U.S. holds largest simulated cyber-attack exercise

www.chinaview.cn 2008-03-14 12:49:19

BEIJING, March 14 --

U.S. officials said Thursday that "real and growing" threats to U.S. computer and telecommunications networks were behind the holding of the largest-ever cyber-security exercises this week.

Computer security experts from five countries, more than 40 private sector companies, and numerous government and state agencies are spending a week fielding simulated "real-world," on-line attacks on the computer systems of government bodies, corporations, transportation and other key industries.

Robert Jamison, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Under Secretary for the National Protection and Programs Directorate, said the Cyber Storm II exercise sought to foster personal links between key officials in business and government.

Those people, he said, are not always willing to share information about security issues involving the networks they run.

"We're concerned that the threats are real and growing" as the Internet expands, Jamison said.

Cyber Storm II tested the warning systems in place for attacks and sought to identify gaps in the way information was shared and reactions coordinated across various sectors.

Experts fielded some 1,800 "injects," various types of challenges, from hacker break-ins and extortion demands to DNS amplification attacks -- dangerous intensified versions of denial of service attacks that seek to overwhelm and shut down networks.

The exercise involved at least one massive, politically-motivated, coordinated cyber-attack knocking out enough computer and telecommunications networks to require an internationally coordinated response.

"We're trying to simulate sophisticated adversaries," Jamison said.

Some of the exercise involved testing the "Einstein program" -- the U.S. government's top-secret automated process for monitoring security and detecting intrusions on all the government's network gateways.

Greg Garcia, DHS Assistant Secretary for Cyber Security and Communications, said Cyber Storm II aimed at overcoming complacency and piecing together a "digital jigsaw puzzle" of linkages in critical public and private sector systems and networks.

DHS officials said a report on the exercise would be released later this year.

(Source: China Daily/Agencies)

Editor: Mo Hong'e

NATO to set up cyber security center in Tallinn

www.chinaview.cn 2008-02-08 19:45:31

VILNIUS, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) --

NATO plans to establish a cyber security center in the Estonian capital of Tallinn, Lithuanian Defense Minister Juozas Olekas said Friday.

"I hope it will be the first practical step in the cyber security issue," Olekas said.

NATO defense ministers, who are in Vilnius for a two-day meeting, are discussing a cyber defense strategy involving the construction of a center in Tallinn.

Olekas said the defense ministers will make a formal decision on the issue later this year, and the Tallinn center will hopefully begin operations at the end of 2008 or the beginning of 2009.

Six countries, including Estonia and Lithuania, will sponsor the center, with the participation of several other countries from the outset, he said.

Cyber security was one of the topics discussed at the NATO defense ministers' meeting in Vilnius. NATO began to study the issue after Estonia suffered a massive cyber attack in April and May 2007 after the removal of a Soviet-era war memorial from central Tallinn led to unrest in the capital city.

Editor: Xia Xiaopeng

NZ teenager arrested for international cyber crime

www.chinaview.cn 2007-11-30 14:02:56

WELLINGTON, Nov. 30 (Xinhua) --

New Zealand Police arrested an New Zealander accused of being the brains behind an international computer-crime operation, Detective Inspector Peter Devoy said Friday.

Devoy said New Zealand Police were alerted by the FBI of United States almost a year ago about investigations into a Botnet, which is where a virus hijacks another computer so the hacker can control it.

The teenager, 18, whose cyber name is Akill, has not yet been charged.

Devoy said it appears Akill had control of the Botnet and was one of the main people working with co-conspirators in the United States.

He believed a number of computers in this country were hit by the Botnet.

The Botnet is also believed to have been responsible for a Distributed Denial of Service attack at a Philadelphia University last year.

A number of computers have been seized over the last few days and forensic analysis may lead to further investigations elsewhere.

Editor: Wang Hongjiang

Fair Use Notice

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.