Richard Bejtlich on his TaoSecurity blog offers a list of “Top Ten Books Policymakers Should Read on Cyber Security.” It’s been a while since we’ve offered a reading list here, and this one seems especially timely in light of the continuing news we’ve all been receiving of cyber security concerns.
It’s a little surprising to learn that the U.S. energy secretary evidently is more worried about “cars being hacked than the electric grid being attacked,” as Forbes reports on the In Homeland Security blog. Part of the explanation for this “mobile” priority no doubt is that the Department of Energy has been working with the […]
“Lone wolves,” says Dr. William Hanson of American Public University on In Homeland Security, “will remain alone” until and unless there are jihadists of whatever persuasion behind them in this country. Fortunately, he adds, that isn’t an especially likely prospect. Yet, in security terms, lone wolf attackers remain a prospect to be guarded against. Perimeter […]
Security by land, sea – and air. That’s what NORAD and other federal authorities seemed to be demonstrating Sunday morning when they held a training exercise over Washington, D.C., “to test abilities to detect drones and gyrocopters in restricted air spaces following several troubling incidents.” One such incident occurred in May when “a Florida postal […]
While summer’s waning, here’s what we’ll call a fall reading list on cyber security – TaoSecurity’s offering of the “Top Ten Books Policymakers Should Read on Cyber Security”. The titles include “Future Crimes: Everything Is Connected, Everyone Is Vulnerable and What We Can Do About It,” by Marc Goodman and “Data and Goliath: The Hidden […]
According to a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announcement, Lockheed Martin joins AT&T, CenturyLink and Verizon as cybersecurity providers through the department’s Enhanced Cybersecurity Services (ECS) program. These four firms “have met the stringent standards for ECS accreditation”, DHS says. We’re not quite sure what that means, but it looks as though DHS is seeking […]
Thanks to Gary Glover on the Security Metrics blog, here’s why gas stations ask for your ZIP code before turning on a pump. It’s an example of “two factor authentication” and provides an extra layer of security against hacking. Okay, just so it isn’t being done for marketing purposes.
Social media represent a ‘perimeter’ without fencing – that is, hackers can gather information that enterprises need to avoid. SecurityDreamer, for example, warns that “Twitter and LinkedIn are fertile sources of information for hackers preparing social engineering attacks. By gathering benign information about a company and ‘name dropping’ in a DM (direct message) conversation, attackers […]
Today’s new digital-display cars appear awesome and sometimes frightening. The frightening part applies when driving security is compromised, as in this episode, chronicled on Wired, in which two “friendly” hackers cut the power to a Jeep Cherokee traveling at 70 miles per hour on a St. Louis freeway. This kind of ‘experimenting” ought to be […]