Chinese army to target cyber war threat 

By Tania Branigan

U.S. Plans Cyber Shield for Utilities, Companies 

FTC Says Scammers Stole Millions, Using Virtual Companies 

By Robert Mcmillan

US appoints first cyber warfare general 

By Peter Beaumont

PocketCop for BlackBerry and The Baltimore Police Department 

By Ewan

By Associated Press Staff

Hackers took over Comcast Corp.'s Web portal for several hours overnight, denying 14.1 million subscribers access to the cable company's site for e-mail, news and technical support.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/technology/sns-ap-tec-comcast-web-hack,0,3610680.story

By Shane Harris

Computer hackers in China, including those working on behalf of the Chinese government and military, have penetrated deeply into the information systems of U.S. companies and government agencies, stolen proprietary information from American executives in advance of their business meetings in China, and, in a few cases, gained access to electric power plants in the United States, possibly triggering two recent and widespread blackouts in Florida and the Northeast, according to U.S. government officials and computer-security experts.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=40112&dcn=e_gvet

By Jennifer LeClaire

The threat of cyber terrorism is growing, the European Network and Information Security Agency has warned. ENISA urged more European Union investments in security to avoid a "digital 9/11." Andrea Pirotti, executive director of ENISA, urged the EU to require reporting on security breaches and more cooperation among member states.

http://www.newsfactor.com/news/EU-Warned-of-Growing-Cyber-Threat/story.xhtml?story_id=1230048OPVML

By Huw Jones

Attacking the European Union's Internet backbone is now the preserve of organised crime, not young hackers out to prove a point, the head of the bloc's Web security body said on Tuesday. Andrea Pirotti, executive director of the European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA), said public authorities have been able to hold their own in the contest -- so far.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/feedarticle/7542606

By Andrew Noyes

The FBI released details this week about a little-known information-sharing initiative known as N-DEx, or the Law Enforcement National Data Exchange, which lets agents search and analyze crime data on a secure Web site to help connect the dots between people, places and events.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=39839&sid=60

By Antonio Olivo

After years of being detained and interrogated for hours by federal agents each time he returned from a trip abroad, Chicago entrepreneur Akif Rahman could finally know whether his name is on a government watch list for suspected terrorists, his attorneys said Wednesday.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-watchlist-24-apr24,0,7847146.story

By Andy Bloxham

The Home Office will create a database to store the details of every phone call made, every email sent and every web page visited by British citizens in the previous year under plans currently under discussion, it has emerged. The Government wants to create the system to fight terrorism and crime. The police and security services believe it will make it easier to access important data as communications become more complex.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk

By Shaun Waterman

U.S. indictments unsealed this week charge 38 people with being part of a multinational cybercrime ring that fooled thousands of Americans into giving up credit card and bank information through spam "phishing" e-mails and used it to steal millions of dollars.

http://www.upi.com

By Associated Press Staff

Todd Davis has dared criminals for two years to try stealing his identity: Ads for his fraud-prevention company, LifeLock, even offer his Social Security number next to his smiling mug. Now, Lifelock customers in Maryland, New Jersey and West Virginia are suing Davis, claiming his service didn't work as promised and he knew it wouldn't, because the service had failed even him.

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_9343471?source=rss

By Will Spencer

The Air Force has begun intensive research and development to create cyber warfare tools. An announcement was placed in the government website soliciting ideas for business opportunities. The solicitation notice was released as the Dominant Cyber Offensive Engagement and Supporting Technology effort by the Air Force Research Library.

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/62296

By Anick Jesdanun

Think twice before you sign up for an online service using a fake name or e-mail address. You could be committing a federal crime. Federal prosecutors turned to a novel interpretation of computer hacking law to indict a Missouri mother on charges connected to the suicide of a 13-year-old MySpace user. Prosecutors alleged that by helping create a MySpace account in the name of someone who didn't exist, Lori Drew, 49, violated the News Corp.-owned site's terms of service and thus illegally accessed protected computers.

http://www.physorg.com/news130180938.html

By Dan Whitcomb

A Missouri woman who prosecutors say used a fake MySpace persona to "torment, harass, humiliate and embarrass" a 13-year-old girl who committed suicide was indicted on Thursday on federal charges.

http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN1531758020080515

By Katherine McIntire Peters

The violent Islamist terrorist threat has evolved and expanded since al Qaeda planned the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and radicalization of disaffected Muslims and recent converts to Islam is increasingly occurring here in the United States. Yet the federal government has "no cohesive and comprehensive outreach and communications strategy in place to confront this thread." Those are among the findings of a new report by the staff of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=39998&dcn=e_gvet

By Jordan Robertson

Even criminal hackers want to protect their intellectual property, and they've come up with a method akin to copyrighting — with an appropriate dash of Internet thuggery thrown in. Professional virus writers are now selling a suite of software on the Internet with an unusual attachment: a detailed licensing agreement that promises penalties for redistributing the malicious code without permission.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/computersecurity/2008-04-30-criminals-malware_N.htm

By Jack M. Germain

Computer network attacks are often perpetrated by gangs of criminal hackers attempting to break into a system for financial gain. However, cyber attacks for political purposes could just as easily be -- and sometimes are -- perpetrated. A country's national security could be severely threatened should a team of hackers successfully crack certain computer systems.

http://www.technewsworld.com/story/The-Art-of-Cyber-Warfare-Part-1-The-Digital-Battlefield-62779.html#

By Robert Lemos

Eight months after the nation's chancellor accused China of information attacks, Germany now faces criticism over its intelligence agency's use of software designed to spy on other countries' officials.

http://www.securityfocus.com/brief/730

By Anne Laurent

The National Defense University is building a 600-seat auditorium above an island in a virtual world. Ten days ago, the Air Force put out a call to gauge companies’ interest in prototyping a virtual base. The Transportation Department has constructed a synthetic world with IBM. Last year, the State Department held an eight-hour jazz fest for 300 avatars and chatted in Second Life with 20 others from Canada and Poland about student visas.

http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20080428_3630.php?zone=ngtoday

By Associated Press

Several Web sites of the U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty have been attacked, the broadcaster said today, suggesting the Belarus government could be responsible. In the form of a denial-of-service attack that floods servers with fake traffic so legitimate visitors cannot get through, the assault began Saturday and continues, the network said in a statement.

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/international/europe/view.bg?articleid=1090260&srvc=rss

By Andrew Noyes

The FBI released details this week about a little-known information-sharing initiative known as N-DEx, or the Law Enforcement National Data Exchange, which lets agents search and analyze crime data on a secure Web site to help connect the dots between people, places and events.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=39839&dcn=e_gvet

By Robert McMillan

Researchers have found a difficult but viable method for hacking a PC's microprocessor -- an attack that would be devastating and virtually undetectable. For years, hackers have focused on finding bugs in computer software that give them unauthorized access to computer systems, but now there's another way to break in: Hack the microprocessor.

http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/04/15/Malicious-microprocessor-opens-new-doors-for-attack_1.html

By Olivier Guitta

Bernard Squarcini the head of the DST (Direction de la Surveillance du Territoire), the French equivalent of the FBI, told the French daily Libération regarding Islamic radicalization: "An ideological transformation can be done in three months on the Web. An individual can at night auto-radicalize himself via the Web and get in touch with leaders of terrorist organizations." This assessment shows how dire the situation is in Europe when it comes to al-Qaida's use of the Web.

http://www.metimes.com/International/2008/04/20/europe_facing_radicalization_over_the_web/5616/

By Brian Grow, Keith Epstein and Chi-Chu Tschang

For more than a year, a Burlington-based Internet company hosted a website that taught its members how to outfit a suicide bomber, aired Al Qaeda propaganda videos, and offered an "exclusive" Taliban video showing the beheadings of three "spies," according to computer records.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/03/27/unwittingly_hosting_terror/

By Brian Grow, Keith Epstein and Chi-Chu Tschang

A BusinessWeek probe of rising attacks on America's most sensitive computer networks uncovers startling security gaps.
The e-mail message addressed to a Booz Allen Hamilton executive was mundane—a shopping list sent over by the Pentagon of weaponry India wanted to buy. But the missive turned out to be a brilliant fake. Lurking beneath the description of aircraft, engines, and radar equipment was an insidious piece of computer code known as "Poison Ivy" designed to suck sensitive data out of the $4 billion consulting firm's computer network.

http://www.businessweek.com/print/magazine/content/08_16/b4080032218430.htm

By Ellen Nakashima

When FBI investigators probing New York prostitution rings, Boston organized crime or potential terrorist plots anywhere want access to a suspect's telephone contacts, technicians at a telecommunications carrier served with a government order can, with the click of a mouse, instantly transfer key data along a computer circuit to an FBI technology office in Quantico.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/07/AR2008040702364.html?hpid=moreheadlines

By Greg Grant

With wars increasingly fought among the people, information is now an element of combat power as important as lethal action in determining a conflict's eventual outcome, said an Army officer who heads the services computer warfare efforts.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=39733&dcn=e_gvet

By Scott Louis Weber

We are addicted to information and cannot go long without being "connected." Indeed, while you are reading this article you will likely check your e-mail or instant message a friend or colleague. Traveling with technology is commonplace. Whether we are on the move for business or pleasure, technology allows us to remain in communication with our personal and business lives, 24/7, without any travel interruptions. But look out. All this can be just fodder for spies.

http://www.forbes.com/opinions/2008/04/08/viator-corporate-espionage-oped-cx_slw_0408viator.html

By Nick Heath

Nato is creating a cyber-defence command to protect its allies against crippling online attacks on national infrastructures. The Cyber Defence Management Authority (CDMA) will co-ordinate cyber-defence among Nato allies after its formation was backed by members at a Nato summit in Bucharest last week.

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/security/0,1000000189,39382597,00.htm

By Ryan Singel

Across the world, thousands of home computers have been conscripted into zombie computer gangs that cyber criminals use to spam, attack and defraud others on the net, causing considerable consternation to law enforcement and security professionals alike, who count the so-called botnets as the most vexing net threat today.

