Pentagon Deems Cyber Attack an Act of Warfare

The Pentagon has concluded that cyber attacks by foreign hackers can be classified as an act of war, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Citing three officials who had seen the Pentagon’s soon-to-be-released cyber strategy, WSJ said the plan would maintain that the current international rules of armed conflict are relevant in cyberspace. The Pentagon aims to use the plan…

FTC Revises Guidance to Businesses on Disclosures in Online Advertising

The Federal Trade Commission is updating its “Dot Com Disclosures: Information About Online Advertising,” a document that advises businesses how federal advertising law applies to advertising and sales online, and now the public has a say in what revisions should be made to reflect a technologically transformed world.

As the Internet domain has…

School District Data Breach Exposes 4,000 Employees’ Data Online

A Sacramento-area school district has notified about 4,000 employees and former employees their personal information has been compromised, according to The Associated Press.

The San Juan Unified School District last week mailed letters informing impacted individuals of the data breach. District spokesman Trent Allen said an employee copied sensitive data onto a flash drive to do work at home, but accidentally uploaded it onto…

Lockheed Martin Battles ‘Tenacious’ Cyber Attack

One of the nation’s largest defense contractors, Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) this weekend announced its information systems network had been struck by a “significant and tenacious attack,” something experts say is just the tip of the iceberg of security issues in the web domain affecting both government and industry.

The Bethesda, Md.-headquartered firm said…

Dave DeWalt, Other Cyber Luminaries to Join Obama’s Telecom Advisory Committee

President Barack Obama has announced he intends to appoint McAfee President Dave DeWalt to serve on the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee, which advises and provides recommendations to the president and other…

Scammers Exploit Treasury Department

It is not unusual for cyber crooks to use various government agencies or officials to legitimize their scams, and now a scheme has emerged that misrepresents the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, according to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center.

Victims report receiving an email claiming to be from the Treasury Department, stating their lost funds, which were stolen and diverted to a foreign account registered in…

Honda Canada Data Breach Affects Thousands of Customers

Thousands of Honda Canada customers may have had their personal information stolen after the company’s systems were hacked, The Canadian Press reports.

The company said the information accessed was related to a program in 2009 that encouraged customers to register at the myHonda website. Honda said compromised information included customer names, addresses, vehicle identification numbers and in some cases Honda Financial Services account numbers.

Details…

Report: Cyber Vulnerabilities Tightly Linked

A new report examining current key cyber threats facing the United States has highlighted the deep interrelatedness of the challenges and how they require a more multifaceted solution.

The “Understanding Today’s Cyber Challenges” report by TASC divides 21 key cyber threats into three categories: psychologically driven cyber challenges, process-driven challenges and technologically driven…

Nigerian Hacktivists Rage against Costly Presidential Inauguration

Nigerian hacktivists yesterday attacked the Niger Delta Development Commission’s website, reportedly reacting to the government’s plan to spend about $6.5 million on President Goodluck Jonathan‘s May 29 inauguration, NEXT reports.

Known as NaijaCyberHactivists, the Nigerian hacker group warned of more attacks this weekend should the president decide to maintain his budget. The letter expressed frustration at the post-election violence and the government’s claims that the recent disorder…

Spammers Use New Technique for Bait-and-Switch Ploy

Spammers are now establishing their own fake URL-shortening services to perform URL redirection, which has led to an increase in spam by 2.9 percentage points this month, according to new research.

The Symantec May 2011 MessageLabs Intelligence Report reveals that in a bait-and-switch ruse, scammers supply legitimate shortened URLs in spam messages that direct unwitting…