Showing posts with label Cyber. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cyber. Show all posts
Friday, August 7
Thursday, July 23
A Cyber-Attack on an American City
Bruce Perens
Just after midnight on Thursday, April 9, unidentified attackers climbed down four manholes serving the Northern California city of Morgan Hill and cut eight fiber cables in what appears to have been an organized attack on the electronic infrastructure of an American city. Its implications, though startling, have gone almost un-reported.
That attack demonstrated a severe fault in American infrastructure: its centralization. The city of Morgan Hill and parts of three counties lost 911 service, cellular mobile telephone communications, land-line telephone, DSL internet and private networks, central station fire and burglar alarms, ATMs, credit card terminals, and monitoring of critical utilities. In addition, resources that should not have failed, like the local hospital's internal computer network, proved to be dependent on external resources, leaving the hospital with a "paper system" for the day.
http://perens.com/works/articles/MorganHill/
Just after midnight on Thursday, April 9, unidentified attackers climbed down four manholes serving the Northern California city of Morgan Hill and cut eight fiber cables in what appears to have been an organized attack on the electronic infrastructure of an American city. Its implications, though startling, have gone almost un-reported.
That attack demonstrated a severe fault in American infrastructure: its centralization. The city of Morgan Hill and parts of three counties lost 911 service, cellular mobile telephone communications, land-line telephone, DSL internet and private networks, central station fire and burglar alarms, ATMs, credit card terminals, and monitoring of critical utilities. In addition, resources that should not have failed, like the local hospital's internal computer network, proved to be dependent on external resources, leaving the hospital with a "paper system" for the day.
http://perens.com/works/articles/MorganHill/
Wednesday, April 22
Call to rally against cyber crime
Collaboration
,,,At the conference, RSA President Mr Coviello suggested a number of ways the industry could come together to mitigate the cyber security threat.
RSA President Art Coviello
Mr Coviello said the global cyber threat continues to escalate
He outlined three key practices that included collaborating on standards, sharing technologies and integrating technologies and controls into the infrastructure.
Brett Galloway, Senior Vice-President of Cisco's Wireless Technology Group, agreed with that collaborative approach and said it was already happening to some degree.
"The work that goes on between the companies, the standards and the work that goes on between companies operationally to integrate, inter-operate and make sure that our customers bring these solutions together is actually quite profound and important.
"We clearly live in an era of increasing sensitivity and increasing threat not only from commercial bad guys but other sorts of bad guys as well," noted Mr Galloway.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8011160.stm
,,,At the conference, RSA President Mr Coviello suggested a number of ways the industry could come together to mitigate the cyber security threat.
RSA President Art Coviello
Mr Coviello said the global cyber threat continues to escalate
He outlined three key practices that included collaborating on standards, sharing technologies and integrating technologies and controls into the infrastructure.
Brett Galloway, Senior Vice-President of Cisco's Wireless Technology Group, agreed with that collaborative approach and said it was already happening to some degree.
"The work that goes on between the companies, the standards and the work that goes on between companies operationally to integrate, inter-operate and make sure that our customers bring these solutions together is actually quite profound and important.
"We clearly live in an era of increasing sensitivity and increasing threat not only from commercial bad guys but other sorts of bad guys as well," noted Mr Galloway.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8011160.stm
Friday, March 20
CyberSecurity Briefing
http://commerce.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Hearings.Hearing&Hearing_ID=d59f00d0-0ad9-41cd-bde8-b96babb08b7e
Monday, January 12
FOX New FBI Center in Omaha Aims to Combat Cyber Crimes
KPTM FOX 42: Omaha News, Sports and Weather; Nebraska News, Sports; kptm.com New FBI Center in Omaha Aims to Combat Cyber Crimes: "'They're the best in the world, and they have the state of the art equipment, these individuals can do it all,' Robert Georgi,FBI Special Agent said.
It's a one of a kind all-encompassing cyber crime lab, combining the best brains in the business with the latest computer technology to track cyber criminals. 'For many years we've been playing catch up with computer crimes and cyber related crimes,' Georgi said.
Now with this new center policing the world wide web, the tables are turning and experts hope to stay one step ahead of cyber predators and thieves. Georgi says it's been a two year project in the works and two million dollars."