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/04/zombie-computer.html

By William Jackson

Making national cybersecurity policy is an always difficult and often thankless task, the director of a House subcommittee told an audience Wednesday at the RSA Security conference. “One of the things that make cybersecurity difficult is that there are a lot of mixed messages out there,” said Jacob Olcott of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Emerging Threats, Cyber Security, and Science and Technology. Some see the threat of cyberterrorism as a reality, and others think dire pronouncements are overblown. “There is a lot of disagreement about what, exactly, we’re dealing with.”

http://www.gcn.com/online/vol1_no1/46086-1.html

By Anick Jesdanun

U.S. military officials seeking to boost the nation's cyberwarfare capabilities are looking beyond defending the Internet: They are developing ways to launch virtual attacks on enemies. But first the military will have to figure out the proper boundaries.

http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=108&sid=1381656

By Jan Sliva

Two groups working separately to boost Europe's defenses against online crime will present proposals this week, almost a year after most of the nation of Estonia's links to the Internet were disrupted for days or weeks.

http://www.physorg.com/news126199429.html

By Jordon Robertson

Attorney General Michael Mukasey warned Friday that the huge profits generated from piracy and counterfeiting are increasingly flowing into the coffers of terrorist groups.

http://www.thestate.com/technology-wire/story/359147.html

By Scott Stewart

Watching the behavior of countries like China and the United States underscores one of the most important insights you can have into geopolitics: Essentially, the world community is in anarchy. The world stage is in a Hobbesian state of nature; there are no rules for those with enough strength or influence to avoid them.

http://media.www.unogateway.com

By Clarke Canfield and Brian Bergstein

At first, it sounded like another in a long line of credit card breaches: Up to 4.2 million account numbers were stolen by thieves who cracked computers at Hannaford Bros. Co., an Eastern supermarket chain. But the specifics of the crime, revealed this week, included some troubling twists that might expose big holes in the payment industry's security standards.

http://www.denverpost.com/nationworld/ci_8640617

By Lolita Baldor

The military is beefing up efforts to gather intelligence, fend off cyber-attacks and improve relations with other nations as part of a strategy for keeping the U.S. safe while fighting two wars, according to a Pentagon document.

http://www.gopusa.com/news/2008/march/0319_military_cyber1.shtml

By Jordan Robertson

From iPods to navigation systems, some of today's hottest gadgets are landing on store shelves with some unwanted extras from the factory - pre-installed viruses that steal passwords, open doors for hackers and make computers spew spam.

http://www.physorg.com/news124646014.html

By Mandy Clark

While people work hard on their computers - so too do the Internet viruses or malicious software known as malware. Cyber experts say hundreds of thousands of them bombard personal computers every day. Far from being a mere nuisance, these bugs threaten modern life.

http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-03-13-voa17.cfm

By Siobhan Gorman

Five years ago, Congress killed an experimental Pentagon antiterrorism program meant to vacuum up electronic data about people in the U.S. to search for suspicious patterns. Opponents called it too broad an intrusion on Americans' privacy, even after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB120511973377523845.html?mod=blog

By Bob Brewin

The United States is in the midst of a cyberwar and is not prepared to deal with it, top Defense Department and intelligence officials acknowledged this week.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=39466&dcn=todaysnews

By Matthew Broersma

A New Zealand security researcher has published a software tool allowing attackers to quickly gain access to Windows systems via a Firewire port.

http://computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/scrt/939892823D52DE75CC25740300048AD0

By Jill R. Aitoro

The number of information security incidents reported by federal agencies jumped from 5,146 in fiscal 2006 to 12,986 last year, with a 70 percent increase in unauthorized access to federal networks alone, according to a report from the Office of Management released Saturday.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=39425&dcn=e_nextgov

By Simon Moores

The internet is certainly not safe. The statistics may show the risk of crime is decreasing in some areas because of new technical measures and policies. But elsewhere, under the extreme pressures of criminal interests, new leaks are appearing in the collective firewall. They may become a flood if not tackled quickly. That growing influence of serious and organised crime in cyberspace is the focus of representatives from business, finance, government and law enforcement agencies at next week's sixth international e-Crime Congress in London.

http://management.silicon.com/government/0,39024677,39170197,00.htm

By Staff Reporter

Germany's highest court has restricted the right of the security services to spy on the computers of suspected criminals and terrorists.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7266543.stm

By Frederic J. Frommer

Nearly two years after an embarrassing flap in which veterans' personal information was put at risk of identity theft, federal agencies are still not doing all they can to prevent further lapses, investigators have found.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=39347&sid=1

By Jill R. Aitoro

Federal agencies continue to struggle with information security, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office. Weak access controls, network device configuration, and management procedures leave systems vulnerable to malicious attacks and data at risk of exposure.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=39314&dcn=e_gvet

By Peter Buxbaum

A new report says that 2008 will see an expansion of economic espionage in which nation-states and companies will use cybertheft of data to gain economic advantage in multinational deals.

http://www.speroforum.com/site/article.asp?id=14354&tag=

By James Jay Carafano and Richard Weitz

Even before the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, security experts were becoming increasingly concerned about the vulnerability of U.S. computer systems and associated infrastructure. The 9/11 attacks amplified these concerns.

http://frontpagemagazine.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=4FC31039-5A9C-4ADC-97EB-583829145052

By Jessica Mintz

Near-perfect knockoffs of 21 different Microsoft programs began surfacing around the world just over a decade ago. Soon, PCs in more than a dozen countries were running illegal copies of Windows and Office, turning unwitting consumers into criminals and, Microsoft says, exposing them to increased risk of malicious viruses and spyware.

http://www.examiner.com/a-1208462~Microsoft_Helps_Nab__900M_Piracy_Ring.html?cid=sec-promo

By Jill R. Aitoro

President Bush's proposed budget for fiscal 2009 includes $7.3 billion for cybersecurity efforts -- a 9.8 percent increase from last year and a 73 percent increase from fiscal 2004.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=39252&dcn=e_nextgov

By Dmitry Sidorov

U.S. Congress held annual hearings on security issues, based on the report by National Intelligence Director Michael McConnell. Along with al-Qaeda, Iraq, and Iran, U.S. intelligence officials listed Russia and China among the outer threats. Moscow and Beijing are charged with using their growing economic influence in the world for advancing their own political goals, and with cyber-terrorism. 

http://www.kommersant.com/p850125/r_527/U.S._spy_chiefs_list_Russia_among_threats/

By Staff Reporter

A gang of Swedish criminals was seconds away from completing a digital bank heist when an alert employee literally pulled the plug on their brazen scam, investigators said Wednesday. The would be bank robbers had placed "advanced technical equipment" under the employee's desk that allowed them to take control of his computer remotely, prosecutor Thomas Balter Nordenman said in a statement.

http://www.newsvine.com/_news/2008/01/30/1265825-swedish-bank-stops-digital-theft

By Tim Stevens

Just last week it was revealed that the group that perpetrated the cyber-attacks on Estonian networks, escalating the already high tension between that nation and its neighbor Russia, wasn't really a group at all. It was a 20-year-old hacker from within Estonia itself. That revelation was a bit of a wake-up call for the global community -- that a strong-minded individual could create an international incident without much trouble. President Bush seems to have been paying attention and is reportedly ready to propose a $6 billion project to create some sort of National Security Agency for American networks.

http://www.switched.com/2008/01/29/bush-wants-6-billion-for-cyberterrorism-protection/

By Staff Reporter

Every day, some half a million computers are infected by bots, according to data compiled by PandaLabs in its annual report on malware activity in 2007. Bots are programs that operate as agents for a user or another program to simulate human activity, and malicious bots can take complete control of the infected system. Once they have control over several hundred computers, cyber-criminals can connect them to create botnets.

http://www.govtech.com/gt/252775?topic=117671

By Ellen Nakashima

President Bush signed a directive this month that expands the intelligence community's role in monitoring Internet traffic to protect against a rising number of attacks on federal agencies' computer systems.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/25/AR2008012503261.html?hpid=moreheadlines

By Kelly Jackson Higgins

A Website frequented by al Qaeda supporters has released an upgrade to an encryption software tool for Islamic militants to communicate more privately and securely over the Internet -- with a stronger form of encryption, according to a Reuters report.

http://www.darkreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=143780

By Robert McMillan

Criminals have been able to hack into computer systems via the Internet and cut power to several cities, a U.S. Central Intelligence Agency analyst said this week.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,141564-c,hackers/article.html

By Gregg Keizer

A large-scale hack of legitimate Web sites to infect visitors' PCs is much more massive than first thought, researchers said Friday. At least 10,000 sites have been compromised, and have hijacked unpatched systems that steered to their URLs.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,141544-page,1/article.html

By Staff Reporter

The internet has long been an al Qaeda stronghold - a center for raising money and spreading propaganda. A record 97 messages were posted in 2007. But now, the cyber world has also largely replaced conventional training camps and has become the primary location where Islamic radicals are recruited, trained and sent on their way to carry out attacks.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/01/17/eveningnews/main3725693.shtml

By Owen Bowcott

Senior British police officials are talking to the FBI about an international database to hunt for major criminals and terrorists. The US-initiated programme, "Server in the Sky", would take cooperation between the police forces way beyond the current faxing of fingerprints across the Atlantic. Allies in the "war against terror" - the US, UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand - have formed a working group, the International Information Consortium, to plan their strategy.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/humanrights/story/0,,2241005,00.html

By Staff Reporter

National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell is drawing up plans for cyberspace spying that would make the current debate on warrantless wiretaps look like a "walk in the park," according to an interview published in the New Yorker's print edition today.

http://rawstory.com//printstory.php?story=8868

By Gordon Corera

The extraordinary story of the solitary computer geek in a Shepherds Bush bedsit who became the world’s most wanted cyber-jihadist.

http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/the_way_we_live/article3191517.ece

By Allan Holmes

A Wisconsin government agency, like some companies, federal agencies and other organizations, has decided that the way to avoid accidentally exposing Social Security Numbers is to, well, not use them at all to identify citizens. The state's Department of Health and Family Services, which administers the state's Medicaid program, said this week that it would randomly generate ID numbers for the state's 800,000 Medicaid recipients instead of using their Social Security Number. The announcement immediately follows an incident in which EDS, which holds the contract to process the state's Medicaid claims, accidentally printed and mailed the Social Security Numbers of Wisconsin Medicaid recipients on newsletters. Another Wisconsin agency made a similar mistake last year.

http://blogs.govexec.com/techinsider/archives/2008/01/one_way_to_stop_exposing_ssns.php

By Allan Holmes

California has led the nation in passing laws to protect private data, and it continues to hold true to the role. This past Tuesday, a California law went into effect expanding the state's groundbreaking security breach notification law, the nation's first law requiring companies to notify customers if a cyberattack exposes personal financial information.

http://blogs.govexec.com/techinsider/archives/2008/01/calif_expands_privacy_protecti.php

By Jan Libbenga

The discovery of a USB memory stick containing classified NATO information in a library in Stockholm has prompted a meeting between the Swedish Military Intelligence and Security Service and foreign defence officials.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/01/04/another_stick_with_military_secrets_found/

By Erik Holmes

A laptop computer with personal information of 10,501 active-duty and retired airmen is missing from Bolling Air Force Base in Washington, an Air Force official confirmed Wednesday.

http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2008/01/airforce_missing_computer_080102/

By Staff Reporter

HARRISBURG, Pa. -- Pennsylvania's state government Web site was almost completely shut down Friday after it was infiltrated by hackers from China, but officials said they found no evidence of damage. Four departments had security problems with their Web pages, leading to a decision to take nearly all of the state's Internet site down on Friday morning. Office of Administration spokeswoman Mia DeVane said there was no reason to think anyone's personal data had been compromised or that any damage occurred when a hacker "got into what we would say is a back door."

http://www.nbc10.com/technology/14982217/detail.html?rss=phi&psp=news

By Adam Liptak

A couple of years ago, Michael T. Arnold landed at the Los Angeles International Airport after a 20-hour flight from the Philippines. He had his laptop with him, and a customs officer took a look at what was on his hard drive. Clicking on folders called “Kodak pictures” and “Kodak memories,” the officer found child pornography.

http://www.nytimes.com

By Jill R. Aitoro

In addition to addressing less than 30 percent of the information security weaknesses highlighted in a 2007 Government Accountability Office report, the Internal Revenue Service provided false claims about its progress, according to a Government Accountability Office auditor.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=38990&dcn=e_gvet

By Paul Miller

Boeing's still in the final stages of production on its 787 Dreamliner mid-sized jet, but the FAA has already spotted what looks to be a serious security vulnerability in the plane's IT infrastructure. Apparently the computers that provide the 787's passenger area with in-flight internet access and other amenities are physically networked with the main plane computers, including control, navigation and communication systems, which could theoretically provide a path for a hacker to screw with the plane, and even go as far as take full control of the 787.

http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/06/faa-warns-of-boeing-787-hacker-vulnerability/

By Mark Jewell

The loss or theft of personal data such as credit card and Social Security numbers soared to unprecedented levels in 2007, and the trend isn't expected to turn around anytime soon as hackers stay a step ahead of security and laptops disappear with sensitive information.

