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RIVERSIDE, Calif. — The Justice Department moved to cancel a Tuesday hearing over whether Apple should be forced to help investigators break into an iPhone used by a gunman in last year’s San Bernardino, Calif., mass shooting, saying it might no longer need Apple’s assistance to extract data from the device. In a new court filing on Monday, Justice Department lawyers wrote that as of Sunday, an outside party had demonstrated a way for the F.B.I. to possibly unlock the phone used by Syed Rizwan Farook, one of the San Bernardino gunmen. “Testing is required to determine whether it is...

msn.com, nytimes.com, aol.com et al hit by malware-injecting banners Top-flight US online publishers are serving up adverts that attempt to install ransomware and other malware on victims' PCs. Websites visited by millions of people daily – msn.com, nytimes.com, aol.com, nfl.com, theweathernetwork.com, thehill.com, zerohedge.com and more – are accidentally pushing out booby-trapped adverts via ad networks, warn infosec researchers.

I view Apple with almost as much loathing as I save for overzealous federal prosecutors. My last Apple phone was a lemon. The "Genius Bar" isn't. When I hear Apple extol its vaunted regard for privacy, I think of all the invasive personal questions my iPhone used to ask before I could download a free app. That was before I switched to Android. Liberated from 1 Infinite Loop -- that's is Apple headquarters' precious Cupertino street address -- I am free of owners' cultish reverence for all things iPhone. So when I began reading CEO Tim Cook's open letter outlining...

Obama establishes Federal Privacy Council as part of massive cyber effort https://iapp.org/news/a/obama-establishes-federal-privacy-council-as-part-of-massive-cyber-effort/ Obama establishes Federal Privacy Council as part of massive cyber effort Sam Pfeifle The Privacy Advisor | Feb 9, 2016 Obama establishes Federal Privacy Council as part of massive cyber effort As part of his 2017 budget proposal for the United States, President Barack Obama is including $19 billion for cybersecurity efforts, a 35-percent increase over fiscal year 2016. The funds will go toward a Cybersecurity National Action Plan, which includes the hiring of a chief information security officer, a $3.1 billion fund for IT modernization at the...

As increasing numbers of devices connect to the internet and to one another, the so-called internet of things promises consumers increased convenience – the remotely operated thermostat from Google-owned Nest is a leading example. But as home computing migrates away from the laptop, the tablet and the smartphone, experts warn that the security features on the coming wave of automobiles, dishwashers and alarm systems lag far behind. ... James Clapper, the US director of national intelligence, was more direct in testimony submitted to the Senate on Tuesday as part of an assessment of threats facing the United States. "In the...

An anonymous hacker has dumped up to 20,000 files of FBI employees online. The files apparently contain no personal information. But they are said to include job titles, employee names, and FBI email addresses. A similar hack resulted in 9,000 DHS employees having their information made available online.

Reckless government spending is at full throttle with the example du jour a $5.7 billion cyber defense system created to protect computers at federal agencies against hackers. Despite its mind-boggling price tag the system is seriously flawed and uses features already available in much cheaper commercial-grade products, according to a federal probe made public recently. The problem, besides sticking it to taxpayers for the exorbitant cost, is that the multibillion-dollar system simply doesn't work. Nevertheless, the bloated agency handling this particular boondoggle, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), insists the program, National Cybersecurity Protection System (NCPS), is effective despite its...

USA Transnational Report for February 6, 2016 Interview with Kevin D. Freeman begins at 25:30 - Kevin D. Freeman is a NY Times bestselling author and considered one of the world's leading experts on the issues of Economic Warfare and Financial Terrorism. His research has been presented in critical DoD studies and he has been asked to brief or present to the FBI, DIA, ONA, SEC, Naval War College, HASC, Naval Postgraduate School, DARPA, IARPA, and a host of government agencies tasked with protecting America. We discuss economic warfare, cyberattacks, Russia, China, Syrian hackers, market volatility, and yesterday's announcement that...

At the end of a get out the vote campaign event in New Hampshire on Wednesday, Hillary Clinton was asked about her plans for protecting cyber security. "It is one of the most important challenges the next president is going to face," Clinton said. [Snip] The AP reported that during Clinton's time at the State Department that it was one of the worst agencies in the federal government at protecting its computer networks. The deteriorating situation continued well into when John Kerry took over.

