This section is devoted to featuring late-breaking cyber security news stories.
May 31, 2008 - Shane Harris, National Journal
China's Cyber-Militia: Hackers Pose Danger to U.S. Government
Computer hackers in China, including those working on behalf of the Chinese government and military, have penetrated deeply into the information systems of U.S. companies and government agencies, stolen proprietary information from American executives in advance of their business meetings in China, and, in a few cases, gained access to electric power plants in the United States, possibly triggering two recent and widespread blackouts in Florida and the Northeast, according to U.S. government officials and computer-security experts.
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May 30, 2008 - Humphrey Cheung, tgdaily.com
Comcast's DNS Records Hijacked By Pair of Young Hackers
Philadelphia (PA) – Comcast’s homepage and webmail were unavailable for several hours from Wednesday to Thursday after a pair of young hackers hijacked the company’s DNS records. The hackers, going by the names of Defiant and EBK, also defaced the Comcast.net homepage after they tried warning Comcast’s technical contact about the intrusion. By Thursday night, all Comcast services seemed to be working normally.
May 30, 2008 - John Leyden, Channel Register
Sourcefire Snorts at Unsolicited Takeover Bid
Sourcefire has rejected an unsolicited takeover bid from Barracuda Networks. The firm, which develops a commercial version of Snort, the popular open source intrusion detection tool, said Barracuda's $187m bid "substantially undervalues" Sourcefire.
May 30, 2008 - Declan McCullagh, c/net News.com
White House Opposition Likely Dooms Anti-China Internet Bill
Earlier this week we told you about the Bush administration opposing a bill that would slap extensive regulations on technology companies doing business in China and other nations deemed to be unreasonably "Internet-restricting."
That is likely to doom the legislation, which was written by Republican Rep. Chris Smith and enjoys the support of journalist and human rights groups.
May 30, 2008 - Kim Zetter, Wired Blog Network
Commerce Department Targeted By Chinese?
Fellow Threat Leveler Kevin Poulsen effectively took the wind out of sources in a recent National Journal story who suggested that the Chinese were to blame for the 2003 northeast blackout.
But at least one bit of other information in the article has been pursued by the Associated Press . . . though to inconclusive results. That information pertains to an unnamed source who told the Journal that Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez was the target of cyberespionage in China during a visit there last December for trade talks.
May 30, 2008 - Michelle Tan, Army Times
Reserve Wants Soldiers to Protect Networks
The Army Reserve is looking for soldiers with a knack for information technology to help fight the nation’s wars in cyberspace.
“As our dependency upon information technology continues to expand, so will the need for soldiers with the capabilities our soldiers have,” said Col. Wayne Dudding, commander of the Reserve’s Information Operations Command. “We will keep growing. The requirements are growing faster than we can.”
May 29, 2008 - Kevin Poulsen, Wired Blog Network
Did Hackers Cause the 2003 Northeast Blackout?
Chinese hackers may have been responsible for the recent power outage in Florida, and the widespread blackout that struck the northeastern U.S. in 2003, according to a new report in the National Journal that shows the intelligence community taking cyberwar hysteria to new and dizzying heights.
The story, citing computer security professionals, who in turn cite unnamed U.S. intelligence officials, says that China's People's Liberation Army may have cracked the computers controlling the U.S. power grid to trigger the cascading 2003 blackout that cut off electricity to 50 million people in eight states and a Canadian province.
May 29, 2008 - Katherine Noyes
Report: Cyberwarfare At Heart of China's Military Strategy
The Chinese People's Liberation Army has more in its arsenal than just missiles -- count computer viruses and other disruptive technologies among its weapons. The PLA is trying to transform itself into an army capable of winning conflicts against high-tech adversaries, according to a recent Department of Defense report.
May 29, 2008 - Ian Williams, vnunet.com
IT Directors Call For Mandatory Data Breach Disclosure
Nearly seven out 10 IT managers believe that data breach disclosure should be compulsory in the UK, according to a survey by Secure Computing. The security firm polled 103 directors at this year's InfoSec security show in London in April.
Over 80 per cent of respondents said that data leaks by insiders, whether deliberate or accidental, is at the top of their list of security woes.
May 27, 2008 - Hong Kong
Computer Security Review Ordered
Secretary for Security Ambrose Lee has expressed concern over the Police Force's suspected online data leak, and ordered all disciplined services to conduct a comprehensive review urgently to ensure information security.
May 27, 2008 - David Neal, vnunet.com
ENISA Talks Up European Security Plans
ENISA, the EU Agency for European Network and Information Security, has today been speaking about the most pressing online security risks facing internet users.