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8TRVTIO0.htm

By Siobhan Gorman

After delaying a domestic satellite-surveillance program for more than two months, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff expects to finalize a new charter for it this week, a move that attempts to quell civil-liberties concerns and get the program back on track.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119812248622741723.html?mod=hps_us_whats_news

By Don Jackson

SecureWorks has discovered a stealthy, new Prg Banking Trojan. This new variant is the malware behind Zbot, a new botnet designed specifically to do banking fraud. The hackers using this new malware are specifically targeting banking clients that have commercial accounts. The banking variant has been designed and is being used by the Russian UpLevel hacking group and some German affiliates. The UpLevel hackers are staging their latest attacks using data centers in Moscow, Russia, and Mumbai, India.

http://www.secureworks.com/research/threats/bankingprg/?threat=bankingprg

By Staff Reporter

The Israeli military used cyberwar techniques to help blind Syrian air defenses prior to its strike on an alleged nuclear facility at Dayr az-Zawr.

http://www.upi.com

By Aliya Sternstein

NASA is going forward with what some are calling "invasive" background checks at all but one of its field centers despite ongoing litigation to end the process at that facility, NASA officials said Thursday.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=38776&dcn=e_gvet

By John E. Dunn

Hackers have succeeded in breaking into the computer systems of two of the U.S.' most important science labs, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Tennessee and Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,140390-c,hackers/article.html

By Gautham Nagesh

The Air Force is moving ahead on establishing its new Cyber Command, searching for permanent facilities and planning meetings to establish rules by which it will operate, according to Air Force officials.

http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/1207/120707n1.htm

By Alice Lipowicz

Although the Homeland Security Department terminated a controversial visual analytics data mining program this summer, it continues to engage in visual analytics research in a separate program, a spokeswoman confirmed. The ongoing visual analytics research at the Science and Technology Directorate is being publicized as a means of eventually identifying terrorists through potential use of data collected from video surveillance footage, cell phone calls, photos, bank records, chat rooms and e-mails. But no real-world, operational data is actually being used in the research, said DHS spokeswoman Amy Kudwa.

http://www.gcn.com/online/vol1_no1/45491-1.html?topic=homeland-security

By Kenyon Wallace

A security flaw in Passport Canada's website has allowed easy access to the personal information - including social insurance numbers, dates of birth and driver's licence numbers - of people applying for new passports.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com

By Jill R. Aitoro

The Homeland Security Department began this week testing a fingerprint scanning application in certain airports so it can tap into an FBI database to identify more accurately whether visiting foreigners may be criminals, illegal immigrants or terrorists.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=38755&dcn=e_gvet

By Jeremy Kirk

Britain's domestic intelligence agency is warning that cybercrime perpetrated by China is on the rise following hacking attacks against Rolls-Royce and Royal Dutch Shell.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,140221-c,hackers/article.html

By Rory Cellan-Jones

Responsibility for investigating e-crime is split between agencies. IT chiefs at some of the UK's biggest companies have accused the government of failing to take e-crime seriously.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7128491.stm

By Ibtihal Hassan

RIYADH (Reuters) - There are now about 5,600 Web sites spreading al Qaeda's ideology worldwide, and 900 more are appearing each year, a Saudi researcher told a national security conference on Tuesday. Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, has identified the Internet as a key battlefield with militants who launched a campaign to topple the U.S.-allied ruling royal family in 2003.

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSL0488465620071204?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&sp=true

By Michael Evans

The golden rule in the counter-espionage business is that when your “enemies” get more sophisticated you have to keep one step ahead of them, particularly when the threat is an electronic one. The Chinese and Russians have now become so adept at hacking into computer systems that MI5 has had to issue a general warning to all government departments and defence companies to take extra precautions to protect their most sensitive information.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article2980544.ece

By Dave Montgomery

While U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan engage the enemy with guns, tanks, airplanes and missiles, the American military is quietly fighting a much different kind of war on a new front – cyberspace.

http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/520067.html

By Joab Jackson

U.S. agency officials stung by data loss can take some solace in the fact that the United States isn’t the only country struggling with data security issues. A U.K. finance head admitted last week that Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs department (HMRC) lost 25 million records with personal information.

http://www.gcn.com/online/vol1_no1/45464-1.html

By Staff Reporter

In the spring of 2005, Mirsad Bektasevic and Cesur Abdulkadir shared a small apartment in Sarajevo. They watched with dismay as Western television networks gave their take on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. They grew enraged. And they vowed to strike back.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/viewpoint/vp_gillespie/2007/11/cyber_wars_and_the_west_1.html

By Staff Reporter

Islamist militants are becoming more skilled at tailoring their message to specific audiences, including women and children, and Western societies are struggling to find a response. That was the message from a meeting hosted by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) this week, attended by leading experts on Islamist radicalisation.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/4280823a28.html

By John Gramlich

The 2001 terrorist attacks led every state but South Dakota to restrict access to information deemed critical to homeland security — from architectural blueprints to emergency evacuation routes, according to a comprehensive, state-by-state study of post-9/11 changes to open-government laws.

http://www.stateline.org/live/details/story?contentId=258013

By Yang Kuo-wen, Lin Ching-chuan and Rich Chang

Portable hard discs sold locally and produced by US disk-drive manufacturer Seagate Technology have been found to carry Trojan horse viruses that automatically upload to Beijing Web sites anything the computer user saves on the hard disc, the Investigation Bureau said. Around 1,800 of the portable Maxtor hard discs, produced in Thailand, carried two Trojan horse viruses: autorun.inf and ghost.pif, the bureau under the Ministry of Justice said.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2007/11/11/2003387202

By Staff Reporter

Brussels - European Union justice ministers Friday agreed on a minimum set of rules protecting the cross-border exchange of personal data by law-enforcement agencies in the 27 member states.

http://news.monstersandcritics.com/

By Steven Schwankert

When a visitor views the page, an exploit first attempts to install malware on the visitor's computer if it is not properly patched. Thompson said he was not sure yet which flaw the malware was looking to exploit. If that is not successful, the user is then asked to install a fake codec to view a video.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,139472-c,hackers/article.html

By Mark Mazzetti

The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity project is directed by Jeffery Morrison, who runs the Analyst Space for Exploitation (A-SpaceX) program. Morrison says his project is designed to harness technologies to help the 15 agencies that report to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to change from a "need to know" culture to a "need to share" culture.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=38498&dcn=todaysnews

By Mark Mazzetti

Congress authorized spending of $43.5 billion over the past year to operate spy satellites, remote surveillance stations and C.I.A. outposts overseas, according to a budget figure released Tuesday by Mike McConnell, director of national intelligence.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/31/washington/31intel.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

By Staff Reporter

It is planned that the police will use online searches in Austria from autumn 2008 onwards. According to a report of the radio station Ö1, the Minister of Justice, Maria Berger (SPÖ) [Social Democratic Party of Austria] and her colleague, the Minister for Internal Affairs, Günther Platter (ÖVP) [Austrian People's Party] have agreed to this. In the station's morning news show called "Morgenjournal" Platter maintained that online searches would only be used in the case of serious crime or suspicion of supporting a terrorist organisation. The law drafted by Platter and Berger is to be discussed today in a cabinet meeting. After that a group of experts will settle the legal and technical details arising from the use of a Trojan program.

http://www.heise.de/english/newsticker/news/97595

By Jill R. Aitoro

Federal agencies report an average of 30 incidents a day in which Americans' personally identifiable information is exposed, double the number of incidents reported early this summer, according to the top information technology executive in the Bush administration.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=38348&dcn=e_hsw

By Jill R. Aitoro

The Homeland Security Department, chastised by Congress and security experts for having some of the worst information security practices in government, has improved its security plan and policies but now must begin deploying its plan, according to a report recently released by the department's inspector general.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=38312&dcn=e_tcmg

By Jill R. Aitoro

Current regulations to protect the control systems that support power plants nationwide fall short of federal recommendations, posing a serious threat to the electric infrastructure and national security, witnesses testified at a hearing Wednesday. One lawmaker threatened legislation if standards don't improve.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=38319&dcn=e_tcmg

By Ellen Nakashima

Verizon Communications, the nation's second-largest telecom company, told congressional investigators that it has provided customers' telephone records to federal authorities in emergency cases without court orders hundreds of times since 2005.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/15/AR2007101501857.html?hpid=topnews

By GAO

Control systems--computer-based systems that monitor and control sensitive processes and physical functions--perform vital functions in many of our nation's critical infrastructures, including electric power, oil and gas, water treatment, and chemical production. The disruption of control systems could have a significant impact on public health and safety, which makes securing them a national priority. GAO was asked to (1) determine cyber threats, vulnerabilities, and the potential impact of attacks on critical infrastructure control systems; (2) determine the challenges to securing these systems; (3) identify private sector initiatives to strengthen the cybersecurity of control systems; and (4) assess the adequacy of public sector initiatives to strengthen the cybersecurity of control systems. To address these objectives, we met with federal and private sector officials to identify risks, initiatives, and challenges. We also compared agency plans to best practices for securing critical infrastructures.

http://www.gao.gov/docsearch/abstract.php?rptno=GAO-07-1036

By Michael Moss

When Osama bin Laden issued his videotaped message to the American people last month, a young jihad enthusiast went online to help spread the word.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/15/us/15net.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

By Staff Reporter

Washington State resident Randall Ellis, 19, will be arraigned on 22nd October for abusing the 911 emergency call system. It appears that he has a method for spoofing the origin of a 911 call, and is believed to have used this to make over 200 hoax emergency calls throughout the US over a period of a couple of years. However, as reported by the Orange County Register, his latest exploit came near to ending in tragedy on the night of 29th March this year. He reported a bogus drug-related shooting at an apparently randomly selected private address in Lake Forest, Orange County, California, eliciting a full armed response from the authorities.

http://www.heise-security.co.uk/news/97549

By Ashley Phillips

For the first time, researchers have conducted an Internet census by mapping the Web's nearly 3 billion assigned IP addresses, an effort that could provide important clues to how to fight computer viruses, according to the University of Southern California Information Sciences Institute.

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/TenWays/story?id=3713460&page=1

By Eli Lake

Al Qaeda's Internet communications system has suddenly gone dark to American intelligence after the leak of Osama bin Laden's September 11 speech inadvertently disclosed the fact that we had penetrated the enemy's system.

http://www.nysun.com/article/64163

By Bob Brewin

A day-long system outage at a new Veterans Affairs Department data processing center in northern California on Aug. 31 crippled critical information systems used to manage patient care at VA hospitals and clinics scattered across more than a third of the world, according to details from an internal VA after-action report.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=38235&sid=1

By Sonia Phalnikar

Defining what constitutes terrorism on the Internet poses new challenges for governments. In a landmark case, a court in Germany will decide whether posting terrorist propaganda and calls to violence on the Internet is tantamount to supporting terrorism as it tries a man for conducting a "virtual jihad."

