Archive for October, 2014
Cyber security experts warn Rocket City is top target for hackers
Oct 30th
From: WHNT News 19
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) — How prepared is the Huntsville area in the event of a cyber attack? What happens if Redstone Arsenal and its many defense contractors become compromised? That’s what Cyber Huntsville says they worked to find out during the second Cyber Table Top Exercise this week.
The two- day “table top” cyber exercise involved a simulation of possible cyber attacks.
Why Russia And China See Eye-To-Eye On Cyber Security
Oct 29th
From: WorldCrunch
Unlike with Washington, Moscow and Beijing agree on how the state can monitor the Internet. Kommersant reports on a new Sino-Russia partnership set to be signed next month.
Elena Chernenko, Vladislav Novyii and Ivan Safronov
MOSCOW — During President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Beijing next month, he is expected to seal a bilateral agreement on cyber-security between Russia and China, according to a source close to the Kremlin and confirmed by two other federal officials. They say presidential advisor Igor Shchyogolev is overseeing the document’s final draft, but the final text is not yet available.
Kissinger on Cyberspace
Oct 28th
From: Council on Foreign Relations
by Adam Segal
In 1954, U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles delivered a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) threatening massive nuclear retaliation as the basis of American foreign policy. Many experts feared that the policy would in fact increase the chances of a nuclear war, and soon after CFR convened a study group chaired by former U.S. Secretary of State Dr. Henry Kissinger to identify the long-term implications of nuclear weapons. That group led to the publication in 1957 of his book, Nuclear Weapons and Foreign Policy, a seminal work that explored the concepts of nuclear stability, deterrence, and arms control that continue to shape U.S. nuclear and arms control policy today.
Banks Demand That Law Firms Harden Cyberattack Defenses
Oct 27th
From: The Wall Street Journal
Background Checks, System Audits Are Used to Close Potential Back-Door Breaches
By Jennifer Smith and Emily Glazer
Big banks are demanding that their law firms do more to protect sensitive information to ensure that they don’t become back doors for hackers.
Once given special status as trusted third parties, lawyers, particularly those who get access to sensitive bank information, now are more likely to get full background checks. The number of compliance checklists for law-firm technology systems and security procedures has ballooned. And law firms big and small increasingly are getting on-site audits to check who has access to documents and office servers.
DHS looking at cybersecurity flaws in two dozen medical devices
Oct 23rd
From: GovernmentHealthIT
Tom Sullivan, Editor
A senior official at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said that it is currently reviewing nearly two dozen medical devices and pieces of hospital equipment for potential cybersecurity issues, according to reports.
Though it’s not a complete list, Reuters reported that DHS Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team, or ICS-CERT is looking at a Hospira infusion pump, and implantable heart devices from both Medtronic and St. Jude Medical, as well as medical imaging and networking equipment.
Former NSA inspector general joins MIT Center for International Studies
Oct 22nd
From: MIT News
Joel Brenner, former inspector general and senior counsel at the National Security Agency (NSA), has joined the MIT Center for International Studies (CIS) as a 2014-2015 Robert E. Wilhelm Fellow.
Brenner specializes in cyber- and physical security, data protection and privacy, intelligence law, the administration of classified information and facilities, and the regulation of sensitive cross-border transactions. He is the author of “America the Vulnerable: Inside the New Threat Matrix of Digital Espionage, Crime, and Warfare,” available in paperback as “Glass Houses: Privacy, Secrecy, and Cyber Insecurity in a Transparent World.”
The state of internet policy making in Ethiopia
Oct 20th
From: CyberEthiopia
Kinfe Michael Yilma, a scholar at Brunel University London UK, discusses Ethiopia’s internet policies and participation in internet governance forums.
Ethiopia is among those countries with the lowest level of internet penetration and use. A 2014 World Internet Stats report, for instance, claims that Ethiopia has had only 1.9% internet penetration. Similarly, the World Economic Forum also rated the number of internet users in Ethiopia at 1.1%, ranking the country 142 out of 144 countries surveyed in 2012/13. As of December 31, 2013, that number had only risen to 5.5%, according to a report released by the Ethiopian government. Indeed, it was only in 1997 that Ethiopia introduced the internet, and not until 2005 that the first four thousand kilometers of fiber optic backbone were laid in Addis Ababa. This delay in the proliferation of the internet has played a role in delaying the development of internet policies including legislative measures surrounding the internet.
U.S. Delegation to the International Telecommunication Union Plenipotentiary Conference in Busan, Republic of Korea
Oct 17th
From: US Department of State
Ambassador Daniel Sepulveda, U.S. Coordinator for International Communications and Information Policy, is leading the U.S. delegation to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) 2014 Plenipotentiary Conference, which takes place from October 20-November 7 in Busan, Republic of Korea.
Other members of the U.S. delegation include Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler, FCC Commissioner Michael O’Reilly, Permanent Representative of the United States of America to the United Nations and other International Organizations in Geneva Pamela Hamamoto, State Department Coordinator for Cyber Issues Christopher Painter, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information and Administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration Lawrence E. Strickling, Dr. Andy Ozment Ozment, Assistant Secretary, Office of Cybersecurity and Communications, Department of Homeland Security, and officials of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Department of Defense.
Why the government needs access to your data
Oct 15th
From: betaNews
By Paul Cooper
We are in Brussels at the 27th annual Information Security Solutions Europe Conference (ISSE), one of Europe’s largest gatherings of cyber security experts.
Troels Oerting of the Danish police gave a fascinating opening keynote defending the right of the police to use surveillance over the Internet. It certainly ruffled some feathers in Brussels, but here are some of the highlights so you can make up your own mind.
At the moment I’m taking a lot of flak from privacy people on the Internet, because I want police and law enforcement to have access to people’s data on the Internet.
J.P. Morgan CEO: Cybersecurity Spending to Double
Oct 14th
From: The Wall Street Journal
James Dimon Appears on Panel in First Public Remarks Since Throat Cancer Treatment
By Emily Glazer
J.P. Morgan Chase JPM -0.93% & Co. Chairman and Chief Executive James Dimon said the bank would double spending on cybersecurity over the next five years, his first public remarks following the data breach that hit the nation’s largest bank this summer.
Mr. Dimon was speaking in his first public appearance since July, when he disclosed that he had been diagnosed with throat cancer.