Cyber Security Institute
News
Wednesday, March 03, 2010
Crackdown on Mariposa: Botnet Infected 13 Million PCs
Security software firms worked with international law enforcement agencies, the FBI and the Georgia Tech Information Security Center to neutralize and eventually arrest three criminals who allegedly masterminded a massive botnet scam that ensnared more than 13 million PCs. The suspects, who officials say called themselves the “Nightmare Days Team” and dubbed their botnet project “Mariposa,” were arrested at their Basque Country residence by Spanish authorities last month. The arrests came after a year-long investigation by local law enforcement agencies and security software vendors Panda Security, which is headquartered in Bilbao, Spain, and Defence Intelligence of Ottawa, Ontario.
Monday, March 01, 2010
Verizon Offers Up Its Data Breach Framework
Verizon Business here today released to the public its framework for gathering and analyzing forensics data from a data breach that is the basis for its comprehensive annual data breach reports. The hope is that the framework will facilitate more cooperation and data-sharing among breach victim organizations.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Computer Jargon Baffles Users, Hinders Security
Faced with such gobbledegook, many of the world’s nearly 2 billion Internet users conclude that security is for “experts” and fail to take responsibility for the security of their own patch of cyberspace—a potentially costly mistake. That was the message from cyber experts who met this week to work out how to protect computer users from the growing problem of online theft, fraud, vandalism, abuse and espionage.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Enterprises Look for Help Managing Security Logs
Managed SIM services started to gain momentum over the past two years, largely due to compliance mandates such as the Payment Card Industry data security requirements. Managed security services have been growing in popularity over the past several years, and the latest task enterprises are looking to offload to an outside provider is security information management.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Virtualization security remains a work in progress
While adoption of server virtualization is proceeding at a gallop, the effort to refine virtualization security reached only a slow trot in 2009. Roughly 18% of server workloads have been virtualized, and research firm Gartner expects that number to climb to 28% in 2010 and almost 50% by 2012. But adapting traditional firewall, intrusion detection, antimalware and other types of security and monitoring software to run optimally in this radically changed hypervisor-based architecture is still very much a work in progress.
Tuesday, January 05, 2010
World Cup Cybercrime 2010
The Research team in ESET have put their heads together to discuss the likely shape of things to come in the next twelve months in computer security and cybercrime (and cyberwarfare, to use one of the buzzwords of the moment).
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Cloud Security Alliance releases updated guidance
The Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) on Thursday released the second version of its guidance for secure adoption of cloud computing services. The new version, Guidance for Critical Areas of Focus in Cloud Computing—Version 2.1, provides more specifics in several areas and more actionable advice, said Jim Reavis, Cloud Security Alliance co-founder and executive director.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Internet posting prompts TSA investigation
Five Transportation Security Administration employees have been placed on administrative leave since it was discovered that sensitive guidelines about airport passenger screening were posted on the Internet. The move was disclosed as senators questioned administration officials yesterday about the second embarrassing security flap at the Homeland Security Department in as many weeks. Assistant Homeland Security Secretary David Heyman told senators yesterday that a full investigation into the Internet security lapse is under way, and that the TSA employees have been taken off duty pending results of that probe.
Wednesday, December 09, 2009
New cloud hacking service steals Wi-Fi passwords
For US$34 (£20), a new cloud-based hacking service can crack a WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) network password in just 20 minutes, its creator says. The WPA Cracker service bills itself as a useful tool for security auditors and penetration testers who want to know if they could break into certain types of WPA networks. It works because of a known vulnerability in Pre-shared Key (PSK) networks, usually used by home and small-business users.
Germany plans Internet virus phonecall alerts
German officials are planning to step up the fight against online viruses by phoning Internet users to warn them their computers are infected, an industry summit was told Tuesday. Germany’s federal computer security agency (BSI) and the German internet business federation ECO said Internet providers already had the technology to know which of their customers were infected. Germany would set up a national help desk to advise people step by step over the telephone on ridding computers of viruses.
