• Panel calls on Obama to appoint a cybersecurity czar

    CSIS panel urges the incoming president to elevate handling of cyber security issues to the White House and not leave them with DHS, which is the current leader on these issues

  • Encryption breakthrough: new way to generate random numbers

    Encryption depends on random numbers, but generating random numbers is not easy; existing devices, which can typically only produce 10s or 100s of megabits of random numbers per second; researchers show new method that can generate truly random sequences at up to 1.7 gigabits per second

  • Experts: Internet crime might cause global catastrophe

    Damage caused by cyber crime is estimated at $100 billion annually; tech-savvy gangs from China, India, Eastern Europe, and Africa were coming up with ever more sophisticated ways of swindling money from vulnerable people

  • Searching for new Internet security standard

    Cryptographers compete to define a new Internet security standard; this is necessary because the current standard — the Secure Hash Algorithm 2 (SHA-2) — is starting to show its age

  • Security alliance calls financial incentives for cyber security

    The Internet Security Alliance calls for the incoming Obama administration and Congress to give information technology companies financial incentives for improving cybersecurity defenses, including providing funding in research and development and shielding them from liability caused by cyberattacks

  • Briefly noted

    Obama administration looks to fill more than 300 IT positions… Larger inmate population is boon to private prisons… More attacks on critical infrastructure?

  • Quantum calibration shows way for super-secure communication

    Scientists at Imperial College London have used a new approach to calibrating quantum mechanical measurement directly to calibrate a detector that can sense the presence of multiple individual photons; the ability to sense the presence of individual photons is an important requirement for the development of future long-distance quantum communication devices and networks

  • Two former DHS leaders on DHS under a new administration

    Amit Yoran and Dwight Williams held important positions at DHS; now in private industry, they offer their view and the challenges the department will face next year

  • Energy industry likely prime cyber attack target

    Critical infrastructure insiders say the energy industry is also the most vulnerable to cyber attacks and would have the most detrimental breach

  • Briefly noted

    ESTA Authorization required for all visa waiver countries as of 12 January… Georgia vet school leak kept quiet… Microsoft infuses “long awaited” with new meaning

  • Harris to demonstrate innovative radios at ShakeOut

    Great Southern California ShakeOut is the largest-ever earthquake preparedness drill in the United States; the exercise, scheduled for tomorrow, 13 November, will model the effects of a magnitude 7.8 earthquake along the San Andreas Fault; Harris will demonstrate advanced systems for restoring first responder communication links

  • Briefly noted

    RSA uncovers IT secure fears stifling business innovation… DHS completes radiological/nuclear detection drill in southeast transportation corridor… Has pandemic complacency come home to roost?

  • DHS releases FY2009 guidance for $3 billion worth of grants

    FEMA requests applications for 14 programs for which it has allocated $3 billion; funded programs concentrate on state and local governments and strengthening community preparedness

  • "Digital DNA" to fight cyber crime

    Scottish researchers develop what they call “digital DNA”: It is based on analyzing the way in which users access data on their computers and then creating a digital fingerprint that is unique to each user

  • Good code, bad computations: A computer security vulnerability

    Beware of return-oriented programming — that is, if you want to make sure your computer or server is not tricked into undertaking malicious or undesirable behavior