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The United States has ordered the expulsion of Venezuela’s consul general in Miami, AFP reported on Sunday. The expulsion comes amid reports linking the diplomat to an alleged Iranian plot to target sensitive U.S. facilities with cyber attacks. According to the report, the Venezuelan embassy in Washington was notified on Friday that Livia Acosta Noguera, the consul general in Miami, had been declared persona non grata and had until Tuesday to leave the country...

For the last two weeks Air Force computer specialists have been battling a computer infection of ground based computers that control drones operating over the Mideast. The administration specialists at Creech AFB, Nevada wanted to keep the incident quiet till they could eliminate the virus by themselves. Instead of asking for help the command was overwhelmed by a virus that couldn’t be easily removed. Because of the time wasted it may take a while before the extent of the infection is known and what systems have been compromised. Keylogger The virus affecting the ground stations was a “keylogger” virus. A...

When the Stuxnet computer worm severely damaged Iran’s nuclear program, many Americans cheered. We should also fear cyberattacks coming at us. The International Monetary Fund in Washington, D.C., was hacked this past week. The top suspect? China. The week before, the White House. More than 100 senior Obama administration officials found that their private gmail accounts were targeted by China-based hackers, an administration spokesman told The Wall Street Journal. The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security are investigating. The attacks have been traced to Jinan, home to China’s army cyberunit. The various recent hacking attacks are not isolated events....

A child becomes computer literate at primary school. Meanwhile, North Korea's most prodigious young students are identified and trained in advanced cyberwarfare techniques As South Korea blames North Korea for a recent slew of cyberattacks, two defectors share their experiences, as a hacker and trainer of "cyberwarriors" in the reclusive communist country, with Al Jazeera shedding some light into the inner workings of the North's cyberwarfare programme. In the process, Kim Heung-kwang and Jang Se-yul also warn of the regime's concentrated efforts to bolster its cyberwarfare capabilities. The hackers' professor Kim Heung-kwang was a computer science professor in North...

MALICIOUS hacking software that could force a passenger jet to nosedive has been developed. Security representatives at the Asia-Pacific Aviation Security conference, which included representatives from Qantas and Virgin Airlines, said that cyber attacks were the second biggest risk to the aviation industry after natural disasters. Ty Miller, of Australian security firm Pure Hacking, said the risk was no longer "something out of a movie" but had become more likely with the dawn of the Stuxnet virus. An unknown attacker last year used the software to sabotage one of Iran's uranium enrichment plants. "The stereotypical Die Hard 2 airport attack...

Actions to retaliate for treatment of WikiLeaks, Manning, spokesman for Anonymous says. DALLAS — A leader of the computer hackers group known as Anonymous is threatening new attacks on major U.S. corporations and government officials as part of at an escalating “cyberwar” against the citadels of American power. “It’s a guerilla cyberwar — that’s what I call it,” said Barrett Brown, 29, who calls himself a senior strategist and “propagandist” for Anonymous. He added: “It’s sort of an unconventional, asymmetrical act of warfare that we’ve involved in. And we didn’t necessarily start it. I mean, this fire has been burning.”...

The US government is offering private intelligence companies contracts to create software to manage "fake people" on social media sites and create the illusion of consensus on controversial issues. The contract calls for the development of "Persona Management Software" which would help the user create and manage a variety of distinct fake profiles online. The job listing was discussed in recently leaked emails from the private security firm HBGary after an attack by internet activist last week.Click here to view the government contract (PDF)According to the contract, the software would "protect the identity of government agencies" by employing a number...

Sen. Dianne Feinstein wants to prosecute Julian Assange for espionage. The founder of WikiLeaks "intentionally harmed the U.S. government," says Feinstein, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee. By releasing 250,000 State Department cables, he also violated the 1917 Espionage Act by transmitting "information which the possessor has reason to believe could be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of any foreign nation," Feinstein, D-Calif., charged in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece Tuesday. To John Perry Barlow, co-founder of San Francisco's Electronic Frontier Foundation, "The first serious infowar is now engaged. The field of...

In this seventh article in a series focusing on the need for improved information assurance and cyber situational awareness in the electric power industry, we continue a survey of government and industry consensus about the need for increased security of SCADA systems in the power industry. Cyberterror Impact, Defense Under Scrutiny The DHS Daily Open Source Infrastructure Report for Aug. 4, 2004 included the following item summarizing work by Jon Swartz of USA TODAY: A coordinated cyberattack against the U.S. could topple parts of the Internet, silence communications and commerce, and paralyze federal agencies and businesses, government officials and security...

TORONTO, ON – The Information Warfare Monitor (Citizen Lab, Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto and the SecDev Group, Ottawa) and the Shadowserver Foundation announce the release of Shadows in the Cloud: An investigation into cyber espionage 2.0. The report documents a complex ecosystem of cyber espionage that systematically targeted and compromised computer systems in India, the Offices of the Dalai Lama, the United Nations, and several other countries. Members of the research team are holding a news conference at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, April 6, to discuss their latest findings and to answer questions from the media....