The group presented its General Report, warning that "Europe should not wait for a ‘digital 9/11’, but instead reduce imbalances in national security approaches." Otherwise, it warned the European economy was at great risk.
May 27, 2008 - Penton Media, Inc.
The Growing Role of Information Security Managers
The role of information security managers is rapidly changing to focus on business needs instead of technology, according to a recent survey of more than 1,400 Certified Information Security Managers (CISMs) in 83 countries by ISACA, an association of more than 75,000 IT governance professionals worldwide.
May 27, 2008 - Sandra Gittien, ComputerWorld
Six Hours to Hack the FBI (and Other Pen-Testing Adventures)
It takes a lot to shock Chris Goggans; he's been a pen (penetration) tester since 1991, getting paid to break into a wide variety of networks. But he says nothing was as egregious as security lapses in both infrastructure design and patch management at a civilian government agency -- holes that let him hack his way through to a major FBI crime database within a mere six hours.
May 24, 2008 - NZPA
Hacker in $300,000 ATM Fraud Jailed for Three Years
An Auckland computer hacker, who scammed hundreds of thousands of dollars and attracted the FBI to New Zealand, has been jailed for three years.
Thomasz Grygoruk, 22, was jailed on five charges of blackmail, document and computer fraud when he appeared in the High Court at Auckland yesterday.
May 23, 2008 - RIA Novosti
Russian Nuclear Power Websites Attacked Amid Accident Rumors
MOSCOW, May 23 (RIA Novosti) - Hackers attacked Russian nuclear power websites that allow users to check radiation background amid false rumors of a nuclear accident in northwest Russia, a nuclear industry official said on Friday.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, several Internet forums carried reports of radioactive emissions from the Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant near St. Petersburg, and of a planned evacuation of local residents.
A spokesman for the Rosatom state nuclear corporation said the cyber attacks had been planned and coincided with the release of the reports.
May 22, 2008 - Andy Greenberg, Forbes.com
Congress Alarmed at Cyber-Vulnerability of Power Grid
Last June, the Department of Homeland Security leaked a video documenting a disturbing experiment. Using only digital means, researchers hacked into a power plant's generator and caused it to cough and shake before shutting down in a cloud of black smoke.
That clip, demonstrating what has since become known as the Aurora vulnerability, served as a wake-up call for regulators, highlighting the need to guard against cyber-security threats to critical infrastructure like power plants and the telecom system.
May 22, 2008 - AAP
ASIO Chief Urges Business to Look at IT Security
Spy chief Paul O'Sullivan has urged business to assess its cyber security, saying individuals and nations are targeting the private sector in a bid to steal sensitive information.
"The widespread use of the internet in government and business presents opportunities for state agencies to gain covert access to information," Mr. O'Sullivan told the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce in Sydney today.
May 21, 2008 - Wilson P. Dizard III, GCN
SANS Contributes Funds, Expertise to Global Cybersecurity Group
The SANS Institute has announced a $1 million contribution to the International Multilateral Partnership Against Cyber-Terrorism (IMPACT) and started sharing technical information with the organization.
The two groups plan to expand developing countries’ online security resources, they said yesterday in an announcement issued at the IMPACT World Cyber Security Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
May 21, 2008 - Brian Krebs, washingtonpost.com
TVA Power Plants Vulnerable to Cyber Attacks, GAO Finds
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), the nation's largest public power company, is vulnerable to cyber attacks that could sabotage critical systems that provide electricity to more than 8.7 million people, according to a Government Accountability Office report to be released today.
May 21, 2008 - Dan Goodin, San Francisco
After Debian's Epic SSL Blunder, a World of Hurt for Security Pros
It's been more than a week since Debian patched a massive security hole in the library the operating system uses to create cryptographic keys for securing email, websites and administrative servers. Now the hard work begins, as legions of admins are saddled with the odious task of regenerating keys too numerous for anyone to estimate.
May 20, 2008 - Penton Media, Inc.
Survey Finds Range of Information Security Threats
Spyware, viruses and worms continue to plague most organizations, but security challenges tied to the use of handheld devices and mobile and remote computing are growing at a rapid pace, new research commissioned by the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) reveals.
May 20, 2008 - Bill Brenner, Senior Editor, CSO
What CSOs Can Learn From Estonia
It's been a year since the Baltic nation of Estonia wilted under the assault of coordinated cyber attacks and the country seems to have bounced back. In fact, NATO recently announced it will set up a cyber defense center there to research and help fight cyber warfare. In this Q&A, security researcher Gadi Evron reflects on his experiences after being called to Estonia to help investigate the attacks, and what other nations and private entities could learn from it all.
