In the News
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In The News |
This section features topical, current news items of interest to the international security community. These articles and highlights are selected from various popular science and security magazines, newspapers, and online sources.
US News 
“FDIC Reports Five ‘Major Incidents’ of Cybersecurity Breaches Since Fall,” The Washington Post, 9 May 2016. [Online].
The FDIC reported five major breaches of taxpayers’ personal information since the 30th of last October. They define a major incident as a breach of at least 10,000 records. All five of the incidents were similar in nature. Employees accidently transferred the files to USB devices. As a precaution, all removable media has been blocked.
See: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2016/05/09/fdic-reports-five-major-incidents-of-cybersecurity-breaches-since-fall/
“McAfee Confirms He'll Head Cybersecurity Company,” USA Today, 10 May 2016. [Online].
John McAfee confirmed that he would be taking over as CEO of tech company MGT Capital Investments, previously known mostly for its development of mobile games. The company will be rebranding itself to focus on cybersecurity and privacy. McAfee says that the company's first product will be “D-Vasive,” anti-spyware for smartphones that secures the device's camera, microphone, and Bluetooth.
See: http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2016/05/09/john-mcafee-head-tech-company/84136762/
“Congress Warned About Cybersecurity After Attempted Ransomware Attack on House,” Tech Crunch, 10 May 2016. [Online].
A new wave of ransomware attacks was launched at the U.S. House of Representatives recently. The attacks targeted House members mainly through third-party email apps like YahooMail and Gmail, prompting officials to block access to YahooMail on their network altogether. It is unknown whether any of the ransomware attacks were successful or not.
See: http://techcrunch.com/2016/05/10/congress-warned-about-cybersecurity-after-attempted-ransomware-attack-on-house/
“Computer Science Teachers Need Cybersecurity Education Says CSTA Industry Group,” Tech Republic, 10 May 2016. [Online].
The Computer Science Teachers Association is creating a new 8-hour program to help educate middle school and high school teachers on cybersecurity. Shockingly, only ten percent of those teachers have degrees in computer science with most coming from backgrounds in related fields like math. The program is aiming to bring these teachers up to speed on topics such as compliance and authentication.
See: http://www.techrepublic.com/article/cs-teachers-ramping-up-cybersecurity-education/
International News 
“Why Automation is the Key to the Future of Cyber Security,” Network World, 3 May 2016. [Online].
The complexity and volume of cyber attacks have been rapidly growing for quite some time, and the ugly truth is that it is near impossible to keep up with all of them. It would make perfect sense to automate some of the tasks associated with security; however, it is not that simple. This article explores some of the challenges companies face with automating cyber security.
See: http://www.networkworld.com/article/3065296/security/why-automation-is-the-key-to-the-future-of-cyber-security.html
“Will Artificial Intelligence Revolutionize Cybersecurity?,” The Christian Science Monitor, 4 May 2016. [Online].
Artificial intelligence (AI) is being examined as a possible means for improving cybersecurity. AI is more popular than ever, and some researchers believe that it can be used to monitor attacks or even attempt to break systems. Additionally, the White House is hosting a series of workshops to explore the potential benefits of incorporating artificial intelligence into cybersecurity.
See: http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Passcode/2016/0504/Will-artificial-intelligence-revolutionize-cybersecurity
“Cyberattacks: Two-Thirds of All Big Businesses in UK Breached in the Past Year,” International Business Times, 8 May 2016. [Online].
A new survey shows that nearly two-thirds of big businesses in the UK suffered from a data breach in 2015. Additionally, roughly a quarter of all businesses in the UK were hacked in some way, the most common attacks coming in the form of malware, spyware, or other viruses, and impersonation of the organisation. Perhaps even more surprising is the fact that 70% of the attacks were preventable.
See: http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/cyber-attacks-two-thirds-all-big-businesses-uk-breached-past-year-1558852
“Top 2016 Cybersecurity Reports Out from AT&T, Cisco, Dell, Google, IBM, McAfee, Symantec and Verizon,” Forbes, 9 May 2016. [Online].
Several major companies have published their reports on cybersecurity for 2016. The companies include AT&T, Cisco, Dell, Google, IBM, McAfee, Symantec, and Verizon. The reports include each company's take on topics such as data breaches, defense strategies, and cybercrime.
See: http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevemorgan/2016/05/09/top-2016-cybersecurity-reports-out-from-att-cisco-dell-google-ibm-mcafee-symantec-and-verizon/#19d7bf483edb
“$81 Million Bangladesh Bank Heist Sparks Push for Stepped-Up Cybersecurity,” NPR, 24 May 2016. [Online].
Following a shocking $81 million heist from the central bank of Bangladesh, SWIFT CEO Gottfried Leibbrandt says they are going after the cyber criminals. The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) is the messaging system responsible for transferring billions of dollars each day. SWIFT was long believed to be highly secure; however, Leibbrandt revealed that they are aware of at least two other breaches. See: http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/05/24/479311978/-81-million-bangladesh-bank-heist-sparks-push-for-stepped-up-cybersecurity
“UK Government Details Plans for National Cyber Security Centre,” Computer Weekly, 26 May 2016. [Online].
The U.K. has released a plan for its recently revealed National Cyber Security Centre. The plan includes four main objectives for
the centre:
- To understand the cyber security environment, share knowledge, and use that expertise to identify and address systemic vulnerabilities;
- To reduce risks to the UK by working with public and private sector organisations to improve their cyber security;
- To respond to cyber security incidents to reduce the harm they cause to the UK; and
- To nurture and grow our national cyber security capability, and provide leadership on critical national cyber security issues.
“Brazilian Companies Rank Worst Among Major Economies on Cyber Security: Report,” Yahoo, 26 May 2016. [Online].
A recent report from security ratings company BitSight showed that cybersecurity metrics of companies based in Brazil were significantly poorer than those of most other major economies included in the study. Some of Brazil's weakest points included compromise rates, email security, and file sharing practices. Additionally, nearly half of all Brazilian companies took part in dangerous file sharing on a company network, whereas the rate for most other countries was closer to a quarter or a third.
See: https://www.yahoo.com/tech/brazilian-companies-rank-worst-among-major-economies-cyber-090350492.html
(ID#: 16-11358)
Note:
Articles listed on these pages have been found on publicly available internet pages and are cited with links to those pages. Some of the information included herein has been reprinted with permission from the authors or data repositories. Direct any requests via Email to news@scienceofsecurity.net for removal of the links or modifications to specific citations. Please include the ID# of the specific citation in your correspondence.