This week seemed to have some interesting themes. I do think it is interesting that the one theme that has been missing is on how the federal government looming default has not been considered by the pundits as a cyber incident. It should be interesting to see how the possible default by the federal government impacts computer security and cyber warfare. I can see a few aspects where the incident is used by third parties for fishing attacks, malware attacks, and other forms of social engineering that are normal for any major incident.
Another element that might be seen is if a government default happens the shrinking population of government workers and contractors might not be able to protect the networks. Though the number of users will likely decrease the reality is that the span of control in systems will remain the same and the risk profile will be much higher.
This weeks news has some interesting highlights. There are contradictory narrative threads on the Sony attack. In one direction of discussions the cost appears to be shrinking. In the other direction the cost to Sony seems to be increasing. The things being measured are different, but the fact that the threads aren’t being coordinated suggest a significant amount of misunderstanding the totality of the incident. I like to refer to this as TCE 0r total cost of exploit. There are a variety of other scholars that refer to things like total cost of loss, or total incident cost.
Finally the week closed out with more discussion about specific kinds of attacks and follow up stories. It seems that friday is the day that editors clean off the rest of the weeks stories and toss them out for weekend discussion. Pretty quiet over all this week when compared to the previous weeks.
Monday July 25th
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| Here, There Be Dragons National Journal The cyberwar threat is being hyped because of a fear of unknown dangers. The biggest threat of all may come from our own overreaction. By Michael Hirsh Cyber morph: Traditional defense contractors such as Lockheed Martin are setting up shop as … See all stories on this topic » |
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| Anonymous Claims NATO Cyber Attack is Ongoing eSecurity Planet By eSecurityPlanet Staff A member of Anonymous recently told CBS News that the group’s attack on NATO is continuing. “According to the alleged member, who uses the name ‘Commander X,’ the ‘hacktivist’ group still has access to NATO servers and is … See all stories on this topic » |
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| A crime wave in cyberspace Washington Post Former director of national intelligence Mike McConnell declares that the United States is “fighting acyber war, and we’re losing.” Every new hack brings more pronouncements of network doom. The scare talk, however, is misplaced. … See all stories on this topic » |
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| Sony Insurer Says ‘No Thanks’ To Data Breach Lawsuit Coverage CRN By Stefanie Hoffman, CRN Sony’s insurance company is trying to wriggle out of forking over cash for mounting legal claims against the electronics giant related to a massive cyber attack and data breach earlier this year. Zurich American Insurance … See all stories on this topic » |
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| FBI’s Top Ten News Stories for the Week Ending July 22, 2011 Federal Bureau of Investigation (press release) Fourteen individuals were arrested on charges related to their alleged involvement in a cyber attackon PayPal’s website as part of an action claimed by the group Anonymous. Two additional defendants were arrested on other cyber-related charges. … See all stories on this topic » |
| Cyberwar Hysteria Aids Consultants, Hurts U.S.: Susan Crawford San Francisco Chronicle He voices concern that the US “is fighting a cyber-war today, and we are losing.” Even ordinarily reasonable Senator Susan Collins uses this kind of language, warning of a “digital Pearl Harbor” in a recent Washington Post op-ed written with Senator … See all stories on this topic » |
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| Zurich American Denys Insurance Payout, Says Sony Data Breach not Covered ITProPortal Zurich American Insurance, one of Sony’s insurers, has filed a lawsuit in New York, asking the courts to declare that it is not liable to help Sony with the losses incurred by the cyber attack on its PSN services. The company believes that it was not … See all stories on this topic » |
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| Government still needs to ‘improve’ The Age The report discusses the results of cyber war games last year called Cyber Storm, which simulated a large-scale international cyber security incident. Citing ”gaps” in the cyber security procedures of both government and industry, the report’s author … See all stories on this topic » |
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| ANONYMOUS PUTS THOUSANDS OF PERSONAL DOCUMENTS ON-LINE Agenzia Giornalistica Italia (AGI) Rome – The Anonymous hackers have explained on their website their cyber-attack on the Italian Postal Police and the publication of thousands of documents. The statement says, “Today we accessed a Pandora’s vase of information from Italian … See all stories on this topic » |
Tuesday July 26th
| The Cyber-War Has Begun Big Think (blog) Because cyber war defies the conventions of physical war. “Deterrence and arms treaties are but philosophical concepts when invisible weapons are involved. Assigning certain blame for an attack may be impossible when it’s conducted through computers in … See all stories on this topic » |
| Cuber Warfare in the Spotlight NewsReleaseWire.com (press release) Cyber warfare has been a topic of significant discussion as of late. The Executive Orders signed by President Obama along with the public version of DoD’s Cyber Operating Strategy has heightened public debate. Cyber warfare, cyber terrorism, … See all stories on this topic » |
Wednesday July 27th
| Police say cyber attack threatens Australia’s infrastructure ABC Online SIMON SANTOW: Assistant commissioner Gaughan insists the NBN’s infrastructure was and continues to be secure from cyber attack. The AFP is planning to conduct what’s known as a forensic examination of the alleged hacker’s computers. … See all stories on this topic » |
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| Cyber attack on RSA cost EMC $66 million Washington Post (blog) By Hayley Tsukayama The compromising of information on almost 40 million RSA security tokens, which protect sensitive military and financial networks, was a major cyber attack. (MICHAEL CARONNA) In its earnings call Tuesday, EMC disclosed that it spent … See all stories on this topic » |
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| Cyber attack on Internet safety guru Parry Aftab could be linked to ‘Jessie … newjerseynewsroom.com BY ALICIA CRUZ Hackers decided to launch another prank aimed at an Internet security campaigner, Parry Aftab, using a computer and a cloned phone number to call in a bogus hostage and murder situation to 911 authorities on Sunday. … See all stories on this topic » |
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| US network security must be private-public partnership: experts China Post An explosion in threats against the US online networks has led the Pentagon to develop a cyberwarstrategy and states to open cyber security offices. The Pentagon revealed recently that it sustained, earlier this year, one of its largest-ever losses of … See all stories on this topic » |
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| General calls steep budget cuts risky Edmonton Journal The general named to be chief of the US military said Tuesday that steep budget cuts posed risks as the United States faces challenges from Afghanistan to Pakistan to the new realm of cyber war. Gen. Martin Dempsey, whose four-decade career has taken … See all stories on this topic » |
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| Anonymous and LulzSec’s PayPal boycott campaign gathers momentum. Finextra Earlier this month the FBI arrested 14 people accused of involvement in last year’s cyber-attack on PayPal’s Web site by Anonymous in retaliation for the company’s closure of a donation account for Wikileaks. Anonymous has teamed with LulzSec under the … See all stories on this topic » |
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Thursday July 28th
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Friday July 29th
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