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Secure communicationITU chief supports governments' need to access BlackBerry communications
In an interview with AP, ITU head Hamadoun Toure said RIM should provide law enforcement access to customer data; Toure characterized the governments' needs as "genuine" concerns that cannot be ignored
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Sector Report for September 2, 2010: Cybersecurity
This report contains the following stories.
Plus 1 additional story.
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DARPA seeking ideas for insider threat detection
The recent WikiLeaks exposure was a big embarrassment for the U.S. Department of Defense, supposedly one of the more secure organizations in the United States; in response, DFARPA is soliciting ideas for a surveillance system which will "greatly increase the accuracy, rate and speed with which insider threats are detected and impede the ability of adversaries to operate undetected within government and military interest networks"
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U.S. nuclear power plants bolster defenses against cyberattacks
The threat to digital systems at the U.S. nuclear power plants is considerable -- especially for new nuclear power facilities that would be built in the United States and throughout the world, as control rooms would employ digital systems to operate the plants; these state-of-the-art instruments and systems make them targets for hackers
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Need for digital security spurs growth of cyber security field
The growing need for digital security has made the shortage of cyber security professionals in the United States even more apparent, and the U.S. government is now engaged in a campaign to train, hire, and retain thousands of cyber professionals; the private sector is doing its share, too: Raytheon initiated the MathMovesU program in 2005, to inspire middle school students to consider math, science, and engineering education and careers; Raytheon awards more than $2 million annually in scholarships and grants to students, teachers, and schools nationwide
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Quantum encryptionCommercial quantum cryptography vulnerable to attack
Quantum cryptography is one of the most secure known means of transmitting data; in fact, it is often described as "unbreakable" because it relies on the Heisenberg uncertainty principle -- observation causes perturbation: if a third party does intercept a quantum signal, this very interception changes the encryption key, making the tampering apparent to parties at both ends; researchers, though, developed and tested a technique exploiting imperfections in quantum cryptography systems to implement an attack
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Secure communicationIndia gives BlackBerry reprieve, saying Google, Skype are next
BlackBerry users in India have received a 60-day reprieve: RIM has offered the Indian government a solution to interception issue (the Indian government wants to have the ability to intercept BlackBerry communications), and the government says it will examine the offer during the next two months; the government also said that services offered by Google and Skype are next, but unlike BlackBerry, Skype and Google Talk are both encrypted end-to-end, so intercepting communications is extremely difficult
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CybersecurityU.S. intensifies campaign to train, hire, retain cybersecurity professionals
The cyber threats to both government and public network intensify, and the U.S. federal agencies must find ways to attract qualified workers and develop new skills internally; NIST's Dr. Ernest McDuffie: "We've got a problem of where the next generation of engineers are going to come from-- Awareness, education, workforce, and training all have to come together"
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Critical infrastructureU.S. military wants to cyber-protect critical infrastructure
The U.S. military wants to exert more influence over the protection of power grids, transportation networks, and financial network systems because the military relies on these networks to deal with suppliers and these networks could become military targets
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CybersecurityRIM proposes industry encryption forum to demands for access to e-mail, messages
RIM has proposed that an industry forum be established to help governments manage lawful intercept, in the hope of forestalling India's threatened ban, due this coming Wednesday; the proposed body would be led by RIM, but the company is hoping that others companies threatened by bans -- Google, Skype, and others -- will join in
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CybersecurityPentagon describes 2008 attack as a "network administrator's worst fear"
The Pentagon admits that a 2008 cyber attack on the Pentagon's computers was a "network administrator's worst fear"; a USB device was plugged into a military laptop located on an undisclosed base in the Middle East, causing a malicious code to link highly sensitive machines to networks controlled by an unnamed foreign intelligence agency
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Intel-McAfee dealIntel wants security built directly into silicon
A consensus is emerging that the main reason for Intel's acquisition of McAfee is that Intel wants to build directly into its hardware the kind of security features more traditionally provided by software like McAfee's
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Intel-McAfee dealTechnological challenges to Intel's embedded security approach
Embedding security in silicon faces many challenges, among them: how much can be placed into a chip, and the fact that patching hardware or firmware is when a security vulnerability is discovered, is much harder than patching software
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CybersecurityPowerful GPU processor puts password security system at risk
A readily available piece of hardware, a graphics processing unit (GPU) costing only a few hundred dollars, now brings supercomputer-level power to any desktop; this new capability puts power into many hands -- and could also threaten the world's ubiquitous password-protection model because it enables a low-cost password-breaking technique that engineers call "brute forcing"
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Cybersecurity businessThe reason for Intel's acquisition of McAfee
The merger between the two companies takes place ahead of the release in 2011 of new -- and as yet undisclosed -- products developed by a joint venture the two companies have operated in the past eighteen months; those undisclosed products may be part of the reason why Intel decided to purchase McAfee instead of extending or expanding the two companies' joint venture; says one analyst: "If what came out of that joint venture was revolutionary it could be that Intel wanted to lock that [intellectual property] down"
The Long View
Intel-McAfee dealIntel wants security built directly into silicon
A consensus is emerging that the main reason for Intel's acquisition of McAfee is that Intel wants to build directly into its hardware the kind of security features more traditionally provided by software like McAfee's
Cybersecurity businessThe reason for Intel's acquisition of McAfee
The merger between the two companies takes place ahead of the release in 2011 of new -- and as yet undisclosed -- products developed by a joint venture the two companies have operated in the past eighteen months; those undisclosed products may be part of the reason why Intel decided to purchase McAfee instead of extending or expanding the two companies' joint venture; says one analyst: "If what came out of that joint venture was revolutionary it could be that Intel wanted to lock that [intellectual property] down"
IT securityTrend: Businesses increasingly rely on SAS for security
More and more companies have gravitated toward the idea of "software as a service" (SAS) -- using software that is delivered remotely instead of hosted on in-house servers; more and more companies are now offering security products as services -- but is it the best approach to security?
U.S. secret service forms three new task forces
New task forces will deal with electronic crimes, and the agency says the partnerships will bring together law enforcement, academia, and private sector
Be preparedPractical guides to disaster recovery planning in SMEs
Gartner says that "40% of all SMBs will go out of business if they cannot get to their data in the first 24 hours after a crisis"; two papers aim to help SMBs prepare for disaster
The 25 most dangerous places for offshore outsourcing
Are you thinking about outsourcing your company's back-room work to companies in Bogota, Bangkok, or Johannesburg? Think again; here is a list of the 25 worst outsourcing cities
The cyber security agenda of the new administration
U.S. national leaders do grasp the importance of network security and information assurance -- but seeing the problem is not the same thing as solving it
