UK Treasury Suffers Daily Cyber Attacks

The U.K. Treasury fights off an average more than one cyber attack a day on its computer system, Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne has revealed.

During 2010, “hostile intelligence agencies” were behind hundreds of serious and preplanned attempts to hack into the Treasury’s computer system and steal information, Osborne said at yesterday’s Google’s Zeitgeist conference. In total, the department receives 20,000 malicious emails every month.

As an example of…

Wombat Appoints Joe Ferrara President, CEO

Wombat Security Technologies has named Joe Ferrara president and CEO, succeeding Dr. Norman Sadeh, who remains as chairman of the board and chief scientist.

“It’s an exciting time in Wombat’s history, and I am thrilled to lead the company forward,” Ferrara said. “We are poised for significant growth this year and are looking to capitalize…

New Cybersecurity Strategy Stresses Global Collaboration, Striking against Cyber Hostiles

White House officials yesterday unveiled a framework that aims to unify U.S. engagement with international partners on a range of cyber issues and respond to adversaries who use the Internet to launch attacks on the nation.

Presented in Washington, the International Strategy for Cyberspace not only outlines a vision for the future, but an…

Ghostmarket Teenager Hackers Sentenced

Two U.K. teenage hackers who broke into the accounts of online companies to steal customers’ credit card details were sentenced last Friday for abusing their computer skills, according to Metropolitan Police Service’s Police Central e-Crime Unit.

Zachary Woodham, 19, and Louis Tobenhouse, 18, both from Brighton, hacked into web-hosting company Punkyhosting and when the company detected the intrusion, it made attempts to prevent it. In response, Woodham,…

CIBER Wins German Trade Association Preferred Status

Mail-order companies in Germany have a new security solutions provider to select. CIBER announced today it received preferred business partner status from the German E-commerce and Distance Selling Trade Association.

“The status of preferred business partner is only granted to companies enjoying full confidence within our industry sector, and which have already proved their reliability and…

Virtual Worlds Operator Pays $3 Million for Collecting Kids’ Personal Info

An online game company owned by Walt Disney Co. is paying $3 million to settle federal charges that it violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule by illegally collecting and disclosing personal information from hundreds of thousands of children without parents’ consent.

FTC alleges that Playdom, Inc. and company executive Howard Marks ran 20 virtual world websites, of which at least one was specifically…

Sony Restores Services after Hack Attack

Sony Online Entertainment announced in a release this weekend that restoration of its game services has begun and will include the return of nearly all online games, the reinstatement of SOE’s game forums and websites, and added functionality to require players to reset their passwords.

The announcement came only days after Patrick Seybold, Sony’s senior director of corporate communications and social media, said he could not…

NIST Seeks Public’s Insight on Cloud Guide Draft

So what do you think about the cloud? That’s what cloud computing researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology want to know by seeking comments from the public on a draft of its most complete guide to cloud computing.

NIST Cloud Computing Synopsis and Recommendations lays out cloud-computing technology…

Tom Conway: The Steps to Take after Hackers, Insiders Strike

Epsilon and Sony made headlines recently when news emerged of hackers intruding and infiltrating the systems and leaking personal information of hundreds of millions of customers. As reports revealed the possible sky-high costs of breaches, corporations became even more tuned in to the necessity of effective safeguards to protect their data…

IED Fight Goes Virtual

Stealthily enter an Afghan village in the dead of night. Detect and de-arm roadside bombs. Find and destroy IED funding and supply chains. All from the safety of a computer terminal.

The Joint IED Defeat Organization is funding research of a virtual training simulation and computer game based on the online World of Warcraft game.

Virtual military…