The Sunday Times produced what at first sight looked like a startling news story: Russia and China had gained access to the cache of top-secret documents leaked by former NSA contractor turned whistleblower Edward Snowden.

Not only that, but as a result, Britain’s overseas intelligence agency, the Secret Intelligence Service, better known as MI6, had been forced “to pull agents out of live operations in hostile countries”. These are serious allegations and, as such, the government has an obligation to respond openly. The story is based on sources including “senior officials in Downing Street, the Home Office and the security services”.

One of the leading anti-virus software providers has revealed that its own systems were recently compromised by hackers. Kaspersky Lab said it believed the attack was designed to spy on its newest technologies. It said the intrusion involved up to previously unknown techniques.

The Russian firm added that it was continuing to carry out checks, but believed it had detected the intrusion at an early stage. Although it acknowledged that the attackers had managed to access some of its files, it said that the data it had seen was in no way critical to the operation of its products. 

Artificial intelligence algorithms from Mivar can replace nuclear power plant staff and even creative personnel. The Mivar Company is trying to bring a new generation of artificial intelligence to the market.

Its creators hope to start a revolution in the field of computerized thinking. However, some experts think that the company must first prove that their algorithms are better than existing ones. This is not the first Russian development in the field of artificial intelligence. In 2014, a robot mind named Eugene Goostman was able to fool scientists during a text exchange that it was human. 

Russian hackers behind the damaging cyber intrusion of the State Department in recent months used that perch to penetrate sensitive parts of the White House computer system, according to U.S. officials briefed on the investigation.

While the White House has said the breach only affected an unclassified system, that description belies the seriousness of the intrusion. The hackers had access to sensitive information such as real-time non-public details of the president's schedule. While such information is not classified, it is still highly sensitive and prized by foreign intelligence agencies, U.S. officials say.

In November this year, dignitaries and bigwigs of the cyber security industry gathered inside Europol’s headquarters in The Hague.

As they talked about general issues affecting the community, namely financially-motivated criminals, ears pricked up when one particular strain of malware was said to have brought about the “armageddon” of the Russian banking industry. The gang has been swiping millions of credit card details from scores of US retailers too, however. It is understood, from a source familiar with investigations into the Anunak malware who spoke on the condition of anonymity, that retailer Staples was also a victim. 

The danger of not changing the default passwords on digital equipment is finally hitting home, after a hacker published the video streams of webcams onto the internet. Anyone who had purchased an online webcam with remote viewing capabilities was at risk.

The hacker from Russia decided to take action to expose the cameras. He programmed a script to search the world for any webcams connected to the internet, and then gained access to them by using a default password set by the manufacturers. This password is publicly available, so anyone could have been accessing these cameras at any time without the owners knowing.

UK cyber security professionals have identified Russia and China as the countries that produce the most skilled hackers, according to a survey carried out by information security consultancy. A lot of people believed that the hackers with the highest skills come from Russia.

Almost a third of respondents surveyed at a recent IT conference linked the success of their overseas counterparts to a combination of more investment, better education and political motivations. Russia has long been recognised for being behind various malware strains and exploits. Recently, it was reported that Russian hackers had exploited a bug in Microsoft Windows dubbed Sandworm to perform cyber espionage on NATO.

Russia poses a serious cyber threat to industrial control systems, pharmaceutical, defense, aviation, and petroleum companies. Russian government cyber operations aim to use malware to steal information on files, persist on ICS equipment, and commit espionage. 

There is nothing quick about studying Russian cyber operations. Beyond understanding the complexities of the malware itself, one must also match up the names of several families of malware, some which have evolved over time and have had different names, as well as to link together the names given to specific groups by a number of private security companies. 

Regin's complex nature suggests a nation state is behind the cyberespionage tool's development, Symantec reports. An advanced piece of malware has been uncovered, which has been in use as far back as 2008 to spy on governments, companies and individuals.

The cyberespionage tool uses several stealth features to avoid detection that required a significant investment of time and resources, suggesting it's the product of a nation state, the antivirus software maker warned, without suggesting which country was behind it. The malware's design makes it highly suited for long-term mass surveillance. Other infections were identified monitoring network traffic and analyzing email from Exchange databases.

UK to take action to close down Russian website streaming images from British webcams including baby monitors and those in gyms and bedrooms. The UK is to take international action to close down a Russian website that is streaming images from British webcams including baby monitors, bedroom cameras and gym.

The site feature live feeds from households and businesses across the world, including a gym in Manchester, a bedroom in Birmingham and an office in Leicester. The site highlighted the importance of setting secure passwords on devices that have access to the internet. It has become the source of concern for data watchdogs across the world.