The silliness of what has become a near catastrophic destruction of the term war has continued through out the weekend of June 25th/26th. The term cyber warfare was tossed around with abandon by the main stream media. The possible disbandment of LulzSec was an interesting if not unexpected twist. They media has started to be chastised by some in the security community for the mythical levels. By Friday of last week John Stewart of the Daily Show had even waded into the pool to add his two cents to the fiasco. When the threat becomes humor some of the more obvious flaws in the argument appear even for main stream reporters.
It is interesting to note by the end of the weekend the term “cyber attack” was rising in popularity. I attribute that to some of the luminaries of the security industry actually having read the United Nations Charter on what constitutes war and realizing a DDOS even of significant magnitude isn’t going to be war. We’ll see what happens by late next week as the news cycle starts drawing comparisons between cyber warfare and the American Revolution with July 4th and the American Independence day celebrations in full swing. I’m expecting a rise in the phrase “cyber revolution” and the associated conceptual elements. The Arab spring already being similarly associated though have nearly no cyber component other than communications. Which is really nice, but using the Internet as a telephone isn’t a grand and new scary strategy.
The continuation of the term “cyber attack” on Tuesday to describe an incident involving the state of Arizona’s computer systems suggested a maturing of the media or the reporters. In the report the Department of Public Safety says the LulzSec had exploited their systems. The specific actions by the agency to report the incident to the anti-terrorism coordination center is interesting even if not surprising. Of course the news over the last week has been to determine what the role of DHS is when dealing with cyber attacks. The fact it is a discussion likely means that the role has been lost to the NSA (whether prudent or not). The best news to come out on Tuesday is the cyber attack by a Spambot that is leaving positive comments randomly on blogs.
By the end of the week we see stories of Orlando being attacked, Amy Winehouse’s site being attacked and more. The hacker hordes unleashed upon the world? This is more likely a sensitization to the security maelstrom that is normal everyday life and only the relative mass media coverage has changed. Until the next disaster occurs, or major “ball” sport star hits the wrong waiter. Unfortunately decision makers and legislators have a tendency to react precipitously to the mass media news cycle and that can create some issues with legislation. It will be interesting if the news cycle will continue or be stalled by the holiday weekend. As I side note I’m thinking about whether to keep providing these weekly synopsis or not. I keep the material behind it for research purposes and the “stuff above the dated” as my research notes. I’ll be thinking about it over the weekend. If you have particularly strong feelings either way drop me a note on Twitter or in the comments section below. With that… This weeks news.
Monday June 27th
| Former YouSendIt CEO pleads guilty to cyber attack San Jose Business Journal The former CEO of YouSendIt Inc. has pleaded guilty to launching a cyber attack against the Campbell-based company, federal prosecutors said Friday. Khalid Shaikh pleaded guilty Thursday to transmission of a code to cause damage to a protected computer … See all stories on this topic » |
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| Travelodge leaks customer data in possible cyber attack Computing The company stated on its Twitter feed that it had not sold customer records, meaning that the data breach is likely to have been the result of a cyber attack. It added that the Information Commissioner’s Office was informed of the breach yesterday … See all stories on this topic » |
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| Victim of a Cyber Attack? What You Should Tell Customers Fox Business By Donna Fuscaldo It seems like every day consumers are learning of data breeches from companies like Sega, Sony and Google. Major corporations like these tend to have the funds and resources to recover from an attack, but for small businesses, … See all stories on this topic » |
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| Fully 90% of US companies suffered a Cyber attack last year: Survey Ottawa Citizen By Jameson Berkow, Financial Post June 24, 2011 Fully 90% of all US companies suffered a cyber attack in the past year, says a survey sponsored by Juniper Networks In., the results of which were released on Wednesday. Based on responses from 583 US … See all stories on this topic » |
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| ChronoPay’s Vrublevsky Arrested for Cyber Attack eSecurity Planet “Vrublevsky fled the country after the arrest of a suspect who confessed that he was hired by Vrublevsky to launch a debilitating cyber attack against Assist, a top ChronoPay competitor,” writes Krebs on Security’s Brian Krebs. … See all stories on this topic » |