Tuesday, December 08, 2009
Smart grids may be prone to cyberattacks
Smart-grid networks that depend heavily on technology both for energy efficiency and for better management of electricity consumers are vulnerable to cyberattacks that can endanger entire cities, industry findings show. Ann Whyte, a spokeswoman for Defense Support Services LLC (DS2), a Lockheed Martin and Day & Zimmermann company, said suppliers that are planning to install electricity smart meters in every home by 2020 need to adopt new power-line communications technology to ensure the grids remain safe from cyberattacks.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
FBI’s network against cyber crime
Last week, when the Senate’s Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland Security held a hearing entitled “Cybersecurity: Preventing Terrorist Attacks and Protecting Privacy in Cyberspace”, the NSA wasn’t the only agency who gave an overview of its actions and practices concerning the subject. Steven R. Chabinsky, Deputy Assistant Director, of the FBI Cyber Division, also addressed the Subcommittee. He stated that “the FBI considers the cyber threat against our nation to be one of the greatest concerns of the 21st century.” Chabinsky reminded that “terrorists do not require long term, persistent network access to accomplish some or all of their goals.
Man pleads guilty to selling fake chips to US Navy
A 32-year-old California man has pleaded guilty to charges that he sold thousands of counterfeit chips to the U.S. Navy. In a plea agreement reached on Friday, Neil Felahy of Newport Coast, California, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and counterfeit-goods trafficking for his role in an alleged chip-counterfeiting scam that ran between 2007 and 2009.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Cyber-war is here and to stay: ask US, China, Russia, Israel and France
Major countries and nation-states are engaged in a “Cyber Cold War,” amassing cyber-weapons, conducting espionage, and testing networks in preparation for using the Internet to conduct war, according to a new report released by McAfee. In particular, countries gearing up for cyber-offensives are the US, Israel, Russia, China, and France, says the report, compiled by former White House Homeland Security adviser Paul Kurtz and based on interviews with more than 20 experts in international relations, national security and Internet security.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Threat Level Privacy, Crime and Security Online Senate Panel: 80 Percent of Cyber Attacks Preventabl
If network administrators simply instituted proper configuration policies and conducted good network monitoring, about 80 percent of commonly known cyber attacks could be prevented, a Senate committee heard Tuesday. The remark was made by Richard Schaeffer, the NSA’s information assurance director, who added that simply adhering to already known best practices would sufficiently raise the security bar so that attackers would have to take more risks to breach a network, “thereby raising [their] risk of detection.” The Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security heard from a number of experts offering commentary on how the government should best tackle securing government and private-sector critical infrastructure networks.
Federal government using PS3 to crack pedophile passwords
The U.S. Customs Enforcement Cyber Crimes Center (C3) has begun using Sony consoles running Linux to solve child pornography cases. C3 needs the processing power of about $11,000 worth of computers, which is now being provided by a network of PS3 consoles at a quarter of the cost.Though they aren’t using the new PS3 Slim (since you can’t install Linux on the new models) purchasing 20 old PS3 units is still about $8,000 cheaper than the Dell servers C3 had used previously.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Hackers create tools for disaster relief
Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo may be tough competitors when it comes to Internet software and services, but they are putting their differences aside to build a developer community to tackle bigger picture problems like saving lives in emergencies. The companies have joined with NASA, the World Bank, and PR agency SecondMuse to organize the first-ever Random Hacks of Kindness event, which was held at a warehouse space-cum community center called Hacker Dojo this weekend. For two days, coders worked on ways to use technology to help solve real-world problems, such as how people can get information and find each other during disasters. The event came about after representatives from Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo attended a Crisis Camp conference for emergency and disaster relief groups in Washington, D.C. in May.
The technologists decided that they would join forces to create a community of developers to build tools to help emergency workers.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
New Honeypot Mimics The Web Vulnerabilities Attackers Want To Exploit
New open-source Honeynet Project tool toys with attackers by dynamically emulating apps with the types of bugs they’re looking for Oct 29, 2009 | 03:53 PM By Kelly Jackson Higgins DarkReading A next-generation Web server honeypot project is under way that poses as Web servers with thousands of vulnerabilities in order to gather firsthand data from real attacks targeting Websites. Unlike other Web honeypots, the new open-source Glastopf tool dynamically emulates vulnerabilities attackers are looking for, so it’s more realistic and can gather more detailed attack information, according to its developers.
Friday, November 13, 2009
Want to visit your child’s teacher or volunteer in a classroom?
Want to visit your child’s teacher or volunteer in a classroom? Then you need to hand over your driver’s license for a quick background check in order to obtain a pass complete with photo and date as you enter the halls of any school in New Lenox School District 122. Just a few weeks ago, the district installed the new security system, which scans a driver’s license and within seconds determines if the visitor is listed on the national Sex Offender Registry and Violent Offender Against Youth Database.
