 2020.
Hadar said his team had developed “a multi-vector series of algorithms” to prevent attackers from hacking through videos or pictures, and that this “can be implemented without decreasing run-time and with minimum impact on the image”. It has been nicknamed the Coucou project.
The team’s methods are based on steganography – the practice of concealing a file, message, image, or video within another file, message, image or video in the compressed domain, and Hadar has been part-funded by the Israeli state.
Once it has been planted on the victim’s servers/hosts, the malware either embed the victim’s classified information into the uploaded content, making it accessible to the attacker, who can then download the infected content and extract the information. Attackers can also upload infected content to a social network or any other server where the malware extracts the shell code and executes it.
“When considering future applications of our product, we envision covert channel and protection applications and anticipate that the technique will be used by Firewall and antivirus companies,” said Hadar.
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.