cyberattacks

U.S., Australia to add cyber realm to defense pact

Cyberattacks are about to carry even more weight, with the United States and Australia expected to include them in a mutual defense treaty.

The two nations will declare the cyber realm to be part of the 60-year-old treaty tomorrow, Reuters reports. The inclusion will mean that a cyberattack on one country could lead to a response by both.

"We will be releasing a joint statement saying that the ANZUS treaty applies to cyberspace," Reuters quoted a senior U.S. defense official as saying of the rare move.

The Australia, New Zealand, United States Security Treaty, signed in 1951, … Read more

More cyberattacks hitting social networks

Cybercriminals are increasingly targeting social networks, prompting people to take more steps to protect their online privacy, according to a new survey from security company Webroot.

A survey of nearly 4,000 social-network users in the U.S., U.K., and Australia found that the number of people hit by Koobface and other social-networking malware reached 18 percent this year, compared with 13 percent last year and 8 percent in 2009.

In the United Kingdom specifically, the number of social networks hit by attacks climbed to 15 percent this year, up from 12 percent last year and 6 percent the … Read more

This Day in Tech: Why we love Spotify; Google posts earnings

Too busy to keep up with the tech news? Here are some of the more interesting stories from CNET for Thursday, July 14.

• After much anticipation, Spotify has launched in the United States. And here at CNET, we are smitten with Spotify's service. The CNET staff gave the service five thumbs-up. Sean Parker of Napster fame--and a Spotify investor--says Spotify signals a golden age of music. Business Insider republished a post from his Facebook page, where he wrote: "For a decade I have waited for a music service that could rekindle my excitement about music...Spotify is the … Read more

Anonymous, LulzSec spawn 'one of worst' quarters

Cyberattacks from Anonymous and LulzSec and breaches against everyone from Sony to Lockheed Martin turned the second quarter into "one of the worst on record," according to a new report from Panda Security.

Released this week, Panda's second-quarter report (PDF) examined the security landscape from April to June and highlighted a string of alarming incidents.

Pointing to the attacks by Anonymous and LulzSec against the likes of Sony, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Spanish police, and several government sites, Panda said that the line between "hacktivism" and criminal behavor has gotten fuzzier.

Panda clearly questioned the methods of the new breed of hackers, saying that Anonymous calls its actions "peaceful protests," even though such actions are illegal. Also mincing no words with LulzSec, Panda said that "if you took the most irresponsible and brainless members of Anonymous and put them all together, they would be considered the most refined gentlemen compared to LulzSec."

Though LulzSec recently announced that it would be ending its attacks, the group urged other hackers to carry on the fight via operation Anti-Security, or AntiSec.… Read more

Ohio male may be linked to LulzSec attacks

An Ohio male may be linked to the recent cyberattacks that hit government and corporate sites in the U.S. and U.K and led to the arrest of U.K. teen Ryan Cleary, according to Ohio news sources.

Stories from Cincinnati's WKRC and the Hamilton Journal-News in Ohio reported that the FBI conducted a search on Monday of a home on Jackson Road in Saint Clair Township.

Mike Brooks, a spokesman for the FBI's Cincinnati office, told CNET today that he couldn't comment beyond the fact that on Monday the FBI executed a sealed federal search … Read more

U.S. building virtual Internet as cyberattack testbed

The U.S. is creating a virtual version of the Internet--this one designed as a testbed to help the nation hone its defenses against cyberattacks, according to Reuters and other sources.

Known as the National Cyber Range, the virtual testbed would be set up by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the same agency that kicked off the Internet itself more than 40 years ago. The new simulated mini-Internet would give Washington the opportunity to carry out virtual cyberwarfare games as a way of testing different scenarios and technologies in response to cyberattacks.

To work on the initial development … Read more

Citigroup ups number of accounts breached in attack

A May cyberattack that breached Citigroup's network gave hackers access to 360,083 credit card accounts in the U.S., the company revealed yesterday.

That number is higher than Citi's initial estimate, which claimed that the breach affected one percent of the bank's 21 million U.S. customers, or around 210,000.

The cyberattack, which occurred on May 10, compromised the company's online account system, allowing the attackers to access names, account numbers, and contact information for the affected customers. However, Citi said that Social Security numbers, birth dates, card expiration dates, and card security codes … Read more

Clarke: U.S. lags in 'guerrilla cyberwar' with China

The U.S. government is failing to safeguard American businesses from persistent and widespread online attacks emanating from China, former U.S. national security official Richard Clarke argues in The Wall Street Journal today.

"In private, U.S. officials admit that the government has no strategy to stop the Chinese cyberassault," Clarke wrote in an op-ed piece.

Actions being taken at the federal level are lopsided and insufficient, he argues:

Rather than defending American companies, the Pentagon seems focused on "active defense," by which it means offense. That cyberoffense might be employed if China were ever … Read more

LulzSec hackers attack Senate site

The hacking group known as LulzSec hit its latest target over the weekend: the U.S. Senate.

In an attack confirmed to the media by a Senate representative, LulzSec broke into the Senate's Web site and was able to gain access to the server's directory and file structure, the contents of which the group published on its own site.

In response, the government initiated a security review but so far has determined that network security was not compromised and that no user information was breached.

"The intruder did not gain access into the Senate computer network and … Read more