Cybersecurity

Interoperability Testing Event for DMARC Email Anti-Spoofing Specification

At the end of January, the DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance) specification was publicly announced and resulted in widespread media coverage, blog posts and discussion. Since that time various individuals and organizations have been working on writing code for DMARC validators and report parsers. The dmarc-discuss list has been fairly active as various questions and issues have been raised and clarified. Now it is time to see how well the various implementations play together in live testing. more

Making Voting Easy is Scaring the Life Out of Security Experts

Apollo 11 was the spaceflight which landed the first two humans on the Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin landed the Apollo Lunar Module, Eagle, on July 20, 1969. Armstrong became the first person to step onto the lunar surface six hours later, and Aldrin joined him 19 minutes later. The two astronauts spent about two and a quarter hours outside the spacecraft, and they collected 47.5 pounds of lunar material to bring back. more

Ransomware Crime Bill Goes into Effect in the State of California

As of January 1, the delivery of ransomware is illegal in California as per Senate Bill 1137 going into effect. more

U.S. Government Officials Raise Concerns Over Intel’s Long Delay Informing Government on Chip Flaws

Latest reports suggest Intel Corporation did not inform U.S. cyber security officials about the so-called Meltdown and Spectre chip security flaws until they were leaked to the public six months after Intel was notified about the problem. more

China Is Building a National-Level Cybersecurity Industrial Park

A national-level cybersecurity industrial park is under development in Beijing, China to boost the industry and tap into the potential of domestic tech companies. more

Three Layers of China’s International Strategy on Cyberspace

China's newly released International Strategy on Cyberspace is marked by three distinctive layers with different degree of priority: (1) sovereignty (or cybersecurity, or UN Charter), (2) globalization (or digital economy, or WTO rules), and (3) fundamental freedoms (or human rights, or UDHR). The good point of the strategy is that it tries to make the three layers peacefully co-exist in one document. The failure, however, lies in the intentional ranking of relevance/importance of the three layers... more

Leveraging DNS for Subscriber Loyalty

There has been a lot of talk about how the DNS can provide network-based security, and how DNS is in the best position to detect malware traffic before it does any harm. But what does this mean for end users? How does it make their online lives easier and more secure? DNS servers that are aware of sites that host malware, perform phishing activities (harvesting bank details, for instance) and other nefarious misbehaviors, can prevent end users from ever going to those sites. more

Rodney Joffe on Security Vulnerabilities of Modern Automobiles

Rodney Joffe, Senior Technologist at Neustar, explaines that vehicles (beginning with 1998 models) are vulnerable to hacking, but manufacturers have been unable to fix the problem. In the video below, Joffe explains the challenge to cars and the possible threats that exist for other machines connected to a network. more

Report on Possibly the Largest Data Breach Ever

Amidst all the recent reports of data breaches, Gunter Ollmann of IBM Internet Security Systems, has reported today about one particular case which may be the largest data breach to date. Ollmann wirtes: "The media has been full of analysis concerning data breaches over the last couple of weeks, mostly related to the uptick in 2008 reports. While much of this increase can be accounted for by the wider adoption of state legislation that mandates companies to publicly disclose their data breaches, I think it is worth pointing out today's latest disclosure -- which is quite probably the largest breach ever." more

Cybersecurity Continues to Be the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s Top Priority for 2019

For the fourth year, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's Office continues to include cybersecurity as one of the top enforcement priorities for 2019. more

Repeat DDoS Attacks the Norm in Q4 2015, 24 Attacks per Target on Average

During Q4, repeat DDoS attacks were the norm, with an average of 24 attacks per targeted customer in Q4, reports Akamai in its newly released Q4 2015 State of the Internet - Security Report. more

Trust Binding

A few months ago, there was a lot of discussion that despite its claims, Zoom did not actually offer end-to-end encryption. They're in the process of fixing that, which is good, but that raises a deeper question: why trust their code? (To get ahead of myself, this blog post is not about Zoom.) If Zoom has the key but doesn't abuse it, there isn't a problem, right? Let's fast-forward to when they deploy true end-to-end encryption. Why do we trust their code not to leak the secret key? more

Japan’s Cybersecurity Minister Admits He Does Not Use Computers and Not Familiar With Cybersecurity

Japan's cybersecurity minister, Yoshitaka Sakurada, 68, who recently stated he doesn't use a computer, also admitted on Thursday to a parliamentary committee that he's not very familiar with the whole cybersecurity field. more

U.S. Navy Investigating Possibility of Cyberattack Behind Two Navy Destroyer Collisions

Deputy chief of naval operations for information warfare, Vice Adm. Jan Tigh, says the military is investigating the possibility of compromised computer systems behind two U.S. Navy destroyer collisions with merchant vessels that occurred in recent months. more

Russia Is Studying China’s Legislative Experience in Fighting Internet Corruption, Cyber-Terrorism

Russian State Duma deputy, chairman of the Committee on Security and Corruption Control Vasily Piskarev told Russian reporters on Tuesday that Russia is studying China's legislative experience in dealing with corruption, cyber-terrorism and cross-border crime on the Internet. more