California Plans to Launch Information Security Operations Center
California intends to create a state-of-the-art information security operations center to monitor cyber-threats and protect state and local government networks from attack. The proposal is part of a sweeping five-year plan, released Thursday, Nov. 12 by state Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) Mark Weatherford, which is designed to safeguard government data and critical technology resources from increasingly sophisticated cyber-criminals.
Monday, November 02, 2009
How Security Should Handle Pickets and Strikes
How Security Should Handle Pickets and Strikes 9 things a business should do - and 6 things you absolutely can’t do - to help ensure a strike or picket remains peaceful. Excerpted from the new book The Security Manager’s Guide to Disasters. Anthony Manley’s new book Security Manager’s Guide to Disasters covers everything from workplace violence to earthquakes. The practical tips in this excerpt address workers’ right to picket and what security can do to help keep such situations orderly and appropriate.
Friday, October 30, 2009
Thieves target BT cables as scrap value rises
Thieves in Sussex, England made off with more than half a mile of BT cabling in an overnight operation that cut off 800 homes and businesses.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
User errors will lead to data leakage – worldwide survey on IT security
A worldwide survey of over 400 organisations with over 500 employees shows that, although organisations believe that they will suffer data leakage in some form at some stage, it will be accidental rather than malicious. The survey which was commissioned by Dimension Data and carried out by research house IDC during 2009 focused on IT security and interviewed IT security decision makers and influencers in 18 countries in Western Europe, the Americas, the Middle East and Africa, and Asia and Pacific. “The fact that 57% of the organisations that IDC polled are planning investment in data loss (or leakage) prevention (DLP) indicates broad acceptance of the need to complement the traditional network-centric security approach with data-centric security,” says Neil Campbell, Dimension Data’s global general manager security solutions. “Organisations (45%) also believe that data leakage is more likely to occur through human error on the part of their own employees, rather than through intentional theft from outside (15%).
Feds’ Security Spending On a Roll: Over 8 Percent Growth Over Next Five Years
The U.S. federal government’s IT security spending will jump from $7.9 million to $11.7 billion in 2014 thanks to tightening federal security regulations, a 300 percent jump in attacks on feds’ networks and systems during the past five years, and the Obama administration’s emphasis on security, according to new data from research firm Input.
CIA Invests In Social Media Monitoring Technology
Businesses are increasingly looking to social media to monitor and manage their brands online. U.S. intelligence agencies now have similar capabilities as part of their technology portfolios.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Transglobal Secure Collaboration Program Welcome CA, Inc.
The Transglobal Secure Collaboration Program (TSCP) announced that CA, Inc., the world’s leading independent IT management software company, is its newest member.
CA joins TSCP’s expanding lineup of organizations, governments and technology providers committed to driving common standards for secure collaboration across the global aerospace and defense (A&D) industry.
Thursday, May 07, 2009
Heartland breach cost $12.6 million, CEO says
Heartland Payment Systems Inc. said it was experiencing losses this quarter as a direct result of a massive data breach it disclosed in January when investigators discovered a malicious program sniffing credit card data passing through its systems. The company said it took a $2.5 million loss for the quarter as a result of spending more than $12.6 million in legal bills, fines from MasterCard and Visa and administrative costs.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Worldwide Cybercrime Police Network Grows (PC World)
More countries are joining a network designed to quickly react to cybercrime incidents around the world, a senior U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation official said Wednesday. Fifty-six nations are now part of the 24/7 Network, which means a country has a computer security official available at all times to help meet requests for data or preservation of data from another nation, said Christopher Painter, deputy assistant director of the FBI’s cyberdivision.
Better metrics needed for security, says expert
The security industry has done a poor job of finding ways for companies to measure their security, but that does not mean that collecting data is not valuable, the former head of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s cyber group told attendees at the SOURCE Boston conference on Thursday.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Cyberattack mapping could yield blueprint for cyber defense
Cyberwarfare has long since moved beyond the imaginations of Hollywood producers and science fiction aficionados. Countries, corporate entities, rogue states and motivated hackers are all online and actively testing the defenses of networks. Understanding how automated cyberwarfare works and how to defend against coordinated cyberattacks has become critical to the national defense interest. Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories have been mapping out attacks against large-scale computer networks to develop massive cyberattack simulations. Their work could impact the cybersecurity industry by enhancing security defense mechanisms.