Report: Rhetoric of ‘Cyber Doom’ Lacks Evidence of Real Threat

The federal government is exaggerating the threat of a cyber war in a manner reminiscent of the run-up to the Iraq War, with the emergence of a cyber-industrial complex much like the military-industrial complex of the Cold War, according to a new report from the Mercatus Center at George Mason University.

Over the past two years, the increased federal involvement…

Class-action Suit Filed over Sony PlayStation Breach

The first class-action lawsuit has been filed over the breach of personal and possibly credit card data from Sony’s PlayStation Network, according to the law firm representing the victims.

California-based Rothken Law Firm announced yesterday it has brought a class-action lawsuit against Sony PlayStation Network for its alleged failure to have adequate cybersecurity in place to protect…

Botnet Bust Slashes Size of Coreflood

The Justice Department has filed a preliminary injunction against the operators of the Coreflood botnet– a network of hundreds of thousands of computers infected with malware.

In addition to banning the defendants from using Coreflood to commit fraud and to illegally intercept electronic communications, the injunction authorizes the U.S. Marshals Service and FBI to use a substitute server to stop Coreflood from running on…

FBI Warns of Illegal Wire Transfers to China from Compromised Computers

The FBI is warning the public about a growing trend in which cyber criminals use exploited online banking credentials of U.S. businesses to send unauthorized wire transfers to Chinese companies.

Between March 2010 and April 2011, the FBI identified 20 incidents in which the online banking credentials of small- to medium-sized U.S. businesses were compromised and used to initiate wire transfers to Chinese economic and trade companies near the…

Hackers Deface European News Agency Website

Hackers have defaced the website of Latvian news agency LETA, which today remains inaccessible, an agency official told reporters.

RIA Novosti reported that visitors to LETA’s website encountered a message saying, “Dear colleagues, before publishing questionable specialists’ opinion about small hosting companies and discussing competence matters, we advise you to revise the content of these articles and stop publishing offensive texts.”

The unknown cyber assailant…

Report: FBI’s Cyber Agents Lack Tech Skills to Handle National Security Intrusions

The FBI has trouble investigating cyber attacks involving national security because agents lack the required technical expertise or are often transferred or diverted to other cases, according to a government report released today.

Some cyber agents complained they did not have the proper experience to investigate cases dealing with national security…

Social Justice Website Cyber Attacked for Supporting Chinese Dissident

A San Francisco-based website promoting social justice has been targeted by hackers for its support of a Chinese dissident, the San Francisco Examiner reported.

Change.org founder Ben Rattray asked the U.S. State Department to condemn the “highly sophisticated” attacks, which he said began after the website’s petitioned to free Ai WeiWei, an artist and outspoken critic of the Chinese government.

The site was hit by an…

Senate Passes Anti-Cyber-Bullying Bill for Texas Schools

The Senate yesterday passed a bill on a 30-1 vote that would allow schools in Texas to ban bullying, both in person and online, The Associated Press reported.

Houston state Sen. John Whitmire‘s bill SB205 requires schools to develop a policy to prohibit, prevent and punish students who bully others. In…

Man Accused of Facebook Hack, STD False-Alarm to be Sentenced in June

Sentencing has been set for a 38-year-old South Haven, Mich., man who pleaded no contest to one felony count of using a computer to commit a crime, according to The Kalamazoo Gazette.

James Cleland, 38, stood accused of hacking into a former girlfriend’s email and Facebook accounts to write messages she had HIV, entered the plea in Kalamazoo County Circuit Court last week . He was also charged…

Pentagon Official: WikiLeaks Demonstrates Technology has Outpaced Policy, Law

The WikiLeaks incident highlights the need for laws and policies that address the unintended consequences of “technology at the intersection of national security,” the Pentagon’s lead communicator said last week.

Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs Douglas B. Wilson told “This Week in Defense News” he is not…