UK Boy Sends Angry Email to Obama, Gets Banned Forever from US

A teenager from Bedfordshire, England, has been banned from ever entering the United States after sending a “threatening” email to the White House.

BBC News reports how a 17-year-old male was investigated after he expressed his dislike of President Barack Obama and the American government. Bedfordshire police, who paid a visit to the boy, said the email contained abusive and threatening language.

“He was told that he wouldn’t be…

Cameron and Obama Discuss Pentagon Hacker’s Extradition

British Prime Minister David Cameron has raised the issue of Pentagon hacker Gary McKinnon’s extradition case with President Barack Obama, according to The Guardian. Cameron and his deputy PM, Nick Clegg, have each criticized the extradition attempts of McKinnon, arguing that he should instead appear in a British court.

McKinnon stands accused of…

Cybersecurity: A Year in Review

This past Saturday, May 29 marked the one year anniversary of the President Barack Obama’s speech on cybersecurity where he said “America’s economic prosperity in the 21st century will depend on cybersecurity.” Since that speech, the United States has moved systematically towards enhancing cybersecurity through the following initiatives:

The 60-day Cyberspace Policy Review, spearheaded…

CNCI Declassified

The White House has unveiled a declassified version of the Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative (CNCI). The CNCI was originally started by the Bush Administration and President Obama has decided to evolve the CNCI to become key sections in an expanded and up-to-date cybersecurity strategy for the US.

The decision to declassify portions of the…

Cyber Needs Different Considerations Mr. Franken

Late last year, President Obama signed into law the Franken Amendment, which is an amendment to the Defense Appropriations Bill. It took effect last Tuesday and received both praise and derision from interested parties.

The initial impetus behind the Franken Amendment was a result of the alleged rape by fellow contracting employees…

House Passes Cybersecurity Bill

The U.S. House of Representatives has passed the first cybersecurity bill, 422 to 5.

The bill, HR 4061, known as the Cybersecurity Enhancement Act, will now be sent to the Senate for approval.

Rep. Dan Lipinski (D, IL), the sponsor of the bill, said:

“The amount of time all of us spend on the Internet, the vulnerabilities that are out there,…

Bringing in the Money for Cyber Security: $3.6 Billion for CNCI

On Monday, the Obama administration released a budget of $3.8 trillion with a request of close to $80 billion to be allocated to IT spending for 2011. In terms of information security, the administration is seeking to improve broadly in three areas; improving identity management, shift to a real-time security posture and cyber incident information sharing.

Identity management…

Congressional Websites Defaced

Several Congressional websites were defaced on Wednesday following President Obama’s State of the Union address. Congressmen Brian Baird, Spencer Bachus and Charles Gonzalez each had their websites hacked by the ‘Red Eye Crew’ from Brazil.

The hacked web pages were defaced with abusive language directed at President Obama. The defaced websites were all hosted in the house.gov domain. Several Committee sites were also hit in the attack.

The list of the…

Obama Administration Backs Off Net Neutrality

The Internet has now been around for approximately two decades and serves as a useful tool for millions of users throughout the world. We use the Internet to conduct business, communicate and acquire news. Our phones are even connected to the Internet and in some countries, like China, the majority of Internet users access the Internet via their ‘smart…

Just How Secure is the Smart Grid?

The federal government under the Obama administration has been moving toward the use of “smart” technologies, including cloud computing and the smart grid for power. A number of people have raised questions surrounding the security of cloud computing, but what about smart grid technology? How secure is it?

In a recent article published in Computer Week, Ira Winkler discussed some of the concerns surrounding the use of smart…