Firewalls

  • Mobile securityFree mobile security to U.S. government agencies

    A company offers its mobile security solutions, free of charge, to U.S. defense agencies; the offer is part of the NSA/CSS Co-operative Research and Development Agreement

  • HSPD-12HP wins $47M contract to support HSPD-12 implementation

    On Monday the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) announced it had awarded Hewlett Packard a one-year contract worth as much as $47 million to support government-compliance with Homeland Security Presidential Directive-12 (HSPD-12)

  • CybersecurityRanking countries’ cyberattack preparedness

    A new McAfee cybersecurity survey concluded that Israel, Finland, and Sweden are leading other countries in “cyber-readiness”; the report says that China, Brazil, and Mexico are among the least cyber-prepared to defend these countries’ networks against cyber attacks

  • CybersecurityDHS, Idaho lab win cybersecurity innovation award

    The Controls Systems Security Program (CSSP) at DHS and Idaho National Laboratory have created a series of training programs for managerial and technical people in the critical infrastructure sector that are packed with up-to-date information on cyber threats and mitigations for vulnerabilities

  • CybersecurityDARPA working on major cyber security break through

    The DOD’s advanced research arm, DARPA, is currently working on two programs that could radically change cyber security; one program, CRASH, is based on the human immune system and will make it less likely that computers will spread cyber infections to other networks; DAPRA is also working on another program, PROCEED, which will allow programmers to work directly with encrypted data without having to decrypt it first; both are highly experimental and may not succeed, but researchers have high hopes

  • CybersecuritySourcefire expands westward

    Maryland-based Sourcefire acquires Palo Alto-based Immunet for $21 million, expanding the company’s cybersecurity services; the acquisition will allow Sourcefire to accelerate its cloud-based initiative and provide a platform to expand its security services

  • China syndromeChina makes Skype illegal

    China announced that it had made illegal the use of Skype, the popular internet telephony service, as the country continues to shut itself off from the rest of the world

  • CybersecurityU.S. federal investment in cybersecurity to reach $13.3 billion by 2015

    U.S. federal investment in information security will rise from $8.6 billion in 2010 to $13.3 billion by 2015 at a compound annual growth rate of 9.1 percent, nearly twice the rate of overall federal IT spending

  • Cybersecurity businessThe reason for Intel's acquisition of McAfee

    The merger between the two companies takes place ahead of the release in 2011 of new — and as yet undisclosed — products developed by a joint venture the two companies have operated in the past eighteen months; those undisclosed products may be part of the reason why Intel decided to purchase McAfee instead of extending or expanding the two companies’ joint venture; says one analyst: “If what came out of that joint venture was revolutionary it could be that Intel wanted to lock that [intellectual property] down”

  • Black Hat-DefCon round-upHacker built, and demonstrated, a $1,500 cell-phone tapping device

    Security researcher demonstrated a device, which he built for just $1,500, which can intercept some kinds of cell phone calls and record everything that is said; the attack illustrates weaknesses in GSM, one of the world’s most widely used cellular communications technologies

  • Reporting from Black HatATMs easily compromised by hacker at Black Hat

    A disturbingly high percentage of the world’s automated teller machines (ATMs) are vulnerable to physical and remote attacks that can steal administrative passwords and personal identification numbers, to say nothing of cash

  • IG: computer systems connected to DHS network are not secure

    DHS IG reports that DHS has failed to validate the security of computer systems that connect to the primary network, introducing vulnerabilities and putting sensitive information at risk; specifically, the IG detected vulnerabilities in systems connecting to the main department network from Customs and Border Control (CBP); Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE); and the Science and Technology Directorate (S&T), including missing security patches, weak passwords, and a lack of access controls that prevent unauthorized users from opening sensitive applications

  • CIA bolstering cyber war capabilities

    The CIA is increasing its cybersecurity budget by tens of million of dollars; investments in technology focused on defensive systems to prevent cyber threats, as well as offensive capabilities to launch cyber attacks and collect cyber intelligence

  • Cybersecurity summit pays little attention to control system's security

    Despite threats of infrastructure attacks, scant attention was paid to control systems during a global security conference; the problem is safeguarding infrastructure’s control systems against attackers is that such protection requires a different approach to securing PCs or networks; Windows-based security products will not help; says one expert: “All the devices that sense things — temperature, pressure, flow, and things like that — are not Windows, those are proprietary, real-time or embedded, and there’s no security there”

  • TrendTop 10 information security trends for 2010

    Further adoption of cloud, social media, and virtualization technologies will continue to blur the network parameter; organizations — large and small — should consider a layered, centralized security solution that provides multiple security touch points within the network, rather than around it