• FTC forces Facbook to change privacy policies

    It appears that it will not be too long before Facebook could be forced to get users’ consent every time it wants to make private data available to other members. This will be the result of an agreement Facebook has reached with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over criticism of the social network’s questionable private data policies.

  • Chemical industry hit by “Nitro” cyberattacks

    In a string of cyberattacks, hackers have stolen critical formulas and plans from major chemical companies; the latest attacks, dubbed “Nitro,” were uncovered by Symanetec, which reported the hackers aims were corporate espionage rather than a terrorist attempt to procure chemicals

  • Americans anxious about identity theft

    Americans will go to great lengths to avoid identity theft, and many say they would take legal action against government or private organizations that compromise their personal data; more than half of surveyed Americans are willing to provide biometric data to secure their identities

  • CSAW winners to be announced Friday

    Cyber security is capturing the attention of a growing number of high school students, judging by the record participation in Polytechnic Institute of New York University’s annual Cyber Security Awareness Week (CSAW) challenges; the competition will culminate this Friday, 11 November, with thirteen finalists vying for scholarships and cash prizes for their schools’ science programs

  • Making counter-hacking cool

    NYU-Poly will, for the first time, open cyber security awareness week events on 11-12 November to student guests interested in digital privacy and security — not just the so-called “cyber ninjas” who qualified as national finalists in feats of digital forensics, ethical hacking, and research; the event is expected to attract up to 400 student finalists, professionals, academics, and guests

  • China and Russia using cyberspies to steal U.S. secrets

    A new Congressional report concludes that Chinese and Russian hackers backed by their respective states are stealing U.S. trade and technology secrets to boost their economic development; the report, titled “Foreign Spies Stealing U.S. Economic Secrets in Cyberspace” and written by the Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive, found that foreign hackers can easily gather large quantities of sensitive data without being detected because so much of it is stored on computers

  • DHS warns Anonymous may target critical infrastructure

    DHS is warning critical infrastructure operators that the international hacking group known as Anonymous has threatened to attack industrial control systems, the software that governs automated processes for nearly every major utility or production facility including factories, power stations, chemical plants, and pharmacies

  • EU and U.S. hold joint cybersecurity drill

    On Thursday, the United States and the European Union held their first joint cybersecurity exercise in Brussels, Belgium; the exercise, dubbed “Cyber Atlantic 2011,” was aimed at strengthening efforts to protect international critical infrastructures

  • Social media, a double-edged sword in epidemics

    Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter have proven useful in quickly disseminating information, and raising awareness during disasters or disease outbreaks, but these tools can also be a double-edged sword

  • DHS developing social media monitoring guidelines

    Given the critical role that social media tools like Facebook and Twitter played in the Arab Spring, DHS officials say they are now developing guidelines for gathering intelligence from these sources; “We’re still trying to figure out how you use things like Twitter as a source,” said DHS undersecretary Caryn Wagner; “How do you establish trends and how do you then capture that in an intelligence product?”

  • Cyberterrorism - The weapon of choice a decade after 9/11

    Scott Schober, the president and CEO of Berkeley Varitronics Systems, warns of the growing threat from cyberterrorists; he writes that in ten years, “the terrorists’ weapon of choice may not necessarily be a 187,000 pound 767 jet loaded with fuel targeting” New York’s skyline, instead it will be pajama-clad hackers taking down an electrical grid, causing mass confusion in the aviation system, or targeting a nuclear power plant’s SCADA control system to create mass panic and chaos for millions

  • New iOS Forensic Toolkit circumvents iOS 5 security measures

    While Apple gave a minor facelift to the whole security system in iOS5, it made significant changes regarding keychain protection, replacing the encryption algorithm entirely; but criminals thinking they can thus use the latest iPhone and iPad devices to store information may want to think again, as a new information acquisition solution cracks the latest iOS5 security measures

  • Senior FBI official suggest creating alternative Internet

    With the number of cyberattacks on major corporations and government agencies on the rise, a top FBI official backed the call to create of a more secure alternative Internet

  • Electrical grid targeted by hackers

    The co-chair of the Congressional Cybersecurity Caucus warns that U.S. electrical grids are becoming increasingly attractive targets for hackers in a potential cyberwar

  • New partnership to promote cybersecurity education

    There will be a need of more than 700,000 new information security professionals in the United States by 2015; the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimate that there will be 295,000 new IT jobs created in the United States by 2018 — many of which will require cybersecurity expertise; new partnership focuses on cybersecurity training and education