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| One hack of a crime wave, or so they say Sydney Morning Herald And there are the biggies: cyber crime, cyber terrorism, and full-blown cyber war. Typically these threats are all merged into each other, blurred by fearmongers to create a picture of a risky Wild West online. They feed into a fear that technology has … See all stories on this topic » |
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| EA Confirms Hack, Customer Data Stolen ITProPortal Electronic Arts (EA) on Friday revealed that the company’s website has suffered a cyber attackleading to leak of user data. US-based video game giant, EA has confirmed that one of its oldest servers was attacked by cyber criminals and customer data … See all stories on this topic » |
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| Removing User Admin Rights Could Have Prevented IMF Cyber-Attack PR Newswire (press release) Avecto Ltd, the leader in Windows privilege management, today revealed how removing user admin rights, through a policy of ‘least privilege’, could have prevented the recent cyber-attack on the IMF systems. Whilst very few details of the major … See all stories on this topic » |
| Citigroup says $2.7 mn stolen in May cyber attack domain-B Citigroup acknowledged that last month’s cyber attack lead to millions of dollars being stolen from customers’ credit card accounts. The New York-based US banking giant told CNN that about $2.7 million was stolen from about 3400 accounts in the 10 May … See all stories on this topic » |
| China official denies cyber war with US New Brunswick Business Journal BEIJING – There is no cyber warfare taking place between China and the United States, a senior Chinese official said, after weeks of friction over accusations that China may have launched a string of Internet hacking attacks. … See all stories on this topic » |
| America has double standards in fighting cyberwar Financial Times By Thomas Wright The hacking of the International Monetary Fund, Central Intelligence Agency and Citibank computer systems has raised fears that the US is on the brink of a cyberwar for which it is woefully unprepared. To deal with this growing threat, … See all stories on this topic » |
| Cyber War Games: USV China Big Think (blog) Cyber warfare involves more than just reading people’s emails. Wise sites security experts who worry about the compromise of not only software but hardware such as missiles, aircraft, and radar systems: “One reason is that only about 2 percent of the … See all stories on this topic » |
| Russian online payments boss arrested over alleged cyber-attack on rival Finextra The boss of a Russian online payments processor has been arrested over claims he ordered acyber-attack on a rival firm. ChronoPay co-founder and CEO Pavel Vrublevsky was picked up by authorities at a Moscow airport last week following an investigation … See all stories on this topic » |
| Investing in Cyber Security Seeking Alpha With all the hacks being reported by major companies and government agencies, and with non-state enemies and countries developing cyber warfare capabilities, cyber security investing as a theme is popular. We think it is important to invest in personal … See all stories on this topic » |
| Personal Technology: Cybergeddon? Tell me about it. Really Jakarta Post Suddenly everyone is talking about cyber attacks, cyberwar, cyberespionage, cybergeddon. Ok, that last one was my own invention. The truth is we should have been talking about this a long time ago. And we should have been forcing companies, governments … See all stories on this topic » |
Tuesday June 28th
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| DPS response to recent cyber attack KVOA Tucson News ARIZONA – The Arizona Department of Public Safety released the following statement Monday regarding the recent cyber attack on the department’s computer system. The week of June 20, 2011, the Arizona Department of Public Safety became aware that their … See all stories on this topic » |
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| Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C) Loses $2.7 Million From Cyber-Attack StocksandShares.TV Citigroup Inc announced the monetary losses that it received as a result of the cyber attack it suffered earlier this year. The stolen amounts came to $2.7 million in value, with 3400 people being reportedly affected. Citigroup naturally made it clear … See all stories on this topic » |
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| Cyber War Games: US Versus China Big Think Cyber warfare is one form of espionage that is currently being waged between the US and China. In the event of a full-scale conflict, how would this war be fought, and who would win the war? See all stories on this topic » |
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| Army, university to create cyber defense course The Korea Herald The Army signed an accord with Korea University on Tuesday to establish a department for nurturingcyber warfare specialists as South Korea strives to bolster its capabilities to deal with North Korean cyber attacks. The ceremony to sign the agreement … See all stories on this topic » |
