Ryan Gallagher reports: When the incoming emails stopped arriving, it seemed innocuous at first. But it would eventually become clear that this was no routine technical problem. Inside a row of gray office buildings in Brussels, a major hacking attack was in progress. And the perpetrators were British government spies. It was in the summer…
Category: Of Note
Sony Was Hacked in February and Chose to Stay Silent
Sam Biddle reports: Sony says the recent breach of its servers and weeklong cyber humiliation is an “unprecedented” strike and an “unparalleled crime.” If they’re shocked by these events, they’ve been shocked for almost a year: leaked emails obtained by Gawker show security troubles dating back to February. If you read the full article on Gawker, you’ll see emails noting…
Federal data security bill heads to Obama’s desk
Cory Bennett reports: The first cyber-specific bill of the lame-duck session will head to President Obama’s desk after the House on Wednesday night approved an update to federal information security laws. The Federal Information Security Modernization Act (FISMA), which passed the Senate unanimously Monday night, made it through the House without opposition. Read more on The Hill.
Audit finds flaws remain in U. Maryland network security, even after data breach
Scott Dance reports: Nearly a year after a massive data breach at the University of Maryland, state auditors say the campus network is still vulnerable to hackers — in part because gaps they identified five years ago remain. While patching those holes would not have prevented the breach, auditors and university officials said Wednesday, some…
Report finds Colorado state computers vulnerable to hacker attack
Chris Halsne reports: A just-released audit finds that Colorado state computer systems are vulnerable to a cyber attack. The report mirrors the results of a year-long FOX31 Denver investigation. We found gaping holes in security, some of which exposed the Social Security and bank account numbers of state employees and contractors. Monday, the State Auditor`s Office blamed the…
A Breakdown and Analysis of the December, 2014 Sony Hack
Risk Based Security (RBS) has posted a chronology and detailed analysis of the data dumps to date in the Sony hack. This is a must-read article for journalists or those interested in the scope of data types involved.