Russia is now facing a new allegation of targeting White House Computers with Malvertising malware. Yes, this piece of news came into light when US Senator Ron Wyden sent a letter to White House Cybersecurity Coordinator Rob Joyce warning that the ongoing malvertising campaign could lead to more trouble if it is not contained in time.
Security experts feel that state-funded actors often use such malware to conduct cyber espionage on government agencies to pick vulnerable points. When such points are identified, they then launch sophisticated cyber attacks for eavesdropping and other spying activities to get hold of critical info related to Defense, administration, and finance.
In the year 2016, many media reports suggested that Russia attempted to distribute malware-laden ads to at least one state election agency. This resulted in the influence US 2016 Polls which eventually went in favor of the current US President Donald Trump.
Oregon Senator Wyden says that the attacks from the said nation have resumed again after October 21st of this year. So, he is urging the Cyber Chief of the White House to coordinate discussions with the members of the advertising industry and develop a plan to end the delivery of malicious ads to PCs on government networks.
In a separate letter written to the Department of Homeland Security, Wyden has asked the officials to issue a Binding Operational Directive requiring federal agencies to block the circulation of malware containing executable computer codes. However, he failed to mention the issue on a technical note- like how should the block be implemented; through ad blockers or via network level firewalls.
Note- So far malvertising campaigns such as Stegano, DNS Changer or AdGholas have proved most damaging to government networks.
