U.S. Arms Programs Vulnerable to Cyber Attacks: Pentagon’s chief weapons tester reported on the cybersecurity of U.S. weapons program, and according to Reuters, the results are dismal. Reuters reviewed the findings of the report, which found that nearly every U.S. weapons program tested in fiscal year 2014 showed “significant vulnerabilities” to cyberattacks. According to Reuters, the report said tests of more than 40 weapons revealed problems with cybersecurity, and U.S. troops needed to learn to “fight through” cyber attacks, just as they do now with conventional attacks. For the full article, click here.
Malaysia Airlines HACKED: TheMalaysia Airlines website was hacked on Monday by hackers who referenced the Islamic State jihadists and claimed to be from the “Lizard Squad,” a group known for previous denial-of-service attack, reports The Wall Street Journal. According to the article, this is the same group that claimed responsibility in December for a cyberattacks on videogame servers of Sony Corp. and Microsoft Corp. A Malaysian cybersecurity agency determined that the it was a case of domain hacking. The article explains that tampering with domain names to divert traffic from the intended site would generally require less sophistication than a more complex breach in which a company’s servers are compromised and data is exposed. To read more about the response and the exact messages sent by the hackers, click here for the full article.
Israel Defense Computer HACKED: According to Reuters, Hackers broke into an Israeli defense ministry computer via an email attachment tainted with malicious software that looked like it had been sent by the country’s Shin Bet secret security service. They reportedly took over several computers, one of them belonging to Israel’s Civil Administration that monitors Palestinians in Israeli-occupied territory, reports Reuters. Aviv Raff, chief technology officer at Seculert, told Reuters that Palestinians were suspected to be behind the cyber attack, citing similarities to a cyber assault on Israeli computers waged more than a year ago from a server in the Hamas-ruled Gaza strip. To read the full article, click here.
Corporate Cyber Attacks “Hot Topic” at WEF Forum:BBC News reports that at the 2015 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the threat of corporate cyber attacks took center stage due to a WEF report warning that weak cybersecurity could cost the global economy $3 trillion. According to BBC News, the most enthusiastically endorsed plan is the need for a global body that sets cyber-security standards. The article also points out that the talk has shifted from how to stop cyber attacks, to how businesses can manage them when they are inevitably attacked. For the full article, click here. To read the WEF report, click here.
Other Cyber Security News:
Singapore Launches Cyber Agency: The Business Times reports that Singapore launched prepared to tackle emerging cyber security threats with a new agency to combat cyber attacks and formulate cybersecurity policy. According to the report, the agency, called the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA), will function on the aegis of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). To read more about the functions and goals of this new agency, click here for the full article. Reuters also reported on the agency, to read their report click here.
Australia Cyber Offense: The Diplomat reports that Australia has been using hacker units to go on the offensive. According to the article, the small team of Australian cyber warriors is developing its own malware (with the support of the Defense Science and Technology Organization), yet uses payloads from the larger repertoire of their allies at the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) and Britain’s Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) to increase the effectiveness of their cyber weapons. Read the full article here. To read the Financial Times report that first revealed the offensive attacks, click here.
Cyber Threats Target Airlines: Mynews13.com reports that cyber experts are struggling to attribute the source to threatening tweets against several airlines that resulted in several flights over the weekend being diverted or forced to land. According to the article, attribution has been difficult for two reasons: “it’s extremely difficult to trace some of these social media posts, particularly since these accounts don’t need to be verified,” and “not only can the accounts be created by anyone, they can be created anywhere and do not tie the user to any particular location on the planet.” Read the full article here.
Bloomberg Poll: Responding to Cyber Attacks, Gov’t Over Corporations: A Bloomberg poll shows that people believe the government should be responsible for responding to cyber attacks. According to the latest results in Bloomberg’s quarterly poll of481 investors, analysts and traders who are Bloomberg subscribers, some 71 percent ofrespondents said corporations need to defer to law-enforcement agencies to take such actions. Sixteen percent said businesses should be allowed to retaliate, and 13 percent said they weren’t sure. Read the full article for analysis of the results by clicking here.
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