20 April 2017 | The security software market is transforming through four vectors: analytics, adoption of SaaS and managed services, expanded ecosystems, and regulations. Technology business unit leaders must realign their product and go-to-market strategies to address these key forces….
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http://www.defenseone.com/technology/2015/07/hack-critical-infrastructure/118756/ By Patrick Tucker Defense One July 31, 2015 Cyber-aided physical attacks on power plants and the like are a growing concern. A pair of experts is set to reveal how to pull them off — and how to defend against them. How easy would it be to pull off a catastrophic cyber attack on, say, a nuclear power plant? At next week’s Black Hat and Def Con cybersecurity conferences, two security consultants will describe how bits might be used to disrupt physical infrastructure. U.S. Cyber Command officials say this is the threat that most deeply concerns them, according to a recent Government Accountability Office report. “This is because a cyber-physical incident could result in a loss of utility service or the catastrophic destruction of utility infrastructure, such as an explosion,” the report said. The most famous such attack is the 2010 Stuxnet worm, which damaged centrifuges at Iran’s Natanz nuclear enrichment plant. (It’s never been positively attributed to anyone, but common suspicion holds that it was the United States, possibly with Israel.) Scheduled to speak at the Las Vegas conferences are Jason Larsen, a principal security consultant with the firm IOActive, and Marina Krotofil, a security consultant at the European Network for Cyber Security. Larsen and Krotofil didn’t necessarily hack power plants to prove the exploits work; instead Krotofil has developed a model that can be used to simulate power plant attacks. It’s so credible that NIST uses it to find weakness in systems. […]
http://www.computerworld.com/article/2955005/security/critical-bind-denialofservice-flaw-could-disrupt-large-portions-of-the-internet.html By Lucian Constantin IDG News Service July 30, 2015 Attackers could exploit a new vulnerability in BIND, the most popular Domain Name System (DNS) server software, to disrupt the Internet for many users. The vulnerability affects all versions of BIND 9, from BIND 9.1.0 to BIND 9.10.2-P2, and can be exploited to crash DNS servers that are powered by the software. The Domain Name System is the Internet’s phone book. It’s used to convert domain and host names into numerical Internet Protocol (IP) addresses that computers need to communicate with each other. The DNS is made up of a global network of servers and a very large number of them run BIND, a software package developed and maintained by a nonprofit corporation called the Internet Systems Consortium (ISC). The vulnerability, announced and patched by ISC Tuesday, is critical because it can be used to crash both authoritative and recursive DNS servers with a single packet. […]
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/07/27/plague_scanner_box_offers_invisibility_cloak_to_white_hats_vxers/ By Darren Pauli The Register 27 Jul 2015 Security researcher Robert Simmons has released a tool that offers a new level of stealth to the malware cat-and-mouse skirmish by shrouding binary analysis. “Plague Scanner” is a free on-premise anti-virus framework – a class of tool that drives multiple anti-virus scanners at once – and is the only free alternative to commercial frameworks or online systems. It can help businesses to analyse malware containing potentially sensitive corporate information, or black hats to test their wares without exposing either to traditional public web services like VirusTotal. Simmons (@MalwareUtkonos) says the only commercial on-premise multiple antivirus scanners worth their salt are hugely expensive and out of the range of small to medium businesses, independent researchers, and probably black hats. […]
http://www.militarytimes.com/story/military/2015/07/24/utility-cyber-attack/30615033/ By Andrew Tilghman Staff writer Military Times July 25, 2015 The utility systems that provide water, electricity and other essential services to military installations worldwide have limited defenses against cyber-attacks, putting many bases at risk for a “serious mission-disabling event,” a new Government Accountability Office report says. A recent GAO investigation identified a disturbing vulnerability in the military’s network of “industrial control systems,” the computers that monitor or operate physical utility infrastructure. For example, “most” Navy and Marine Corps industrial control systems (ICS) “have very little in the way of security controls and cybersecurity measures in place,” according to government documents identified by the GAO. That leaves many installations exposed to a “cyber-physical effect” attack that could cause the “physical destruction of utility infrastructure controlled by an ICS,” the GAO said. […]
http://www.militarytimes.com/story/military/2015/07/24/utility-cyber-attack/30615033/ By Andrew Tilghman Staff writer Military Times July 25, 2015 The utility systems that provide water, electricity and other essential services to military installations worldwide have limited defenses against cyber-attacks, putting many bases at risk for a “serious mission-disabling event,” a new Government Accountability Office report says. A recent GAO investigation identified a disturbing vulnerability in the military’s network of “industrial control systems,” the computers that monitor or operate physical utility infrastructure. For example, “most” Navy and Marine Corps industrial control systems (ICS) “have very little in the way of security controls and cybersecurity measures in place,” according to government documents identified by the GAO. That leaves many installations exposed to a “cyber-physical effect” attack that could cause the “physical destruction of utility infrastructure controlled by an ICS,” the GAO said. […]
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2015/07/outrage_iran_deal_commits_us_to_teach_them_how_to_defeat_a_cyber_attack_.html By Thomas Lifson American Thinker July 22, 2015 Perhaps the very worst aspect of the Iran deal reached in Vienna is the commitment of the U.S. and European powers to teach the Iranians how to resist attacks such as Stuxnet. Although it has received very little media coverage (Adam Kredo of the Free Beacon is the notable exception), the agreement states (buried on page 142 of the 159-page deal, in Annex III, under Civil Nuclear Cooperation, Section D, under Nuclear Safety, Safeguards and Security, item 10): 10. Nuclear Security E3/EU+3 parties, and possibly other states, as appropriate, are prepared to cooperate with Iran on the implementation of nuclear security guidelines and best practices. Co- operation in the following areas can be envisaged: 10. Co-operation in the form of training courses and workshops to strengthen Iran’s ability to prevent, protect and respond to nuclear security threats to nuclear facilities and systems as well as to enable effective and sustainable nuclear security and physical protection systems; 10. Co-operation through training and workshops to strengthen Iran’s ability to protect against, and respond to nuclear security threats, including sabotage, as well as to enable effective and sustainable nuclear security and physical protection systems. The language obviously s not limited to physical threats, so it must include advanced cyber warfare training. The Israelis are outraged. Ari Yasher of Israel National News writes: […]
http://www.nextgov.com/cybersecurity/2015/07/after-dodging-bullet-hit-opm-interior-owns-cyber-problem/117904/ By Aliya Sternstein Nextgov.com July 15, 2015 Sometimes fear is the best motivator. At the Interior Department, this was the case when computer hackers stole millions of federal employee records from an Office of Personnel Management database stored inside one of Interior’s data centers. The assailants left Interior’s data unscathed. But point taken, Interior Chief Information Officer Sylvia Burns said Wednesday afternoon. The incident, part of a historic hack against the U.S. government, prompted the department to expedite a goal of eliminating wimpy passwords as the only safeguard when signing in to agency systems. The intruders, suspected Chinese spies, used a stolen password from an OPM contractor to copy OPM’s database, according to federal officials. From OPM’s network, the bad guys then scampered across the entire Interior facility’s IT environment, Burns said. All other data, however, was not compromised, she said. “When I, as a CIO for the department, learned of the intrusion, it was horrifying to me and since that time, my team and I have been on high alert working probably seven days a week, long hours to take our lessons learned and do a mitigation plan around it,” Burns said. […]
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