cybersecurity

With Army Gen. Keith Alexander named as its first commander, U.S. Cyber Command has a challenging mission and Alexander a demanding job.

Receiving a promotion to four-star general, Alexander on Friday was officially given the reins of U.S. Cyber Command by Defense Secretary Robert Gates during a ceremony in Fort Meade, Md. That signaled the initial launch of the division, which won't be up to full capability until October 1.

The mission of U.S. Cyber Command, or CyberCom, is to synchronize the Defense Department's various networks and cyberspace operations to better defend them against the … Read more

The earthquakes in Haiti and Chile, the Toyota recall, and Apple's iPad are just some of the search terms that cybercriminals are using to corrupt search-engine results, according to McAfee's first-quarter Threats Report released Tuesday.

Following a significant rise in search-engine spam last year, the bad guys are adopting the latest items in the news to trick search engines into indexing links that lead to malicious Web sites, the report says (PDF). Like other professionals, cybercriminals use analytics and page ranking to determine the most popular search terms to use to capture their victims, a trend that was … Read more

When Joe Weiss goes to cybersecurity conferences, he rubs elbows with world dignitaries, law enforcement officials, and large corporations, but usually he's the lone representative from the industrial critical infrastructures.

He's been beating the security drumbeat for the utility industry and the others for at least 10 years, as previously isolated control systems at electrical and nuclear plants, electric substations, oil refineries, and water distribution centers are being modernized with direct connections to other systems and to the public Internet. The introduction of the smart grid is pushing old-school industrial control managers off a technological cliff and increasing … Read more

Almost three-quarters of the government IT administrators polled in a new survey believe the U.S. is likely to face a cyberattack from a foreign country in the next year.

Key IT decision makers who work in national defense and security were questioned in a new Clarus Research Group survey commissioned by Lumension and released Tuesday. Among those polled for the "Federal Cyber Security Outlook for 2010 Survey," 74 percent expect a cyberattack from foreign shores in the next year.

What types of threats and security risks do federal IT professionals fear the most? Among the respondents, 64 … Read more

In response to past cyberattacks against the Federal Aviation Administration, IBM is teaming up with the agency to try to create a security system to protect commercial and private aviation networks from future threats.

IBM announced on Tuesday that the new security system will move beyond the typical methods of encryption, firewalls, and antivirus software to guard against hackers, botnets, and malware. Instead, the new system for civil aviation will need to be more intelligent and analytical.

Through a series of sensors and monitors, the system will keep tabs on all network traffic and user activity in real time, said … Read more

Sen. Jay Rockefeller alarmed technology and telecommunications firms last year when he announced a plan for the president to seize "emergency" control of the Internet. Now the West Virginia Democrat is trying again with a new version that aides hope will be seen as less extreme.

During a closed-door meeting on Capitol Hill on Wednesday attended by about a dozen industry representatives, CNET has learned, Rockefeller's staff pitched a revised version of his controversial cybersecurity legislation.

It says that after the president chooses to "declare a cybersecurity emergency," he can activate a "response and … Read more

SAN FRANCISCO--Homeland Security and the National Security Agency may be taking a closer look at Internet communications in the future.

The Department of Homeland Security's top cybersecurity official told CNET on Wednesday that the department may eventually extend its Einstein technology, which is designed to detect and prevent electronic attacks, to networks operated by the private sector. The technology was created for federal networks.

Greg Schaffer, assistant secretary for cybersecurity and communications, said in an interview that the department is evaluating whether Einstein "makes sense for expansion to critical infrastructure spaces" over time.

Not much is known … Read more

SAN FRANCISCO--Ever since President Bush signed a secret cybersecurity directive two years ago, executive branch officials have been dropping hints about what might be in the highly classified document known as NSPD54.

Former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff once likened it to a new "Manhattan Project," and The Washington Post reported that the multibillion Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative represented the "single largest request for funds" in last year's classified intelligence budget. A Homeland Security assistant secretary previously acknowledged there were "plans to expand" a network monitoring component, named Einstein, which has prompted protests … Read more

The U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a cybersecurity bill that calls for beefing up training, research, and coordination so the government can be better prepared to deal with cyberattacks.

The Cyber Security Research and Development Act of 2009, which passed by a vote of 422 to 5, authorizes the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to develop a cybersecurity education program that can help consumers, businesses, and government workers keep their computers secure.

It also creates cybersecurity scholarship programs for college students and research centers, and asks NIST to boost development of identity management systems used to … Read more