Aug 05 2010

DHS Quietly Dispatching Teams to Test Power Plant Cybersecurity

Category: cyber security — DISC @ 1:22 pm
DHS Logo
Image via Wikipedia

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.

To read the rest of the article….

Related articles by Zemanta

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

Dec 22 2009

FBI Probes Hacks at Citibank

Category: Security Breach — DISC @ 4:45 pm

NYC - TriBeCa: Smith Barney-Citigroup Building
Image by wallyg via Flickr

The Wall Street Journal

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is probing a computer-security breach targeting Citigroup Inc. that resulted in a theft of tens of millions of dollars by computer hackers who appear linked to a Russian cyber gang, according to government officials.

The attack took aim at Citigroup’s Citibank subsidiary, which includes its North American retail bank and other businesses. It couldn’t be learned whether the thieves gained access to Citibank’s systems directly or through third parties.

The attack underscores the blurring of lines between criminal and national-security threats in cyber space. Hackers also assaulted two other entities, at least one of them a U.S. government agency, said people familiar with the attack on Citibank.

The Citibank attack was detected over the summer, but investigators are looking into the possibility the attack may have occurred months or even a year earlier. The FBI and the National Security Agency, along with the Department of Homeland Security and Citigroup, swapped information to counter the attack, according to a person familiar with the case. Press offices of the federal agencies declined to comment.

Joe Petro, managing director of Citigroup’s Security and Investigative services, said, “We had no breach of the system and there were no losses, no customer losses, no bank losses.” He added later: “Any allegation that the FBI is working a case at Citigroup involving tens of millions of losses is just not true.”

Citigroup is currently 27%-owned by the federal government.

The threat was initially detected by U.S. investigators who saw suspicious traffic coming from Internet addresses that had been used by the Russian Business Network, a Russian gang that has sold hacking tools and software for accessing U.S. government systems. The group went silent two years ago, but security experts say its alumni have re-emerged in smaller attack groups.

Security officials worry that, beyond stealing money, hackers could try to manipulate or destroy data, wreaking havoc on the banking system. When intruders get into one bank, officials say, they may be able to blaze a trail into others.

Continue reading at The Wall Street Journal

Tags: Business, Citibank, Citigroup, FBI, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Federal government of the United States, Government agency, Russian Business Network, United States, United States Department of Homeland Security, Wall Street Journal