Dec 06 2010

U.S. looks to protect computer networks as rogues hack away

Category: cyber security — DISC @ 10:16 am

By Lolita Baldor

WASHINGTON — It will take several more years for the government to fully install high-tech systems to block computer intrusions, a drawn-out timeline that enables criminals to become more adept at stealing sensitive data, experts say.

As the Department of Homeland Security moves methodically to pare down and secure the approximately 2,400 network connections used every day by millions of federal workers around the world, experts suggest that technology already may be passing them by.

The department that’s responsible for securing government systems other than military sites is slowly moving all the government’s Internet and e-mail traffic into secure networks that eventually will be guarded by intrusion detection and prevention programs. The networks are known as Einstein 2 and Einstein 3.

Progress has been slow, however. Officials are trying to complete complex contracts with network vendors, work out technology issues and address privacy concerns involving how the monitoring will affect employees and public citizens.

The WikiLeaks release of more than a quarter-million sensitive diplomatic documents underscores the massive challenge ahead, as Homeland Security labors to build protections for all of the other, potentially more vulnerable U.S. agencies.

“This is a continuing arms race and we’re still way behind,” said Stewart Baker, former Homeland Security undersecretary for policy.

The WikiLeaks breach affected the government’s classified military network and was as much a personnel gap as a technological failure.

Officials believe the sensitive documents were stolen from secure Pentagon computer networks by an Army intelligence analyst who downloaded them onto a CD.

The changes sought by Homeland Security on the government’s non-military computers would be wider and more systemic than the immediate improvements ordered recently by the Departments of Defense and State as a result of the WikiLeaks releases.

Those changes included improving the monitoring of computer usage and making it harder to move material onto a portable computer flash drive or CD.

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Tags: DHS, Einstein 1, Einstein 2, IDP, IDS, Intrusion Detection and Prevention, WikiLeaks

Oct 20 2010

Incidence Of Cybertheft Surpasses Incidence Of Physical Theft

Category: cyber security — DISC @ 1:17 pm
私は No Click!
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Fraud-related losses rose 20 percent to $1.7 billion in the past year, Kroll study says

Incidence of theft of information and electronic data at global companies has overtaken physical theft for the first time, according to a study released yesterday.

According to the latest edition of the Kroll Annual Global Fraud Report, the amount lost by businesses to fraud rose from $1.4 million to $1.7 million per $1 billion of sales in the past 12 months — an increase of more than 20 percent.

The findings are the result of a study commissioned by Kroll and conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit, which surveyed more than 800 senior executives worldwide.

To read more: Incidence Of Cybertheft Surpasses Incidence Of Physical Theft

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Tags: Computer crime, crime, Economist Intelligence Unit, fraud, Identity Theft, Security, Theft, United States

Sep 09 2010

DHS Cyber security Watchdogs Miss Hundreds of Vulnerabilities on Their Own Network

Category: cyber security — DISC @ 8:36 am
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By Kevin Poulsen @wired.com

The federal agency in charge of protecting other agencies from computer intruders was found riddled with hundreds of high-risk security holes on its own systems, according to the results of an audit released Wednesday.

The United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team, or US-CERT, monitors the Einstein intrusion-detection sensors on nonmilitary government networks, and helps other civil agencies respond to hack attacks. It also issues alerts on the latest software security holes, so that everyone from the White House to the FAA can react quickly to install workarounds and patches.

But in a case of “physician, heal thyself,” the agency — which forms the operational arm of DHS’s National Cyber Security Division, or NCSD — failed to keep its own systems up to date with the latest software patches. Auditors working for the DHS inspector general ran a sweep of US-CERT using the vulnerability scanner Nessus and turned up 1,085 instances of 202 high-risk security holes (.pdf).

“The majority of the high-risk vulnerabilities involved application and operating system and security software patches that had not been deployed on … computer systems located in Virginia,” reads the report from assistant inspector general Frank Deffer.

Einstein, the government’s intrusion-detection system, passed the security scan with flying colors, as did US-CERT’s private portal and public website. But the systems on which US-CERT analysts send e-mail and access data collected from Einstein were filled with the kinds of holes one might find in a large corporate network: unpatched installs of Adobe Acrobat, Sun’s Java and some Microsoft applications.

In addition to the 202 high-risk holes, another 106 medium- and 363 low-risk vulnerabilities were found at US-CERT.

“To ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of its cybersecurity information, NCSD needs to focus on deploying timely system-security patches to mitigate risks to its cybersecurity program systems, finalizing system security documentation, and ensuring adherence to departmental security policies and procedures,” the report concludes.

In an appendix to the report, which is dated Aug. 18, the division wrote that it has patched its systems since the audit was conducted.

DHS spokeswoman Amy Kudwa said in a statement Wednesday that DHS has implemented “a software management tool that will automatically deploy operating-system and application-security patches and updates to mitigate current and future vulnerabilities.”

Tags: Adobe Acrobat, Computer security, Intrusion detection system, Microsoft, National Cyber Security Division, Security, United States, United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team

Aug 05 2010

DHS Quietly Dispatching Teams to Test Power Plant Cybersecurity

Category: cyber security — DISC @ 1:22 pm
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The Department of Homeland Security is quietly creating teams of experts charged with assessing the cyber security needs of power plants in the U.S. The question is why the secrecy? When plants vulnerabilities are known facts in both security and hacker communities, perhaps it is time to pay attention or impossible to ignore anymore even by DHS.

Utility Security: The New Paradigm

By Jaikumar Vijayan
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is quietly creating specialized teams of experts to test industrial control systems at U.S power plants for cybersecurity weaknesses, according to a report published today by the Associate Press.

According to the Associate Press report, DHS has so far created four teams to conduct such assessments, according to Sean McGurk, director of control system security. McGurk told the news service that 10 teams are expected to be in the field next year as the program’s annual budget grows from $10 million to $15 million.

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Tags: Computer security, Control system, Homeland Security Department, power plants, Power station, United States Department of Homeland Security, utilities

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