The Washington Post is citing anonymous sources within the US Intelligence Community in a report claiming that the United Arab Emirates was responsible for hacking Qatari news and information sources with fake stories expressing sympathy for Iran, Israel, and ISIS. The FBI, which assisted Qatar's investigation, had earlier attributed the hack to Russian actors, possibly criminals, freelancers, or hired guns. The United Arab Emirates denies any involvement in the hacking and disinformation, and insists the real story is Qatar's sympathy for terrorist organizations.
Russia's Foreign Ministry said Friday that it had been the victim of a protracted and damaging cyberattack: the Ministry says its email servers were hacked with "grave consequences." The attacks are said to have taken place last month and originated in Hungary and Iran. But a lot of other countries are mentioned in dispatches: China, India, the European Union, and, especially, the US. The Moscow Times, citing Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, says "88 percent of all visits to the Foreign Ministry’s site were cyber-villains with U.S. IP addresses."
There are also reports of doxing attempts, some successful, against online accounts of US experts on Russia, which are seen as potential battlespace preparation for ongoing information operations. No attribution, but Russia is suspected.
NemucodAES ransomware and Kovter click-fraud exploits are distributed by a common campaign.
Check Point reports a campaign against Mac systems that uses certificates to bypass Mac Gatekeeper. The malware steals banking credentials.
The White House apparently inadvertently released information about commenters on voter fraud.