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According to a threat posted on Anonymous information website Anon Relations.net, the loosely banded hacker collective will attempt to disrupt the State of the Union address Tuesday by preventing it from being broadcast online. **SNIP** The AnonRelations.net post cites a litany of offenses as motive for the threatened attack, from "tyrannical" legislation to the treatment of Internet heroes like Aaron Swartz and Bradley Manning. It goes on to state that hackers will "form a virtual blockade between Capitol Hill and the Internet," although onlookers may be skeptical of the group's ability to do this. A recent campaign against Israel during...

The White House is poised to release an executive order aimed at thwarting cyberattacks against critical infrastructure on Wednesday, two people familiar with the matter told The Hill. The highly anticipated directive from President Obama is expected to be released at a briefing Wednesday morning at the U.S. Department of Commerce, where senior administration officials will provide an update about cybersecurity policy. The executive order would establish a voluntary program in which companies operating critical infrastructure would elect to meet cybersecurity best practices and standards crafted, in part, by the government. Observers are expecting the president to briefly mention the...

On Thursday afternoon, less than a day after the Times' story was posted online, its ideological rival the Wall Street Journal revealed that it, too, had been attacked by Chinese hackers. On Friday, the Washington Post, following a scoop by a former staffer, was forced to admit that its networks had been penetrated for years. The Journal provided fewer details than the Times, but said that "in the most recent incident," hackers had managed to break into computers in the Journal's Beijing bureau in mid-2012. From there, the Journal said, the intruders were able to access the Journal's worldwide computer...

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano warned internet users at the Wilson Center this morning that cyberspace was becoming more dangerous as more and more Americans go online. “Every individual on the net is vulner – is a potential, uh, opening,” Napolitano stated, adding that the internet was a “great thing.” “We just want to make sure that everyone remains safe and free,” she continued. “So that requires everyone to take some responsibility, have good cyber-habits, make sure we use the phrase ‘Stop, think, connect.’”

The National Security Agency has shot down a Freedom of Information Act request for details about an elusive presidential order that may allow the government to deploy the military within the United States for the supposed sake of cybersecurity. The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) reports on Tuesday that their recent FOIA request for information about a top-secret memo signed last month by US President Barack Obama has been rejected [PDF]. Now attorneys for EPIC say they plan to file an appeal to get to the bottom of Presidential Policy Directive 20. Although the executive order has been on the...

While Sabu and Topiary are firmly on the inside, the likes of The Jester and LulzSec Exposed are most certainly notInside Sabu Apparent founder and leader of LulzSec, he is a long-time hacktivist associated with senior Anonymous members. Decides who can join the group and who should be targeted. Attempts by rivals to uncover details about his real-life identity suggest he is a 30-year-old IT consultant skilled in the Python programming language who has lived in New York. The timing of some his tweets – tweeting "goodnight all" at 0700 BST, or 0200 New York time – implies he is...

Six members of the suspected computer hacking groups affiliated with Anonymous were charged—including the suspected ring leader, who directed the entire operation from a Manhattan apartment complex—after it was revealed one of the group's most high profile members has been working with federal authorities for months. Hector Monsegur, a 28-year-old American believed to use the name "Sabu" on the internet, was arrested by federal agents last year and has been cooperating with law enforcement ever since, officials said. He pleaded guilty last August, a plea unsealed in federal court in Lower Manhattan today. At least four of the five other...

The White House is being asked by attorneys to explain a top-secret presidential policy directive signed last month that may allow for the domestic deployment of the US military for the sake of so-called cybersecurity. Lawyers with the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) have filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the office of US President Barack Obama in hopes if hearing more about an elusive order signed in secrecy in mid-October but only made public in an article published this week in the Washington Post. According to persons close to the White House who have seen the...

Petraeus could probably have used better technology. Its however safe to assume if you write something in a digital realm, the Federal Government can find it if they want to find it. If you need to be discreet, feel you deserve your privacy, or otherwise want the Government and others to stay away there are some good practices to follow...

Updated at 8 p.m. ET: NEW YORK - A suspected terrorist parked a van packed with what he thought was a 1,000-pound bomb next to the Federal Reserve building in Lower Manhattan and tried to detonate it Wednesday morning before he was arrested in a terror sting operation, authorities said. The suspect, 21-year-old Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis, is a Bangladeshi national who came to the U.S. on a student visa in January for the specific purpose of launching a terror attack here, authorities said. He allegedly told an undercover agent last month that he hoped the attack would disrupt...

