• U.S. State Department disconnects its computers from government-wide network

    In response to the leaks published by WikiLeaks, the U.S. Department of States disconnected its computer files from the government’s classified network; by temporarily pulling the plug, the United States significantly reduced the number of government employees who can read important diplomatic messages; the network the Department has disconnected itself from is the U.S. Defense Department’s Secret Internet Protocol Router Network (SIPRNet), a system of dedicated and encrypted lines and servers set up by the Pentagon in the 1990s globally to transmit material up to and including “secret,” the government’s second-highest level of classified information; “Top secret” information may be shared electronically via the Joint Worldwide Intelligence Communications System (JWICS), another group of interconnected computer networks used by Defense and State to securely transmit classified information.

  • Former Goldman Sachs programmer on trial in NYC

    A Goldman Sachs programmer stole secret computer code that enables high-speed trading on his last day with the company so he could help develop the same kind of system at a startup financial company, a prosecutor say

  • Defeating detector blinding attacks on quantum cryptography

    Quantum cryptography is a method to distribute digital encryption keys across an optical fiber; the protocol has been proven to be perfectly secure from eavesdropping; any differences between the theoretical protocol and its real-world implementation, however, can be exploited to compromise the security of specific systems; one form of attack on quantum cryptography is called a detector blinding attack — but Toshiba researchers show how such attacks can be rendered ineffective

  • China directed Google hacking: leaked U.S. documents

    Secret documents appearing on WikiLeaks include one in which the U.S. embassy in Beijing cited “a Chinese contact” who pointed to a Chinese government role in the hacking campaign into computers of Google and Western governments

  • IAEA: Iran forced to stop enrichment on 16 November

    The UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported Tuesday that Iran’s uranium enrichment program had shut down a week ago; the stoppage of the enrichment program coincides with the release of detailed expert studies of the Stuxnet virus; the conclusion of the cyber experts is that Stuxnet was aimed not at Iran’s Bushehr nuclear reactor, as initially thought, but rather at destroying Iran’s centrifuge farms; the sustained cyber attacks has already reduced the number of operating centrifuges from 4,920 in May 2009 to 3,772 in September 2010; it appears that the covert campaign Israel and the United States has been conducting against Iran’s nuclear weapons program — a campaign which includes the assassination of Iranian scientists and engineers, blowing up of machinery and supplies, attacks on Revolutionary Guard facilities, and seizing of technology shipments to Iran — is beginning to take its toll

  • DHS to set cybersecurity standards for some private networks

    A new law — “The Homeland Security Cyber and Physical Infrastructure Protection Act of 2010” — will empower DHS to set cybersecurity standards for some private networks that are considered critical infrastructure

  • Chinese cyber spies target British defense official

    A high official in the British Ministry of Defense was targeted by a sophisticated Chinese spear phishing operation that aimed to steal military secrets; the plan was foiled last year when the official became suspicious of an e-mail she received from a contact she had met at a conference

  • DHS official: Stuxnet a "game changer"

    The head of the Cybersecurity Center at DHS said Stuxnet is an incredibly large, complex threat with capabilities never seen before; “This code can automatically enter a system, steal the formula for the product you are manufacturing, alter the ingredients being mixed in your product, and indicate to the operator and your anti-virus software that everything is functioning as expected,” he said

  • New anti-cybercrime software emulates DNA matching process

    The biologically inspired software digitally mimics the DNA matching process used in the real world. The software tracks the sequence of events that follow a hacker’s first access request into a secure network system and creates a “digital fingerprint”

  • China "hijacked" sensitive U.S. Internet traffic to Chinese servers

    Highly sensitive Internet traffic on U.S. government and military Web sites was briefly “hijacked” and routed through Chinese servers earlier this year; for eighteen minutes on 8 April, a Chinese state-owned telecommunications firm rerouted e-mail traffic to and from Web sites of the U.S. Senate, the Department of Defense, along with “many others” including NASA and Department of Commerce

  • U.S. gov't wants Google, Facebook to expand wiretaps of subscribers

    The U.S. government wants Silicon Valley companies such as Google and Facebook make it easier for law enforcement to wiretap the companies’ users; legislation under consideration would require cellphone carriers, Web sites, and other types of service providers to have a way to unscramble encrypted communications traveling over their networks

  • New Facebook app monitors users' social circle for danger

    How long will it be before it is impractical to use Facebook without a dedicated app to protect you from spammers and scammers? New app scans your wall, inbox, and any comments on your profile for malicious links that might lead to sites that try to install malware or hijack your account details. It also checks your privacy settings and offers reminders and tips on how much you are sharing and how to change those settings

  • Using Facebook to nab a Facebook killer

    Suffolk County police are using Facebook to solve a murder which appears to have been related to Facebook; a 31-year old woman was found dead; the police searched her Facebook page, and found two individuals with whom she had recently been in contact; one of them was using her credit cards after her death; the police has now created a page seeking information about the man, looking to arrest him

  • Symantec: Stuxnet targeted Iran's uranium enrichment program

    Symantec says Stuxnet worm aimed to disrupt electrical motor controls, like those used by gas centrifuges to enrich uranium; Stuxnet, considered by many security researchers to be the most sophisticated malware ever, targeted Windows PCs that managed large-scale industrial-control systems in manufacturing and utility companies

  • U.S. Internet hosts are essential for criminal botnets

    Cybercrime is often associated with Russia and China, and rightly so — but many of the servers vital to their activities are located elsewhere; facilities provided by Internet companies in the United States and Europe are crucial to these criminal gangs’ activities