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2800263,00.html

By UN Staff

The international community should step up its efforts to defeat cyber crime, starting by acceding to an international convention on the issue and eventually building to the development of a globally negotiated and comprehensive law of cyberspace, Estonia’s President Toomas Hendrik Ilves told the General Assembly tonight.

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=23977&Cr=general&Cr1=debate

By Ellen Nakashima and Brian Krebs

The FBI is investigating a major information technology firm with a $1.7 billion Department of Homeland Security contract after it allegedly failed to detect cyber break-ins traced to a Chinese-language Web site and then tried to cover up its deficiencies, according to congressional investigators.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/23/AR2007092301471.html

By Jeanne Meserve

Researchers who launched an experimental cyber attack caused a generator to self-destruct, alarming the government and electrical industry about what might happen if such an attack were carried out on a larger scale, CNN has learned.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/09/27/power.at.risk/index.html

By Abdul Hameed Bakier

In July 2007, jihadi forums announced the creation of a new computer program called the Secrets of the Mujahideen, version 1.0. The objective of the program—which was published and distributed by the Global Islamic Media Front (GIMF) through many jihadi websites—is to replace the old and unreliable PGP corporation encryption tools that jihadis had used in the past. Since the release of the program, jihadi websites, especially the GIMF, are instructing their subscribers to communicate using the program's encryption keys (http://ebnseren.modawanati.com, March 22). Furthermore, al-Qaeda operatives are using Secrets of the Mujahideen in an attempt to avoid U.S. eavesdropping operations against them (http://el-bilad.com, July 6).

http://www.jamestown.org/terrorism/news/article.php?articleid=2373681

By Brent MacLean

The great and many wondrous virtues of the Internet—its ease of access, lack of regulation, the potential audiences it caters to, and its fast flow of information, among others have been turned to the advantage of groups committed to terrorizing societies to achieve their selective goals. Today, most active terrorist groups have established their presence in some way or another on the Internet. Terrorism on the Internet is an extremely dynamic phenomenon: websites suddenly emerge, frequently modify their formats, and then swiftly disappear—or, in many cases, seem to disappear by changing their online address but retaining much the same content.

http://www.canadafreepress.com/2007/internet-security092107.htm

By Abhishek Behl

In an exclusive telephonic interview, a Swedish hacker slammed the US government in believing the dictum ‘security in obscurity’. He appreciated the support of Indians in exposing the security loopholes.

http://www.merinews.com/catFull.jsp?articleID=126448

By Joby Warrick

Early yesterday morning, a South Carolina Web designer who works at home managed to scoop al-Qaeda by publicly unveiling its new video, a feat she has accomplished numerous times since 2002. Within hours, cable news stations were broadcasting images of Osama bin Laden commemorating the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and crediting the 50-year-old woman, who uses the pseudonym Laura Mansfield.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/11/AR2007091102465.html

By Staff Writer

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Burglars stole two computers containing records on people who receive medical assistance benefits for mental health and substance abuse treatment, state officials said Tuesday.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/fn/5125978.html

By Staff Writer

Cyber-attacks against government networks in recent months illustrate how states like China are discovering the power of a new weapon that is less expensive and more discreet than battalions of tanks or spies.

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5izkiUz-8u1rsvfDH29rJEsd17clw

By Brittany R. Ballenstedt

In an effort to enhance security, the 3.8 million participants in the federal Thrift Savings Plan will no longer be identified by their Social Security numbers, officials for the retirement savings program announced Friday.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=37972&dcn=e_gvet

By Michael J. Sniffen

The Homeland Security Department has given up on one of its broadest anti-terrorism data-mining tools after investigators found it was tested with information about real people without the required privacy safeguards.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=37936&dcn=todaysnews

By Tom A. Peter

Since news broke this week that Chinese hackers, allegedly part of China's People's Liberation Army (PLA), had hacked into US, British, and German government computers to access defense and foreign-policy-related information, analysts have begun to speculate that the West may be moving into something of a new age cold war stand-off with China.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0906/p99s01-duts.html

By Economist.com

A decade or so ago, thinkers and pundits were fond of discussing the emerging threat of cyber attacks as a matter of international affairs. The growing reliance of advanced economies on the internet, and the increasing use of the internet by governments and armies, seemed to offer vulnerability along with riches and convenience. The scare of the “Y2K bug” seemed to highlight the danger, at least until it became obvious that the bug was of no threat to anyone.

http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9752625

By Brittany R. Ballenstedt

Hackers have stolen the names and contact information of about 146,000 job seekers on the USAJOBS Web site, the Office of Personnel Management revealed Wednesday.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=37888&dcn=e_gvet

By Wilson P. Dizard III

The Homeland Security Department has unveiled several important upgrades to databases that collectively contain tens of millions of personal immigration and travel records.

http://www.gcn.com/print/26_22/44925-1.html?topic=homeland-security

By Staff Reporter

BEIJING - Police in China's capital said Tuesday they will start patrolling the Web using animated beat officers that pop up on a user's browser and walk, bike or drive across the screen warning them to stay away from illegal Internet content.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20477258/

By Staff Reporter

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's visit to China has been overshadowed by a report in SPIEGEL claiming that the Chinese government has been hacking into computers in Merkel's chancellery and three other Berlin ministries.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,502169,00.html

By Chris Strohm

The Homeland Security Department on Wednesday announced broad changes for using a database that collects and stores information on foreign travelers to the United States. In one of the biggest changes, the department plans to regularly share information with U.S. intelligence agencies, department officials said in an interview Thursday. "This is a first step to make it clear that we do have the authority to conduct this type of sharing and to make the public know that we do plan to do so in the future," one official said on condition of anonymity.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=37843&dcn=e_gvet

By Staff Writer

ISLAMABAD: The Electronic Crimes Bill 2007 has already been approved in principle by the federal cabinet and will be enacted soon through an act or an ordinance.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=69539

By Judi McLeod

When it comes to capitalizing on the Worldwide Internet, Al Qaida has shot up to the top of the list in the savvy category. Jihadists working the Internet are prolific, so much so that they could easily borrow a line in popular use during the Cold War: “They’re everywhere!”

http://www.canadafreepress.com/2007/cover081007.htm

By Alice Lipowicz

In response to more than 600 public comments, the Homeland Security Department has shortened the amount of time it will retain data and made other changes to its Automated Targeting System (ATS).

http://www.fcw.com/article103446-08-07-07-Web

By Spencer S. Hsu

The U.S. government's main border control system is plagued by computer security weaknesses, increasing the risk of computer attacks, data thefts, and manipulation of millions of identity records including passport, visa and Social Security numbers and the world's largest fingerprint database, officials said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/02/AR2007080202260.html?hpid=sec-nation

By Jim Abrams

IRS employees ignored security rules and turned over sensitive computer information to a caller posing as a technical support person, according to a government study.

http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1649553,00.html

By Dan Eggen

The Bush administration's chief intelligence official said yesterday that President Bush authorized a series of secret surveillance activities under a single executive order in late 2001. The disclosure makes clear that a controversial National Security Agency program was part of a much broader operation than the president previously described.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/31/AR2007073102137.html?hpid=topnews

By Ellen Nakashima

The FBI wants to pay the major telecommunications companies to retain their customers' Internet and phone call information for at least two years for the agency's use in counterterrorism investigations and is asking Congress for $5 million a year to defray the cost, according to FBI officials and budget documents.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/24/AR2007072402479.html

By Christopher Dickey

Muslims in America have long resisted the calls to violence preached in other parts of the world. But Al Qaeda and its spinoffs are working hard to change that, and one of their most important tools is the Internet. In a briefing for reporters last week, Edward Gistaro, the national intelligence officer for transnational threats, noted that many jihadist sites are now published in English as well as Arabic, and are "calling for attacks against the United States." The concern is that loners and small groups acting on their own will be inspired to kill, if not for Islam, then for what former federal prosecutor Mary Jo White aptly describes as "the terrorists' own self-created religion" based on rage against the West.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19886672/site/newsweek/

By Zinia Sen

Social networking services can be used for everything from publicizing a garage band to finding dates to connecting supporters of democracy - and even terrorism!

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/City_Supplements/Calcutta_Times/Point_click_terror_/articleshow/2223383.cms

By Jim Finkle

Hackers stole information from the U.S. Department of Transportation and several U.S. companies by seducing employees with fake job-listings on advertisements and e-mail, a computer security firm said.

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2159835,00.asp?kc=EWKNLGOV071807STR1

By Brian Krebs

The global jihad landed in Linda Spence's e-mail inbox during the summer of 2003, in the form of a message urging her to verify her eBay account information. The 35-year-old New Jersey resident clicked on the link included in the message, which took her to a counterfeit eBay site where she entered personal financial information.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=37398&dcn=e_hsw

By Lara Jakes Jordan

The FBI is gathering and sorting information about Americans to help search for potential terrorists, insurance cheats and crooked pharmacists, according to a government report obtained Tuesday.

http://www.examiner.com/a-822338~Data_on_Americans_Mined_for_Terror_Risk.html

By Elizabeth Newell

A new agreement between the Homeland Security Department and the European Union, expected to be finalized in the coming weeks, will clarify the manner in which DHS can use personal information about international travelers collected from airline reservation systems.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/05/AR2007070501945_pf.html

By Bob Brewin

The Homeland Security Department's planned wireless network of high-tech towers to watch for illegal immigrants crossing the border from Mexico into the United States is vulnerable to cyberattacks that could shut the system down, according to security experts.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=37393&dcn=e_gvet

By Abdul Hameed Bakier

The members of http://al-jinan.org have targeted websites critical of Islam and Islamic rituals. They have labeled themselves electronic jihadis and believe that they are engaging in an online form of the jihad. The website distributes a program called Electronic Jihad that assists in overwhelming the servers of certain websites, thereby taking the websites offline, at least temporarily.

http://jamestown.org/terrorism/news/article.php?articleid=2373496

By Fiona Raisbeck

A cyber terrorism attack on the UK infrastructure will happen in the next five years, according to the Digital Security Services Manager at BP. The British energy giant will develop technology to protect the organisation and the national infrastructure against a cyber terrorism attack over the next few years, said Rob Martin at the opening of Symantec’s Security Operations Centre (SOC) yesterday.

http://scmagazine.com/uk/news/article/666240/bp-cyber-terrorism-threat-growing/

By AP Staff

The Defense Department took as many as 1,500 computers off line because of a cyber attack, Pentagon officials said Thursday. Few details were released about the attack, which happened Wednesday, but Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the computer systems would be working again soon.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/06/21/financial/f134611D07.DTL

By Gabriella Broggi

BELLINZONA, Switzerland (AP) -- A North African man and his wife went on trial Wednesday on charges they ran Web sites that supported al-Qaida-linked groups with videos of people killed by terrorists and information on how to make bombs.

http://www.kstp.com/article/stories/S119071.shtml?cat=6

By John Leicester

PARIS - BlackBerry handhelds have been called addictive, invasive, wonderful _ and now, a threat to French state secrets. That, at least, is the fear of French government defense experts, who have advised against their use by officials in France's corridors of power, reportedly to avoid snooping by U.S. intelligence agencies.

http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2007/06/21/ap/hitech/d8psueeo1.txt

By Ted Bridis

WASHINGTON -- The Homeland Security Department, the lead U.S. agency for fighting cyber threats, suffered more than 800 hacker break-ins, virus outbreaks and other computer security problems over two years, senior officials acknowledged to Congress.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1152AP_DHS_Computer_Security.html

