• FBI probes counterfeit Chinese network gear

    The FBI launched Operation CiscoRaider aimed at getting to the bottom of a potentially serious problem: Counterfeit Cisco routers made in China and sold to U.S. IT vendors working on sensitive government computer systems; there is fear that the forged hardware would allow a Chinese intelligence backdoor into secret U.S. information

  • U.S. wireless landascpe about to change

    Clearwire, Sprint Nextel to form $14.55 billion wireless company which will deploy WiMAX networks across the United States; WiMAX’s speed dwarfs current wireless technologies, holding the potential of rendering cable and phone line Internet obsolete

  • Malicious hardware may be next hacker tool

    Next threat on the computer security front: Malicious hardware; malicious hardware is more problematic because it is more difficult to detect; China is already using an early, and simple, version of malicious hardware in its massive military and industrial espionage campaign against Western countries and companies

  • Cybersecurity agenda for the next president

    Cybersecurity is not a technical issue, but a matter of culture, education, and self-interest; government cannot regulate information technology security, and industry cannot do the job by itself

  • Security companies criticize Defcon virus contest

    Hackers’ event, Defcon, will hold a contest to see who can develop the best virus to beat antivirus software; prizes range from “Most elegant obfuscation” to “Most deserving of beer”; antivirus vendors upset

  • U.K. government split over mobile threat

    U.K. agencies divided over the scope and imminence of wireless systems which control the nation’s critical infrastructure

  • The Harris RF-1033M

    Land Mobile Radio for direct, secure multi-agency communications across multiple frequency bands

  • What Is Keeping Your COO Awake at Night?

    An HSDW conversation on Cybersecurity with Tim Kelleher, vice president of enterprise security, Unisys

  • BAE Systems and communication interoperability

    BAE’s First InterComm device, also called the Vehicle Communications Assembly (VCA), is small enough (8.625” x 8.625” x 2.5”) to be easily mounted inside first responder vehicles; once installed, the VCA relies on vehicle power

  • U.K. faces wave of data security breaches

    The state of personal data security in the United Kingdom is not good; in the last six months, nearly 100 incidents of data security breaches by government agencies and private sector companies were reported

  • China may have back door into U.S. military computer networks

    A technological sleeper cell: The Chinese have manufactured counterfeit Cisco routers and switches and offered them at exceedingly low prices; U.S. vendors upgrading or replacing U.S. government IT systems used these counterfeit devices — and the FBI and other government agencies are now worried that the gear offers the Chinese undetectable back-doors into highly secure government and military computer system; the FBI investigates

  • Wireless cyber security center opened

    Lockheed Martin opens lab which will allow defense and intelligence agencies to test systems like 802.11 Wi-Fi or broadband satellite links on a Top Secret / Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI) network

  • New method for protecting private data

    Researchers develop new method for protecting private data; called “functional encryption,” the new approach will not only help to simplify the encryption of data in servers but will also allow access to the data in an intuitive way, making it much harder for hackers to gain access to sensitive information but much easier for programmers to secure it

  • Swedish researchers find vulnerability in quantum encryption technology

    Quantum encryption is supposed to offer air-tight security owing to the laws of quantum mechanics; to send a key over the quantum channel you must simultaneously send additional data over the traditional Internet channel, and then verify that the classical data has not been changed through an authentication process; data traveling though the quantum channel was 100 percent secure, but the combined system showed vulnerabilities

  • DHS launches massive effort to bolster cyber security

    Last week DHS secretary announced a Manhattan Project-like campaign to bolster federal cyber security; a key element of the project: Federal agencies will cut the number of communication points through which agencies connect to the Internet from 4,000 to less than 100