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Iranian nuclear facilities have reportedly been attacked by a “music” virus, turning on lab PCs at night and blasting AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck.” Mikko Hypponen, Chief Researcher at Finnish digital security firm F-secure, publicly released a letter he received from an unnamed Iranian scientist. The researcher, who claimed to work for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), said that another virus has struck the Natanz uranium enrichment facility in central Iran and a secret underground research facility at Fordo, southwest of Tehran. The letter’s author reported that the virus shut down equipment (made by Germany’s Siemens Corporation) and automated systems at...

SNIPPET: "I. When considering the matter of jihadis online, remember that most of what we think we know is based on analyses of the comments made by an handful of vocal activists. The vast majority of jihadis online, be they on forums or social networking sites[i], say nothing. Skillful translations and insightful analyses by definition tell us little about this potentially lethal yet silent majority."

If you are still listening to those in the political class who are falling over each other to condemn leaks from the government to the media, you'd think the leaks had revealed private information in which the public has no legitimate interest, or perhaps a planned secret government mission to rescue innocents. Neither is the case. Republicans and Democrats in Congress, most of them from the House and Senate intelligence committees, have blasted the White House for leaking to The New York Times and others the existence of President Obama's secret kill list and his cyber-warfare against Iran. According to...

Check the comments for links to various stories that popped up on the internet this morning.

By Mark Clayton Staff writer Christian Science Monitor updated 5/6/2012 1:13:23 AM ET 2012-05-06T05:13:23 A major cyber attack is currently under way aimed squarely at computer networks belonging to US natural gas pipeline companies, according to alerts issued to the industry by the US Department of Homeland Security. At least three confidential "amber" alerts – the second most sensitive next to "red" – were issued by DHS beginning March 29, all warning of a "gas pipeline sector cyber intrusion campaign" against multiple pipeline companies. But the wave of cyber attacks, which apparently began four months ago – and may also...

SNIPPET: "WASHINGTON, April 2 (UPI) -- A blackout of al-Qaida's main Web sites is in its 11th day, and officials think the forums may have been brought down in a cyberattack. While no one has claimed credit for disabling the sites..." SNIPPET: "The loss of information typically confuses and frustrates the readers of the Web sites. "It leaves the rank-and-file to guess which messages and which messengers are genuine al-Qaida, and provides undercover operators with new opportunities to disrupt the movement," said A. Aaron Weisburd, senior fellow at the Homeland Security Policy Institute."

The internet has become a powerful catalyst for international violent jihad, according to a new report from the Dutch security service AIVD.

The Jihad Will Be YouTubed by Raffaello Pantucci December 15, 2011 FOREIGN POLICY - The AFPAK Channel SNIPPET: "While clearly the technology to make such videos is something that is universal, it does seem as though it is aspirant jihadists in the West who find it easiest to use. There was no evidence that Gul was being directed by foreign terrorist organizations to produce his material, and his case shows the continued existence of young Westerners producing radical material on their own. It may indeed be the case that the virtual armies have yet to fully emerge as active warriors...

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...

Amid the current diplomatic impasse between Ankara and Jerusalem, Turkish hackers hijacked some 350 Israeli websites on Sunday evening, launching a Domain Name System (DNS) attack on dozens of other websites as well. Israeli IT analysts said Tuesday the DNS hijacking is likely to be, in fact, a "test-run" ahead of a major attack on Israeli domains. Visitors to some of the sites were diverted to a page declaring it was “World Hackers Day." At least seven high-profile websites outside Israel were also hijacked, including those of The Telegraph, Acer, National Geographic, UPS and Vodafone. Hackers calling themselves the "TurkGuvenligi...

Security: The Pentagon has disclosed perhaps the largest theft of sensitive data by an unnamed foreign government. The threat to our electronic infrastructure is real, growing and as dangerous as a North Korean missile. In outlining America's cyberwarfare strategy last Thursday at the National Defense University, Deputy Secretary of Defense William Lynn disclosed that 24,000 sensitive files containing Pentagon data at a defense company were accessed in a cyberattack in March, likely by a foreign government. He didn't disclose the identity of that government, but in a bit of an understatement he acknowledged, "We have a pretty good idea." So...

The Pentagon has disclosed that it suffered one of its largest ever losses of sensitive data in March when 24,000 files were stolen in a cyber-attack by a foreign government. William Lynn, the US deputy secretary of defence, said the data was taken from the computers of a corporate defence contractor. He said the US government had a "pretty good idea" who was responsible but did not elaborate. Many cyber-attacks in the past have been blamed on China or Russia, and one of the Pentagon's fears is that eventually a terrorist group will acquire the ability to steal data. Mr...

The hacktivist group Anonymous may be setting its sights on the city of Orlando, Florida next, if an anonymous press release which has landed in our inbox is to be believed (see bellow). The group is threatening to take down a different city-related website every day, starting with Orlando Florida Guide, which doesn’t even appear to be owned by the city of Orlando (it is registered to an organization called Utopia, administered by a man named Steven Ridenour). So any random website extolling the virtues of Orlando could be targeted. The DDOS attacks are justified in the press release...

WASHINGTON, June 11 (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund, the intergovernmental group that oversees the global financial system and brings together 187 member nations, has become the latest known target of a significant cyber attack on its computer systems. A cybersecruty expert who has worked for both the Washington-headquartered IMF and the World Bank, its sister institution, said the intruders' goal had been to install software that would give a nation state a "digital insider presence" on the IMF network. Such a presence could yield a trove of non-public economic data used by the Fund to promote exchange rate stability,...

Lockheed Martin Corp, the world's biggest aerospace company and the Pentagon's No. 1 supplier by sales, has been hit by an unspecified cyber incident, the government said on Saturday. The Department of Homeland Security said it and the Defense Department had offered to help gauge the scope of a "cyber incident impacting LMCO," as the maker of fighter jets, ships and other major weapons systems is known. The U.S. government also has offered to help analyze "available data in order to provide recommendations to mitigate further risk," Chris Ortman, a Homeland Security official, said in an e-mailed reply to a...

Secrets surface about North Korea's cyberwar college Super-covert military school graduates 120 cyberwarriors per year By Matt Liebowitz The inner workings of a secret North Korean cyberwar college in existence for the past 25 years are finally coming to the surface. According to the South Korean newspaper the DailyNK, Mirim College, in a mountainous region of North Korea's capital, Pyongyang, was opened in 1986 by North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il, and in the 25 years since has made it its mission to train about 120 students per year in electronic warfare. The DailyNK spoke to a North Korean defector, Cheong,...

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.”...

Amid all of the media and public fascination with threats like Stuxnet and weighty terms such as “cyberwar,” it’s easy to overlook the more humdrum and persistent security threats, such as Web site vulnerabilities. But none of these distractions should excuse U.S. military leaders from making sure their Web sites aren’t trivially hackable by script kiddies. Security vendor Imperva today blogged about a hacker who claims to have access to and control over several top dot-gov, dot-mil and dot-edu Web sites. I’ve seen some of the back-end evidence of his hacks, so it doesn’t seem like he’s making this up....

Eyewitness News has obtained exclusive surveillance video of a former presidential aide that was taken two days before his body was found dumped in a Delaware landfill. The body of John Wheeler III was found in the Cherry Island landfill in Wilmington on New Year’s Eve. The video shows a man that appears to be Wheeler entering the lobby of a parking garage at 5th and King Streets in Wilmington on December 29. An employee of the parking garage said Wheeler look disheveled and said he was looking for his car. The employee also said his right shoe, which appeared...