By Sharon Gaudin

The FBI's investigation into a data breach that compromised sensitive information on 300,000 people in Illinois is pointing to an outside hacker.

http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=199901334

By Jeremy Reimer

The US Department of Justice and the FBI have released a statement that they have identified over one million computers who have become part of a "botnet"—taken over by malicious software for the purpose of sending out spam and attacking other computers. The FBI has been working with industry partners such as Microsoft and the Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination Center at Carnegie Mellon University.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070614-fbi-over-one-million-computers-working-for-botnets.html

By Caryle Murphy

In a dimly lit, ninth-floor room of an office building in northern Virginia, Ned Moran and his staff practice their craft of cyber-surveillance. Seated at stylish chrome desks, uncluttered but for white Mac iBooks, they finger tap their way into the most public arena visited by al-Qaida and other extremist Islamist groups: the Internet.

http://www.science-spirit.org/newdirections.php?article_id=705

By Bob Brewin

In an unusual act of candor, both the Army and Air Force in the past two months have issued solicitations asking the computer industry to provide technologies the services can use to wage offensive cyberattacks against enemy computer systems.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=37185&dcn=e_gvet

By AP Staff

The European Union on Tuesday approved a European visa data system which will store biometric information like fingerprints and photos on 70 million visa-holders who pass through the EU's borderless travel zone each year.

http://www.physorg.com/news100866989.html

By Alan Zibel

WASHINGTON -- A cascading computer failure in the nation's air-traffic control system caused severe flight delays and some cancellations Friday along the East Coast. A computer system in Atlanta that processes pilots' flights plans and sends them to air-traffic controllers failed early Friday, Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Diane Spitaliere said. In response, the agency rerouted the system's functions to another computer in Salt Lake City, which overloaded because of the increased volume of data, magnifying the problem.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/travel/sns-ap-flight-delays,1,288718.story?track=rss

By Patricia Keefe

The recent distributed denial-of-service blitz that has paralyzed parts of Estonia's government and commercial Web sites over the past month has spawned a lot of talk of "cyberwinters" and "cyberterrorism." While what happened to Estonia is unusual in its scope and focus, and is possibly the first publicized attack on a country's cyberinfrastructure, it's not necessarily a bellwether of trends to come.

http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2007/06/cyber_winter_he.html

By JüriUustalu

How the New York Times Traded Journalistic Integrity for Vodka and Caviar.
Those of us who read the New York Times regularly have been shocked by what can be at best described as pro Kremlin reporting or at worst, a case of outright journalistic fraud.

http://www.epl.ee/sartikkel/1077

By S Ramesh

SINGAPORE: International cooperation within the police community gets a boost with ASEAN's police chiefs signing a declaration of cooperation with Interpol on Wednesday.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/280572/1/.html

By John Blau

Law enforcement officials in Germany and Austria are now among the first to have electronic access to each other's fingerprint databases, the German Federal Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The two countries have shared their DNA databases since last year as one of several measures agreed by some European Union nations under the Treaty of Prum in 2005.

http://www.intergovworld.com/article/f8265ea10a01040800daab16f34211a8/pg1.htm

By AFP

SINGAPORE: ASEAN will link up its common database of criminal information with Interpol as the region steps up efforts to combat crime and terrorism, a Singapore minister said on Monday.

http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1101084

By Doug McIntyre

On Sept. 10, 2001, the Dow Jones industrial average closed at 9,605.51. In the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the market reopened on Sept. 17, 2001, and hit an intraday low of 8,755.46. The market could not recover for a month.

http://www.forbes.com

By Michael J. Sniffen

Plagued by regular breaches in the security of personal data, federal agencies were ordered Tuesday to eliminate the unnecessary collection and use of Social Security numbers by early 2009.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=37002&sid=1

By The Economist - Staff Writer

Imagine that agents of a hostile power, working in conjunction with organized crime, could cause traffic jams in your country's biggest cities that are big enough to paralyze business, media, government and public services, and to cut you off from the world.

http://www.hamiltonspectator.com

By Allan Holmes

The FBI's effort to upgrade its computer systems -- a program that has had numerous missteps and failures over the years -- is again under fire. This time the Government Accountability Office concludes in a report released this week that the FBI's new network has major security lapses that leave the system open to hackers both inside the agency and out.

http://blogs.govexec.com/techinsider/archives/2007/05/gao_fbi_network_wide_open_to_h.html

By Renata Goldirova

STRASBOURG – The European Commission has tabled a proposal suggesting how to win the war against high-tech crimes such as online fraud, child pornography and hacking - just days after institutional websites in EU state Estonia were crippled by a series of cyber attacks.

http://euobserver.com/9/24107

By Staff Writer

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - Alcatel-Lucent (Nachrichten/Aktienkurs) said Friday it is reviewing security procedures and has halted use of couriers for sending personnel information after a computer disk with financial and other data on employees and retirees went missing.

http://www.finanznachrichten.de/nachrichten-2007-05/artikel-8270943.asp

By Susheela Hegde

Tallinn, Estonia (AHN) - A distraught Estonia urged Nato and the European Union to work out a strategy against cyber offenses after being hit by the third wave of cyber attacks in three weeks on Thursday.

http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7007386317

By Bob Brewin

NSA and Defense plan to open a classified network known as the Secret Internet Protocol Router Network (SIPRNet), to a small pool of trusted allies, including Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and New Zealand, according to PowerPoint briefing slides dated April 27, 2007, and prepared by NSA's Office of Assured Information Sharing Technologies and Products.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=36953&dcn=todaysnews

By Tony Halpin

Estonia is accusing Russia of waging cyber war against it by launching massive attacks on computer systems in the Baltic republic. In an interview with The Times, Urmas Paet, the Estonian Foreign Minister, accused the Kremlin of direct involvement in attempts to paralyse Estonian government websites and telephone networks as part of a campaign of unofficial sanctions.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article1802959.ece

By Daniel Pulliam

President Bush signed a directive Wednesday outlining a strategy for preparing the federal government to continue running during a national emergency such as a terrorist attack or a natural disaster.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=36884&dcn=e_gvet

By Tom Breen

America has no friends when it comes to the research that gives its companies, universities and government a competitive edge. Countries all over the world - including friends and allies - would like to have that research, and they would love to get it for free. To combat that, the FBI is approaching universities and businesses to offer guidance and advice on how to better recognize security breaches and to take steps to keep them from happening.

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18315135&BRD=2212&PAG=461&dept_id=465812&rfi=6

By Winter Casey

The U.S. homeland security information-sharing structure was criticized Thursday by witnesses at a House subcommittee hearing -- with the failure to integrate existing communications systems being singled out as a major culprit.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=36888&dcn=e_tcmg

By Mimi Hall

WASHINGTON — Government and community leaders aren't doing enough to counter multimedia-savvy terrorists from using flashy websites, provocative video games, hip-hop music and gruesome images of bloodied Muslim children to recruit young people online, according to a new report that says the Internet may be extremists' most powerful frontier.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-05-02-internet-extremists-report_N.htm

By Staff Writer

A new report from Lloyd's and the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) has found that global businesses are becoming increasingly concerned about risks from political violence. However, too little has been done to analyze those risks and to "really understand" their impact.

http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/international/2007/05/10/79591.htm

By Staff Writer

China’s anti-satellite weapon test earlier this year was a “strategically dislocating event,” said Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Michael Moseley last week, who warned that any such attack on U.S. satellites would be an act of war.

http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/07/front2454224.913888889.html?tr=y&auid=2656481

By Matt Apuzzo

WASHINGTON — The Transportation Security Administration has lost a computer hard drive containing Social Security numbers, bank data and payroll information for about 100,000 employees.

http://www.spokesmanreview.com/ap/story.asp?AP_ID=D8OTTA9O0

By Michael Posner

Top Agriculture Department officials conceded Wednesday they discovered 38,700 Social Security numbers of farmers were publicly available on the Internet only after a sleepless farm woman found hers there one night.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=36794&dcn=e_gvet

By George Jones

Terrorists could attempt to cause economic chaos or plane crashes in an electronic attack on the UK's computer networks John Reid, the Home Secretary, said yesterday. Cyber terrorism could target air traffic control systems.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/04/26/nterr26.xml

By Tom Young

Security experts have been saying for some time that cyber attacks against critical elements of the national infrastructure are one of the biggest dangers we face today. And a growing number of governments are starting to listen.

http://www.computing.co.uk/computing/analysis/2188580/joining-forces-against-digital

By Michael J. Sniffen

WASHINGTON -- The Social Security numbers of 63,000 people who received Agriculture Department grants have been posted on a government Web site since 1996, but they were taken down last week. Free credit monitoring is being offered to those affected.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1152AP_Government_Data_Breach.html

By Aliya Sternstein

With hackers constantly concocting new types of malicious software, government agencies are struggling to stay abreast of the latest threats, according to testimony released Thursday by federal auditors.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=36690&dcn=e_gvet

By Winter Casey

The U.S. government is moving forward with a project to test Internet routing in space. Companies will work on a Defense Department plan to determine the feasibility of conducting military communications through an Internet router located there.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=36689&dcn=e_gvet

By Brian Prince

A House committee gave the federal government a grade of C-minus for 2006 as part of the committee's annual assessment of how well information is protected on government computers.

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2113592,00.asp?kc=EWGOVEMNL04180707EOAD

By The Associated Press

Internal Revenue Service offices across the nation that use wireless technology are still vulnerable to hackers, according to the latest assessment of the agency's security policies released Tuesday.

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8OIKNJG0.htm

By Daniel Pulliam

The new director of national intelligence on Wednesday announced a 100-day initiative to improve "integration and collaboration" among the federal government's 16 intelligence agencies.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=36584&dcn=e_gvet

By Frank D. Russo

Assembly member Dave Jones Jones is the author of legislation that would require all colleges and universities in California to remove Social Security numbers from their Internet-accessible files unless their inclusion is absolutely necessary.

http://www.californiaprogressreport.com/2007/04/another_social.html

By Jenny Mandel

The Internal Revenue Service has done an effective job in setting up a program for private sector companies to collect federal tax debts, according to a recent audit, but some members of Congress and an employee union are hoping to end the program before its planned expansion later this year.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=36491&dcn=e_gvet

By Karen DeYoung

Each day, thousands of pieces of intelligence information from around the world -- field reports, captured documents, news from foreign allies and sometimes idle gossip -- arrive in a computer-filled office in McLean, where analysts feed them into the nation's central list of terrorists and terrorism suspects.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/24/AR2007032400944.html

By AP staff

BOSTON Mar 29, 2007 (AP)— More than two months after first disclosing that hackers accessed customers' financial data from its computers, discount retailer TJX Cos. has revealed that information from at least 45.7 million credit and debit cards was stolen over an 18-month period.

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=2990845&Business=true

By DW staff

Data Protection experts in the EU and the US are pushing for more security in the controversial gathering of key passenger data by US authorities from European airlines as part of measures to fight terrorism.

