Google Calls Proposed U.S. Wassenaar Rules 'Not Feasible'

As the clock winds down on the comment period for the United States government’s proposed implementation of the Wassenaar Arrangement export controls for intrusion software, Google officials say that the rules would have a “significant negative impact” on security research. The Department of...

Coalition of Security Companies Forms to Oppose Wassenaar Rules

A large group of security companies have formed a coalition to oppose the proposed rules from the Department of Commerce that would regulate the export of so-called intrusion software, a broad term that researchers and legal experts are concerned would limit security research and development. The...

Wekby APT 18 Exploiting Hacking Team Flash Zero Day

The Wekby APT group, implicated in a number of targeted attacks against health care organizations such as Community Health Systems and major pharmaceutical companies, is reportedly making use of the Adobe Flash Player zero-day found in the Hacking Team data dump. According to Virginia-based...

Threat Outbreak Alert RuleID16387: Email Messages Distributing Malicious Software on July 2, 2015

Medium Alert ID: 39639 First Published: 2015 July 6 13:00 GMT Version: 1 Summary Cisco Security has detected significant activity related to spam email messages distributing malicious software. Email messages that are related to this threat RuleID16387 may contain the following files: Name | Size...

Creator of Blackshades Malware Jailed 4 Years in New York

A Swedish man who was the mastermind behind the $40 BlackShades Remote Access Tool RAT that infected over half a million systems around the world was sentenced to almost five years in a U.S. prison on Tuesday. Alex Yücel, 25, owned and operated an organization called "BlackShades" that sold a...

Is China Behind the Massive Data Theft of 4 Million U.S. Officials?

The US federal agency has notified its 4 Million current and former government employees that their private data has been compromised in a massive data breach. Hackers managed to break into US government computer systems in the Office of Personnel Management OPM and steal records of Millions of...

New Snowden Documents Outline Govt. Memos on Expanded Spying

A new set of memos uncovered by Edward Snowden and shared with the New York Times and ProPublica this week reveal how the Obama administration narrowed its search for hackers and expanded its warrantless surveillance program. The two memos, which date back to May and July 2012, enabled the Nation...

Proposed U.S. Wassenaar Rules on Intrusion Software

Two things worth noting from yesterday’s unveiling of the Bureau of Industry and Security’s proposed Wassenaar rules for the U.S. that weren’t so overt: a The U.S. generally leads the way in implementing Wassenaar changes, and this time it’s been beaten by the EU by almost 18 months; and b reques...

KCodes NetUSB Vulnerability Details Surface

The Department of Homeland Security-sponsored CERT at Carnegie Mellon University today issued an alert warning of a serious vulnerability in KCode NetUSB, which is integrated into products sold by a number of networking vendors. KCodes NetUSB is a Linux kernel module that enables several users on...

Appeals Court Rules NSA Metadata Collection Not Authorized by Section 215

The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled Thursday that the Patriot Act does not authorize the bulk collection of phone records by the NSA. The ruling undermines the key foundation upon which the federal government’s phone metadata surveillance program is built, Section 215 ...

White House, State Department Counted Among CozyDuke APT Victims

A data-mining advanced persistent threat hit a handful of high profile targets last year, including the White House’s computer network. Dubbed CozyDuke, the APT’s toolset shares several similarities with fellow APTs MiniDuke, CosmicDuke and OnionDuke. Kurt Baumgartner and Costin Raiu, researchers...

Whistleblowers' Lawyer Finds Malware On Hard Disk Planted By Police

An Arkansas lawyer representing three police whistleblowers has claimed that the law enforcement officials at the Fort Smith Police Department FSPD tried to infect his computer with Trojan viruses in order to spy on their legal opponents. What’s the issue? A lawyer Matthew Campbell of the Pinnacl...

White House Executive Order Declares Cyber National Emergency

U.S. President Barack Obama last week issued an Executive Order declaring a national emergency and deputizing the Treasury Secretary and Attorney General to apply sanctions and other consequences for international actors deemed to have engaged in “cyber-enabled activities” detrimental to U.S...

Obama Administration Seeks More Legal Power to Disrupt Botnets

The federal government is seeking more legal power to step in and shut down botnets through an amendment to the existing criminal law, which would allow the Department of Justice to obtain injunctions to disrupt these malicious networks. The Obama administration has proposed an amendment to...

Confusion Reigns Over FBI's Plans for National Security Letter Gag Orders

The way that National Security Letters are approved and used is one of the government’s more opaque processes. Now, you can add some more confusion into the mix, courtesy of some new comments from the FBI about when recipients are able to disclose the fact that they have received an NSL. More tha...

56 Hackers Arrested in Cyber Crime 'Strike Week' Raids in UK

The United Kingdom's National Crime Agency NCA has arrested 56 suspected hackers in a campaign against cybercrime called "strike week." Law-enforcement officials conducted, in total, 25 separate operations across England, Scotland and Wales, and those arrested were suspected in a wide range of...

White House Creates Cyber Governance Unit Within OMB

With the framework explained for a number of government cybersecurity-related initiatives, now it’s time to talk money. The White House anted up strong in 2015 with proposals for a new data breach notification standard, as well as plans to facilitate information-sharing between the public and...

NSA Official: Support for Compromised Dual EC Algorithm Was 'Regrettable'

In a new article in an academic math journal, the NSA’s former director of research says that the agency’s decision not to withdraw its support of the Dual ECDRBG random number generator after security researchers found weaknesses in it and questioned its provenance was a “regrettable” choice...

North Korea Sanctions Handed Out in Sony Hack

President Obama today signed an Executive Order authorizing sanctions against North Korea for its alleged involvement in the Sony hack. The FBI on Dec. 19 formally blamed the hack on the North Korean government; the attack destroyed workstations and resulted in the loss of employee personal and...

DOJ Launches Cyber Unit, Claims Privacy is Mission Critical

WASHINGTON D.C. – Leslie Caldwell, assistant attorney general in the criminal division of the Department of Justice announced on Thursday the creation of a new team within its Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section CCIPS during a talk at a Georgetown Law conference titled, “Cybercrime...