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| Record Searchlight suffers positive cyber attack Record-Searchlight (blog) A lot of people, including Yours Truly, complain about the tone and tenor of online comments. Well, finally, someone’s doing something about it. In recent days I’ve received dozens of comments (on random older blogs I’ve posted) that were mindlessly … See all stories on this topic » |
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| LulzSec Passes Hacking Torch To Anonymous CRN By Stefanie Hoffman, CRN Hacker group LulzSec is publicly hanging up its hat, but is handing its mission as cyber attack instigator over to sister hacker collective Anonymous. “We are Lulz Security and this is our final release, as today marks … See all stories on this topic » |
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| DHS’s Role in Cyber Security Debated: Is It Up to The Job? Examiner.com Hathaway told national lawmakers who are presently working on legislation regarding the gravest threat to American economic, governmental, and public security-cyber-attack stated, “In my view, inserting DHS into a regulator role in this context would … See all stories on this topic » |
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| US spins out cyber-security plans to protect small businesses International Business Times The Homeland Security department will help the businesses that are facing a growing threat of cyber attack and avoid security issues that allow hackers to get into websites. The new program, developed by the Mitre Corp., was taken up much before the … See all stories on this topic » |
Wednesday June 29th
| Fending Off Cyber Attack Wall Street Journal Security threats will continue to dominate the corporate landscape, and will come from three main areas: Mobile devices, the Internet of things and targeted personal attacks. By NICK CLAYTON The infamous industrial computer worm, Stuxnet, … See all stories on this topic » |
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| South Korea to open cyber warfare school Straits Times SEOUL – SOUTH Korea’s military will create a cyber warfare school to help combat growing Internet attacks from North Korea, an official said on Wednesday. The army has teamed up with Korea University to open in 2012 the new cyber-defence school, … See all stories on this topic » |
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| Cyber attack on Gannett targets US soldiers Reuters Canada By Jim Finkle BOSTON (Reuters) – Hackers broke into a Gannett Co database containing personal information about subscribers to publications read by US government officials, military leaders and rank-and-file soldiers, the media company said on Tuesday. … See all stories on this topic » |
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| Chinese Cyber Warfare Threat to be Analysed at Cyber Warfare Europe as … PR Newswire (press release) As China-based organisations are increasingly accused of launching cyber warfare attacks, LtCol USMCR (RET) Bill Hagestad from the US Marine Corps, will be discussing the intent and scale of the threat from China at Cyber Warfare Europe 2011. … See all stories on this topic » |
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| Edge on Employment: Cyber attack prevention means jobs for this region Annapolis Capital By KIRKLAND J. MURRAY, For The Capital By KIRKLAND J. MURRAY, For The Capital As technology advances and becomes a more integral part of our society, we become more dependent on our networks and electronically stored information. AP VIDEO more>> This, … See all stories on this topic » |
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| Anonymous launches cyberwar against Orlando, FL Examiner.com Now that LulzSec has “retired,” there’s a big void in hacking headlines, which seemed to average more than one a day with LulzSec around. More established (and loosely tied together) hacking group Anonymous seems ready to fill that gap, and is making … See all stories on this topic » |
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| Kenneth C. Wisnefski Interviewed on FOX News – Seasoned web Entrepreneur … San Francisco Chronicle (press release) The United States pentagon unveiled new rules aimed at controlling “cyber warfare“. Cyber Warfareincludes the act of using computers to attack other networks, or “hacking” as a more commonly known phrase. President Obama has signed a new order that … See all stories on this topic » |
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Thursday June 30th
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| Update software to reduce risk of cyber attack, top vendors tell business ComputerWeekly.com Businesses are unnecessarily exposing themselves to cyber attack simply by failing to update to the latest versions of the software they are running, according to Microsoft and Adobe. Both software companies are developing products using a security … See all stories on this topic » |
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| Bit9 Podcast Addresses Spear Phishing, Modern Attacks and Application Whitelisting SunHerald.com Bit9 Inc., the market leader in application whitelisting, announced today a new podcast, entitled “Spear Phishing and the Modern Cyber Attack,” that explains how IT teams can protect against spear phishing tactics. To download the full podcast, … See all stories on this topic » |
