For the first time since 2005, the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has revised the federal cybersecurity standards. Since the last update, flash memory, Wi-Fi, smartphones, microchips, and social media have burst onto the scene. Why has NIST not updated the federal cybersecurity standards much sooner? Because …
The highest-ranking American military officer, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Martin Dempsey, continued this Administration’s naïve attempts to cooperate with China when it comes to cybersecurity during a visit there last week. China is arguably the worst offender among nations in terms of cyber attacks and cyber theft. The …
Last week, a hacker turned cybersecurity expert, Marc Maiffret, published an enlightening op-ed in The New York Times, arguing the private sector can and should do more to improve the nation’s cybersecurity. This is especially true since the private sector produces the hardware and software for every device we use. …
This week, the largest cyber attack to date hit the Internet. Spamhaus, an anti-spam company, placed Cyberbunker on their black-list of spam generating companies. Cyberbunker quickly retaliated with a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack, which essentially overwhelms a system with requests. The initial attack failed to overwhelm Spamhaus and …
The Pentagon has approved a 500 percent personnel increase for Cyber Command—which protects the Pentagon’s information networks and engages in cyberspace operations—according to The Washington Post. In a world where cyber is becoming an increasingly important realm, few would disagree with the U.S. government’s desire for increased cyber capabilities. However, …
Regulating the Internet is something Americans have resisted here at home. Now that fight is going global. The United Nations—of course—has an agency that oversees international telecommunications. The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) was founded in 1865, when the telegraph was its main concern. Now it’s trying to expand its influence …
Following the start of Israeli air strikes against Hamas, hacker groups, including Anonymous, have declared open season on Israeli cyber defenses. However, Israel has invested heavily in cybersecurity and cyber operations, allowing it to defeat more than 44 million hacking attempts on government websites, losing only one website for about …
Last night, the Cybersecurity Act of 2012 (CSA) failed to pass the U.S. Senate. The vote is already being portrayed as Republican obstructionism, even though five Democrats voted against the bill and four Republicans voted for it. Such rhetoric is being used to justify a cybersecurity executive order that mimics …