Maryland to Train 1,000 Cybersecurity Students

Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley announced yesterday the state is partnering with higher education, government and industry to train 1,000 students in cybersecurity.

“This is about jobs, jobs, jobs – jobs that keep the country safe and keep the economy strong,” Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski said. “It’s about giving people the tools they need to prepare for the jobs of the…

Opinion: DC Power Outage a Preview of Cyber Attack?

Over the weekend, severe thunderstorms wrecked havoc on Washington, D.C. and Maryland, knocking out power to thousands of residents.  The storms left some 430,000 customers without power, according to press reports.

Of course, with power outages come traffic problems as traffic lights within the District and Maryland were out on a…

Google Apps Gets FISMA Certified, Paves Way for Government Cloud

Google Apps has received Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) certification and accreditation from the federal government. It is the first suite of cloud computing apps to receive FISMA certification, which should speed its adoption by federal agencies.

FISMA applies to information systems used by federal agencies which seeks to provide mechanisms to ensure the security…

UK Minister Highlights Need for More Cyber Experts

Baroness Neville-Jones, the UK security minister, recently highlighted the need for the government to encourage the development of cybersecurity professionals to meet the nation’s needs. Speaking at the Cyber Security Challenge UK launch yesterday, the minister the UK currently possesses a small but talented pool of cyber professionals that needs to be…

First UK Cyber Challenge Test Cracked Soon After Launch

The first test in the UK Cyber Challenge, which is meant to find up-and-coming cyber professionals, has been cracked. The challenge, which include online and face-to-face competitions, was launched yesterday by Baroness Neville-Jones, the UK security minister.

The tests include a network defense exercise and identifying vulnerabilities in a test website as part…

Citigroup Tells Customers Not to Use iPhone App

Citigroup is advising its customers that use an iPhone to conduct online banking to immediately upgrade the application to the newest version as the old one contains security flaws which may put them at risk.

In a letter to customers, the U.S. bank said the Citi Mobile app actually saved user information in a hidden file which could be accessed by hackers and used to gain unauthorized entry into the…

Green Hackers Hit EU Climate Exchange Website

The website for the European Union Climate Exchange was hacked in political protest against carbon credits by hactivists late last week. The landing page of ECX.eu was hit with digital graffiti decrying the market-based approach to carbon emissions. A group of anonymous hackers calling themselves Decocidio claimed responsibility for the attack.

The hack included links to Earth First, Climate Justice Action, and the Hack Block and an embedded video titled…

House Passes Cyber R&D Bill

The U.S. House of Representatives yesterday passed H.R. 4061, the Cybersecurity Enhancement Act of 2009 by a vote of 422-5.

The bill reauthorizes the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) and the National Institute for Standards and Technology’s (NIST) unclassified network security and computer programs. The bill is designed to enhance cooperation on federal and private cybersecurity research and development projects.

“This is…

Featured Job- Cyber Security Engineer with Booz Allen

Key Role: Provide support to a team of engineers that ensures the 24×7 availability of a backup infrastructure. Maintain mirrored installations of system upgrades to the Legacy systems and to the backup location hardware. Ensure that SOPs are in place that details exact methods of recovery and operations are written and tested. Ensure patches are deployed to all servers from the WSUS server…

Cyber Terror Threat on Par with CBRN Weapons Says Punjab Director General of Police

The threat of cyber terrorism is as serious a threat as that posed by chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) weapons, according to Punjab Director General of Police P.S.Gill.

Fighting cyber terrorism and cyber crime should be at the top of the list of threats facing countries around the world, he said at the Cyber…