Talk about a bad week. Poll numbers tanking, polling shows millennial ladies prefer Bernie, her attempts to connect with minority demographics flopping hard, 13 Hours hits theaters, resurrecting the Benghazi story, and now a second Congressional investigation. This latest investigation centers around the security of Hillary's home-brewed email server used during her tenure as Secretary of State. According to Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), House Science, Space and Technology Committee Chairman: Understanding these companies' roles in providing software and services to maintain former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's private email server is critical to improving government cybersecurity standards. A high profile...

Iranian hackers infiltrated the control system of a small dam less than 20 miles from New York City two years ago, sparking concerns that reached to the White House, according to former and current U.S. officials and experts familiar with the previously undisclosed incident. The breach came amid attacks by hackers linked to Iran's government against the websites of U.S. banks, and just a few years after American spies had damaged an Iranian nuclear facility with a sophisticated computer worm called Stuxnet. In October 2012, then-Defense Secretary Leon Panetta called out Iran's hacking, prompting fears of cyberwar. The still-classified dam...

Never mind the secret and mysterious government watchlists: The government could and should be sending its list of people who overstay their visas to federally licensed firearms dealers, Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) told two Obama administration officials on Thursday. Speaking at a hearing on foreign travelers and national security, Gowdy said three groups of people currently are barred by law from purchasing or possessing a firearms, including people in the country without permission; people who overstay their visas; and even, in most cases, people who are here on a valid visa. "Are those lists made available to federally licensed firearms...

The Senate is on the cusp of passing its biggest cybersecurity bill to date, following years of debate and countless revisions to the contentious legislation. The Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) would encourage companies to share their data on hackers with the government. With the House having already approved its companion legislation and the White House on board, the Senate’s is the final OK needed for Congress to enact its first major cybersecurity bill in years. “We have been at this for six years,” said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), a CISA co-sponsor, on the floor last week. “This is the...

The U.S. Senate is expected to begin considering as soon as Tuesday a long-delayed bill that would make it easier for corporations to share information about cyber attacks with each other or the government without concern about lawsuits. The House of Representatives passed its version of the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) in April. A few lawmakers and several big tech companies, however, have come out against the measure, arguing that it fails to protect users' privacy and does too little to prevent cyber attacks. The Computer and Communications Industry Association, a trade group representing Facebook, Google and other major...

Under continued fire for her use of a private, unsecured email account to conduct official State Department business, Hillary Clinton now faces charges that cybersecurity suffered at the State Department during her time as secretary.

WASHINGTON – The State Department was among the worst agencies in the federal government at protecting its computer networks while Hillary Clinton was secretary from 2009 to 2013, a situation that continued to deteriorate as John Kerry took office and Russian hackers breached the department's email system, according to independent audits and interviews...

Hillary Rodham Clinton’s email scandal didn’t stop the head of the CIA from using his own personal AOL account to stash work-related documents, according to a stoner high school student who claims to have hacked into them. CIA Director John Brennan’s private account held sensitive files — including his 47-page application for top-secret security clearance — until he recently learned that it had been infiltrated, the hacker told The Post. Other emails stored in Brennan’s non-government account contained the Social Security numbers and personal information of more than a dozen top American intelligence officials, as well as a government letter...

Smart power. So much smart power. I don't know if anyone has ever tapped into this much smart power before. Picture a nerd screeching about "smart power" while the school bullies beat him up and you've got a picture of Obama's awesome smart power foreign policy. America's enemies now make a special point of humiliating him after each fake agreement and deal. Iran tests ballistic missiles and convicts a US reporter right after ratifying the nuke deal. And China makes a point of slapping Obama around right after his latest fake agreement with China. It was heralded as the first...

Police in Delaware are slowly piecing together the details surrounding the death of former presidential advisor John P. "Jack" Wheeler III. It now seems Wheeler spent at least two days wandering the streets of Wilmington disoriented. Police say Wheeler traveled from Washington, D.C., where he worked, to Wilmington Tuesday on an AMTRAK train. He was last seen alive at 3:30 p.m. Thursday near the Hotel duPont parking garage at 10th and Orange streets. Iman Goldsborough, the parking lot attendant, encountered a man she believes was Wheeler on Wednesday night near the intersection where he was last officially seen Thursday. Goldsborough...

Chinese officials have summoned top American tech executives to Seattle for a forum on Wednesday in a show of force that could make the Obama administration’s standing in Silicon Valley appear weak by comparison. Beijing moved up the date of the annual event to coincide with President Xi Jinping’s U.S. visit and reportedly pressured major Silicon Valley players to send their chief executives to what is normally an annual summit for midlevel management, threatening regulatory scrutiny if they didn’t comply. “It’s not really voluntary,” said Atlantic Council Senior Fellow Jason Healey, a former director of cyber infrastructure protection at the...