It's a one of a kind all-encompassing cyber crime lab, combining the best brains in the business with the latest computer technology to track cyber criminals. 'For many years we've been playing catch up with computer crimes and cyber related crimes,' Georgi said.
Now with this new center policing the world wide web, the tables are turning and experts hope to stay one step ahead of cyber predators and thieves. Georgi says it's been a two year project in the works and two million dollars."
Sunday, January 11
CyberCrime & Doing Time: US Army hacked as Gaza protest
CyberCrime & Doing Time: US Army hacked as Gaza protest: "Today the anti-Israeli hackers for the first time brought their Cyber Propaganda War to Washington DC in the form of their attack against the United States Army's Military District of Washington website, www.mdw.army.mil"
Friday, January 9
El Defensor Chieftain: N.M. Tech Out $165,000 in Cyber Theft
El Defensor Chieftain: N.M. Tech Out $165,000 in Cyber Theft: "The Kansas City bank revealed that the money was processed on behalf of Fidelity and routed to the account of a man in Indiana who was listed as living in Casper, Wyo.
Agents who interviewed the man found that he had never lived in Wyoming, didn't use the e-mail address associated with the fund transfers and had never done business with Fidelity even though his birth date and Social Security number were used on the account."
Agents who interviewed the man found that he had never lived in Wyoming, didn't use the e-mail address associated with the fund transfers and had never done business with Fidelity even though his birth date and Social Security number were used on the account."
Tuesday, December 23
What can you afford NOT to do on IT security? - Network World
What can you afford NOT to do on IT security? - Network World: "Even in an economy gone sour, a growing number of government and industry regulations impose security compliance costs that there is simply no getting away from. For instance, new data-protection laws in states such as Massachusetts, Connecticut and Nevada require companies to use data encryption tools and implement other security controls to safeguard the personal information of state residents.
Similarly, the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, created by the major credit card companies, requires all businesses that accept credit and debit transactions to adopt a broad set of data protection controls. And the federal HIPAA law includes data security and privacy rules for health care providers in order to protect patient information."
Similarly, the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, created by the major credit card companies, requires all businesses that accept credit and debit transactions to adopt a broad set of data protection controls. And the federal HIPAA law includes data security and privacy rules for health care providers in order to protect patient information."
Sunday, July 13
A suburban housewife's 911 Call to Action - Shannen Rossmiller
Rossmiller developed her remarkable talent for chatting up terrorists after September 11, when she started going into online forums and cajoling valuable information from other visitors. She has passed along numerous case files to federal authorities. Her information has led US forces abroad to locate Taliban cells in Afghanistan, discover a renegade stinger-missile merchant in Pakistan, and help another foreign government identify a ring of potential suicide bombers. She has also assisted in nabbing two domestic would-be terrorists and seen them both convicted of felonies: National guardsman Ryan Anderson received five concurrent life sentences, and Michael Reynolds, convicted in July and awaiting sentencing, faces a similar fate. Timothy Fuhrman, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Salt Lake City office, says Rossmiller was “instrumental in the successful outcome of those cases.”http://sfcmac.wordpress.com/2007/10/30/one-of-the-best-counter-terrorist-agents-is-a-suburban-housewife/
Friday, January 25
CIA: Cyberattack caused multiple-city blackout | Tech News on ZDNet
CIA: Cyberattack caused multiple-city blackout Tech News on ZDNet: "A cyberattack has caused a power blackout in multiple cities outside the United States, the CIA has warned.
The SANS Institute, a computer-security training body, reported the CIA's disclosure on Friday. CIA senior analyst Tom Donahue told a SANS Institute conference on Wednesday in New Orleans that the CIA had evidence of successful cyberattacks against critical national infrastructures outside the United States.
'We have information that cyberattacks have been used to disrupt power equipment in several regions outside the U.S.,' Donahue said. 'In at least one case, the disruption caused a power outage affecting multiple cities.'"
The SANS Institute, a computer-security training body, reported the CIA's disclosure on Friday. CIA senior analyst Tom Donahue told a SANS Institute conference on Wednesday in New Orleans that the CIA had evidence of successful cyberattacks against critical national infrastructures outside the United States.
'We have information that cyberattacks have been used to disrupt power equipment in several regions outside the U.S.,' Donahue said. 'In at least one case, the disruption caused a power outage affecting multiple cities.'"
