Gary Gagnon of MITRE: Defending against Cyber Attacks Continues to be a Challenge

Gary Gagnon joined The MITRE Corporation 24 years ago and has been working mostly in information security. Today, he is the corporate director for cybersecurity, responsible for defining the corporate strategy for cyber as well as managing its execution. Additionally, Gagnon leads security efforts related to MITRE’s IT infrastructure. Here, he…

Hacker Pleads Guilty to Breaching NASA Servers

A Texan who was accused of a stealing more than a quarter-million dollars from a subsidiary of e-commerce company Digital River Inc. by redirecting electronic payment transfers to his own account has pleaded guilty, according to the Justice Department.

Jeremey Parker, 26, admitted to hacking into computer networks at SWReg, stealing about $275,000. He also acknowledged breaking into two computer servers at

Kelly Collins of Fortify Software: Possible Creation of Cyber Weapon ‘Significant Concern’

President of Fortify Software Public Sector, an HP company, Kelly Collins has a mantra for software security: Find, fix and (from the title of her firm) fortify.

For too long, software security assurance has slipped under the radar. But now, Collins said the government is beginning to move to patch up “gaping holes…

Holy Matrimony: Husband and Wife Net $1.5 Million in eBay Scam

A scamming husband-and-wife team from Nevada has been found guilty of defrauding eBay customers who shelled out small fortunes for advertised high-end kitchen appliances they never received.

Darin Jerome French and Jennifer Lynn French were convicted last week of mail fraud, wire fraud and money laundering in connection with an online scheme in which the victims paid for what they thought was exclusive kitchenware, Daniel G. Bogden,…

Multilingual 419 Fraudsters Exploit Egypt Calamities

Fraudsters are now taking advantage of the uprisings in the Middle East, posing as high-level government officials to trick victims into handing over their hard-earned cash.

Symantec reported discovering a German-language 419 scam claiming to be from the former Egyptian president’s lawyer. The scammer claimed he needed the recipient’s help to retrieve $2.5 million of the president’s funds, frozen in a bank account in Belgium. The scammer…

UK Energy Sector Fears Attack within Next 12 Months

Energy firms in the U.K. believe a major cyber attack against the grid will be launched in the next 12 months, but are not taking action implementing stronger cybersecurity or other defensive measures, according to a new survey.

Conducted by D.C.-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, on behalf of McAfee, the survey polled…

Cybersecurity Agency Warns Next-Gen Cookies Pose Privacy Threat

The European Union’s cybersecurity agency has published a report on the security and privacy concerns regarding new types of online cookies, advocating for more transparency of how they are used and calling for a user-friendly mechanism to remove them whenever needed.

The policy report Bittersweet cookies: Some security and privacy considerations from the European Network and…

Melissa Hathaway to Keynote Potomac Officers Club Luncheon

Cybersecurity expert Melissa Hathaway will be delivering a keynote speech at the Potomac Officers Club luncheon held March 24.

Hathaway, who’s currently president of Hathaway Global Strategies, LLC, and senior adviser at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center, previously served as acting senior director for cyberspace in the National Security Council, where she lead…

New Bill to Fuel $100 Million Investment in Maryland’s Innovation Economy

More than 400 entrepreneurs, educators and business leaders convened in Annapolis, Md., last week to show support for an initiative that aims to inject $100 million into the state’s Innovation Economy, which includes cybersecurity, biotechnology and environmentally friendly technology.

Touted by experts as a national model, InvestMaryland seeks…

Juniper Networks’ Alex Gray to Discuss Innovations Data Center Network Architectures

Juniper Networks Senior Vice President and General Manager of Ethernet Switching Alex Gray is set to discuss recent innovations in data center network architectures that deliver a quantum leap in performance, scale and simplification during a keynote address to the Ethernet Technology Summit on Thursday.

In addition, the…