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Cyber experts dispute McAfee's Shady RAT report
Earlier this month, cybersecurity experts discovered a five-year operation that infiltrated U.S. government and UN computer networks; China is believed to be the culprit behind the systematic attacks, dubbed “Operation Shady RAT,” which also hit major defense contractors and private businesses; many within the cybersecurity community are disputing the significance of the finding
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Anonymous hacker collective hits rural law enforcement
In its latest exploit, global hacker collective Anonymous claimed to release ten GB of stolen data from more than seventy rural sheriff’s departments across the United States, leaking sensitive information that could compromise the agencies’ investigations
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DHS officials: Stuxnet can morph into new threat
Government cybersecurity experts warn that the Stuxnet virus, which damaged Iran’s nuclear centrifuges, could morph into something even more destructive; DHS officials worry that hackers could design more complex versions of the virus that can evade detection and bypass existing software fixes
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New drone listens in on cell phone calls and hacks Wi-Fi networks
At this week’s annual Defcon security conference for hackers, two hobbyists will showcase their sophisticated unmanned Wi-Fi detecting, cell-phone eavesdropping spy drone; the drone was assembled using an old Army target drone that had been converted to run on electric batteries and is now equipped with an HD camera, eleven antennas, and a cigarette pack sized computer that is loaded with hacking tools
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Cybersecurity legislation passes House Committee
Last week new cybersecurity legislation cleared its first obstacle passing through the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee; the bill would authorize the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to establish standards across federal agencies as well as research and education
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Combating counterfeit microchips // by Dr. James Hayward, Ph.D, Sc.D.
Dr. James Hayward, the chairman, president, and CEO of Applied DNA Sciences, argues that the U.S. government needs to do more to prevent corrupted microchips from entering U.S. computers that make it easier for hackers and foreign governments to infiltrate networks
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Creating genetic replacement for oil
Scientists previously established that oil and coal have their roots in the organisms that lived on the planet over 500 million years ago, but researchers only are sure of one organism that directly contributed to these natural resources — that organism is the algae Botryococcus braunii; this algae is very slow growing, so it is not necessarily a good source for biofuels; scientists offer an alternative
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Estonia pushes for joint EU cyber response
European Union security officials recently met in Brussels for the European Security Round Table to discuss the creation of a unified approach to cybersecurity; the meeting’s organizers say the event was designed to promote “a comprehensive policy approach to cyber-security among EU institutions”; attendees included representatives from the European Parliament, the European Defense Agency, NATO, and private security organizations
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DHS warns of critical vulnerabilities in Chinese software
Last week DHS warned that control software widely used in China’s weapons systems, utilities, and chemical plants has dangerous weaknesses that leave it open to hackers; the warning, issued by the DHS Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team (ISC-CERT), stems from critical vulnerabilities found in SCADA software developed by Beijing’s Sunway ForceControl Technology
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Weather variations cost U.S. $485 billion a year
New research finds that routine weather events such as rain and cooler-than-average days can add up to an annual economic impact of as much as $485 billion in the United States; the study found that finance, manufacturing, agriculture, and every other sector of the economy is sensitive to changes in the weather, and that the impact of routine weather variations on the economy is as much as 3.4 percent of U.S. gross domestic product
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U.S. will "view major cyber attacks as acts of war"
The Pentagon has adopted a new strategy that will classify major cyber attacks as acts of war, paving the way for possible military retaliation; “If you shut down our power grid, maybe we will put a missile down one of your smokestacks,” a U.S. military official said; the move to formalize the Pentagon’s thinking was borne of the military’s realization the United States has been slow to build up defenses against cyber attacks, even as civilian and military infrastructure has grown more dependent on the Internet; the military established a new command last year, headed by the director of the National Security Agency (NSA), to consolidate military network security and attack efforts
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Digital ants protect critical infrastructure
As the U.S. electrical power grid becomes more interconnected through the Internet, the chances of cyber attacks increase as well; a Wake Forest University security expert developed “digital ants” to protect critical networks; unlike traditional security approaches, which are static, digital ants wander through computer networks looking for threats such as computer worms, self-replicating programs designed to steal information or facilitate unauthorized use of computers; when a digital ant detects a threat, it summons an army of ants to converge at that location, drawing the attention of human operators to investigate
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Pentagon to help protect U.S. cyber assets, infrastructure
The U.S. Defense Department is now sharing cybersecurity information, capabilities, and expertise with DHS; this is in line with the administration’s cyber security plan, which calls for DHS to lead the effort to protect Americans, the U.S. critical infrastructure, and the federal government’s computer networks; the Defense Department would retain protections over its “dot-mil” domain, and it would work in close collaboration DHS and the departments of Justice and Commerce better to safeguard cyberspace
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DHS to double cybersecurity staff
DHS recently announced that it plans to increase its cybersecurity workforce by more than 50 percent so that it can lead government-wide efforts to secure federal networks against cyber attacks as outlined in President Obama’s recently proposed cybersecurity plan; DHS plans to hire 140 additional cybersecurity experts by October 2012 bringing the agency’s total to 400; under the president’s proposed legislation, DHS would act as the lead agency in coordinating cybersecurity measures across the government and would also be responsible for ensuring that private operators of critical infrastructure have adequate security measures in place
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DHS cybersecurity chief resigns
Just days after the White House unveiled its comprehensive plan for securing government networks from cyber attacks, one of the government’s top cyber security officials announced that he was resigning; Phil Reitinger, the deputy undersecretary of DHS’s National Protection and Programs Directorate (NPPD), was careful to note that the timing of his resignation was not meant as a reflection or a statement on the recently released government-wide cyber plan; at NPPD, Reitinger was DHS’s senior interagency policymaker and top cyber and computer crimes official.
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