GCIS INTELLIGENCE BRIEFING: Cyber attackers have the edge, experts admit

 

ISSUED BY: GCIS Communications Command Center

SOURCE: NextGov

02April2011 1:24pmEST

GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE: Top American cybersecurity officials said on Thursday they need to work closer with private industry and other governments to fight the changing threat from ever-craftier cyber attackers, who have a new array of targets from power grids to bank accounts made vulnerable by the Internet.

Such cyber attackers have an edge right now, experts told the Air Force Association's Cyberfutures Conference.

Gone are the days of high-profile viruses with catchy names. Now cybercriminals use less destructive, but more targeted attacks to steal money, information, or intellectual property, said Greg Schaffer, who leads cybersecurity and communications efforts for the Department of Homeland Security. (read full report)

"GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE" is an intelligence briefing presented by Griffith Colson Intelligence Service, and provided to the public for informative purposes only. All subject matter is credited to it's source of origin, and is not intended to represent original content authored by GCIS, it's partners or affiliates. All opinions presented are those of the author, and not necessarily those of GCIS or it's partners.

GCIS CYBER-SECURITY BRIEFING: Judge Allows Sony’s Request For Identifying Information For Anyone Who Visited Hacker’s Sites

 

ISSUED BY: GCIS Communications Command Center

SOURCE: Crunch Gear

05March2011 12:00pmEST

GCIS CYBER-SECURITY UPDATE: This is a rather disturbing turn of events. Federal Magistrate Joseph Spero has approved a request by Sony to subpoena the hacker GeoHot’s web host, as well as YouTube, Google, and Twitter, for identifying information on anyone who has accessed, commented, or viewed information relating to the hack. At best this is lazy on Sony’s part and irresponsible on Magistrate Spero’s, and at worst it is a deliberate and malicious wholesale violation of privacy.

The pretense for this wildly overreaching action is that Sony needs this information to prove the case should be tried in San Francisco, in federal court and close to Sony’s headquarters. Why? Because it’s in Sony’s terms of service. This after another judge noted previously that by Sony’s standards, “the entire universe would be subject to [her] jurisdiction.”

Sony contends that the subpoenas are “narrowly tailored for jurisdictional discovery.” Yet their subpoena for Bluehost, GeoHot’s host, requires “all server logs, IP address logs, account information, account access records and application or registration forms” and “any other identifying information corresponding to persons or computers who have accessed or downloaded files hosted using your service and associated with the http://www.geohot.com website, including but not limited to the geohot.com/jailbreak.zip file.” Essentially, everyone who visited GeoHot’s site (or his blog at Blogspot) is subject to involvement in this case.

They also will subpoena YouTube and Google requiring identifying information for anyone who watched GeoHot’s video showing a PS3 hack. (read full report)

"GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE" is an intelligence briefing presented by Griffith Colson Intelligence Service, and provided to the public for informative purposes only. All subject matter is credited to it's source of origin, and is not intended to represent original content authored by GCIS, it's partners or affiliates. All opinions presented are those of the author, and not necessarily those of GCIS or it's partners.

GCIS CYBER-SECURITY BRIEFING: Foreign agencies test security of U.S. networks

 

ISSUED BY: GCIS Communications Command Center

SOURCE: Army Times

16February2011 12:35pmEST

GCIS CYBER-SECURITY UPDATE: WASHINGTON — More than 100 foreign intelligence agencies have tried to breach U.S. defense computer networks, largely to steal military plans and weapons systems designs, a top Pentagon official said Tuesday.

Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn said that while foreign governments and rogue states may try to launch more destructive attacks against military networks, most may stick to theft and spying because they are worried about a U.S. counterattack.

The greater threat, he said, are terror groups such as al-Qaida, who are more difficult to deter. Terrorists have vowed to unleash cyberattacks, and over time may be able to either develop their own malicious computer threats or buy them on the black market.

Lynn’s remarks, made at a cybersecurity conference in San Francisco and released in Washington, come as the U.S. government is struggling to ramp up its abilities to block cyberintrusions and to lay out policies for launching the high-tech attacks when needed. U.S. government sites are scanned and attacked millions of times a day, and there have been a number of serious breaches in recent years, including into the electric grid and Pentagon weapons contractors.(read full report)

"GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE" is an intelligence briefing presented by Griffith Colson Intelligence Service, and provided to the public for informative purposes only. All subject matter is credited to it's source of origin, and is not intended to represent original content authored by GCIS, it's partners or affiliates. All opinions presented are those of the author, and not necessarily those of GCIS or it's partners.