Palestinians Hack Jewish Paper in Protest

Over the weekend, Palestinian hackers defaced the website of the Jewish Chronicle in protest over the Israeli’s blockade of the Gaza Strip, according to an article on The Register.co.uk. The hackers, who called themselves the “Palestinian Mujaheeds,” posted a Palestinian flag and rants against Israel’s security stance in English and Turkish.

The hacked website also attempted to play an mp3 file. The website was taken offline on Sunday and…

CSC Provides Cybersecurity to Intelligence Agency

Yesterday, CSC, a provider of technology enabled solutions, announced it was awarded a contract worth $27 million to provide cybersecurity solutions to an undisclosed government intelligence agency.

CSC will provide vulnerability analysis and penetration testing.

This announcement places CSC within the growing list of government contractors providing cybersecurity solutions. With cyber incidents coming to dominate the…

DOE to Set Up Cyber Force to Protect Power Grid

The US Department of Energy announced its plans to spend $8.5 million for a cyber security unit to help protect the US electric power grid according to an article on Networkworld.com. The unit, known as “National Energy Sector Cyber Organization,” will help to integrate smart grid technology to ensure the resiliency of US power grid networks.

Patricia Hoffman, acting…

Cyber Crime? More Like Cyber Protest

The use of cyber hacking to forward a message and inspire a large group of people is on the rise according to a CNN article. The article cites the recent hacking of the official European Union website. The EU website pictured the Prime Minister of Spain, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, as the popular comedian Mr. Bean. On a more serious note, the official webiste of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad…

Congress Delays Cyber Command Over Privacy Concerns

Congress has halted the implementation of the Pentagon’s new U.S. Cyber Command and would like to further investigate what role the Cyber Command will play at the Pentagon. The new command center will fall under the Pentagon’s Strategic Command and use National Security technology. In the past, questions have been raised regarding privacy violations with the use of NSA technology. Congress would also like to know how exactly the…

Stolen Laptop Contained Data on Military Family Members

The U.S. Army has confirmed a laptop stolen from an employee of the Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation Command over Thanksgiving weekend contained the personal data of around 42,000 military family members.

The command became aware of the breach Dec. 1 and has been investigating to ascertain the extent of the breach.

Last week, the Army sent letters to the individuals who may have been affected regarding the…

Acting Cyber Czar Says White House is not Behind in Cyber

The current acting Cyber Security Coordinator at the White House, Chris Painter, recently responded to the growing criticism targeting the White House’s inability to fill the position permanently. At the Federal Chief Information Officers Council’s 2009 Federal Identity Management and Cybersecurity Conference on Tuesday, he said “It’s a mistake to think that without a coordinator we’re not making progress,” according to an article on govinfosecurity.com.

Currently, Painter conducts…

Scientists Claim to Have Found Way to End Cyber Attacks

Scientists, who conducted research that was published by the Department of Computer Science at the University of Bristol, have claimed that they found a way to make cyber attacks “computationally impossible.” The scientists will present their research at the ASIACRYPT 2009 conference that will be held in Japan this week.

At the conference, the researchers will demonstrate how, by using encryption, they can…

How Secure is Cloud Computing?

With the recent movement towards a cloud computing model, many senior leaders and IT professionals are wondering just how secure the cloud is. The European Network and Information Security Agency recently published a report that seeks to provide a model of deciding if cloud computing meets the security an organization requires.

The report concludes that the flexibility and economies of scale available in cloud computing are good and…

Is Congress to Blame for Poor US Cybersecurity?

According to a former assistant secretary for cybersecurity at DHS, Congress shares some of the blame for the current state of cyber security in the United States. Gregory Garcia, assistant secretary for cyber security at DHS from 2006 to 2008, believes that the intensive and often overlapping oversight significantly hindered DHS’s ability to implement effective cyber security policies and solutions.

Garcia cited a few examples, particularly that at…