News Briefs

Hackers Earned Over $100K in 20 Days Through Hack the Air Force 2.0

HackerOne has announced the results of the second Hack the Air Force bug bounty challenge which invited trusted hackers from all over the world to participate in its second bug bounty challenge in less than a year. more

SnapNames Faces Lawsuit; Attorney Says Domain Industry Is the Wild West Because It Is Unregulated

A class action lawsuit was filed today in Miami-Dade County Circuit Court on behalf of lead Plaintiff Carlos A. Cueto and others who participated in online auctions for domain names. In the lawsuit, Mr. Cueto alleges that an executive of the company conducting the auctions acted as a shill bidder to manipulate bids. The domain names were auctioned online by Oversee.Net, Inc. subsidiary SnapNames.Com, Inc. "The domain name industry is the wild west of intellectual property because it remains unregulated. The online community has been up in arms over what they feel has been an opaque system that just begs for transparency. It is impossible to know whether you are bidding against someone that isn't working or affiliated with the company conducting the auction," said attorney Santiago A. Cueto. more

Trump to Sign Cybersecurity Executive Order on Tuesday

President Donald Trump expected to sign an executive order on cyber security on Tuesday. more

Wi-Fi Alliance Has Officially Confirmed Wi-Fi 7 Standard; Certification Now Underway for New Devices

The Wi-Fi Alliance has officially certified devices supporting Wi-Fi 7, the highly anticipated next generation of wireless home internet. Starting in 2024, phones, laptops, and routers equipped with this standard are expected to deliver significant speed and efficiency gains compared to Wi-Fi 6E. more

Women in Security Organize New Conference in Reaction to RSA’s Lack of Female Speaker Inclusion

RSA, one of the largest cybersecurity conferences, has been criticized for booking only one female keynote speaker this year who is Monica Lewinsky. more

US Antitrust Enforcement in Telecommunication Being Ramped Up

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that antitrust enforcement in telecommunication is being ramped up by the Obama Administration, after relatively lax times. In a piece entitled Telecoms Face Antitrust Threat it indicates that investigators are weighing up the roles of the large carriers and whether they are abusing the market power amassed under the Bush Administration. more

China, Russia Posing More Aligned Cyberattack Threats to the US, Says Chief of National Intelligence

Dan Coats, Director of US National Intelligence warns China and Russia are increasingly using cyber operations to steal information, influence citizens and to disrupt critical infrastructure. more

GAO Rules IANA Transition Not a Transfer of Government Property Requiring Congressional Approval

The Untied States Government Accountability Office (GAO) has concluded that the IANA transition is not a government transfer of property requiring congressional approval. more

Public-Private Cooperation Policy for Cyber Security Suggested by Commissioner Kroes

At a speech during the Security and Defense Agenda meeting on 30 January Vice-President of the European Commission, Neelie Kroes, showed how the Commission envisions public-private cooperation on cyber security. more

Impartiality of Dot Pharmacy TLD Questioned

Catherine Saez and William New reporting in Intellectual Property Watch: "New generic top-level domain names seem set to be a constant source of discussions and dissension. The domain '.pharmacy' has been awarded to a United States pharmacy association with industry backing, stirring concerns among civil society and others. But the association insists it will work in an impartial manner to ensure safety of online pharmaceutical sales..." more

Broadband Speeds Will Affect Saleability of Properties in the UK

Paul Budde writes: According to the Office of National Statistics in the UK, 85% of the population are regular internet users. With advances in internet technology, individuals and businesses are becoming increasingly more reliant on having instant access to high speed broadband. Statistics show that 69% of UK internet users would be put off from purchasing a home if it did not have a high speed internet connection. more

Massive Data Breach Hits HCA: 11 Million Records Compromised

In what is currently the largest healthcare industry data breach, Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) has confirmed the theft of 11 million patient records. HCA, one of the country's most prominent healthcare providers, believes the breach originated from an external storage system used for email automation. more

US Senator Al Franken Urges FCC Chairman Pai to Protect Freedom of Speech, Enforce Net Neutrality

In open letter issued today, Senator Al Franken has urged the new Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai to join the fight to preserve net neutrality. more

U.S. Now Leading Source of Attack Traffic, Followed by China and Russia

The U.S. became the top attack traffic source in the second quarter of 2010, accounting for 11% of observed attack traffic in total, reports Akamai in its State of the Internet Report released today. According to the report, China and Russia held the second and third place spots, accounting for just over 20% of observed attack traffic. Attack traffic from known mobile networks has been reported to be significantly more concentrated than overall observed attack traffic, with half of the observed mobile attacks coming from just three countries: Italy (25%), Brazil (18%) and Chile (7.5%). more

IEEE Approves 802.11bb Standard, Boosting Global Adoption of Light-Based Li-Fi Communications

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) has announced the inclusion of 802.11bb, a standard for light-based wireless communications. This new standard is seen as a major boon to global Li-Fi companies as it promises to expedite the rollout and acceptance of this innovative data transmission technology. more