First, let me say that I thoroughly believe Iran is our enemy and is virtually capable of any evil deed and/or atrocity in the name of Allah. And I further believe that Russia is behind Iran and its deeds – Trevor Loudon and I are in total agreement on this. I also agree with Trevor that there is a strong likelihood of Obama pulling an October surprise by striking Iran. That scenario is gaining in possibility every day, with Leon Panetta at the forefront. But it will be an attack that is for show and not for true defense. It...

Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta warned Thursday that the United States was facing the possibility of a “cyber-Pearl Harbor” and was increasingly vulnerable to foreign computer hackers who could dismantle the nation’s power grid, transportation system, financial networks and government... ...Defense officials insisted that Mr. Panetta’s words were not hyperbole, and that he was responding to a recent wave of cyberattacks on large American financial institutions. He also cited an attack in August on the state oil company Saudi Aramco, which infected and made useless more than 30,000 computers. But Pentagon officials acknowledged that Mr. Panetta was also pushing for...

The scale and speed of cyber attacks is escalating and companies face more risk than ever before. Armed with technology that can help attribute attacks, the United States now has the capacity to locate attackers and hold them responsible, said U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, Thursday night, in his first policy speech on cybersecurity. The Department of Defense is also updating its rules of engagement and procedures that guide a potential military response to a cyber attack. Senior defense officials say a sophisticated virus attack against Saudi Arabian state oil company ARAMCO in August is an example of this...

(Reuters) - The White House is preparing to direct federal agencies to develop voluntary cybersecurity guidelines for owners of power, water and other critical infrastructure facilities, according to people who said they had seen recent drafts of an executive order. The prospective order would give the agencies 90 days to propose new regulations and create a new cybersecurity council at the Department of Homeland Security with representatives from the Defense Department, Justice Department, Director of National Intelligence and the Department of Commerce, a former government cyber-security official told Reuters. "It tells those who have the ability to regulate to go...

In an annual threat assessment hearing convened by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Wednesday, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano indicated the three top concerns of her department were strengthening cybersecurity, maintaining aviation security and combating homegrown violent extremism. Under questioning by Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.), who was chairing his last threat hearing before his upcoming retirement from Congress, Napolitano confirmed that the Obama administration was hard at work on an executive order that would address some cybersecurity concerns in lieu of any legislation from Congress. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and other federal agencies have been...

Senate Republicans recently blocked cybersecurity legislation, but the issue might not be dead after all. The White House hasn't ruled out issuing an executive order to strengthen the nation's defenses against cyber attacks if Congress refuses to act. “In the wake of Congressional inaction and Republican stall tactics, unfortunately, we will continue to be hamstrung by outdated and inadequate statutory authorities that the legislation would have fixed," White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said in an emailed response to whether the president is considering a cybersecurity order.

Democratic senators have offered an amendment to the cybersecurity bill that would limit the purchase of high capacity gun magazines for some consumers. Shortly after the Cybersecurity Act gained Senate approval to proceed to filing proposed amendments and a vote next week, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), a sponsor of the gun control amendment, came to the floor to defend the idea of implementing some “reasonable” gun control measures. ... The amendment is identical to a separate bill sponsored by Lautenberg. Feinstein was the sponsor of the assault weapons ban, which expired in 2004.

WASHINGTON: A group of US senators has revived stalled cybersecurity legislation by offering compromises to address civil liberties concerns, an effort quickly endorsed by President Barack Obama. The new bill drew some support from Republican lawmakers amid a drive to pass legislation before the summer recess, but prospects for passage were unclear. Lawmakers said they hope to bring the measure to the Senate floor in the upcoming week. The bill aims to identify so-called "critical infrastructure," including electric power and utility computer networks, and provide oversight to ensure these are secure from attacks. The revised measure removed some parts of...

Every day in the United States, professional cyber-spies are stealing tremendous amounts of information. Mainly from Russia and China, these spies target computer networks and increasingly seek entryways through mobile phones. Modern mobile phones -- Smartphones -- are powerful, networked computers, but they lack the firewalls and safeguards typically installed on PCs. What protection is commercially available is weak and unsatisfactory. America's cyber-systems are under attack because what they hold is extremely valuable. Everything from the design of a stealth fighter-bomber to the investment portfolio of a powerful entrepreneur is open to professional cyber-spies and, thus, to the governments that...

A campaign of cyber attacks has been targeting US natural gas pipeline operators, officials acknowledged, raising security concerns about vulnerabilities in key infrastructure.