20 Apr 13. Military Grooms New Officers for War in Cyberspace. The U.S. service academies are ramping up efforts to groom a new breed of cyberspace warriors to confront increasing threats to the nation’s military and civilian computer networks that control everything from electrical power grids to the banking system. Students at the Army, Navy and Air Force academies are taking more courses and participating in elaborate cyberwarfare exercises as the military educates a generation of future commanders in the theory and practice of computer warfare. The academies have been training cadets in cyber for more than a decade. But the effort has taken on new urgency amid warnings that hostile nations or organizations might be capable of crippling attacks on critical networks. (Source: glstrade.com/WSJ)
18 Apr 13. Twenty two law enforcement officers were trained in Salt Lake City, Utah to use a new piece of field-portable chemistry equipment for their drug identification program. Use of this new equipment, the FLIR Griffin 460, expands the highly successful program already in place in Utah’s Department of Public Safety, the Field Investigation Drug Officer (FIDO) program. The FLIR Griffin 460 is a gas chromatograph mass spectrometer (GC-MS), which is commonly referred to as the gold standard for identifying chemicals. GC-MS is standard laboratory test equipment that provides confirmatory proof of a chemical’s identification. In this case, it will be used to identify drugs of abuse, including synthetic drugs, which have become a major issue for police across the country. Utah’s program has been in place since 2006 and has been highly successful. Thanks to the FIDO program, controlled substance cases declined nearly fifty percent through 2011. Cases began to climb again in 2012, a rise that is attributed to synthetic drugs known as ‘bath salts’ or ‘spice’. These drugs require sophisticated technology to identify them, such as the GC-MS. In addition to efficient case management, the FIDO program has created a strong bridge between law enforcement officers and laboratory staff who provide support. Training officers to use the technology in local field offices, rather than sending every drug sample to the laboratory, helps to streamline investigations as well as adjudication of cases.
29 Apr 13. China rejects allegations it hacked Taiwan networks. A senior Chinese official has rejected allegations from Taiwan’s government that
Beijing is increasing its attempts to hack into the island’s computer networks. Cyber security has become a growing concern in Taiwan, where some senior government officials, including President Ma Ying-jeou, say that China continues to launch cyber attacks against Taiwan even as the relationship between the two sides has warmed in recent years. Since Mr Ma was first elected in 2008, the two sides have agreed measures to boost bilateral trade, and further agreements aimed at liberalising investment are expected to be sealed in the coming months. Concerns about threats to Taiwan’s national security remain, however. (Source: FT.com)
30 Apr 13. Logos Technologies, along with Global Velocity and MAVERICK Technologies, announced the signing of a Joint Development Agreement (JDA) to develop a solution set to protect U.S. national infrastructure from potential cyber attacks. Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems remotely monitor and control industrial processes at nuclear plants, sewage treatment facilities and other critical sites. However, most SCADA systems were designed before the emergence of network threats. (Source: Yahoo!/BUSINESS WIRE)
01 May 13. SCIT Labs to develop new server prototype to safeguard against cyber attacks. The US Navy has awarded a contract to Self-Cleansing Intrusion Tolerance (SCIT) Labs to develop a software-protected server prototype that can help in preventing tactical cyber attacks. SCIT Labs CEO Arun Sood said the company would provide the navy and others wi