Cheapest Way to Rob Bank Seen in Cyber Attack Like Hustle
The hackers often struck late on Fridays, starting about a year ago, sending skeleton crews at more than a dozen European banks rushing to keep bombardments of digital gibberish from crashing their websites.
Internet Explorer zero-day exploit targets nuclear weapons researchers
Attackers exploited a previously unknown and currently unpatched security bug in Microsoft’s Internet Explorer browser to surreptitiously install malware on the computers of federal government workers involved in nuclear weapons research, researchers said Friday.
Who Owns Application Security, Patching In Your Business?
One-third of businesses lack a formal program for tracking application security and prioritizing which vulnerabilities to patch first.
That finding comes from an application security lifecycle survey of 700 IT personnel — half from large multinational businesses and a majority of whom work as security analysts — conducted last year by the SANS Institute and sponsored by vulnerability management software vendor Qualys.
On cyber security, small businesses flirting with disaster, survey finds
U.S. small businesses are hiding behind the belief they have done enough to secure themselves against hackers and malware when in reality many are vulnerable to attacks that could doom their businesses, according to a recent survey.
Hacker swipes 3.6M Social Security numbers, other data
By the time the computer crimes office of the U.S. Secret Service discovered a problem Oct. 10, a foreign hacker had taken a database from the Department of Revenue’s computers exposing 3.6 million Social Security numbers and 387,000 credit and debit card numbers, one of the largest computer breaches in the state or nation. The breathtaking breach has launched a high-stakes international criminal investigation and prompted South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, whose administration had another massive theft of confidential information at another cabinet agency earlier this year, to order an assessment of all the state’s computer systems.
Credit Card Data Breach at Barnes & Noble Stores
Hackers have stolen credit card information for customers who shopped as recently as last month at 63 Barnes & Noble stores across the country, including stores in New York City, San Diego, Miami and Chicago, according to people briefed on the investigation. The company discovered around Sept. 14 that the information had been stolen but kept the matter quiet at the Justice Department’s request so the F.B.I. could determine who was behind the attacks, according to these people.
Wireless Medical Devices Vulnerable to Hacking
A heart defibrillator remotely controlled by a villainous hacker to trigger a fatal heart attack? It may only happen in the movies, but the Government Accountability Office (GAO) doesn’t want to take any chances. In a recent report from the GAO, the non-partisan agency, which investigates issues for Congress, says the threat that hackers could manipulate heart defibrillators and other remotely controlled medical devices to fatal ends is real enough for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to take action.
PricewaterhouseCoopers – Cyber Crime Global Report
It’s been ten years since we did our first survey into economic crime. And what an eventful decade it has been. We have seen multi-billion dollar accounting fraud cases hit the headlines. We have witnessed the start of the worst economic crisis since the 1930s. And we have seen technology transform the way we do business – and live our lives. We have covered economic crime in the downturn and accounting fraud in previous surveys. Now we look at how our increasing dependence on technology is leaving us open to a new threat: cybercrime.
Wall Street Journal – Hackers New Target: Small Firms with Lax Security
Recent hacking attacks on Sony Corp. and Lockheed Martin Corp. grabbed headlines. What happened at City Newsstand Inc. last year did not. Unbeknownst to owner Joe Angelastri, cyber thieves planted a software program on the cash registers at his two Chicago-area magazine shops that sent customer credit card numbers to Russia. Mastedcard Inc. demanded an investigation, at Mr. Angelastri’s expense, and the whole ordeal left him out of about $22,000.
Wall Street Journal – Senators Push Bill on Digital Security
WASHINGTON – Senators moved Tuesday to jump-start efforts at bolstering U.S. computer security with a new bill that would require private companies operating critical infrastructure to meet certain security requirements. The measure is the Senate’s latest attempt to meld competing proposals and stands the best chance of becoming law, cybersecurity specialists say, but even the bipartisan bill faces fairly long odds in an election year. It also comes up against significant opposition in private industry.
Wall Street Journal – Network Security at the State Department
The State Department has pioneered an approach to network security that makes it easier for managers in large organizations to identify trouble spots, prioritize them and get them fixed fast. The program’s effectiveness, in fact, has made it an unexpected model for big firms looking to bolster computer security. Responsible for protecting computer networks for 400 U.S. embassies and offices across 24 time zones, State faces a cybersecurity challenge that in many ways mirrors that of a multinational company.
Wall Street Journal – Will U.S. Businesses Finally Get Some Cybersecurity
Two of the happiest words in the lexicon of a chief executive are “limited liability.” Happier still: “virtually no liability at all.” Largely for that reason, we may be closer than ever to a battle plan that finally links the arsenals of the U.S. government with the serious needs of business in the fight against global cyberhacking. The plan, outlined in a House Intelligence Committee bill, would spur information sharing between U.S. companies and the government and give business substantial liability protection against customers or others who might sue over the information sharing.
The Economist – Cybersecurity: Hacked Off
ANONYMOUS, a group of “hacktivist” computer-attackers, has already speared some big fish: credit-card companies, the church of Scientology and Monsanto, a biotechnology firm. Its latest victim is Booz Allen Hamilton, a big consulting firm that advises America’s government on cybersecurity. The group opposes Booz Allen’s work for the government in the fight against terrorism. This included an alleged plan to fill social-networking sites with “sock puppets” – fake commenters who would spread disinformation. The hackers responded by stealing from Booz Allen what they say are 90,000 military e-mail addresses and passwords.
Forbes – As Cybercrime Increases, Being Anonymous Getting Harder
Anonymous isn’t anonymous anymore. Companies like Sony will continue to witness more breaches of their virtual networks until top level executives start taking malware, and the cyber gangs that run many of them, as seriously as they take their client base. Not only do Sony PlayStation gamers want their IDs and internet protocol addresses kept secret, companies like Sony want their computer systems, housing thousands of sacred corporate data, protected just the same.
Department of Commerce – Internet Policy Task Force
The Internet has undergone astounding growth, by nearly any measure, in recent years. The number of Internet users increased from roughly 360 million in 2000 to nearly two billion at the end of 2010. The number of hosts connected to the Internet increased from fewer than 30 million at the beginning of 1998 to nearly 770 million in mid-2010. According to industry estimates, this global network helps facilitate $10 trillion in online transactions every single year.
