Rep Rogers Concerned About Cuts to Cyber Funding

Representative Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) is concerned that the funding for the Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative (CNCI) may not be adequate for the next fiscal year. During the House Appropriations Committee last week, Rogers voiced his concern over the funding of the program during the testimony of Philip Reitinger, Deputy Undersecretary for National Protection and Programs Directorate and RADM…

Despite Hitting Back at Botnets, Spam Remains Level

In recent months, several botnets have been taken down through a variety of legal and technical methods. However, according to Google survey, spam levels have remained stable despite these supposed disruptions.

In spite of the recent take-downs of the Mariposa, Zeus and Waledac botnets, Google Postini has found that these actions had little long term effects on spam numbers.

“This suggests that there’s no shortage…

‘Kindergarden Hacker’ Hits School in VA

At Spring Hill Elementary in Virginia, a hacker altered the passwords for teachers’ Blackboard accounts. Policy began investigating in mid-March but instead of finding a seasoned hacker, traced the hack to a computer at a nine-year-old student’s home.

Initially, police suspected that the child’s mother was responsible for the hack. However, following interviews with the mother and child, police determined that the child most likely hacked the system.

“He’s a very…

Cyber Crime Hinders Growth of Internet Use in Nigeria

The Internet has failed to grow in use throughout Nigeria largely because many Nigerians view it as a tool for cyber crime, according to an article on Next. During a talk in Lagos last week, Samuel Adeleke, the president of the Internet Service Providers Association of Nigeria (ISPAN), said that the lack of Internet penetration in Nigeria is a…

McAfee Honors FBI’s Shawn Henry with Crime Fighter Award

McAfee, Inc. (NYSE: MFE) haspresented Shawn Henry, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI Washington Field Office, with the the McAfee Cybercrime Fighter Award. The award was presented last week during the McAfee Public Sector Summit by McAfee President and Chief Executive Officer Dave DeWalt.

“When considering candidates for this award,…

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Member of ‘Anonymous’ Sentenced for Attacking Scientology Church

A member of Anonymous, a loose coalition of hackers, was sentenced yesterday in New York Criminal Court in connection with a Jan. 8, 2009, attack on the Church of Scientology of New York.

Last January, a shirtless Mahoud Samed Almahadin, aka Matt Connor, covered in Vaseline and toenail clippings entered a Manhattan-based Church of Scientology and proceeded to throw around books and smear petroleum jelly onto objects. His actions were…

Spyware From the Postman?

A variant of the Zeus Trojan has been discovered posing as a message from the Royal Mail service in the UK, according to an article on The Register. The attachment, which is a PDF file (one of the more widely used platforms to deliver malware), contains an executable file that has been linked to a command server in China.

According to Websense Security Labs “Zbot (also known as Zeus) is…

Romanian Hackers Hit Out at Media Org

A group of enraged Romanian hackers have let loose against The Daily Telegraph for perceived insults against the Romanian people. The hackers, calling themselves the Romanian National Security group, defaced two subdomains of the Telegraph for alleged racism against Romanians.

The translated text of the defacing reads:

“We are sick and tired of seeing how some “garbage” like you try to mock our country. …

iPhone Jailbreaker Actually Trojan

Several months ago, researchers discovered a mobile botnet in mostly Eastern Europe comprised of jailbroken iPhones. Researchers have now found that an application that claims to unlock the iPhone is actually a Trojan designed to hijack PCs.

Users receive spam messages with a link to a website that allegedly offers an unlock function. However, when downloaded, the executable file actually alters the default DNS settings, stealing the Internet connections at…