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| South Korea opens cyber-war school Information Warfare Monitor By Editor Published: June 29, 2011 Tags: Cyberwar, cyberwarfare, South Korea South Korea’s military will create a cyber warfare school to help combat growing Internet attacks from North Korea, an official said Wednesday. The army has teamed up with … See all stories on this topic » |
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| US soldiers targets in cyber attack Stuff.co.nz Hackers broke into a Gannett database containing personal information about subscribers to publications read by US government officials, military leaders and rank-and-file soldiers, the media company said on Tuesday. Gannett told subscribers via email … See all stories on this topic » |
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| New Cyber Attack on Arizona Police Wall Street Journal “DPS and other state agencies remain on alert for any kind of cyber attack, but it’s important to note that we have seen no indication that the state network has been breached.” The attack follows an intrusion into Arizona state-police computers last … See all stories on this topic » |
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| Robert Morris, Pioneer in Computer Security, Dies at 78 New York Times Known as an original thinker in the computer science world, Mr. Morris also played an important clandestine role in planning what was probably the nation’s first cyberwar: the electronic attacks on Saddam Hussein’s government in the months leading up … See all stories on this topic » |
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| TelePacific Still Mum, No Charges Filed in Connection with Network Outage Channel Partners A few months ago, TelePacific Communications Chief Executive Dick Jalkut indicated that a network outage was an act of “cyber-terrorism” and that the company had engaged the FBI’s cyber-attack division to attempt to identify the source. … See all stories on this topic » |
Friday July 1st
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| Framing Cyber Warfare: Between Offence And Defence – Analysis Eurasia Review By Alan Chong and Nah Liang Tuang THE RECENT reported hacking into Google’s Gmail accounts in China purportedly by actors with links to the Chinese authorities through a dedicated Cyber Warfare unit are – if proved true – worrying developments for … See all stories on this topic » |
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| Cyber war: Hackers knock Qaida network off the web Times of India PTI | Jul 1, 2011, 02.08am IST NEW YORK: Computer hackers have disrupted al-Qaida’s ability to communicate via internet by interrupting the flow of videos and messages of the outfit, an anti-terror expert said. The attack was reportedly carried out by … See all stories on this topic » |
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| State of the Union: Relationship cyber attack Examiner.com Our state of perpetual technological connection has changed our lives. Many of those changes have been great for our health, for education, for communicating with long lost friends, and for staying in touch with far away friends and family. … See all stories on this topic » |
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| Effective cyber defense requires new processes Defense Systems “Our adversary is a learning, adaptive force…and they will continue to target our vulnerabilities,” said Mark Bacharach, technical director at the Marine Corps Cyberspace Command, who spoke June 28 at the IDGA Cyber Warfare and Security Summit in … See all stories on this topic » |
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| Hackers turn sights on Orlando Albany Times Union By DON VAN NATTA Jr. New York Times MIAMI — The hacker group Anonymous has declared acyberwar against the city of Orlando, disabling websites for the city’s leading redevelopment organization, the local Fraternal Order of Police and the mayor’s … See all stories on this topic » |
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| Expert in Cyberwarfare Welcomes Obama’s Long-Awaited Executive Orders UB News Center President Obama’s new cyberwar policy will finally put some teeth into US deterrent strategies, says cyberwarfare expert and ethicist Randall Dipert. BUFFALO, NY — University at Buffalo cyberwarfare expert and ethicist Randall Dipert, PhD, … See all stories on this topic » |
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| Lockheed Promises Electric-Grid Security for $1.3 Billion Market Bloomberg Lockheed, which drew 84 percent of its $45.8 billion in sales in 2010 from government contracts, said the May 21 cyber attack on its system was the result of a data breach at security provider RSA Security, a unit of EMC Corp. of Hopkinton, … See all stories on this topic » |
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| Colburn: Recent hack attack ‘substantial’ KTAR.com by KTAR.com (June 30th, 2011 @ 10:48pm) The most recent cyber-attack on Arizona law enforcement unearthed a “substantial” amount of information, Data Doctor Ken Colburn said. The group, known as Antisec, defaced eight websites of the Fraternal Order of … See all stories on this topic » |
I like the weekly synopsis, please keep it.