-
Hacker gang warfare on the rise
Bot herders fight one another for market share; Storm worm instructed computers to attack the wily Warezov gang
-
-
Solving the cognitive-radio problem in the analog domain
Georgia Tech researchers awarded $3.5 million to develop tiny analog chips to scan RF bands for open channels
-
-
Qwest, AT&T, and Verizon win deal of the decade
Three telecoms win the Networks Universal contract, worth up to $48 billion over ten years; Sprint Nextel big loser
-
-
IT security firms ready for an IPO boom
Lackluster market shows signs of life with four large companies preparing to go public; “public exit opportunities” available for the right firms, say experts
-
-
IXEurope finishes strong at Data Centre Europe Awards 2007
Company recognized as best in disaster recovery service, datacenter management; Attenda and BladeLogic received much-deserved recognition
-
-
Battle over allocation of the 700MHz band looms
TV operators will soon vacate the 700 MHz band, and the FCC is getting set to auction it; pressures grow to allocate portion of the band for public safety uses
-
-
IDF to issue tender for second generation of proprietary wireless network
The Israeli army has developed a propietary, encrypted wireless network; trouble is, it leaves much to be desired
-
-
The Real ID Act poses serious challenges
The Real ID Act mandates that by May 2008, states must include biometric information in the driver licenses and equip these lcienses with RFID technology; this de facto national ID will be a boon to technology companies which manufature and sell systems to support digital ID, authentication, or encryption, but it may well also be a gift to hackers, criminals, and terrorists
-
-
RFID disputes prompts DHS investigation
Black Hat conference atwitter after HID prevents IOActive from disclosing its tags’s vulnerability; DHS’s Computer Emergency Response Team will take a closer look at the issue
-
-
Reverse-hacker wins $4.3 million in suit against Sandia
Shawn Carpenter dismissed after discovering a Chinese gang accessing the lab’s computer; decision to share data with the FBI and Army upset superiors; verdict seen as a victory for whistleblowers
-
-
Privacy Rights Clearinghouse names top data breaches of 2006
Veterans Affairs Department and Circuit City/Chase Card Services top the list; PRC hits the 100 million illegally accessed records mark; two dozen breaches in 2006 of more than 100,000
-
-
NSA and StratCom build up hacking capabilities
Marine General John Davishe intends to operationalize net-centric warfare; in addition to developing policy and tactics, StratCom intends to make hacking a valid career path for the Army’s best and brightest
-
-
Vista fails to make the antivirus grade
Virus Bulletin puts Microsoft’s LiveOneCare to the test; it fails, along with antivirus software from McAfee and GDATA; criticism mounts about Vista’s ability to handle the WildList
-
-
Immunity offers a portable hacking device for penetration testing
Nokia 770 tablet device is intended for companies to conduct their own white hat operations; tester turns on the $3,600 device, sticks it in his pocket, and waits to see whether his local wireless network is exploitable
-
-
Defense Information Systems Agency budgets $959 million for IT security
As DoD prepares to sign a cybersecurity pact with NATO, DISA tries to get its own house in order; $819 million for operations and maintenance and $140 million for procurements; plans to improve defense of SIPRNET, develop a risk management system
-
More headlines
The long view
States Rush to Combat AI Threat to Elections
This year’s presidential election will be the first since generative AI became widely available. That’s raising fears that millions of voters could be deceived by a barrage of political deepfakes. Congress has done little to address the issue, but states are moving aggressively to respond — though questions remain about how effective any new measures to combat AI-created disinformation will be.
Ransomware Attacks: Death Threats, Endangered Patients and Millions of Dollars in Damages
A ransomware attack on Change Healthcare, a company that processes 15 billion health care transactions annually and deals with 1 in 3 patient records in the United States, is continuing to cause massive disruptions nearly three weeks later. The incident, which started on February 21, has been called the “most significant cyberattack on the U.S. health care system” by the American Hospital Association. It is just the latest example of an increasing trend.
Chinese Government Hackers Targeted Critics of China, U.S. Businesses and Politicians
An indictment was unsealed Monday charging seven nationals of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) with conspiracy to commit computer intrusions and conspiracy to commit wire fraud for their involvement in a PRC-based hacking group that spent approximately 14 years targeting U.S. and foreign critics, businesses, and political officials in furtherance of the PRC’s economic espionage and foreign intelligence objectives.
Autonomous Vehicle Technology Vulnerable to Road Object Spoofing and Vanishing Attacks
Researchers have demonstrated the potentially hazardous vulnerabilities associated with the technology called LiDAR, or Light Detection and Ranging, many autonomous vehicles use to navigate streets, roads and highways. The researchers have shown how to use lasers to fool LiDAR into “seeing” objects that are not present and missing those that are – deficiencies that can cause unwarranted and unsafe braking or collisions.
Tantalizing Method to Study Cyberdeterrence
Tantalus is unlike most war games because it is experimental instead of experiential — the immersive game differs by overlapping scientific rigor and quantitative assessment methods with the experimental sciences, and experimental war gaming provides insightful data for real-world cyberattacks.