Cybersecurity

Google Flags Entire Web Unsafe, Glitch Due to Human Error According to Company

A glitch in Google's security update on Saturday morning caused links to every search result -- including Google's own pages -- to get flagged with the warning: "This site may harm your computer." The errors caused panic among users around the world who at first feared the popular search engine had suffered a major security failure. The problem which lasted for approximately 40 minutes has now been acknowledged and fixed by Google. The reason for the hiccup, as explained by Google, was due to a human error in the list of URLs Google uses to identify and flag websites known to install malicious software. more

Newer Cryptographic Advances for the Domain Name System: NSEC5 and Tokenized Queries

In my last post, I looked at what happens when a DNS query renders a "negative" response -- i.e., when a domain name doesn't exist. I then examined two cryptographic approaches to handling negative responses: NSEC and NSEC3. In this post, I will examine a third approach, NSEC5, and a related concept that protects client information, tokenized queries. The concepts I discuss below are topics we've studied in our long-term research program as we evaluate new technologies. more

There’s a Full-On War for Cybersecurity Talent, CEOs Forking Millions to Fill Roles

With companies realizing the threat of hefty fines, lawsuits, and executive resignations that can follow security breaches, companies are scrambling to scoop up scarce security experts. more

Security Flaw in TPM Chips Allows Attacks on RSA Private Keys

Details of Infineon’s RSA key generation vulnerability was made public today after several announcements by vendors last week. more

Symantec Chosen as Verification Agent for .bank and .insurance TLDs

fTLD Registry Services, LLC has announced an agreement with Symantec Corporation to provide verification services for the ".bank" and ".insurance" generic top-level domains. According to the report, Symantec will be responsible for adding a layer of protection to the new domains by verifying the eligibility of companies requesting domain names, making sure the person requesting the domain name is authorized by the company and ensuring the name requested by the company complies with fTLD's policies. more

Iranian Influence Operation Worldwide Significantly Larger Than Previously Identified

An apparent Iranian influence operation targeting internet users worldwide is reported as significantly larger than previously identified, Reuters reports. more

Lessons From an E-Voting Debacle

There has been a significant focus over the past two years on the vulnerability and cyber threat risks faced for voting systems at the local level. That focus has typically been on State and local jurisdictions like cities, counties and towns, and resulted in the creation of the DHS Elections Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center (ISAC) to assist. However, there are other local governance entities at significant risk as well. more

NANOG’s Edward Mc Nair to Deliver Keynote Address at CaribNOG 17 in April

Edward Mc Nair will deliver the keynote address at the next regional meeting of the Caribbean Network Operators Group (CaribNOG), to be held in Bridgetown, Barbados from April 10 to 12. The featured talk will take place on Thursday 11 April at 9 am AST. A live netcast will be available. Mc Nair is the Executive Director of the North American Network Operators Group (NANOG). more

Reducing the Risks of BYOD with DNS-Based Security Intelligence; Part 2: Taking Control

In part 1, I talked about some of the risks associated with BYOD. But there are actions you can take to greatly reduce this risk. One effective method for limiting the risk of BYOD is to employ DNS-based security intelligence techniques. DNS-based security intelligence makes use of an enterprise's caching DNS server to monitor and block DNS queries to known botnet command and control (C&C) domains. more

Europe and North America Energy Sector Targeted by Sophisticated Cyberattack Group

The Western energy sector is being targeted by a new wave of cyberattacks capable of providing attackers ability to severely disrupt affected operations, according to reports on Wednesday. more

Greater Caribbean Cooperation Needed to Combat Cyber Crimes

The Caribbean is under virtual siege as incidents of cyber attacks and cyber crimes surge across the region. "The sophisticated use of technology by highly incentivised criminal organisations has created unprecedented opportunities for transnational crime elements that no one region, country or entity can fight on its own. More inter-regional cooperation and collaboration are needed to develop and implement smart and integrated approaches to fight new and emerging cyber threats." more

The Operationalization of Norms and Principles on Cybersecurity

With two simultaneous processes getting underway in the UN General Assembly's First Committee, the UN Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) and the Open-Ended Working Group (OEWG) on Cybersecurity, and several technology and multi-stakeholder initiatives pushing cybersecurity improvement, the world of cyber norms has become both more interesting and more complicated. more

Defense Science Board Urges Obama to Take Immediate Cybersecurity Measures

According to a report by the Defense Science Board, the President-elect Barack Obama will inherit a cybersecurity infrastructure that is ill-prepared for advanced cyberattacks which will be of particular challenge for the new leaders... Reporting today on eWeek, Roy Mark writes: "The Bush administration has been widely criticized by security experts as de-emphasizing cyber-security and hamstringing the authority of officials in charge of government-wide cyber-security" said Roy Mark in a report eWeek." more

Fed Records Indicate Over 50 Cybersecurity Breaches Since 2011, Some Flagged as “Espionage”

The cybersecurity reports, which represent only a slice of all cyber attacks on the Fed, were obtained by Reuters through a Freedom of Information Act request. more

Spam: You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby

According to the majority of the testimony at this month's "Spam Summit," held by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the state of the fight against spam is pretty much the same as it has been for the last several years. The two days of presentations can largely be boiled down to the following bullets: Spam volumes continue to increase, being driven by the growth of "botnets"... Oh, and the spam wars are a lot less exciting than they used to be. Case in point: unlike last time, there were no fist-fights at this year's shindig. more