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Cyber mishap causes nuclear power plant shutdown
Worries about critical infrastructure vulnerabilities: The move to SCADA systems boosts efficiency at utilities because it allows workers to operate equipment remotely, but experts say it also exposes these once-closed systems to cyber attacks
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Top ten rules for IT security
Uniloc offers ten useful rules to keep the organization’s networks safe from intruders and hackers;
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New compression technique makes VoIP vulnerable to eavesdropping
New VoIP compression technique, called variable bit rate compression, produces different size packets of data for different sounds; simply measuring the size of packets — without even decoding them — can identify whole words and phrases with a high rate of accuracy
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Chinese cyber-attacks target U.S. lawmakers
Computers in the office of a Virgnia congressman targted by Chinese hackers; information on four computers in the office of Congressman Frank Wolf, a harsh critic of China’s human rights record, compromised
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Killing Internet worms dead
Internet worms flood the Internet with junk traffic, and at their most benign, they overload computer networks and shut them down; Buckeyes researchers find new way to combat worms
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Malicious software threatens internet economy
Around one in four personal computers in the United States — or fifty-nine million — is already infected with malware; a booming market in cyber attack software and services has also made attacks more sophisticated and cheaper to perform
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Worry: VoIP especially suitable for conveying hidden messages
Steganography involves concealing messages within digitally transmitted images or sound files; VoIP systems tolerate packet loss and have built-in redundancy, and are thus especially suitable for conveying hidden messages; law enforcement officials have expressed frustration about the difficulty of deciphering VoIP messages made by suspected terrorists using Skype
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Botnet cyberattack costs Japanese company 300 million yen
There is a new type of blackmail in Japan: Hackers use botnets in denial-of-service attacks on companies’ computers — ending the attacks only when hefty ransom is paid
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Cyber attacks grow in sophistication, menace; most originate in China
More and more cyber attacks on organization aim to allow criminals to take control over enterprise assets; most attacks on companies and organizations around the world originate in China
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Glaring gaps in network security, II
Specialists in penetration testing take six hours to hack the FBI; hacking the networks of Fortune 500 companies takes much less time; even companies which have been Sarbanes-Oxley compliant for several years have been hacked within twenty minutes, with the hackers taking control of the business; these hackers proved they could actively change general ledgers and do other critical tasks
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Glaring gaps in network security, I
Specialists in penetration testing take six hours to hack the FBI; hacking the networks of Fortune 500 companies takes much less time; even companies which have been Sarbanes-Oxley compliant for several years have been hacked within twenty minutes, with the hackers taking control of the business; these hackers proved they could actively change general ledgers and do other critical tasks
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Is the Internet "Critical Infrastructure"?
The Internet’s architecture is optimized to be cheap and ubiquitous; such a network is never going to be perfectly secure or reliable; transactions that absolutely have to be done correctly and on time need to be done on a dedicated network
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DHS to keep an eye on access to IT systems
DHS to create a database of employees, contractors, and consultants with access to DHS computer systems; database will contain names, business affiliations, positions, phone numbers, citizenship, home addresses, e-mail addresses, access records, date and time of access, logs of Internet activity, and Internet protocol address of access
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IT chiefs warn of cyber-terrorism threat to critical infrastructure
UN expert dismissed as a dangerous myth the idea that events in the virtual world have only a limited impact on the physical world, saying that technology has “changed the dynamics of terrorism”
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Hackers to concentrate on moving targets
Security maven Howard Schmidt says more must be done to bolster mobile defenses
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The long view
U.S. Election Infrastructure: Troubling Bipartisan Conclusions
The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) released its first of several bipartisan reports about its own investigation into Russia’s 2016 election interference on Thursday. This one focused on Russian efforts against U.S. election infrastructure. The finding that dominated headlines was that Russia targeted election systems in all 50 states in 2016. This meant the Russian effort reached far deeper into the U.S. than previously understood by officials. What also caught people’s attention about the report was how heavily redacted it was. The report, with its worrying conclusions, provokes one overwhelming question: What can be done to stop this from happening again?
Sounding the Alarm about Another Kind of 9/11
Richard Clarke knows some things about clear and present dangers. As the first U.S. counterterrorism czar, he tried to alert important White House decision-makers before September 11 about the threat of a terrorist attack on U.S. soil, but those warnings were largely ignored; afterwards, he famously apologized publicly for the government’s failures. These days, Clarke is trying to get people to think hard about the next big attack—the cyber version—and all the ones that have already happened.
What the Mueller Investigation Was Always About
In the partisan warfare that dominated last Wednesday’s hearings, we’ve forgotten the point: Our elections are under threat, and the president doesn’t much care. Robert Mueller was originally charged with investigating Russian efforts to influence the outcome of the 2016 election and that only secondarily was he tasked with figuring out whether the president had obstructed justice by impeding that investigation. The whole point of the Mueller investigation and report is that Russia hacked an election, that it is right now hacking the next election, and that this is a threat to national security and the long-standing American experiment in representative democracy.
Hackers’ Latest Target: School Districts
Some hackers demand ransom; others sweep up personal data for sale to identity thieves. But whatever hackers’ motives, school systems around the country have been the targets of their cyberattacks. Nearly two-thirds of school districts in the United States serve fewer than 2,500 students, and many do not have a staff member dedicated solely to cybersecurity.
Russian Twitter Trolls Stoke Anti-immigrant Lies Ahead of Canadian Election
Russian troll activity on Twitter aimed at influencing public opinion has attracted a lot of attention in the United States and other western democracies. Canadians may feel it’s not an issue here. But a recent examination of Twitter data suggests there are reasons to be concerned as the country heads into a federal election.
How Does Online Racism Spawn Mass Shooters?
More and more experts classify mass shootings inspired by white nationalist ideology as terrorism — part of a global white nationalist movement that recruits or inspires potential shooters. The mechanisms of recruiting white nationalist terrorists work much as with other terrorist groups such as the Islamic State; they take lonely young men and give them a sense of purpose and identity. But instead of the alternative society offered by Islamic State membership, violent and racist online platforms build toward single murderous events. The language used on the forums to encourage potential shooters combines nihilism and toxic masculinity, goading them with anti-gay slurs and challenging them as “wannabes” if they fail.