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0%2C2144%2C2419460%2C00.html?tr=y&auid=2505957

By Gerri Peev

TWO convicted terrorists, including a key al-Qaeda member, were among at least 10,000 applicants who fraudulently obtained passports from the Home Office in the last year, ministers said.One of the men - Dhiren Barot - was the al-Qaeda figure who planned radioactive "dirty" bombs in London. He was convicted in December after admitting conspiracy to murder and jailed for 40 years. He managed to obtain nine British passports, seven of them in his name.

http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=435932007&tr=y&auid=2486243

By Chris Strohm

The Homeland Security Department has not built adequate privacy protections into a data-mining program under development, increasing the risk that innocent people could be tagged as terrorists or criminals, government auditors concluded in a report Wednesday.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=36416&dcn=e_gvet

By David Leppard

SCOTLAND YARD has uncovered evidence that Al-Qaeda has been plotting to bring down the internet in Britain, causing chaos to business and the London Stock Exchange. In a series of raids, detectives have recovered computer files revealing that terrorist suspects had targeted a high-security internet “hub” in London.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article1496831.ece

By Daniel Pulliam

The Census Bureau this week announced that it accidentally posted personal information concerning 302 American households on a Web site where it was publicly accessible intermittently for about five months.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=36323&dcn=e_gvet

By John Yaukey

WASHINGTON —Lawmakers and privacy advocates are concerned that a powerful new data searching tool being tested by the Department of Homeland Security could pose a threat to Americans' privacy as it sifts through mountains of information for patterns that might reveal terrorists. Called ADVISE — for Analysis, Dissemination, Visualization, Insight and Semantic Enhancement — the program is capable of linking and cross-matching material from websites and blogs to government records and personal data.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-03-07-datatools_N.htm

By Patience Wait

Finding proof that terrorists plan to launch cyberattacks against the United States is difficult, but the accessibility and vulnerability of the Internet to attack makes it a growing threat. “The time may be approaching when a cyberattack may offer advantages that cause terrorists to act, even if the probability of success or level of effectiveness is unknown,” according to the Congressional Research Service.

http://www.gcn.com/online/vol1_no1/43263-1.html?topic=homeland-security

By Gabriel Weimann

The great virtues of the Internet—ease of access, lack of regulation, vast potential audiences, and fast flow of information, among others—have been turned to the advantage of groups committed to terrorizing societies to achieve their goals. Today, all active terrorist groups have established their presence on the Internet. Our scan of the Internet in 2003–4 revealed hundreds of websites serving terrorists and their supporters.

http://www.asiantribune.com/index.php?q=node/4627&tr=y&auid=2389671

By Andrew Noyes

The CIA, Homeland Security Department and National Security Agency are the least trusted federal agencies when it comes to protecting Americans' privacy, according to a new study by the Ponemon Institute.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=36167&dcn=e_gvet

By Deborah Housen-Couriel

China's successful test of a ballistic anti-satellite missile last month by blowing up one of its own weather satellites without prior warning, and Iran's recent announcement that it has developed a similar long-range ballistic missile, are two strong indications that the time has come for decision-makers in the West to sit up and pay attention to a new dimension of global strategic concern.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1170359860633&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&tr=y&auid=2375646

By Frederick W. Stakelbeck Jr.

The internet has become an important part of Chinese culture, with the country’s increasingly diverse population embracing the technology’s many powerful features. According to the state-controlled think tank China Internet Network Information Centre (CINIC), the country had 137 million internet users as of December 2006, up 26 million users, or 23.4 percent, from 2005.

http://frontpagemagazine.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=26723

By Daniel Pulliam

The hard drive that went missing from a Birmingham, Ala., Veterans Affairs Department facility last month contained highly sensitive information on nearly all U.S. physicians and medical data for about 535,000 VA patients, agency officials announced over the weekend.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=36113&dcn=e_gvet

By Aliya Sternstein

The president's proposal to increase funding for federal information technology programs by almost 3 percent over last year's budget request is aimed partly at fortifying cybersecurity, White House Office of Management and Budget officials said Wednesday.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=36081&dcn=e_tcmg

By Ted Bridis

WASHINGTON - Hackers briefly overwhelmed at least three of the 13 computers that help manage global computer traffic Tuesday in one of the most significant attacks against the Internet since 2002.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17011675/

By William Jackson

The specter of agencies trawling databases of personal information in search of clues to terrorist activity raises difficult questions about balancing privacy with security, but witnesses at a recent Senate Judiciary Committee hearing helpfully cut through a lot of the fog to simplify this issue.

http://www.gcn.com/print/26_03/43074-1.html?topic=techreport

By Thomas Harding

British military bases in Iraq have been "blotted" out from Google Earth maps at the request of the Government to hinder terrorist attacks, it can be revealed.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/01/20/wgoogle20.xml

By Florence Olsen

The Government Accountability Office has added three federal program areas to its high-risk series report. Released today, the report highlights the need to protect technologies critical to national security, improve food safety and pay for transportation improvements. GAO’s auditors emphasized in their high-risk series report that critical technologies continue to be the targets of theft, espionage, reverse engineering and illegal export.

http://www.fcw.com/article97524-01-31-07-Web

By Daniel Pulliam

Navy Department officials are in the early stages of developing a massive information network that will encompass all existing department networks including the much maligned Navy-Marine Corps Intranet.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=35978&dcn=e_gvet

By Karen Rutzick

Hackers breached the accounts of some Thrift Savings Plan participants in late December, stealing $35,000 and prompting officials to encourage extra safeguards.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=35873&dcn=e_gvet

By Hamish Macdonell

EVERYBODY living in the United Kingdom, including foreigners, will be required to have their biometric details recorded under the government's identity card scheme, it emerged yesterday. John Reid, the Home Secretary, announced that all UK residents, whether or not they were British citizens, would be forced to have their irises scanned and their fingerprints taken for the national database.

http://news.scotsman.com/uk.cfm?id=1887262006

By Barry Schweid

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration warned Wednesday against threats by terrorist groups and other nations against U.S. commercial and military satellites, and discounted the need for a treaty aimed at preventing an arms race in space.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/wire/sns-ap-us-space,1,6056241.story?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlines&ctrack=1&cset=true

By CBP Headquarters, Office of Public Affairs

http://www.customs.treas.gov/xp/cgov/newsroom/news_releases/12142006.xml

By Kerri Hostetler

The Homeland Security Department has teamed with 13 organizations on a 12-month project to secure the process control systems of the nation’s oil and gas industries against cybersecurity threats. A cyberattack on the control and data systems of electric power plants, or oil and gas refineries and pipelines—two of 17 pieces of the nation’s critical infrastructure—could potentially bring the country to a halt. The problem is compounded because private companies control 85 percent to 90 percent of the country’s critical infrastructure—leaving the government few avenues to ensure that IT systems are secure.

http://www.gcn.com/print/25_34/42765-1.html?topic=homeland-security 

By Peter Griffiths

LONDON (Reuters) - Computer hackers will open a new front in the multi-billion pound "cyberwar" in 2007, targeting mobile phones, instant messaging and community Web sites such as MySpace, security experts predict. As people grow wise to email scams, criminal gangs will find new ways to commit online fraud, sell fake goods or steal corporate secrets.

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=internetNews&storyid=2006-12-11T171049Z_01_L1038087_RTRUKOC_0_US-BRITAIN-CYBERCRIME.xml&src=rss&rpc=22

By Wilson P. Dizard III

A senior Homeland Security Department official today sketched the outline of an ambitious plan for internationally sharing biometric identification information about individuals who pose terrorist threats. Robert Mocny, acting director of the U.S. Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology program, outlined a proposal under which the United States would begin exchanging information about terrorists first with closely allied governments in Britain, Europe and Japan ,and then progressively extend the program to other countries as a means of foiling terrorist attacks.

http://www.gcn.com/online/vol1_no1/42677-1.html?topic=homeland-security

By Chris Strohm

The Homeland Security Department plans to continue using a controversial program to screen all travelers to and from the United States, despite mounting calls that the program be suspended until Congress and the public have more time to investigate it.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=35601&dcn=e_gvet

By Declan McCullagh

The FBI appears to have begun using a novel form of electronic surveillance in criminal investigations: remotely activating a mobile phone's microphone and using it to eavesdrop on nearby conversations.

http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/2100-1035_11-6140191.html?tag=nl.e019

By Chris Strohm

A senior Homeland Security official said Wednesday that countries have an obligation to share information with each other on potentially dangerous travelers. He estimated that a global identity management system could be operational by the end of the decade.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=35574&dcn=e_gvet

By Daniel Pulliam

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services agency may have processed as many as 30,000 citizenship applications in 2005 without reviewing critical background files, thousands of which have been lost, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=35568&dcn=e_gvet

By Jonathan Marino

The Homeland Security Department's Federal Protective Service recently announced that it plans to end a retention allowance program that benefits hundreds of police and investigators, as it continues to fight a funding shortfall.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=35569&dcn=e_gvet

By Chris Preimesberger

U.S. businesses are going to have to change the way they handle electronically stored information when new federal rules go into effect Dec. 1. The new regulations, adopted by the U.S. Supreme Court in April, say businesses must be able to quickly find such data when required by the federal court.

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2064416,00.asp?kc=EWGOVEMNL112906EOAD

By Josh Rogin

The Air Force announced plans this month to create a Cyber Command to bring full-scale military operations to cyberspace, although no one knows if the tactics and policies that the Defense Department uses to wage war will be effective on the cyber battlefield.

http://www.fcw.com/article96791-11-13-06-Print

By John Moore

Thinking of local police as first responders recognizes only one of the important contributions they can make to homeland security. A recent Rand report suggests that local law enforcement is the critical line of defense for thwarting homegrown terrorist activity.

http://www.fcw.com/article96760-11-13-06-Print

By Heather Greenfield

HERNDON, Va. -- A survey of information technology officials found that most expect to be 50 percent compliant with federal cyber-security guidelines within the next year.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=35482&dcn=e_tcmg 

By Chris Strohm

The Homeland Security Department hopes to improve information sharing with state and local government fusion centers by giving those centers intelligence officers and an advanced communications network for classified information, a senior official said Friday.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=35412&dcn=e_hsw

By Jonathan Keehner and Kevin Drawbaugh

NEW YORK (Reuters)—High-tech crooks using spyware are costing U.S. discount brokerages millions of dollars to repay clients who have been victimized by fraud, the brokerages said in recent days.

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2037003,00.asp?kc=EWGOVEMNL102506EOAD

By Shane Harris

The government's top intelligence agency is building a computerized system to search very large stores of information for patterns of activity that look like terrorist planning.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=35310&dcn=e_hsw

By Heather Greenfield

A new study reports that data breaches may cost companies even more than previously thought. The Ponemon Institute released its annual study on the cost of data breaches and found that they cost companies on average $182 per compromised record.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=35328&dcn=e_gvet

By Chris Strohm

With frustration levels apparently reaching an all-time high, lawmakers have given the Homeland Security Department a hard deadline to revamp its process for clearing individuals who have been wrongly put on terrorist watch lists.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=35246&dcn=e_gvet

By Jonathan Marino

Privacy advocates have voiced strong opposition to the Homeland Security Department's proposal to scale back the amount of information that security clearance applicants can access about government investigations of their background.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=35214&dcn=e_gvet

By John Leyden

Chinese hackers have launched a sustained attack against the web systems of the US Department of Commerce. Security experts reckon attacks originating from computer crackers largely located in China's Guangdong province are aimed at extracting sensitive information from targets such as the Commerce Department's technology export office.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/10/09/chinese_crackers_attack_us/

By Daniel Pulliam

The information security program at the Energy Department division governing the natural gas industry, oil pipelines and hydroelectric projects fails to meet federal requirements, leaving the agency at risk to cyberattacks, auditors concluded in a recent report.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=35155&dcn=e_gvet

By Daniel Pulliam

The Veterans Affairs Department installed encryption software on nearly 15,000 laptop computers during the past two weeks in an attempt to better protect sensitive information against misuse, officials told lawmakers Tuesday.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=35117&dcn=e_gvet

By Ryan Naraine

Using clues obtained from a YouTube video and a simple four-word Google search engine query, a criminal can find step-by-step instructions for how to hack into and take control of thousands of ATMs scattered around the United States.

