In Search of Cyber Experts? Try Grade School

The dearth of skilled cyber professionals is frequently bemoaned among U.S. cyber experts. In an effort to recruit and retain talent, the private sector and government agencies have sponsored cyber wargames designed to find and tap the next generation of skilled cyber talent.

This years Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition drew teams from 83 colleges and universities, and Boeing…

McAfee Officials: Government Must Be Careful Not to Stifle Innovation

Last Friday, McAfee officials expressed their praise for the recently proposed cyber bill but voiced reservations over the bill’s possible impact to private sector innovation.

The bill, which was introduced by Sens. Joe Lieberman, Susan Collins and Tom Carper, looks to provide DHS with the power to dictate cybersecurity requirements to private sector companies, which is troubling, McAfee…

Hackers Battle Censors in Turkey

Internet access in Turkey is becoming increasingly troubled, as government censors clash with anti-censorship hackers, according to the CyberLaw blog.

Early this morning, the websites of the Ministry of Transportation, the Information and Communication Technologies Authority and the Telecommunications Communication Presidency were all rendered inaccessible. The three government agencies have all been heavily involved in attempts to censor Internet use in Turkey, particularly targeting YouTube…

Firefox Gets Secure Browsing Boost

The Tor Project and the Electronic Frontier Foundation have come together to provide a Firefox add-on to provide more secure Internet browsing on several major websites.

The new add-on make encryption easier on major sites like Google.com, Facebook, Twitter, Wikipedia and PayPal with HTTPS, according to The Register. The new add-on, called HTTPS Everywhere, which is presently in beta-mode, automatically takes searchers to the HTTPS encryption.

“Many sites on…

Zeus Malware Distributed via Terror-Themed Spam

Spammers are notorious for latching on to the most recent trend in an effort to increase click rates. Recently, a spam campaign containing Zeus malware utilized recent concerns over terrorism to send messages which appeared to be sent by the Department of Homeland Security, TSA and DoD.

Researchers at Sophos Labs have discovered the low-yield campaign which targets government users with enticing subjects like “Report on Defending and Operating in…

Featured Job- Cyber Intel Analyst with Lockheed Martin

Cyber Security Tools Experience IDS Monitoring Desired skills ArcSight ESM ArcSight Log Management Suite ArcSight Threat Response Manager Forensics Malware Analysis Specific Job Description Successful candidates will provide intrustion/incident monitoring and detection utilizing customer provided data sources, audit and monitoring tools at the Unclass, Secret and Top Secret levels. Staff will provide security situational awareness through analysis and correlation of multiple customer provided data sources. Staff will aid with the determination and escalation…

Government, Industry Join Forces to Fight Cyber Fraud

The private sector and the government have launched a new online-fraud alert service developed to make it easier for both parties to share information about cyber crime.

Up to date, when compromised credentials stemming from phishing attacks were uncovered, there was no easy way to warn the service provider or bank about the exposed information. The newly launched Internet Fraud Alert will make it easier for participants to report stolen…

Cyberspace Levels Playing Field According to Harvard Study

The low cost of entry allows cyberspace to level the playing field, writes Harvard professor Joseph Nye in his recently published a study “Cyber Power.”

“Power depends upon context, and the rapid growth of cyber space is an important new context in world politics,” he writes. “The low price of entry, anonymity, and asymmetries in vulnerability means that smaller actors have more capacity to exercise hard and…

GAO Study Calls for Continued Attention to Secure Cyber Systems

In order to secure federal IT systems, continued attention is needed, according to a report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO).  The report identified severe deficiencies in security controls at a number of federal agencies, which have left persistent vulnerabilities.

“These weaknesses in the security of both financial and non-financial systems and information, including vulnerabilities in critical federal systems,” the…

Track a Hacker, Or Hit Him Back

Attribution is a commonly bemoaned issue in cybersecurity, with many cyber experts claiming that the inability to attribute attacks definitively to a source is a problem in developing a coherent cyber-response strategy. However, a security researcher may have found a way to solve that problem, according to The Register.

Laurent Oudot, CEO of French security consultancy Tehtri-Security, has released details regarding vulnerabilities in commonly-used crime-ware kits. Oudot pointed to 13…