TNNI: Exclusive Interview With BSA’s Robert Holleyman: Cyber Crime Has ‘Financial and National Security Implications’

President and CEO of the Business Software Alliance, Robert Holleyman, sat down with TheNewNewInternet to presented his thoughts regarding the Obama Administration’s cybersecurity plans, as well as how business executives should begin to prepare for a shift in the cybersecurity industry. Mr. Holleyman further cited some sobering…

Google Defends Plan to Digitize Books

Google defended its book digitization program to Congress yesterday. David Drummond, senior vice president of corporate development and chief legal officer at Google, expressed Google’s plans as an open platform that will work to help independent bookstores and will work with publishers and device manufacturers.

In a statement Google said, “In this open platform, readers can find and purchase digital books from any bookstore and read them on any device,…

Australia Considers Cyber Czar Model

Following the recent creation of the “cyber czar” post by the Obama administration, Australia is looking to the United States for feasible upgrades to its own cybersecurity.

The need for a centralized authority to facilitate better security protocols throughout Australia’s critical infrastructure has been highlighted by a number of cyber attacks in Australia against the government.

The Prime Minister’s website was subjected to a distributed denial of service attack in early…

Army Developing Manual for Fighting in Cyberspace

The U.S. Army is currently working on a manual for using cyberspace as a war fighting platform that will be released in October. Once the manual is completed, it will provide battlefield commanders with a coherent guide to exploiting cyberspace in military operations.

The new doctrine is focused on both the offensive and defensive capabilities of cyberspace. The manual is set to cover concepts such as attacking the…

Raytheon Buys out BBN Technologies

Raytheon, which recorded more than $23 billion in revenue for 2008, announced recently it has settled on terms to purchase BBN Technologies, an R&D company involved in the development of the Internet.

Raytheon is looking to build its capacity as a leading player in technology services to the government, alongside the likes of Northrop Grumman and Booz Allen Hamiliton.

BBN Technologies has developed a number of cybersecurity systems for…

President Nearing End of Search for Cybersecurity Coordinator

It is estimated that President Obama will announce the appointee to the cybersecurity coordinator position within the next two weeks. A source disclosed that the current front-runner for the position is Frank Kramer who served as assistant defense secretary under the Clinton Administration, although the source wished to remain anonymous at this time.

Aneesh Chopra, U.S. CTO, confirmed to reporters he has been interviewing potential candidates and a decision…

Hunting for the Next Generation of Cyber Professionals

The 6th Annual Cyber Security Awareness Week, developed and run by students at the Polytechnic Institute of New York University, is set to kick off later this month. The graduate students in the Information Systems and Internet Security Lab, sponsored by the National Science Foundation, developed a series of cyber-war games in which students from high school, undergraduate, and graduate programs can participate.

The program is…

Palantir Technologies: Government Contracting Married With Google’s Culture

Palantir Technologies, one of the latest entrants to the government intelligence services marketplace, has designed what some intelligence sources call the most effective tool for investigating terrorist networks. The main advance of the software: a user-friendly search tool that can scan multiple data sources at once, something previous search tools couldn’t do. With Palantir’s software, an analyst following a tip about a planned terror attack can more quickly and easily root out…

$10 Million Contract Awarded to General Dynamics

The Defense Department has awarded a $10 million, one-year contract with four options, to General Dynamics. The contract outlines a plan for the Special Operations Command to receive assistance from the firm in the implementation of the Trans-Regional Web Initiative. This initiative will allow the Special Operations Command to reach out to international communities through the Internet.

General Dynamics plans to carry out the terms of the contract by creating…

Navy to Form Information Dominance Directorate

Adm. Gary Roughhead, chief of naval operations has disclosed in his yearly guidance paper, that the Navy has announced plans to form an Information Dominance Directorate in charge of supervising information, cyber and space capabilities.

The position calls for a three-star admiral to oversee the operations, although the individual has not yet been chosen. The new position would combine the duties of the current deputy chief of Naval Operations for…