Energy’s zooming cybersecurity attack rate calls for management reforms auditors say
Energy’s zooming cybersecurity attack rate calls for management reforms auditors say: "Inspector General Gregory Friedman hopes to lock down security on the Energy Department's interconnected computer networks, after auditors called 132 security breaches serious enough to report to law enforcement in fiscal 2006 — 22 percent more than in the prior year.
The department's 69 organizations support as many as eight separate intrusion and analysis groups, which do not use a common incident-reporting format and do not always retain crucial information about cyberattacks, the IG said in a report released today. Some sites opt out of monitoring their networks or even disable the sensor equipment."
The department's 69 organizations support as many as eight separate intrusion and analysis groups, which do not use a common incident-reporting format and do not always retain crucial information about cyberattacks, the IG said in a report released today. Some sites opt out of monitoring their networks or even disable the sensor equipment."
Monday, December 31
DHS puts cybersecurity toward top of 2008 to-do list
DHS puts cybersecurity toward top of 2008 to-do list: "Cybersecurity, immigration and border security, secure identification, and continuing to “institutionalize the department's functions” are the four areas that the department’s agenda will focus on in 2008, said Chertoff, who will mark his third year as secretary of DHS in February 2008."
Cyber Security Threats To Pipelines and Refineries
"Cyber Security Threats To Pipelines And Refineries"Pipeline & Gas Journal (11/07) Vol. 234, No. 11, P. 56 ; Williams, Tyler
The cyber security threat to critical infrastructure systems continues to be a clear and present danger. Terrorists and hackers that want to paralyze the United States could deal a devastating blow by disabling key infrastructure systems such as power plants, oil and gas pipelines and refineries. Pipelines are especially vulnerable because they tend to be located in unpoliced and isolated areas. Although the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system offers a measure of protection, an entire pipeline could be taken out of commission if an attacker gained access to a physical Ethernet port at a field site. An combined cyber and physical attack also poses major implications, particularly if an attacker accesses critical servers in a SCADA control center. By infiltrating a server in the control center, the hacker could feed false information to the asset owner, making it appear as though an event was in the making at a far off site in a bid to distract emergency sources at the site so that it could target another critical site at a separate location. While such an attack seems far-fetched, several power companies in the U.S. routinely report instances of hackers trying to circumvent their security to tap into their computer networks. A similar event took place in Estonia this spring after hackers pummeled the government and other Website with cyber attacks as retribution for the removal of a beloved Russian war memorial there.
The cyber security threat to critical infrastructure systems continues to be a clear and present danger. Terrorists and hackers that want to paralyze the United States could deal a devastating blow by disabling key infrastructure systems such as power plants, oil and gas pipelines and refineries. Pipelines are especially vulnerable because they tend to be located in unpoliced and isolated areas. Although the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system offers a measure of protection, an entire pipeline could be taken out of commission if an attacker gained access to a physical Ethernet port at a field site. An combined cyber and physical attack also poses major implications, particularly if an attacker accesses critical servers in a SCADA control center. By infiltrating a server in the control center, the hacker could feed false information to the asset owner, making it appear as though an event was in the making at a far off site in a bid to distract emergency sources at the site so that it could target another critical site at a separate location. While such an attack seems far-fetched, several power companies in the U.S. routinely report instances of hackers trying to circumvent their security to tap into their computer networks. A similar event took place in Estonia this spring after hackers pummeled the government and other Website with cyber attacks as retribution for the removal of a beloved Russian war memorial there.
Saturday, September 29
Keyloggers proposed to fight terrorism in cybercafes
Terrorists are increasingly using the Internet to communicate with one another, as they are aware that telephone and mobile phones connections are under Indian government surveillance, according to Mukhi.
FIST, a nonprofit organization in Mumbai, is focused on cybersecurity and has worked with the police on related issues. It aims to get keyloggers on computers in cybercafes throughout India, Mukhi said.
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/091207-keyloggers-proposed-to-fight-terrorism.html?fsrc=rss-security
FIST, a nonprofit organization in Mumbai, is focused on cybersecurity and has worked with the police on related issues. It aims to get keyloggers on computers in cybercafes throughout India, Mukhi said.
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/091207-keyloggers-proposed-to-fight-terrorism.html?fsrc=rss-security
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
PartnerForSecurity
