• U.S. to make Internet wiretaps easier

    The Obama administration plans to submit a bill next year that would require all online services that enable communications to be technically equipped to comply with a wiretap order; this would include providers of encrypted e-mail, such as BlackBerry, networking sites like Facebook, and direct communication services like Skype; federal law enforcement and national security officials say new the regulations are needed because terrorists and criminals are increasingly giving up their phones to communicate online

  • Iran admits its nuclear facilities are under massive cyberattack

    Iran has confirmed that 30,000 computers in the country’s power stations, including the nuclear reactor in Bushehr, have been attacked by the Stuxnet worm; the Stuxnet worm is described by experts as the most complex piece of malware ever designed; once Stuxnet gains access to a plant’s computers, it hunts out specific software that controls operations such as the opening and closing of valves or temperature regulation; by halting those processes it can cause extensive damage to nuclear power stations, power grids or other industrial facilities; the high number of infections in Iran have led experts to conclude that the worm may have been designed in the United States or Israel to disable Iran’s controversial nuclear facilities

  • Secure network for critical infrastructure idea draws fire

    The Obama administration wants to develop a secure computer network to defend civilian government agencies and critical civilian infrastructure and industries; the restricted network would allow the government to provide greater protection to vital online operations and critical infrastructure — such as financial networks, commercial aviation systems, and the national power grid — from Internet-based attacks; critics say this ambitious idea is impractical

  • Experts: Israel used cyber weapon to disrupt Iran's nuclear reactor

    The Stuxnet malware has infiltrated industrial computer systems worldwide in July and August; now, cyber security experts say that the worm was, in fact, is a search-and-destroy cyber weapon meant to hit a single target — Iran’s Bushehr reactor; Stuxnet amazed — and stunned — computer security experts: too large, too encrypted, too complex to be immediately understood, it employed amazing new tricks, like taking control of a computer system without the user taking any action or clicking any button other than inserting an infected memory stick; in Stuxnet, the world faces a new breed of malware that could become a template for attackers wishing to launch digital strikes at physical targets worldwide — Internet link not required

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  • MI5: Cyber espionage on the rise, but can be easily beaten

    MI5 says the Internet has made the threat of espionage by foreign countries higher than ever before, but insisted it is “relatively straightforward” to block attempts to steal data; MI5 has previously written to the bosses of big British companies to warn them of the threat online, particularly from hackers with links to the Chinese intelligence services

  • Security standards for smart grid evolve

    Digital technology in the smart grid measures and distributes the delivery of electricity to consumers and has the potential to reduce energy use and costs for consumers as it’s deployed in more areas of the country; security experts say, however, that the new network will offer new avenues for criminals to infiltrate, corrupt and steal data

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  • U.K to increase spending on cybersecurity

    U.K. defense minister that cuts in information security spending are not on the agenda for the Strategic Defense and Security Review (SDSR), which is due to report back in the autumn; on the contrary, Britain is looking to boost its capabilities in the area

  • The most pressing cybersecurity issue

    According to Red Hat’s Gunnar Hellekson the most pressing cybersecurity issue is “the threat that comes from our reactions to real and perceived threats…I see this growing ‘Fortress America’ movement around computer security and the security of the software-supply chain”

  • EMP threat to U.S. should be kept in perspective

    In 1962 the United States conducted a high-altitude nuclear test above Johnston Island, 825 miles southwest of Hawaii; detonated 400 kilometers above the island, the resulting nuclear blast knocked out street lights across Hawaii and tripped circuit breakers, triggered burglar alarms, and damaged a telecommunications relay facility on the island of Kauai; could terrorist, or a nuclear-armed rogue state, launch an EMP Pearl Harbor against the United States?

  • U.S. intensifies campaign to train, hire, retain cybersecurity professionals

    The cyber threats to both government and public network intensify, and the U.S. federal agencies must find ways to attract qualified workers and develop new skills internally; NIST’s Dr. Ernest McDuffie: “We’ve got a problem of where the next generation of engineers are going to come from— Awareness, education, workforce, and training all have to come together”

  • U.S. military wants to cyber-protect critical infrastructure

    The U.S. military wants to exert more influence over the protection of power grids, transportation networks, and financial network systems because the military relies on these networks to deal with suppliers and these networks could become military targets

  • Pentagon describes 2008 attack as a "network administrator's worst fear"

    The Pentagon admits that a 2008 cyber attack on the Pentagon’s computers was a “network administrator’s worst fear”; a USB device was
    plugged into a military laptop located on an undisclosed base in the Middle East, causing a malicious code to link highly sensitive machines to networks controlled by an unnamed foreign intelligence agency

  • Powerful GPU processor puts password security system at risk

    A readily available piece of hardware, a graphics processing unit (GPU) costing only a few hundred dollars, now brings supercomputer-level power to any desktop; this new capability puts power into many hands — and could also threaten the world’s ubiquitous password-protection model because it enables a low-cost password-breaking technique that engineers call “brute forcing”

  • The reason for Intel's acquisition of McAfee

    The merger between the two companies takes place ahead of the release in 2011 of new — and as yet undisclosed — products developed by a joint venture the two companies have operated in the past eighteen months; those undisclosed products may be part of the reason why Intel decided to purchase McAfee instead of extending or expanding the two companies’ joint venture; says one analyst: “If what came out of that joint venture was revolutionary it could be that Intel wanted to lock that [intellectual property] down”

  • House Cybersecurity Caucus launches new Web site

    Billions of dollars are spent on cybersecurity; the House cybersecurity caucus has launched a new Web site, and observers say it could provide a valuable public service if it helps aggregate disparate activities and acts as a Federal cybersecurity information hub