Google's woes in China are a warning shot in the new Cold War of our time -- the fight for dominance of cyberspace. It's a conflict the United States can't afford to lose. Start by realizing that Google's decision to leave China was about far more than censorship. For the past year, Chinese government hackers have been trying push their way into Google's operating system. In recent attacks, they may have abused Google to access computers of some 200 US companies. That is, hacking Google gives China access not just to personal data about Chinese dissidents but any number of...

By some estimates we will need nearly 60,000 newly trained cyber defense warriors (as they are called), just in the next 3 years to help stop the threats to U.S. interests, companies and friends around the globe. That number is staggering when you realize that much of the hacking that exists today is unknown. For example, for every hacker like Francois who clearly wants to be known, there are hundreds who want to do just the opposite....they just want to sneak in, get the info and then sneak out......never detected.

"Dismantling of Saudi-CIA Web site illustrates need for clearer cyberwar policies" By Ellen Nakashima Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, March 19, 2010; A01 SNIPPET: "By early 2008, top U.S. military officials had become convinced that extremists planning attacks on American forces in Iraq were making use of a Web site set up by the Saudi government and the CIA to uncover terrorist plots in the kingdom. "We knew we were going to be forced to shut this thing down," recalled one former civilian official, describing tense internal discussions in which military commanders argued that the site was putting Americans at...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – A message that North Korea had conducted a nuclear attack on the Japanese island of Okinawa turned out to be false, but the fact it was delivered via U.S. military communications has prompted a high alert, according to U.S. officials who asked to remain anonymous. U.S. military channels were hacked either by the Chinese or North Koreans, the source said. Access to such communications – even unclassified military systems – suggests a serious breach of technology security. "Today, March 06, 2010 at 11.46 AM local time (UTC/GMT -5 hours),US seismographic stations recorded seismic activity in the area...

Note: This is a SNIPPET only. Quote: GAO U.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE http://gao.gov/products/GAO-10-338 "Cybersecurity: Progress Made but Challenges Remain in Defining and Coordinating the Comprehensive National Initiative" GAO-10-338 March 5, 2010 SNIPPET: "Summary In response to the ongoing threats to federal systems and operations posed by cyber attacks, President Bush established the Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative (CNCI) in 2008. This initiative consists of a set of projects aimed at reducing vulnerabilities, protecting against intrusions, and anticipating future threats. GAO was asked to determine (1) what actions have been taken to develop interagency mechanisms to plan and coordinate CNCI activities and...

US national security leaders and top cyber warriors from around the world are gathering here to plot defenses against criminals and spies that increasingly plague the Internet. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and White House Cyber Security Coordinator Howard Schmidt will take part in this week's RSA conference along with computer defense companies and technology icons such as Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and Craigslist creator Craig Newmark. "We have before us more data moving into the cloud and more sophisticated cyber criminals," said Qualys chief executive Philippe Courtot, who is among the keynote speakers at the premier event that kicks...

Updated February 18, 2010 Cyberattacks Reportedly Traced to Computers in Chinese Schools" FOXNews.com SNIPPET: "The recent cyberattacks on Google and other American companies have been traced by investigators to computers at two schools in China, including one with ties to the Chinese military, according to a New York Times report citing unnamed inside sources. The Times report also says that the attacks began much earlier than first thought, as far back as April..."

The world's largest Internet search company and the world's most powerful electronic surveillance organization are teaming up in the name of cybersecurity. Under an agreement that is being finalized, the National Security Agency would help Google analyze a major corporate espionage attack that the firm said originated in China and targeted its computer networks, according to cybersecurity experts familiar with the matter. The objective is to better defend Google -- and its users -- from future attack. Google and the NSA declined to comment on the partnership. But sources with knowledge of the arrangement, speaking on the condition of anonymity,...

MONITOR EXCLUSIVE: Breaches show how sophisticated industrial espionage is becoming. The big question: Who’s behind them? Houston At least three US oil companies were the target of a series of previously undisclosed cyberattacks that may have originated in China and that experts say highlight a new level of sophistication in the growing global war of Internet espionage. The oil and gas industry breaches, the mere existence of which has been a closely guarded secret of oil companies and federal authorities, were focused on one of the crown jewels of the industry: valuable “bid data” detailing the quantity, value, and location...

SNIPPET: SEOUL, Jan 27, 2010 (AFP) - South Korea's spy agency said Wednesday it had issued an alert against cyberattacks aimed at stealing data from government networks. The National Intelligence Service (NIS) did not say whether North Korea was responsible. Open Radio for North Korea, a Seoul-based group specialising in the North, said the latest attack was led by Pyongyang, which runs elite hacker units. The NIS said its alert was heightened "from normal to concern" on Monday after a massive inflow of overseas hacking attacks. The attacks were aimed at stealing data from government and other state networks, it...