Miami Hacker Could Get 25 Years

A Miami based hacker know as “segvec” and “soupnazi” plead guilty Tuesday to helping to orchestrate the theft of a massive amount of credit and debit card numbers. This is the third case against Albert Gonzalez, who was accused of hacking into a variety of retail stores purloining some tens of millions of credit and debit card credentials.

Back in September, Gonzalez plead guilty to charges in Massachusetts connected with…

Penn State Hit in Cyber Attack

Three separate attacks on the Penn State computer system have prompted the universtity to begin notifying 30,000 indivuduals that their Social Security numbers may be compromised. The three attacks are apparently unrelated occurred before Christmas where computer systems from the two main campuses and one branch campus were infected with malware.

The areas of the records involved include the Eberly College of Science with 7,758 records; the College of Health…

BitDefense Top Security Predictions of 2010

In a study released yesterday, Botnets, malicious applications and social networking malware top the future threats of 2010. In a study released by BitDefender, cyber criminals will be looking to expanding platforms, target multiple operating systems and mobile devices.

“2009 saw a wide range of security threats aiming at both end-users and at corporate networks,” said Catalin Cosoi, BitDefender’s senior…

Jim Lewis Weighs in on current and future trends in cyber security

Jim Lewis of the Center for Security and International Studies recently discussed some of the current and future trends in cyber security with the Council on Foreign Relations. During the interview, Lewis discussed recent reports of US drone vulnerabilities and how he thinks the Obama administration is doing in advancing cyber security in the US and abroad.

Among the…

Reitinger: Better Metrics Needed to Drive Forward Security Practices

Phil Reitinger, deputy undersecretary of the Department of Homeland Security’s National Protection and Programs Directorate and director of the National Cybersecurity Center, believes better metrics are needed to drive better security practices in the private sector.

In a recent interview with GovInfoSecurity.com, Reitinger discussed the Einstein III program and some of his views on increasing cybersecurity throughout…

DOE may be at risk for cyber attack

The Department of Energy (DOE) may be at risk for cyber attack according to a recent report by the Inspector General. If the DOE fail to upgrade their security measures, they risk a security breach and possible loss worth millions of dollars.

The Office of Science in the DOE has delayed standardization of computer protocols and enhancing other cyber security measures, leaving the DOE increasingly vulnerable to cyber attack. The…

Christmas holiday sees DDoS attacks

According to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, several websites were hit with a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack around the Christmas holiday. The company that provides directory service to a variety of websites was targeted in the attack, which left several of the sites inaccessible to some users.

Once the company providing the directory services noticed the spike in activity, it moved rapidly to respond…

Experts Respond to Appointment of Schmidt as Cyber Coordinator

Last week, President Obama announced that Howard Schmidt, recent president and CEO of the Information Security Forum, would be taking the position of cyber coordinator at the White House. It has now been a week and various cyber security experts in and outside of government have weighed in on the choice of Schmidt. Below are some comments on the appointment from Jim Lewis, Gen. Harry Raduege and Phil…

Chinese State-Run ‘Twitter’ Hacked at Launch

The Chinese state-run Twitter-style website was hacked at its launch and has gone offline, according to media reports.

The People’s Daily, a state-run newspaper in China, launched the micro-blogging service on Tuesday and it was down by Wednesday.

A hacker exploited the site and used it to send pop-up messages to users who visited the site. A number of the messages in the pop-ups pointed to the Internet restrictions in…

Hacking from Jail Can Get You More Prison Time

An inmate formerly of the Plymouth County Correctional Facility has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for hacking prison computers while incarcerated in 2006.

The inmate was able to gain sensitive personal data on more than 1,000 prison employees by circumventing the control system on the computer and sending an email and pulling data on the employees.

The computer the inmate used was only supposed to be…