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2018674,00.asp?kc=EWFINEMNL092506EOAD

By Daniel Pulliam

An agency-wide review at the Commerce Department turned up more than a thousand missing or stolen laptops over the last five years, with hundreds containing the personal information of American citizens.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=35081&dcn=e_gvet

By Daniel Pulliam

The Homeland Security Department announced the appointment of a cybersecurity chief Monday, more than 14 months after the position was created.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=35050&dcn=e_gvet

By Andrew Noyes

Experts from two federal advisory committees are embarking on a review of critical privacy and policy issues, with a particular focus on implications of the decades-old Privacy Act and other legislation.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=35046&dcn=e_gvet

By Winter Casey

Since attacks in the United States five years ago Monday focused world attention on terrorism, the European Union has taken strides to help fight terrorism. However, the United States is currently in discussions with Europe on two information-sharing agreements.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=34991&dcn=e_gvet

By Michael Chertoff

Imagine that our troops in Afghanistan raided an al-Qaeda safe house and captured a computer containing the cellphone numbers of operatives in Europe. Wouldn't it be important to know whether one of those cellphone numbers was used to book a transatlantic flight? Unfortunately, today our ability to make that connection remains limited: Information that terrorists readily share with travel agents cannot easily be shared throughout the United States government. That needs to change.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/28/AR2006082800849.html

By John Moore

Technology has become so intertwined with homeland security it would be difficult to name a security program in which technology isn’t the main driver or an important underpinning.

http://www.fcw.com/article95769-08-28-06-Print

By Daniel Pulliam

Acting Veterans Affairs Department chief information officer Robert Howard will be nominated to fill the agency's top technology position on a permanent basis, the White House announced Tuesday.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=34912&dcn=e_tcmg

By Daniel Pulliam

Two laptop computers believed to contain unencrypted personal information about 43 grant reviewers were stolen from an Education Department contractor in Washington, D.C., earlier this month.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=34906&dcn=e_tcmg

By Jenny Mandel

The Internal Revenue Service last week published guidance on an initiative to turn some tax debt collection over to private contractors, paving the way for three companies to begin receiving taxpayer data next week. But the initiative is facing stiff opposition.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=34918&dcn=e_gvet

By Associated Press

JAKARTA — Police in Indonesia announced the arrests Wednesday of two men accused of using computer technology to aid terrorists in the world's most populous Muslim country.

Click Here for a Link That's Way Too Big

By Daniel Pulliam

Student loan holders logging on to an Education Department Web site between Sunday night and Tuesday morning exposed their personal identities to others as a result of a glitch in a contractor's efforts to service the site.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=34872&dcn=e_gvet

By Reuters

NEW YORK (Reuters)—AT&T Inc. on Wednesday sued 25 unnamed data brokers, accusing them of fraudulently gaining access to about 2,500 customers' calling records.

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2007535,00.asp?kc=EWGOVEMNL082306EOAD

By Susanne Koelbl

Terrorists are becoming increasingly adept at producing high-quality videos. DVDs depicting bloody beheadings are now available at markets in Pakistan and Afghanistan. They're also on the Web.

http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/spiegel/0,1518,432122,00.html

By Daniel Pulliam

The Transportation Department inspector general's office removed the encryption on a laptop containing the personal information of 133,000 Florida residents about two weeks before it was stolen late last month from a government-owned Chevrolet Blazer parked outside a Miami area cafeteria.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=34763&dcn=e_gvet

By Wilson P. Dizard III

The Homeland Security Department will deploy additional computerized methods of pinpointing threats in airports in response to the newly uncovered plot to blow up aircraft flying from London to the United States, department's secretary Michael Chertoff, said today.

http://www.gcn.com/online/vol1_no1/41607-1.html

By Hilary Hylton

What do a small south Texas cable company, a suburban Virginia cable provider and Web-hosting servers in Delhi, Montreal, Brooklyn and New Jersey have in common? Since fighting broke out in Lebanon, they all have had their communications portals hijacked by Hizballah. Hackers from the militant Lebanese group are trolling the Internet for vulnerable sites to communicate with one another and to broadcast messages from Al-Manar television, which is banned in the U.S. In the cyberterrorism trade it is known as "whack-a-mole" — just like the old carnival game, Hizballah sites pop up, get whacked down and then pop up again somewhere else on the World Wide Web.

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1224273,00.html

By Daniel Pulliam

A desktop computer possibly containing the names, Social Security numbers and medical data of up to 38,000 people is missing from the offices of a Veterans Affairs Department subcontractor.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=34720&dcn=e_gvet

By Chris Preimesberger

Cyber-thieves who hacked into the ATM information of at least 800 retail customers in California and Oregon have stolen as much as $700,000 from personal accounts during the last two months, according to police reports.

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1999367,00.asp?kc=EWFINEMNL080706EOAD

By Barry Levine

Posting and boasting his way to prominence, Irhabi007 started appearing on radical Islamist bulletin boards and in chat rooms. For his user I.D., he melded "irhabi," which means "terrorist" in Arabic, to the code number of the world's most famous, albeit fictional, British secret agent.

http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=13200C4PE9Z0&page=1

By Heather Greenfield

A Government Accountability Office report released Friday warns that the United States is not prepared for a major disruption to the Internet. The report found that existing legislation and regulations "do not specifically address roles and responsibilities for Internet recovery."

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=34657&dcn=e_gvet

By  Matt Hines

Government officials in New York are warning 540,000 injured state workers that an outside contractor has lost a computer containing their personal data, including the employees' names, addresses and social security numbers.

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1994416,00.asp?kc=EWGOVEMNL072606EOAD

By Daniel Pulliam

The Office of Management and Budget and the Government Accountability Office disagree over how OMB's list of high-risk information technology projects is managed. The list, consisting of 226 IT projects totaling about $6.4 billion, or 10 percent of the government's proposed $64 billion IT budget for fiscal 2007, spans 24 agencies and tracks the management and performance of the initiatives. In a new report (GAO-06-647), GAO said the criteria for placing projects on the list are not applied consistently.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=34602&dcn=e_gvet

From CongressDaily

A bipartisan group of 27 House members Wednesday wrote Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Mark Everson lamenting the agency's plan to contract out some tax collections to private firms.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=34600&dcn=e_gvet

By David Perera

The Internal Revenue Service paid up to $300 million in bogus tax refunds this year because it failed to complete an update of its digital tool for catching falsified tax returns.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=34557&dcn=e_gvet

By Daniel Pulliam

In an effort to improve the federal response to data breaches putting personal information such as Social Security numbers at risk, the Office of Management and Budget is eliminating the distinction between suspected and confirmed breaches for reporting purposes.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=34555&dcn=e_gvet

By Michael Martinez

Senate Democrats on Thursday assailed the Bush administration over its failure to fill a Cabinet-level post it created last July within the Homeland Security Department for a cyber security czar. In the wake of several high-profile data breaches at government agencies this year, Senate Judiciary Committee ranking Democrat Patrick Leahy of Vermont said the administration has been reckless in its refusal to fill the position in a timely manner. He said individuals whose personal information has been compromised have paid the price for such mistakes.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=34549&dcn=e_gvet

By Jonathan Marino

The Homeland Security Department is overhauling and expanding its emergency broadcast system, known as the Digital Emergency Alert System, so warnings will reach more people faster and are localized.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=34534&dcn=e_gvet

By Winter Casey

On the first anniversary of the London terrorist attacks, U.S. security agents announced Friday they had disrupted a plot by terrorists to attack the New York transportation network. According to the Associated Press, FBI agents were able to discover the scheme through monitoring Internet chat rooms used by extremists.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=34490&dcn=e_hsw

By Amelia Gruber

The Internal Revenue Service announced Tuesday that repairs to its Washington headquarters, damaged by flooding late last month, may not be complete until January

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=34526&dcn=e_gvet

By Chris Strohm

The government's top intelligence officer called on the nation's business community Monday to build its capacity for information sharing domestically and abroad and to report suspicious activity to law enforcement agencies.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=34516&dcn=e_gvet

By Winter Casey

On the first anniversary of the London terrorist attacks, U.S. security agents announced Friday they had disrupted a plot by terrorists to attack the New York transportation network. According to the Associated Press, FBI agents were able to discover the scheme through monitoring Internet chat rooms used by extremists.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=34490&dcn=e_gvet

By Eric M. Weiss

A government consultant, using computer programs easily found on the Internet, managed to crack the FBI's classified computer system and gain the passwords of 38,000 employees, including that of FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/05/AR2006070501489.html 

By Amanda Beck

WASHINGTON (Reuters)—Almost every piece of personal information that Americans try to keep secret—including bank account statements, e-mail messages and telephone records—is semi-public and available for sale.

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1981909,00.asp

By Gal Mor, Ehud Kinan

More than 750 Israeli websites hacked in recent hours. Among them: Soldier’s Treasury Bank, Rambam Hospital, and Globus Group ticket center. Hackers: You’re killing Palestinians, we’re killing servers

Unprecedented number of Israeli websites hacked: Hundreds of websites were damaged by hackers in recent hours, following IDF activity in the Gaza Strip. The hackers are members of the Moroccan “Team Evil” group, responsible for most of the website damage in Israel in the past year. This is the largest, most concentrated attack on Israeli websites in recent years

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3268449,00.html

By Daniel Pulliam

The number of agencies announcing data breaches is continuing to grow, with both the Navy and the Government Accountability Office revealing Friday the inadvertent release of personal information over the Internet. Personal information, including Social Security numbers, birthdates and names of about 28,000 sailors and their family members, turned up on a civilian Web site in spreadsheet files, the Navy announced. GAO revealed that sensitive information on fewer than 1,000 government workers was available in Internet-accessible archival records.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=34421&dcn=e_gvet

By Karen Rutzick

In light of the well publicized Veterans Affairs Department data breach last month, another federal agency with its hands on a lot of personal information -- the Thrift Savings Plan -- is concentrating on information security.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=34364&dcn=e_gvet

By Daniel Pulliam

The Veterans Affairs Department is burning through $200,000 a day to operate a call center for veterans and active-duty service members seeking information on last month's data breach, officials from the Veterans Benefits Administration told lawmakers Tuesday.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=34363&dcn=e_gvet

By Jenny Mandel

The Internal Revenue Service would be blocked from allocating funds to outsource collection of tax debts under a provision in a spending bill passed by the House Wednesday.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=34326&dcn=e_gvet

By Juliana Gruenwald

The House Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday approved legislation to require federal officials to develop voluntary national standards for homeland security equipment and training.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=34331&dcn=e_gvet

By Daniel Pulliam

Long-standing weaknesses in the Veterans Affairs Department's information security systems were responsible for a massive data breach last month and its systems remain at risk, government auditors told a congressional panel Wednesday.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=34325&dcn=e_gvet

By Danielle Belopotosky

Employee groups on Tuesday urged a House panel to include in a health information technology bill language to protect the privacy of federal employees who would be covered under the bill.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=34319&dcn=e_gvet

