18 Apr 12. Representatives from seven NATO countries will join the U.S. for the first time in a war game that focuses on space and cyber defense issues. Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey will take part in Schriever Wargame 2012 International Game beginning April 20. The Space Innovation and Development Center will conduct the war game at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., on behalf of U.S. Air Force Space Command, Colorado Springs, Colo. “The Schriever Wargame, set in the year 2023, will explore critical space issues and investigate the integration activities of multiple agencies associated with space systems and services. Schriever Wargame 2012 will also include international partners from Australia, Canada and the U.K.,” said a press release from U.S. Air Force Space Command. “This is a significant development in what was predominately a U.S. event and reflects the need to cooperate and share information to develop future capabilities that benefit NATO collectively,” a NATO official said. Developing capabilities for NATO is one of the alliance’s priorities for the upcoming Chicago summit May 20-21. At the summit, heads of state and government are expected to lay the foundations for the alliance’s future forces to 2020. (Source: Defense News)
16 Apr 12. Raptor Identification Systems, Inc. (Raptor ID), an industry leader in networked handheld biometric screening and enrollment platforms, and Telos Identity Management Solutions, LLC (Telos® ID), the integrator of record for the world’s largest biometric identity application, have created a strategic alliance to provide customers with RAPTOR ID’s RaptorOne™ and RaptorPad™ solutions for mobile identity enrollment and capture. Available separately or bundled with other Telos ID offerings, Raptor ID solutions will provide the modularity and flexibility to fulfill a wide variety of mission requirements, all in a self-contained, field-ready device. (Source: Yahoo!/BUSINESS WIRE)
13 Apr 12. An Iranian double agent working for Israel used a memory stick to plant the Stuxnet virus that disrupted Iran’s nuclear program, according to a published report quoting current and former U.S. intelligence officials. Richard Sale, writing for ISSSource, said the agent, probably a member of an Iranian dissident group, used a corrupt memory stick.32 to implant the virus at the Natanz nuclear facility, according to the sources. Iranian proxies, dissidents acting as double agents, also have been involved in assassinating Iran’s nuclear scientists, the sources reportedly told Sale. Stuxnet, likely the first example of weaponized malware, was already known to have spread via memory sticks, or key drives. Introduced in late 2009, it spread quickly to systems around the world, although it was designed for only one purpose: to attack a specific version of a Siemens programmable logic controller (PLC) that was used in centrifuges for uranium enrichment at Iran’s nuclear facilities. The worm, which used four zero-day exploits in its attacks, disrupted the rotational frequency of the centrifuges, and ultimately damaged Iran’s nuclear program, according to an International Atomic Energy Agency report. Uranium enrichment at the Natanz plant was shut down for seven days in November 2010. Reuters reported in February that engineers had finally succeeded in scrubbing Stuxnet from their systems. (Source: GCN)
17 Apr 12. US intelligence agencies and Chinese military officials secretly conducted cyber war games in 2011 to help prevent a sudden military escalation from cyber attacks between the two nations, if either of them felt they were being targeted. The Guardian has reported that the exercises featured two different scenarios, such as both sides having to describe what they would do if they were attacked by a sophisticated computer virus like Stuxnet, while another exercise had two teams describing their reaction if attacked by the other side. Organised through the Centre for