Former DHS Cyber Chief New CEO of ICANN: Beckstrom

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) announced the appointment of  new CEO Rod Beckstrom late last week. Rod Beckstrom is best known for his position as US cybersecurity chief at the Department of Homeland Security and is co-author of The Starfish and the Spider, a book that advocates a mixed centralized and decentralized business sturcure. The former cybersecurity…

EU Report Blames China for Cali Power Grid Blackout of 2001

The European Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs, authored by Dr Paul Cornish, published in February of 2009 the “Cyber Security and Politically, Socially and Religiously Motivated Cyber Attacks”  . The study describes in great detail the increase use of the internet as a tool for destruction and political gain. Referencing the usual suspects such as the Estonia blackout of 2007, the study also citied a striking revelation,

“In…

UK Hires ‘Naughty’ Cyber Experts

The UK has not only created its own version of a ‘cyber czar’, but has also updated its ‘national security strategy’ with a new Cyber Security Operations Centre under the GCHQ, the UK’s leading intelligence Agency. The new centre is very similar to the recently announced ‘Cybercom’ under the US Department of  Defense. The UK has declared a new and more aggressive stance on cyber crime. 

In a speech earlier today Prime Minister Gordon Brown explained, “Just…

Malware: Is Twitter Safe?

Earlier this year, it was widely reported that the Twitter accounts of prominent American figures ranging from Britney Spears to President Barack Obama were hacked, causing fake tweet’ to be displayed under the victims’ accounts.

With the recent hacking of Twitter account holder Guy Kawasaki, former Apple fellow and managing director of Garage Technology Ventures, The New New Internet asks, is Twitter safe?

The…

TJ Maxx: Pays Millions for Poor Cybersecurity

T.J. Maxx dished out a $9.75 million settlement to states where tens of millions credit and debit card numbers were exposed by cyber thieves over 2005/2006.

The security breach affected more than $45 million credit and debit card holders in 41 states, beginning in July of 2005, but was not discovered until December 2006.

Last year, TJ Maxx offered $24 million to customers who…

Cyber Command: Gates Makes it Official

Through a quiet three-page memo on Tuesday, Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced the Department of Defense’s commitment to a new cyber military command center titled Cybercom.

The announcement reflects growing emphases of the Obama administration’s revamping and centralization of cyber security. The creation of the White House cyber coordinator and the centralization of military cyber security…

ISA: 80 Percent of Cyber Attacks Preventable

The President of the Internet Security Alliance Larry Clinton brought insight to The New New Internet for improving cybersecurity.

Clinton supports private sector market incentives and believes most cybersecurity problems can be solved with current technology.

TheNewNewInternet: What are your thoughts on having a cyber czar in the near future?

Larry Clinton: The Internet Security Alliance is very supportive of the approach…

Cyber Certification: Really?

Since the 60-Day Cyberspace Policy Review wasconducted under the Obama administration, there has been emphasis of the lack of cybersecurity in America. With the Technolytics Institute, a cyber think tank based in Pennsylvania, findings that nonmilitary government organizations had been hacked 128 times a minute in March by alleged Chinese hackers, no wonder cybersecurity has increasingly become a big part of defending national security.

Sens….

Two (ISC)2 members for US Cybersecurity Advisory Board

(ISC)2 announced late last week the addition of two board members to the current 19-person U.S. Advisory Board for Cyber Security.

Gil Vega is chief information security officer at the U.S. Immigration and Law Enforcement Office in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. He overseas, develops, and implement policies at ICE under the Information Assurance Program.

Patrick Kelly is an associate of (ISC)2 for CISSP and works as an IT analyst for the…

NIST Releases Two New Reports

The National Institute of Standards and Technology on Tuesday issued two reports.

One report, “Guide to Enterprise Telework and Remote Access,” focuses on the importance of cybersecurity when working with sensitive information and provides recommendations for keeping information safe.

The second report is a finished draft set to be released by July 31 titled “The Common Configuration Scoring System (CCSS): Metrics for Software Security Configuration Vulnerabilities.” The second reports focuses on potential…