One front in the civil war in Syria has gone unreported in the press — the cyber front.
Strategy Page is reporting that cyberspace has become part of the battlefield in Syria. Strategy Page reports:
[I]t was recently discovered that someone was targeting pro-rebel websites and individuals outside of Syria. The attack came in the form of phony email addressed to a specific individual and made to appear it was from another rebel sympathizer or activist that the recipient knew. There was a file attached which, when opened, secretly installed monitoring software. Thus the infected computer could be secretly monitored by the Syrian government and files, email, and even all keyboard activity quietly copied.This method of attack is known as “spearphishing.” This cyberattack on Syrian rebels demonstrates the growing importance of spearphishing as a means of compromising the systems of adversaries. Quoting Strategy Page:
In the past few years an increasing number of military, government, and contractor personnel have received these official looking emails, with a PDF document attached and asking for prompt attention. Despite being widely known, spear phishing still works and intelligence gathering organizations use it more and more.
Spearphishers deceive by masquerading as trusted senders. SP Guard from Iconix provides the ability to distinguish real email from spearphishing attacks. Click here to learn more. You can contact us at 408-727-6342, ext 3 or use our online form.