May 20, 2008 - Richard Ford, The Times
"Big Brother" Database for Phones and E-mails
A massive government database holding details of every phone call, e-mail and time spent on the internet by the public is being planned as part of the fight against crime and terrorism. Internet service providers (ISPs) and telecoms companies would hand over the records to the (UK) Home Office under plans put forward by officials.
May 19, 2008 - Kelly Jackson Higgins, Dark Reading
Permanent Denial-of-Service Attack Sabotages Hardware
You don’t have to take an ax to a piece of hardware to perform a so-called permanent denial-of-service (PDOS) attack. A researcher this week will demonstrate a PDOS attack that can take place remotely.
May 19, 2008 - David Neal, IT Week
Hackers to Concentrate On Moving Targets
Renowned security guru Howard Schmidt says more must be done to bolster mobile defenses...the threat landscape is constantly changing, Schmidt warned, with mobile applications likely to be the next prime target for hackers.
May 17, 2008 - Times Online and news agencies
Spanish Arrest Notorious Hacker Group Members
Spanish police have arrested five young computer hackers who allegedly disabled Internet pages run by government agencies in the US, Latin America and Asia, authorities said today.
The National Police described the suspects as belonging to one of the most active hacker groups on the Internet, the D.O.M Team, which infiltrates websites and inserts a page of its own.
May 16, 2008 - englishnews@chosun.com
Police Nab Suspected Hacker of Korean Bank
Police on Thursday arrested an American who allegedly hacked the computer network of a Korean savings bank, disrupting its systems and attempting to blackmail it for money. It's the first time a domestic bank has been hacked, police said.
The Korean National Police Agency's Cyber Terror Response Center on Thursday requested an arrest warrant for a 24-year-old American identified only as "J" on charges of hacking the network of "M" Savings Bank and demanding a blackmail payout.
May 16, 2008 - Phoebe Stewart, News.com.au
Hacker Shuts Down Government Computers
Australia - An expert hacker allegedly shut down the Northern Territory Government computer system and deleted thousands of employees' identities, a Darwin court heard yesterday.
And the court heard the Government could still be at risk of another cyber attack.
May 15, 2008 - Robert McMillan, IDG News Service
DNS Trouble Knocks NSA Off Internet
A server problem at the U.S. National Security Agency has knocked the secretive intelligence agency off the Internet.
The nsa.gov Web site was unresponsive at 7 a.m. Pacific time Thursday and continued to be unavailable throughout the morning for Internet users.
The problem was resolved at around 11 a.m. Pacific time, according to Web site measurement company Netcraft.
May 14, 2008 - Robert McMillan, IDG News Service
Hacker Writes Rootkit for Cisco's Routers
A security researcher has developed malicious rootkit software for Cisco Systems' routers, a development that has placed increasing scrutiny on the routers that carry the majority of the Internet's traffic.
Sebastian Muniz, a researcher with Core Security Technologies, developed the software, which he will unveil on May 22 at the EuSecWest conference in London.
May 14, 2008 - John Rendleman, GCN
OMB to Agencies: Lock Down Those DNS Servers
The Office of Management and Budget will soon require agencies to configure their Doman Name System (DNS) servers to the security specifications set by the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
OMB will issue a memo outlining the new policy shortly, according to Karen Evans, OMB’s administrator for electronic government and information technology.
May 13, 2008 - Kevin Poulsen
Five IRS Employees Charged with Snooping on Tax Returns
Five workers at the Internal Revenue Service's Fresno, California, return processing center were charged Monday with computer fraud and unauthorized access to tax return information for allegedly peeking into taxpayers' files for their own purposes.
May 12, 2008 - Adam Zagorin, Washington
Security Flaws Exposed at Nuke Lab
If you were a terrorist looking for weapons-grade nuclear material in America, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory might be a good place to start. At the core of the nuclear-weapons research facility about an hour's drive from San Francisco stands the "Superblock," a collection of buildings surrounded by multi-story steel-mesh fencing, a no-man's-land, electronic security gear, armed guards and cables to prevent a helicopter landing on the roof. These defenses are in place largely to protect Building 332, a repository for roughly 2,000 pounds of deadly plutonium and volatile, weapons-grade uranium — enough fissile material to build at least 300 nuclear weapons. But a recent simulated terror attack tested those defenses, and sources tell TIME that the results were not reassuring.
May 12, 2008 - BBC News
Hacker Leaks 6M Chileans' Records
A computer hacker in Chile has published confidential records belonging to six million people on the internet, officials say.
The information was obtained by hacking into government and military servers, and was posted on a technology blog.
May 9, 2008 - Robert McMillan, IDG News Service
Hackers Find a New Place to Hide Rootkits
Security researchers have developed a new type of malicious rootkit software that hides itself in an obscure part of a computer's microprocessor, hidden from current antivirus products.
