Cyber Roundup: DHS Awards Cybersecurity Contract, CNIL Sanctions Google, Five Cyber Pros Inducted into Hall of Fame, NSA Designates Schools of Academic Excellence in Cyber

Posted by Tara on September 29, 2013 0 Comments

Here’s a recap of what has been going on in cyber news lately:

Following a June decision that required Google Inc. to be more forthcoming with the data it collects about users, France’s National Commission on Computing and Freedom (CNIL) has imposed a 300K euro (more than $400K) sanction on the company, finding Google has not sufficiently complied, according to Toledo Blade.

Phys Org recently reported on “breakthrough cryptography” research that was presented at the 18th European Symposium on Research in Computer Security (ESORICS 2013). The paper builds on earlier collaborative efforts between the University of Bristol and Aarhus University (Denmark) to develop the SPDZ protocol (“Speedz”). The SPDZ protocol allows the team to “compute functions in a secure manner, enabling possible applications in the finance, drugs and chemical industries where computation often needs to be performed on secret data.”

Mission Mode’s blog reports ten principles aimed at guiding companies in properly responding to cyber incidents, as articulated by Harvard Business Review. Some of the ideas included, “establish[ing] processes for making major decisions, such as when to isolate compromised areas of the network[,]” “maintain[ing] relationships with key external stakeholders, such as law enforcement[,]” and “train[ing], practic[ing], and run[ning] simulated breaches to develop response ‘muscle memory.'” (Sound familiar?)

The National Cyber Security Hall of Fame will induct the following five nominees at next month’s ceremony, according to Network World: 1) Willis H/ Ware (“created the first definitive discussion of information system security”); 2) James Anderson (“effectively started the field of intrusion detection”); 3) Eugene Spafford (“with Eugene Kim developed the first free, over the Internet, intrusion detection system”); 4) David Bell (“co-authored . . . the most widely used security model”); and, 5) James Bidzos (“along with . . . Ron Rivest . . . built RSA into the premier cryptography company in the 1980s and 1990s”). You can read fuller bios of each here.

Ultra Electronics has launched ” a government-grade, Layer 3 encryption device” that is specifically designed to prevent insider attacks and “counter[] the inadequate security that exposes networks and critical-edge devices to exploitation,” according to UPI.

Boston.com reports that the National Security Agency (NSA) has designated Auburn University, Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Mississippi State University, and the Air Force Institute of Technology at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio as National Centers of Academic Excellence in Cyber Operations.

General Dynamics Information Technology has beat out seventeen other companies to secure a five-year contract with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and other federal agencies to provide cybersecurity services, according to Zacks’ Analyst Blog.