Compiled by The Cyber Loop editor
Australia taps ISPs to fight ‘zombies’: A new voluntary code of conduct for Australian Internet Service Providers (ISPs) that’s designed to mitigate cyber threats is getting attention Down Under and in Washington, prompting discussion about how ISPs can help bolster cybersecurity.
Russian spies in UK ‘at cold war levels’, says MI5: The uncovering of the spy ring in the US is unlikely to surprise MI5. In recent years the agency has been building up its counter-espionage arm against Russian and other foreign spies for the first time since the end of the cold war, according to counter-intelligence officials.
The case for computer security: This spring’s ferocious shouting match between North and South Korea may result in something far worse for us than the power outage we experienced last Christmas. Our country’s control systems over power grids, banks, airlines, universities, hospitals and trucking and rail lines are all susceptible to harm from long-distance computer “hacking.”
Navy CIO Carey moving to Fleet Cyber Command: Navy chief information officer Rob Carey has accepted a job with the service’s new cyber fleet.
Rep. Lofgren wants contractors to fill cyber void: For years, agencies have talked about the need to hire and retain more trained and cleared cybersecurity experts. But is that possible? And would a shortage of cybersecurity workers threaten efforts to concentrate responsibility for cybersecurity in one agency?
NASA launches software assurance program: As cyber threats continue to increase, agencies are looking to software contractors for technologies to help protect their assets. Jerry Davis, NASA’s chief information security officer, says that’s not good enough.
Lance Cottrell of Abraxas: ‘Substantial civil liberties impacts’ but no security benefits with large-scale Internet surveillance: It may not sound like the most straightforward avenue into cybersecurity, but Abraxas’ chief scientist and cyber expert Lance Cottrell began his career as an astronomer.
Carnegie Mellon SEI scores $1bn military software dev deal: The Software Engineering Institute (SEI) at Carnegie Mellon university has been awarded an almost $1bn military contract for “software research and development pertinent to national defense”.
A lack of security on social networking sites causes problems for businesses: Without a careful security policy in place, the benign face of social networking could turn quite nasty.
Cybersecurity Bill’s Partnership: It was good to see the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee unanimously pass Senate bill 3480 out of committee on Tuesday. There were some concerns raised at the initial hearing by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Roland Burris, D-Ill., about creating a National Center for Cybersecurity and Communications within the Homeland Security Department (DHS) to implement cybersecurity policies. However, the provision remained in the bill.
NIST Revises Security Controls Bible: NIST Special Publication 800-53 – the bible for federal government chief information security officers as well as others charged with securing their organizations IT systems – has been revised by the National Institute of Standards and Technology.