‘Cyber Arms Race’ Nets Close to 100

The FBI has made a major bust in Operation Phish Phry, an operation to bring down one of the largest phishing cases in history.

The operation netted more than 50 in the United States and close to 50 individuals in Egypt, and according to FBI Director Robert Mueller, is part of a “cyber arms race” between criminals and police.

The individuals involved have all been charged for their roles…

Cyberspace is Newest Security Frontier

Experts met recently at the Telecom World 2009 event hosted by the International Telecommunication Union in Geneva.

ITU Secretary General Dr. Hamadoun Toure called for cyberpeace, a system in which countries will collaborate on cybersecurity issues.

At the meeting, the director of the Global Response Center demonstrated the early warning system that can be used by any members of the International Multilateral Partnership against Cyber Threats to identify and…

Scam Compromises Email Accounts

The other day, Microsoft confirmed that a number of Hotmail account login information was compromised and posted online. It now appears that the breach is significantly wider, extending to Gmail, AOL, Yahoo, Earthlink and Comcast email accounts.

Over 30,000 accounts have been posted online according to a list the BBC viewed. Google has moved…

Spies Like Life in the Cloud

The Central Intelligence Agency is a big supporter of cloud computing, according to a recent article on computerworld.com.

The CIA feels that using cloud computing can better secure its data while increasingly flexibility.

Despite this increased reliance on cloud computing, the CIA is still firmly in control of its data. The CIA does not outsource this service and instead intends to operate the cloud internally. The deputy CIO believes…

Melissa Hathaway Joins Harvard’s Belfer Center

Melissa Hathaway, the National Security Council’s former acting senior director for cyberspace, a senior adviser on cybersecurity at the Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center.

Specifically, she well be working on the Minerva Project, which is a collaborative effort between the DoD, Harvard, and MIT.

One of her primary responsibilities at the center will involve examining the policy gaps in the international arena. According to…

Cyber Criminals Develop Method to Fool Investigators

Cyber criminals have developed a way to provide false leads to investigators attempting to monitor illegal bank transactions, according to RSA.

he criminals are able to divert suspicion from their legitimate “money mules” to false money mules not actually involved in the scams.

Cyber criminals in Europe have been using a scam to siphon off money from bank accounts while providing false statements to keep the victim…

Researchers Develop Software to Stem DDoS Attacks

Researchers at Auburn University claimed to have developed software that can stop DDoS attacks.

The software is able to function without using too much of the memory or processing system of the host computer.

In a paper titled, “Modeling and simulations for Identity-Based Privacy-Protected Access Control Filter (IPCAF) capability to resist massive denial of service attacks,” researchers claim the system can also be used to stop a…

Taskforce to Focus on Effectiveness over Compliance

A cross-agency task force is looking to implement a standard set of metrics to measure the effectiveness of cybersecurity efforts throughout government agencies.

The new Security Metrics Taskforce will look to examples throughout the government and private sector in developing the new metric standards.

Federal CIO Vivek Kundra made the announcement amid growing criticism of FISMA’s failure to focus on effectiveness in favor of compliance…

Hotmail Passwords Posted Online

Microsoft has confirmed it is investigating allegations that passwords to more than 10,000 Hotmail accounts were posted online.

Neowin.net reported the alleged leak that was posted last week on a site commonly used by web developers to share code.

The information has since been removed from the website where it was posted. It is presently unclear how the login information was acquired.

According to Newowin.net, the accounts…

Cyber Crime Pays Better than Drug Trafficking

According to David Freer of Symantec, cyber crime nets more money than drug trafficking. An identity is stolen every three seconds worldwide, and the stolen identity is often sold.

Hackers attempting to steal identities and bank information often use a variety of tactics. These include employing bots, malware and phishing scams. The stolen information is then used to either drain bank accounts, or is sold in an online…