cyberterrorism

Cybersecurity too crucial to leave to politicos? It's looking that way

Even for a Congress whose antics faintly remind one of the last days of the Weimer Republic, this was a bit much.

The United States Senate last week was unable to bring up the Cybersecurity Act of 2012 (PDF) for a final vote because of -- shocker -- party politics.

Had it passed into law, the bill would have made sure that operators of critical infrastructure -- stuff like nuclear plants and water treatment facilities -- satisfied certain minimum cybersecurity standards, an idea championed by heavy hitters in the defense, national security, and intelligence circles. Not this time, though, as … Read more

Survey: Few companies addressing cyberterrorism

Cyberterrorism is on the rise around the world. But only one-third of companies are tackling it in their disaster recovery plans, says a survey released Tuesday by data center association AFCOM.

Although the majority (60.9 percent) of companies questioned see cyberterrorism as a threat to be addressed, "AFCOM's 2009/2010 Data Center Trends" survey found that only 24.8 percent have adopted it in their policies and procedures manuals. Further, only 19.7 percent provide cyberterrorism training to their employees.

Around 82 percent do run background checks on new hires. But that still leaves almost 20 … Read more

NATO set to launch a cyberdefense center

Seven NATO allies signed an agreement Wednesday to open a cyberdefense center in Estonia, according to the Associated Press.

The center, which is scheduled to become operational in August, is designed to offer training and research on cyberterrorism and simulate cyberwar games, the report states. The NATO allies will kick in funding and a staff of 30 cyberexperts to operate the center.

Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Slovakia signed the agreement, while the United States signed aboard as an observer of the effort.

Last spring, Estonia's public and private institutions were hit with a major denial of … Read more