Tech Talk

America must look to technology to protect its citizens and infrastructure from 21st century threats.

Dennis Blair, director of national intelligence, said that the United States is at risk of a cyberattack that could “wreak havoc,” FOX News reported Wednesday. It is substantially easier to launch a digital attack than defend against one, the intelligence czar reportedly told the House Intelligence Committee.

“What we don’t quite understand as seriously as we should is the extent of malicious cyberactivity that grows, that is growing now at unprecedented rates, extraordinary sophistication,” Blair said. “And the dynamic of cyberspace, when you look at the technological balance, right now it favors those who want to use the Internet for malicious purposes over those who want to use it for legal and lawful purposes.”

Al Qaeda could attempt to carry out an attack in America within the next six month, FOX News quoted senior intelligence officials as telling Congress on Tuesday.

Despite President Obama’s promises to make cybersecurity a priority, FOX News reports that his budget actually requests a decrease in funds for America’s cybersecurity division of Homeland Security.

Our government has for too long been reactive, rather than proactive. Just consider how the TSA operates. New policies and protocols are routinely instituted AFTER threats are made known, rather than before. The alleged Christmas Day bomber is the perfect example.

Tech Talk has reported extensively on potential cyber threats facing this country.  You can sample our cyberwarfare archives here.

As America becomes increasingly dependent on technology — to do everything from manage finances, sewage treatment plans, sustain missions in space and operate military operations, it is increasingly important to take the mounting cyberthreat seriously.  Or else, it will be too late.

Insurgents are using inexpensive software to breach one of America’s primary tools in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, senior defense and intelligence officials were quoted in a prominent American newspaper as saying.

The militants have been utilizing over-the-counter software, like SkyGrabber, sold for as little as $25.95 on the Internet to intercept and capture live video feeds coming from U.S. Predator drones, the Wall Street Journal reported late this week.  The feeds could allow America’s enemies to evade and monitor military operations.

The newspaper reports:

[T]he intercepts could give America’s enemies battlefield advantages by removing the element of surprise from certain missions and making it easier for insurgents to determine which roads and buildings are under U.S. surveillance.

The story is significant for two reasons:

• The first is that the Obama administration has come to rely largely on the drones in this two battlefronts.  Hacking into their operations could greatly reduce their effectiveness.  According to the Journal, drones account for 36 percent of the planes in the Air Force’s proposed 2010 budget.
• Insurgents have found yet another means to utilize cheap software to outmaneuver America’s trillion-dollar military budget.  And with more software being developed and becoming available to consumers around the world, the trend will likely grow. 

An Iranian ‘army’ has attacked one of the most prominent American Web sites late Thursday, according to an influential technology Web site.

The Iranian Cyber Army directed visitors away from Twitter and altered its Google summary, according to TechCrunch Friday morning.

Tweeters found the following message, according to TechCrunch:

Iranian Cyber Army

THIS SITE HAS BEEN HACKED BY IRANIAN CYBER ARMY

iRANiAN.CYBER.ARMY@GMAIL.COM

U.S.A. Think They Controlling And Managing Internet By Their Access, But THey Don’t, We Control And Manage Internet By Our Power, So Do Not Try To Stimulation Iranian Peoples To….

NOW WHICH COUNTRY IN EMBARGO LIST? IRAN? USA?
WE PUSH THEM IN EMBARGO LIST
Take Care.

As a result of the cyber attack, Twitter was down for several hours, but appears to be running smoothly now.  However, as a precaution, TechCrunch suggests changing any passwords that are the same as the one tied to Twitter.

As you may recall, Twitter played a high-profile role in the social and political upheaval following the controversial Iranian elections earlier this year.  You could read more information on that in these file Tech Talk pieces here.

According to the Twitter blog:

“Twitter’s DNS records were temporarily compromised but have now been fixed. We are looking into the underlying cause and will update with more information soon.”

To read more, and see screengrabs, please read this TechCrunch report.

Internet users across the country have woken up this week to devastating news of new malware that could plant child pornography onto innocent people’s computers.

And the idea isn’t just hypothetical, it has apparently already happened and ruined one man’s life, and almost resulted in prison-time.

CBS News reported this week:

The AP story reportedabout the case of Michael Fiola, a former Massachusetts state employee whose state-owned work computer was found to contain illegal child pornography images. He was fired and charged with possession of child pornography which, had he been convicted, could have landed him in prison for up to five years, according to the AP.

However, the charges were ultimately dropped when his attorneys were able to prove the number of sites visited in the actual time frame would not be possible by a  human being.

CBS News explored this issue and determined the likelihood of such a case happening to the typical user is slim.

Among the reasons why:

• Most malware is planted to make money, and there is no indication this practice would rake in the dough.
• Images put on someone else’s computer would not be accessible whenever the planter wanted it.
• A digital trail is often left between the planter’s system and victim’s computer.
• The time lapse between image downloads is often much higher when a computer does it than when a person does.
• The prosecution will have to prove the defendant knowingly and intentionally possessed, received or distributed child pornography.

Also, users who keep their system security up-to-date should be relatively safe.

CBS advises:

• Making sure that your operating system and regularly used software are up-to-date.
• Using good software addressing malware, phishing attacks, and/or spam, and keeping it up to date. Subscriptions to paid programs should be renewed.
• Being cautious about spam and about providing information to sites you navigate to from links within even the most legitimate-appearing e-mails.

North Korea’s military is responsible for cyber attacks against American and South Korean Web sites, Reuters, citing a South Korean news story, is reporting.

The attacks, which were perpetrated this week, slowed or disabled access to several American government agencies beginning July 4 by flooding them with traffic.  Sites that were affected included agencies directly responsible for fighting such attacks — including the Treasury Department, Secret Service, Federal Trade Commission and Transportation Department.

The international news agency reports the attacks all but stopped as of Friday.

Most North Koreans are prohibited from using the Internet.  In fact, as Reuters reported, the isolated country cannot produce enough electricity to illuminate its cities after dark.  But, intelligence sources have told Reuters that President Kim Jong-il is developing a cyber warfare unit, an allegation some experts have questioned.