• Execs offered cyber security degree track at NYU-Poly

    Polytechnic Institute of New York University says that because defending institutional data against attack depends equally on cyber security experts as well as executives who command management and technical skills, it is introducing a management track to its master’s degree in cyber security; first classes begin this summer

  • Using Twitter to share information after a disaster

    A new study shows how people used Twitter following the 2011 nuclear disaster in Japan, highlighting challenges for using the social media tool to share information; the study also indicates that social media have not changed what we communicate so much as how quickly we can disseminate it

  • Texas fights identity theft

    Everything is bigger in Texas, including the number of instances of identity manipulation; according to an April report from ID Analytics, the cities of Beaumont and El Paso lead the nation in per-capita identity manipulation attempts

  • McAfee, Intel collaborate on protecting energy infrastructure

    McAfee and Intel will collaborate on improving the protection of the world’s energy utilities, including generation, transmission, and distribution, from increased cyber attacks; the two companies have provided a blueprint for a comprehensive solution of multiple products which create layers of security and operate together without great complexity or without impacting availability

  • Self-adapting computer network that actively defends itself against hackers

    Researchers are looking into the feasibility of building a computer network that could protect itself against online attackers by automatically changing its setup and configuration; the researchers will examine whether this type of adaptive cybersecurity, called moving-target defense, can be effective – and cost-effective

  • Travelers’ laptops infected through fake software updates in foreign hotel rooms

    Recent analysis from the FBI and other government agencies demonstrates that malicious actors are targeting travelers abroad through pop-up windows while establishing an Internet connection in their hotel rooms

  • Yucca Mountain as a data depository

    For nearly three decades, Yucca Mountain was the place designated as the country’s nuclear waste repository; after many years of study and exploration, the Obama administration, two years ago, decided not to ask for additional funds for the project; now there is another idea for the site: turning it into a giant, secure data center 

  • Free 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

  • FBI seeking wiretap-ready Web

    As communications have changed in recent years from the traditional telephone system to the Internet, the FBI has found itself facing greater difficulty in carrying out surveillance operations; the agency is asking Internet companies not to oppose a coming proposal which would require them to provide a surveillance backdoor

  • Number, diversity of targeted cyberattacks increased in 2011

    The number of vulnerabilities decreased by 20 percent in 2011, but the number of malicious attacks leaped by 81 percent in the same period; targeted attacks have spread to organizations of all sizes and types

  • Slowing time as a way to counter cyberattacks

    Researchers offer a new way to deal with cyberattacks on critical infrastructure like power and water utilities and banking networks: slow down Internet traffic, including the malicious code, when an attack is suspected; this would allow networks time to deal with the attacks

  • NATO prepares for a new, futuristic war

    NATO’s Operation Locked Shields, an international military exercise the military alliance conducted last month, was different from trasditional war games. There were no bullets, tanks, aircraft, ships, or camouflage face-paint. The troops involved in the exercise spent most of their time in air-conditioned rooms within a high security military base in Estonia. The exercise, a window into what a future war would look like, had one team of IT specialists detailed to attack nine other teams, located in different parts of Europe. The IT experts, working from their terminals in the Nato Co-operative Cyber Defense Center of Excellence, created viruses, worms, Trojan Horses, and other Internet attacks, aiming to hijack and extract data from the computers of their “enemies.”

  • #WeGotBinLaden: how Twitter broke its biggest story

    A new study confirms the widely held belief that Keith Urbahn (@keithurbahn), an aide to former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, was the first person to break the news regarding the killing of Osama bin Laden on Twitter; his tweet was sent at 10:24 p.m.

  • Facebook, antivirus providers in Internet security campaign

    Facebook, Microsoft, McAfee, Symantec, Trend Micro, and Sophos have joined in a campaign to make it easier for Facebook users to stay safer and more secure online

  • Cyberattack disrupts Iran’s oil production system

    The Iranian oil industrywas subject to cyber attack this past weekend,but the Iranian government saysit has contained and controlled the damage from the malware; this is the fourth known cyber attack on Iran’s civilian and military infrastructure