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GAO: U.S. computer emergency readiness team is not ready
Government Accounting Office criticizes US-CERT for lacking “a comprehensive baseline understanding of the nation’s critical information infrastructure operations” and for not exhibiting “aspects of the attributes essential to having a truly national capability,” among other things
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IBM shows hardware-based encryption tool
System x Vault protects data when a server’s hard drive is disposed or stolen, without affecting server performance
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Forrester boosts 2008 tech spending forecast
For the technology sector, it may be a case of good news now and so-so news later; one wild card for the tech sector is the poor health of the nation’s banks and other financial-services companies, which account for about 18 percent of the U.S. technology market
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CTO defends researcher's decision to reveal SCADA exploit
Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) software controls critical U.S. infrastructure; in June, a researcher released attack code which takes advantage of a stack-based buffer overflow bug in SCADA software; security patches have been provided, but the community debates whether the researcher acted responsibly
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Botnets, not the Russian government, behind Georgian attacks
Scrutiny of botnet activity indicates Russia’s attacks on Georgia were not state-sponsored
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Analyst group: Some companies cutting IT spending
Many large companies, especially those in the financial services, utilities, and telecommunications industries, have cut their technology budgets this year because of the economic slowdown
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U.S. military pushes for offensive cyber warfare capabilities
U.S. officials have been reluctant to militarize the electronic medium, but a recently declassified report and electronic attacks on Georgia have set off an intense discussion among senior Pentagon officials about going on the offensive
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Urgent inquiry as more personal data missing in Britain
Another data loss blunder in Britain, as a disc containing the personal details of 5,000 employees of the National Offender Management Service (NOMS), who may include many prison officers, went missing
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New York State gives company 45 days to fix problems
New York State awarded M/A Com a contract for building the infrastructure for the statewide wireless network for first responders; the contract was to be completed by December 2006; state comptroller office, citing the delay and nearly 20 other deficiencies, gives company 45 days to fix problem or see its contract revoked
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New metrics to help measure enterprise security
A non-profit IT security organization is working toward releasing a set of metrics for enterprises to measure the effectiveness of their security controls
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Growth in software market driven by security, identity protection concerns
Information security concerns propel market for software products, according to a new report by Global Industry Analysts
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Spending on IT security to grow
Security makes up 10 percent of overall IT operating budgets in 2008, up from 8 percent in 2007; trend to continue
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Germany tightens data protection laws after scandals
After a wistle-blower revealtions, the German authorities decided o find for themselves how easy it was managed to obtain personal information on consumers; government agents managed, in only a few days, to buy six million items of personal data — for just €850 euros ($1,230); the government decided that tightening of regulations was necessary
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How to create the perfect fake identity
If you have the patience and time, you can use “identity farming” to create the perfect fake identity; IT security maven Bruce Schneier writes that the ever more central role data — and data shadow — are playing in our lives now makes it possible
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Virtualization is important for back up and recovery
Server virtualization, that is, the separation of functionality from the underlying hardware, offers organizations many advantages in preparing for coping with and recovering from disasters, but it is not a panacea
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The long view
Our Online World Relies on Encryption. What Happens If It Fails?
Quantum computers will make traditional data encryption techniques obsolete; BU researchers have turned to physics to come up with better defenses.