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New software allows laptops to talk back boldly to laptop thieves
Your laptop has been stolen? New software allows you to tell those thieves exactly — and when we say exactly, we mean exactly — what you think of them; software also helps police locate the stolen computer
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Intelligence, law enforcement face another hurdle: encrypted VoIP
The intelligence community and law enforcement already are concerned about the difficult they have eavesdropping in Skype communications; a U.K. start-up is going to make life more difficult for them by encryption VoIP communications and concealing more conversations
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EU may investigate VoIP eavesdropping
Italian anti-crime authorities have asked the EU to look into regulating VoIP communication encryption; the Italian authorities presented evidence that crime rings and prostitution networks use Skype for the specific purpose of frustrating police investigators
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Guidelines for government, private IT security issued
A coalition of government and private organizations releases a preliminary set of guidelines for IT security controls; guidelines will become a foundation for a standardized approach to securing the nation’s critical information infrastructure
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Institute: Better coordination needed for cybersecurity R&D
I3P calls for improved coordination for cybersecurity research and development efforts
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New study emphasizes the risk posed by insider threats
Many information security programs focus on preventing unauthorized outsiders from accessing an information system; insiders, however, often are in a better position to cause just as much damage because they are trusted by their organization
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U.S. under growing cyber attacks
The number of cyber attacks on U.S. government computers and networks grow; there were 5,488 tracked incidents of unauthorized access to U.S. government computers and installations of hostile programs in 2008, compared to 3,928 such incidents in 2007, and 2,172 in 2006
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DHS receives IT money in stimulus package
DHS receives a $2.8 billion boost from the new stimulus package; largest single item is for TSA’s installation of checked baggage explosive detection systems
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Unisys: Technology "consumerization," mobility risks key drivers of security investments
A Unisys briefing says that the growing pervasiveness of technology consumerization and mobility opens businesses to new risks across a broader spectrum; economy compels greater need for collaboration, more intelligent systems, and better fraud prevention; biometric use and acceptance also to increase
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Microsoft offers reward for catching worm creator
Microsoft offered a reward of $250,000 to find who is behind the Downadup/Conficker virus; since it started circulating in October 2008 the Conficker worm has managed to infect millions of Windows computers
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Researchers spoof, bypass face-recognition authentication systems
Vietnamese researchers have cracked facial recognition technology in Lenovo, Asus, and Toshiba laptops; the researchers demonstrated feat at this week’s Black Hat DC event
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NSA may offer "billions" for a solution allowing eavesdropping on Skype
Skype continues to be a major problem for government listening agencies, whether intelligence agencies tracking terrorists or the police trying to listen in on criminals; rumor has it that NSA is willing to pay handsomely for a Skype-code-breaking solution
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Fraudsters set cyber traps on Digg
Spanish security company PandaLabs is reporting that cyber-crooks are setting traps on popular news-sharing Web site Digg
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Obama orders U.S. cybersecurity review
The threat of cyber attacks on official U.S. systems has been laid bare in recent years with a spate of hacking incidents, including several blamed on China; new administration wants to take stock
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New cyberattack technique inflicts major damage with modest means
Technique works by sending hundreds of thousands of DNS a steady stream of packets that contain little more than the character “.”; the queries prompt the DNS servers to respond to the targets with a list of the Internet’s root servers, responses that contain about eight times more data than the initial request
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The long view
Researchers Calculate Cyberattack Risk for All 50 States
Local governments are common victims of cyberattack, with economic damage often extending to the state and federal levels. Scholars aggregate threats to thousands of county governments to draw conclusions.