Archive for July, 2013
Azerbaijani gov’t, ITU to hold conference on cyber security
Jul 31st
From: AzerNews
By Aynur Jafarova
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) jointly with the Azerbaijani Ministry of Communications and Information Technologies plans to organize an international conference on cyber security in Baku.
The conference will be held within the 19th Azerbaijan International Telecommunications and Information Technologies Exhibition and Conference, BAKUTEL 2013, on December 2-5, the ministry said.
Moreover, it is planned to hold a meeting of experts and a ministerial meeting of the member countries within the conference.
Azerbaijan is taking important steps to address the cyber security issue. 2013 was declared the year of information and communication technologies in January. The country continues international cooperation in this field.
U.K. Losing Battle Against Cyber Crime
Jul 31st
From: InformationWeek Security
New report by Home Affairs Committee warns that U.K. is insufficiently prepared to protect the country against cyber attacks and other online threats.
Gary Flood
According to a new report by the Home Affairs Committee, the U.K. is at grave danger of losing the battle against cyber-crime. The report states that much Internet-related financial crime is not being reported to the police and that law enforcement is generally not trained to fight cybercrime.
More about cybersecurity for the Internet of Things
Jul 29th
From: Wired
By Bruce Sterling
*This screed seems to come from some parallel wonderland of yore, where the NSA and Chinese cyberwar simply didn’t exist, and it’s all up the doughty, hands-on engineers of General Electric.
http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2013/06/cyber_security_in_the_internet.html
(…)
Australia must rethink cybersecurity policies: ASPI
Jul 29th
From: ZDNet
Summary: Australia urgently needs to update its cybersecurity policies to meet the growing threats from criminal organisations and state hackers, a think tank has said.
By AAP
The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) has said that a cybersecurity whitepaper must be produced within 12 months after the federal election to help business and government better respond to cyberthreats.
The last major government policy paper on cybersecurity was published in 2009.
“In a rapidly technologically evolving environment, it’s unacceptable for cyber policy to be left without updating for four years,” ASPI said in its report, released on Monday.
NIST takes center stage in cyber legislation
Jul 26th
From: FCW
By Amber Corrin
In the latest iteration of legislation aimed at strengthening defenses against cyber attacks, a leading role for the National Institute of Standards and Technology in protecting critical infrastructure would be formalized and reinforced, writing into law what President Obama’s executive order directed: NIST’s charge to develop a comprehensive cybersecurity framework.
The measure, introduced July 24 by Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) and backed by ranking member John Thune (R-S.D.), also would include standards, guidelines and best practices for U.S. businesses, including those that oversee operation of critical infrastructure.
US prosecutors launch largest ever hacking fraud case
Jul 25th
From: BBC
US prosecutors have launched what they say is the country’s largest ever hacking fraud case.
Five men in Russia and Ukraine have been charged with running a hacking operation that allegedly stole more than 160 million credit and debit card numbers from a number of major US companies over a period of seven years.
Losses from the thefts amounted to hundreds of millions of dollars.
Corporate victims included Nasdaq, Visa, Dow Jones and JC Penney.
Paul Fishman, US Attorney for the District of New Jersey, called the case “the largest ever hacking and data scheme breach in the United States”.
Nation falling short on IT security: survey
Jul 25th
From: People’s Daily Online
Need for better information safety becomes urgent, Ernst & Young says
Most organizations in China have failed to meet ever-growing challenges to information security, even though they have taken some steps to improve the situation, an Ernst & Young survey has found.
The need for better information security has become quite urgent in China, especially after the exposure of the United States’ program known as PRISM, a clandestine Internet and telecom surveillance system operated by the US National Security Agency.
First agency set to use new DHS cybersecurity program
Jul 25th
From: Federal Times
By ANDY MEDICI
Einstein 3, the latest version of a Department of Homeland Security program designed to protect agency computer systems from cyberattacks, is going live Wednesday evening.
Roberta Stempfley, acting assistant secretary of the DHS Office of Cybersecurity and Communications, said the first agency — which she would not identify at the agency’s request — is moving to the Einstein 3 program at 7 p.m.
“We are really thrilled about that,” she said Wednesday at the Cyber Security Brainstorm in Washington hosted by public-private partnership Meritalk.
S’pore launches new 5-year cybersecurity roadmap
Jul 24th
From: ZDnet
Summary: Country’s third masterplan for the next five years focuses on enhancing the resiliency of critical infrastructure, and growing pool of homegrown cybersecurity professionals.
By Ellyne Phneah
SINGAPORE–The country has launched its third Cybersecurity Masterplan focusing on critical infrastructure protection and growing homegrown cybersecurity talent.
According to Yaacob Ibrahim, Singapore’s minister for communications and information at the Information Security Seminar 2013 here Wednesday, the latest five-year plan which will see the government’s increased collaboration with sectors such as utilities and telcos to keep them secure and resilient.
Indonesia Joins China as Cyber-Attack Powerhouse
Jul 23rd
From: Bloomberg
By Mark Milian
Indonesia isn’t known as an epicenter for hacking, but the Southeast Asian country was the source of 21 percent of the world’s cyber-attack traffic in the first quarter of this year, according to a report by Akamai Technologies to be published later today.
The type of activity observed in Indonesia suggests an aggressive botnet attack, according to the study. A botnet takes control of hordes of personal computers by infecting them with malicious software that forces them to do a hacker’s bidding.