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Digital certificate standard compromised by hackers
Researchers demonstrated exploits against the X.509 standard for digital certificates used by Secure Sockets Layer; Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Lentz, DOD’s chief information assurance officer, cited identity authentication as a key security challenge for the department
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University of Detroit Mercy receives cyber security research contract
The aim of the $551,500 federal contract is to develop and disseminate the knowledge necessary to ensure that the software that enables America’s business and critical infrastructure is safe and secure
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Cobham reports a 32 percent increase in first-half profits
Company benefits from strategic investments in military and government markets; its work with M/A-COM, which it acquired from Tyco Electronics in September 2008, had resulted in increased technology collaboration and new contract awards
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Cybersecurity is now a must for the grid, II
Cyber security has become a permanent part of running an electric plant because connectivity to the outside world is inevitable; plants are bringing together the expertise of consultants, vendors, and their IT departments to ensure that they are well protected
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IT graduate sues school over failure to land a job
Tina Thompson majored in IT studies at Monroe College in the Bronx, New York; she has failed to find an IT job, so she is suing the school for reimbursement of her tuition — $70,000 — plus an additional $2,000 “for the stress I have been going through looking for a full-time job”
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Hacking schools flourish in China
Chinese hackers have been on the forefront of sustained hacking and disruption campaign against Western business and government networks — some do it for fun, other for profit, but many do so on behalf of the Chinese government and its many intelligence and military agencies; ever wondered where all these hackers come from? “Hacker schools” are big business in China, generating $34.8 million last year
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Cybersecurity is now a must for the grid, I
In past years, electric plants have not worried about cyber security because they did not connect to the outside world; new data systems have changed that for most plants; plants bolster cyber security as NERC starts audits on Internet safety
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Acting cybersecurity czar resigns
Melissa Hathaway, acting White House cybersecurity czar who was in charge of preparing the 60-day cybersecurity reviews, resigned; she lost favor with the president’s economic team after she said it should consider options for regulating some private-sector entities to ensure they secure their networks; being a Bush administration hold-over did not help
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Anti-theft software creates security hole
A piece of anti-theft software built into many laptops at the factory opens a serious security hole
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U r pwned: text messaging as a hacking tool
Text messages appear on mobile phones without any interaction from the user, and sometimes with limited interference from the cellular network operators — giving criminals an opening to break into those devices
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McAfee acquires MX Logic to enhance cloud security
McAfee acquires MX Logic for $140 million; MX Logic has 40,000 customers and four million end users; the deal is designed to bolster McAfee’s existing “security as a service” portfolio; McAfee, alongside Panda and Trend Micro, is among the most aggressive players in the security market in talking up the benefits of cloud-based architectures
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Clampi virus targets businesses' financial accounts
A new virus is spreading, specifically targeting companies’ financial accounts; at least 500,000 computers have been infected by Clampi since March
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Fort Meade leads the competition for new U.S. cyber center site
Defense Secretary Robert Gates is recommending the Defense Department create a new agency, U.S. Cyber Command, at Fort Meade, Maryland; if Fort Meade is chosen, Maryland will see the addition of as many as 50,000 government and contracting jobs, bringing in salaries of about $1.7 billion annually
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Cyber-criminals targeting social networks
Cyber-criminals are drawn to the wealth of personal information supplied by users of social networks
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Apple says jailbreaking may knock out transmission towers
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) asked the U.S. Copyright Office to instruct Apple to allow “jailbreaking ” — that is, modification of the iPhone’s software without Apple’s approval; Apple responded that modifying the iPhone’s operating system could crash a mobile phone network’s transmission towers or allow people to avoid paying for phone calls
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More headlines
The long view
States Rush to Combat AI Threat to Elections
This year’s presidential election will be the first since generative AI became widely available. That’s raising fears that millions of voters could be deceived by a barrage of political deepfakes. Congress has done little to address the issue, but states are moving aggressively to respond — though questions remain about how effective any new measures to combat AI-created disinformation will be.
Ransomware Attacks: Death Threats, Endangered Patients and Millions of Dollars in Damages
A ransomware attack on Change Healthcare, a company that processes 15 billion health care transactions annually and deals with 1 in 3 patient records in the United States, is continuing to cause massive disruptions nearly three weeks later. The incident, which started on February 21, has been called the “most significant cyberattack on the U.S. health care system” by the American Hospital Association. It is just the latest example of an increasing trend.
Chinese Government Hackers Targeted Critics of China, U.S. Businesses and Politicians
An indictment was unsealed Monday charging seven nationals of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) with conspiracy to commit computer intrusions and conspiracy to commit wire fraud for their involvement in a PRC-based hacking group that spent approximately 14 years targeting U.S. and foreign critics, businesses, and political officials in furtherance of the PRC’s economic espionage and foreign intelligence objectives.
Autonomous Vehicle Technology Vulnerable to Road Object Spoofing and Vanishing Attacks
Researchers have demonstrated the potentially hazardous vulnerabilities associated with the technology called LiDAR, or Light Detection and Ranging, many autonomous vehicles use to navigate streets, roads and highways. The researchers have shown how to use lasers to fool LiDAR into “seeing” objects that are not present and missing those that are – deficiencies that can cause unwarranted and unsafe braking or collisions.
Tantalizing Method to Study Cyberdeterrence
Tantalus is unlike most war games because it is experimental instead of experiential — the immersive game differs by overlapping scientific rigor and quantitative assessment methods with the experimental sciences, and experimental war gaming provides insightful data for real-world cyberattacks.