Homeland Security News Wire

Hackers

Cyberweapon blowback

The real concern about Stuxnet is that its existence demonstrates what is achievable; security analysts are confident that they can stop anything that is a variant of Stuxnet, but the real challenge is stopping something in the style of Stuxnet; this is where the confidence ends
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zvelo reaches 100 OEM milestone
Pivotal milestone attributed to strong adoption of zvelo’s URL database, website categorization and malicious website detection solutions for a vast array of applications
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Including ads in mobile apps poses privacy, security risks
Researchers have found that including ads in mobile applications (apps) poses privacy and security risks; in a recent study of 100,000 apps in the official Google Play market, researchers noticed that more than half contained so-called ad libraries, and that many of the apps included aggressive ad libraries that were enabled to download and run code from remote servers, which raises significant privacy and security concerns
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Triple-threat computer protection reduces identity theft
Having a triple-threat combination of protective software on your computer greatly reduces your chances of identity theft; computer users who were running antivirus, anti-adware, and anti-spyware software were 50 percent less likely to have their credit card information stolen
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U.K. holds amateur cybersecurity challenge to spur interest in field
For the past several weeks amateur cybersecurity experts have been searchingfor malware, defending against cyberattacks, and raising firewalls as part of Britain’s Cyber Security Challenge
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NATO commander target of persistent Facebook cyberattacks
The senior commander of NATO has been the target of repeated Facebook-based cyberattacks that are believed to have originated from China; Admiral James Stavridis is the subject of a campaign to gain information about him and his colleagues, friends, and family
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Cambridge first year student wins U.K. Cybersecrity Challenge competition
Cyber Security Challenge U.K. announces a winner and unveils this year’s new Challenge program (open for registrations as of yesterday); the winner, Jonathan Millican, competed with thousands of registered candidates in 6-month competition
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NYC cyberattack simulation to spur Senate cybersecurity legislation
Last Wednesday, in an attempt to bolster support for cybersecurity legislation, the White House staged a mock cyberattack on New York City’s power supply for the Senate
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NASA official says hackers gained “full functional control”
Last week NASA officials disclosed details about the alarming extent that hackers were able to penetrate the agency’s networks
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Top LulzSec hackers arrested, leader turns them in
In the ongoing battle between law enforcement officials and hackers, authorities announced on Tuesday that they had arrested leading members of the hacktivist group known as LulzSec after their leader allegedly turned them in
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Anonymous retaliates, takes down Interpol site
In retaliation for the arrest of twenty-five suspected members of the hacktivist collective known as Anonymous, the group briefly took down Interpol’s website on Tuesday
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Cryptographic attack shows importance of bug-free software
Researchers have developed an attack that can circumvent the security OpenSSL should provide; the attack worked on a very specific version of the OpenSSL software, and only when a specific set of options were used
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Cybersecurity firm discovers mutant computer viruses
Cybersecurity firm BitDefender recently announced that it had uncovered multiple instances of computer viruses infecting other viruses to create “Frankenware”
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DHS to work with Netherlands on cybersecurity
On Wednesday DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano signed a letter of intent to work with the Netherlands on several critical cybersecurity initiatives
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Cell phone hackers can track your location without your knowledge
Using a cheap phone, readily available equipment, and no direct help from a service provider, hackers could listen to unencrypted broadcast messages from cell phone towers
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The long view

U.S. contemplates responses to a cyber-Pearl Harbor attack on critical infrastructure
Cybersecurity experts often contemplate how U.S. security agencies would react to a cyber-9/11 or a digital Pearl Harbor, in which a computer attack would unplug the power grid, disable communications lines, empty bank accounts, and result in loss of life. “Ultimately, it absolutely could happen,” says one expert. “Yeah, that thought keeps me up at night, in terms of what portion of our critical infrastructure could be really brought to its knees.”
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U.S. adopts a more assertive cyber defense posture
Recent cyberattacks and intrusions by hackers, operating alone or backed by nation-states, have prompted the Pentagon and DHS to reaffirm their commitment to upholding the reliability and integrity of America’s cyber network and the systems connected to it. Americans rely on the connected Web to deliver critical services such as water and electricity, and should the Web be breached by bad actors, the consequences could threaten national security. “If we look at cyberspace as a hostile environment and there are bad people out there who want to do bad things to us, it may cause a wholesale re-examination of the way we build our systems in the first place,” noted one expert.
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