Called a System Management Mode (SMM) rootkit, the software runs in a protected part of a computer's memory that can be locked and rendered invisible to the operating system, but which can give attackers a picture of what's happening in a computer's memory.
May 8, 2008 - Associated Press
Epilepsy Site Hacked With Seizure Images
Computer attacks typically don't inflict physical pain on their victims. But in a rare example of an attack apparently motivated by malice rather than money, hackers recently bombarded the Epilepsy Foundation's Web site with hundreds of pictures and links to pages with rapidly flashing images.
The breach triggered severe migraines and near-seizure reactions in some site visitors who viewed the images.
May 8, 2008 - Thomas Claburn, InformationWeek
Windows Vista More Vulnerable to Malware than Windows 2000
Microsoft's Vista operating system is more susceptible to malware than Windows 2000, and though it's 37% more secure than Windows XP, it's still too vulnerable.
That's the contention of security vendor PC Tools Software, which has a financial interest in the vulnerability of Microsoft's software.
May 8, 2008 - Elinor Mills, C/Net News Blog
What Is Your Stolen Data Worth?
You think your personal information is priceless. But everything has a price, even your stolen bank account information.
McAfee Avert Labs has discovered a price list that criminals use to buy and sell credit card numbers, bank account log-ins, and other consumer data that have been filched from unsuspecting Web surfers. (See story below)
May 7, 2008 - Francois Paget, McAfee Avert Labs Blog
You Have to Pay for Quality
The media frequently speaks about the underground economy and quote price ranges for various private goods available for sale. I recently read the trends were bearish, but let there be no misunderstanding about that, if the quality is here, the price will still be high. It is just like the price of food, you have the hard-discount and the luxury stores!!
With this post, I wish to be more precise regarding the data regarding the prices of some cybercriminal groups around the globe.
May 6, 2008 - Noah Shachtman, Wired Blog Network
China Mounts Cyber Attacks on Indian Sites
The Pentagon's way-out researchers don't just want to build an Internet simulator, to test out cyberwar tactics. They want the range's operators to "realistically replicate human behavior and frailties," too.
Congress has ordered the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or Darpa, to put together a National Cyber Range, as part of a massive (and massively secret) $30 billion, government-wide effort better prep for battle online. The project is now considered a top priority for the Agency.
May 5, 2008 - Indrani Bagchi, TNN
China Mounts Cyber Attacks on Indian Sites
NEW DELHI: China’s cyber warfare army is marching on, and India is suffering silently. Over the past one and a half years, officials said, China has mounted almost daily attacks on Indian computer networks, both government and private, showing its intent and capability.
May 3, 2008 - Adrie van der Luijt, Director of Finance Online
Chinese Espionage Alert in Belgium
The Belgian government has warned of Chinese cyber attacks on its computer systems.
Justice minister Jo Vandeurzen said on Friday that the national intelligence service had traced attacks on governmental computer systems back to China.
May 2, 2008 - Ryan Singel, Wired Blog Network
What's Up with the Secret Cybersecurity Plans, Senators Ask DHS
The government's new cyber-security "Manhattan Project" is so secretive that a key Senate oversight panel has been reduced to writing a letter to beg for answers to the most basic questions, such as what's going on, what's the point and what about privacy laws.
The Senate Homeland Security committee wants to know, for example, what is the goal of Homeland Security's new National Cyber Security Center. They also want to know why it is that in March, DHS announced that Silicon Valley evangelist and security novice Rod Beckstrom would direct the center, when up to that point DHS said the mere existence of the center was classified.
May 2, 2008 - Matthew Broersma, Techworld
Botnet Attacks Military Systems
Security researchers have discovered a complex spamming scheme that hijacks users' PCs in order to attempt to send junk mail via university and military systems.
Researchers at Romania-based BitDefender said the scheme, based on a backdoor called Edunet, was one of the most complicated and mysterious they've come across.
May 1, 2008 - Elinor Mills, C/Net News Blog
Radio Free Europe DDOS Attack Latest by Hactivists
A distributed denial-of-service attack on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty this week is the latest attack in a resurgence of hacktivism (hacking + activism) in the Internet underground, a security researcher says.
The attack knocked out or interrupted eight RFL/RL sites, starting with Belarus and including Kosovo, Russia, and Azerbaijan, according to the news agency's Web site.
May 1, 2008 - Sharon Weinberger, Wired Blog Network
Cyberwarfare: Darpa's New "Space Race"
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or Darpa, was created 50 years ago, in response to the Soviets' launch of Sputnik. In less than a year, Darpa put together the infrastructure that guided the American space effort for decades to come. Now, Darpa has been given new marching orders: to help America fight and win battles online.