By Daniel Pulliam

The number of employees who qualify for the Defense Information Systems Agency's telework program has increased by more than 1,000 since a policy change last December.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=34314&dcn=e_gvet

By H. Josef Hebert

WASHINGTON -- A hacker stole a file containing the names and Social Security numbers of 1,500 people working for the Energy Department's nuclear weapons agency. But in the incident last September, somewhat similar to recent problems at the Veterans Affairs Department, senior officials were informed only two days ago, officials told a congressional hearing Friday. None of the victims was notified, they said.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1153AP_DOE_File_Theft.html

By Paul Marks

New Scientist has discovered that Pentagon's National Security Agency, which specialises in eavesdropping and code-breaking, is funding research into the mass harvesting of the information that people post about themselves on social networks. And it could harness advances in internet technology - specifically the forthcoming "semantic web" championed by the web standards organisation W3C - to combine data from social networking websites with details such as banking, retail and property records, allowing the NSA to build extensive, all-embracing personal profiles of individuals.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19025556.200?DCMP=NLC-nletter&nsref=mg19025556.200

By Daniel Pulliam

The Veterans Affairs Department has suspended use of employee-owned computers for official agency business and has limited telework at one of three major divisions, in an effort to prevent security breaches.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=34291&dcn=e_tcmg

By Daniel McGrory

AN INTERNET trail left by a British computer expert has led investigators to an intricate terror network spreading from the backstreets of Baghdad through cells of young militants living in European capitals to Islamic extremists plotting car-bomb attacks in North America.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2214663,00.html

By Daniel Pulliam

As the scope of the Veterans Affairs Department's data breach continues to expand, former agency information technology officials say the catastrophe possibly could have been avoided with a better IT management structure.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=34262&dcn=e_gvet

By Wayne Rash

Secretary of Veterans Affairs R. James Nicholson has revealed that the data stolen from an employee's home in Maryland in May included personal information on over 1 million active duty, reserve and National Guard personnel.

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1973260,00.asp

By Daniel Pulliam

The names, Social Security numbers and birth dates of up to 50,000 active-duty military personnel were included in the data stolen from a Veterans Affairs Department employee's home last month, the department announced Saturday.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=34240&dcn=e_gvet

By Daniel Pulliam

Proponents of policies allowing federal employees to work away from the office are fighting recent claims that teleworking puts sensitive agency data at an unnecessary risk for theft or loss. In an attempt to avert future security breaches and to assuage lawmakers' concerns, Veterans Affairs officials have said they are reviewing the department's guidelines on remote use and access to agency information, following the theft of personal data on more than 26 million veterans from an employee's home.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=34207&dcn=e_gvet

By David Perera

Personal information, including Social Security numbers, of possibly every living U.S. veteran discharged since 1975 was stolen earlier this month from the home of a Veterans Affairs employee, the department announced Monday.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=34134&dcn=e_gvet

By David Perera

The Federal Information Security Management Act isn't old enough for its most effective provisions to prompt great cybersecurity improvements, an Office of Management and Budget official said Thursday.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=34111&dcn=e_gvet

By Jenny Mandel

Taxpayer receipts and other sensitive materials were left out in open areas where they were vulnerable to loss or theft, and auditors found various problems with financial and security procedures at Internal Revenue Service facilities during an annual review.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=34101&dcn=e_gvet

By Kate Holton, Reuters

LONDON (Reuters)—A British computer expert accused by Washington of the world's "biggest military hack of all time" should be extradited to the United States to stand trial, a court ruled on Wednesday. Gary McKinnon, 40, was arrested last June following charges by U.S. prosecutors that he illegally accessed 97 government computers—including Pentagon, U.S. army, navy and NASA systems—causing $700,000 worth of damage.

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1960109,00.asp

From National Journal's Technology Daily

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff on Monday said the department plans to assemble a task force focused on performance standards for achieving emergency communications equipment that can work across jurisdictions.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=34049&dcn=e_gvet

By Daniel Pulliam

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services bureau's $190 million project to automate 55 million paper-based immigration files has suffered from inadequate planning, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=34031&dcn=e_gvet

By Daniel Pulliam

Hackers gained access to the Pentagon's health insurance information systems, compromising the personal information of more than 14,000 people, the Defense Department announced Friday.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=33964&dcn=e_gvet

By Chris Strohm

China is on its way to becoming one of the largest markets for radio-frequency identification tags, propelled in part by U.S. importers that want the technology to be used for tracking assets, market analysts said.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=33923&dcn=e_tcmg

By Ryan Naraine

A startup funded by the U.S. government's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is ready to emerge from stealth mode with hardware and software-based technologies to fight the rapid spread of malicious rootkits.

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1951941,00.asp

By Daniel Pulliam

President Bush's science and technology council has released a blueprint for coordinating federal interagency cybersecurity research and development.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=33927&dcn=e_gvet

By Chris Strohm

The Homeland Security Department is seeking authority from Congress to mine databases containing Social Security numbers in order to identify illegal immigrants and the employers who knowingly hire them, according to senior department officials.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=33884&dcn=e_gvet

By Shane Harris

Among the threats facing the National Security Agency are Al Qaeda, the Iraqi insurgency, and eBay. Yes, eBay, the online auction house. Not because its members sell state secrets, but because of a company that eBay purchased last year -- Skype.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=33816&dcn=e_gvet

By Bary Alyssa Johnson

The IRS has stirred controversy with a proposal, here in PDF form, to loosen rules regarding electronic disclosure of private taxpayer information to outside parties. Current provisions in tax code section 7216 set criminal penalties for tax preparers that make unauthorized use or disclosure of tax return information. In hearings in Washington this week, the IRS asked for public comment on whether to rewrite the current tax law.

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1947260,00.asp

By Evan Schuman

In sharing information about an undercover federal investigation of Web frauds involving credit cards and stolen tax refunds, the Secret Service demonstrated that it can adapt with the times. The seven initial arrests stemming from what the Secret Service has dubbed "Operation Rolling Stone" show that federal investigators have started to learn how to crack through deceptive IP addresses and encrypted IM communications.

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1946230,00.asp

By Sarah Lai Stirland

One of the nation's largest purveyors of tax-preparation software on Tuesday urged the Internal Revenue Service to enact rules that would ban the sale or rental of tax-return information.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=33758&dcn=e_gvet

By Chris Strohm

Under mounting congressional pressure, the Homeland Security Department has announced a timetable for issuing tamper-resistant, biometric-based identification cards to millions of workers at U.S. transportation facilities.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=33736&dcn=e_gvet

By Winter Casey

Despite new research pointing to security vulnerabilities in wireless tracking technology known as radio-frequency identification, government and business representatives remain confident in its use.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=33676&dcn=e_tcmg

By Jenny Mandel

A December 2005 Internal Revenue Service proposal to loosen restrictions on how tax preparers can use information from tax returns is gaining attention and has recently attracted criticism from consumer groups.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=33671&dcn=e_gvet

By Michael Martinez

Two key lawmakers on Wednesday said government agencies need to establish partnerships with the private sector in order ensure that critical communications infrastructure is reliable and available during emergency situations.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=33615&dcn=e_gvet

By Caron Carlson

Even after being forced to scrap its $170 million case management initiative one year ago, and replacing it with the proposed "Sentinel" system, the FBI has already fallen behind in crafting required security and validation plans for the new system. Nonetheless, a contract for Sentinel, estimated to cost between $400 million and $500 million, is expected to be awarded within a month.

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1937256,00.asp

By John Fedrick

As more and more U.S. military ISR systems collect more and more data, intelligence analysts face two formidable challenges. One is to dig out the information they suspect is buried in the ever-growing databases. The other, more daunting task is to sift through the reams of data to discover hidden patterns and relationships — information the analysts don’t know they have until they see it. That’s where data mining comes in.

http://isrjournal.com/story.php?F=1474857

By Daniel Pulliam

The U.S. government, the world's largest purchaser of information technology products and services, needs a central authority dedicated to administering agencies' transition to the next-generation Internet, the chairman of the House Government Reform Committee said Tuesday.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=33602&dcn=e_gvet

By Jenny Mandel

The Internal Revenue Service awarded three, two-year contracts Thursday in the first phase of an effort to outsource some of its debt collection work, and published a list of safeguards designed to prevent unauthorized use of taxpayer data.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=33573&dcn=e_gvet

By Sarah Lai Stirland

The secretary of the Homeland Security Department on Tuesday proposed a screening system that would require companies to retain information about their customers but only require them to surrender information filtered by software.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=33559&dcn=e_gvet

By Daniel Pulliam

Most government agencies have made little progress in addressing privacy concerns, and the issue needs to be elevated, according to a new survey of members of the federal information technology community.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=33555&dcn=e_gvet

By Daniel Pulliam

Agencies improved slightly in fiscal 2005 at meeting computer security standards, according to a report released Wednesday by the Office of Management and Budget.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=33498&dcn=e_tcmg

By Daniel Pulliam

Government agencies are moving away from traditional land-line-based telephone services to technology that routes calls over the Internet, a panel of experts and a congressional staffer knowledgeable on the issue said Wednesday.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=33489&dcn=e_gvet

By Shane Harris

A controversial counter-terrorism program, which lawmakers halted more than two years ago amid outcries from privacy advocates, was stopped in name only and has quietly continued within the intelligence agency now fending off charges that it has violated the privacy of U.S. citizens.

http://nationaljournal.com/about/njweekly/stories/2006/0223nj1.htm

By Daniel Pulliam

The modest information technology spending increase in President Bush's fiscal 2007 budget request is driven by the Homeland Security Department, according to a new report from a market research firm.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=33446&dcn=e_gvet

By Daniel Pulliam

Adherence to congressionally mandated IT security processes is a poor measure of the true state of cybersecurity across the government, a former federal chief information security officer said Wednesday.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=33439&dcn=e_gvet

By Danielle Belopotosky

The Homeland Security Department on Friday concluded a weeklong exercise aimed at assessing public- and private-sector responses to cyber attacks on the nation's critical infrastructure.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=33380&dcn=e_gvet    

By Heather Greenfield

The homeland security agency tasked with protecting critical infrastructures sees 2006 as a year to improve information-sharing among key sectors like electricity, water and information technology.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=33299&dcn=e_hsw    

From National Journal's Technology Daily

The Defense Department plans to spend about $34 billion over five years to develop a global information grid, but the department's decentralized management approach "is not optimized to enforce investment decisions across the department," according to the Government Accountability Office.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=33285&dcn=e_gvet    

By Daniel Pulliam

The upcoming relocation of the Defense Information Systems Agency's headquarters from Northern Virginia to a military base south of Baltimore has prompted the organization to expand its telework policies. The agency is permitting employees to work away from the office more often in hopes of retaining its workforce.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=33255&dcn=e_gvet   

By Randy Barrett

Leading industry and government officials Tuesday agreed that cyber criminals are now more professional and primarily focused on stealing money.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=33230&dcn=e_gvet

By Michael Martinez

Homeland Security Secretary Chertoff said today he intends to spend money to develop technology that will allow identification cards to serve several purposes, but stopped short of advocating a national identification card.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=33197&dcn=e_gvet

By Jeremy Pelofsky

WASHINGTON (Reuters)—U.S. regulators plan to sell airwaves starting May 10 to provide communications services like high-speed Internet to U.S. air travelers.

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1910900,00.asp

By Paul F. Roberts

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1911008,00.asp

By Paul F. Roberts

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1910371,00.asp?kc=ewnws011306dtx1k0000599