http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/02/cybersecurity-act-of-2012/
Archive for 2012/02/17
Commissioner Kroes Wants To Play World Of Warcraft Really Really Really Fast
Posted: 2012/02/17 in Education / Awareness, Public Policy, Tech EvolutionCommission today sets out a plan for the EU to reverse its relative decline in High Performance Computing (HPC) use and capabilities. Under this plan the EU will double its investment in HPC (from €630 million to €1.2 billion) and become home to computers that can perform 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 (i.e. 1018) operations per second (“exa-scale”), before 2020. Half of the investment would be for development and training and for new centres of excellence, creating thousands of jobs.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has rejected attempts by three telecom companies to block shareholder votes on whether they should commit to net neutrality principles
Posted: 2012/02/17 in Education / Awareness, Net Neutrality, Public PolicyWhen freedom of information and net neutrality cost money…
2,000 EUR will get you an SDK for botnets
Posted: 2012/02/17 in Cybercrime, Education / Awareness, New Business ModelsDutch language news article:
http://webwereld.nl/analyse/109539/open-source-verovert-duistere-botnetwereld.html
Belgian collecting society SABAM to be criminally prosecuted for fraud, embezzlement, forgery and bribery
Posted: 2012/02/17 in Copyright, Education / Awareness, Enforcement, LitigationDutch language news article:
http://webwereld.nl/nieuws/109561/belgische-buma-vervolgd-voor-fraude-en-omkoping.html
Rule #1: When a hacker/researcher penetrates your systems, you do not want to lie about the potential impact
Posted: 2012/02/17 in Education / Awareness, Network Security, Stats / reportsDutch SCADA provider Xylem denies that hackers can remotely control dams, sewage systems and bridges. Hacker/researcher immediately explains that Xylem is lying
Dutch language news article:
http://webwereld.nl/nieuws/109565/scada-bedrijf-xylem-ontkent-kwetsbaarheden.html
Soon, govt of India will keep track of where every mobile user is
Posted: 2012/02/17 in Education / Awareness, Privacy / Data Protection, Public PolicyWell, his mobile phone that is
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/soon-govt-will-keep-track-of-where-every-mobile-user-is/912681/0
You gotta fight for your right … to net neutrality
Posted: 2012/02/17 in Education / Awareness, Net NeutralityThe role of regulator is critical; telecommunications has a tendency towards natural monopoly
Posted: 2012/02/17 in Education / Awareness, Public PolicyCompetition in this sector absolutely requires oversight and regulation. The role of the CRTC in high-stakes multi-billion dollar politics promotes easy emotional investment. Arguments get heated and innumerable column-inches are devoted to the topic.
There’s more to the CRTC – or any telecommunications regulator – than the West Wing-style drama that pops up every few years. If we step down from the commissioners themselves, there is an entire organisation filled with people whose job it is to help ordinary Canadians – and Canadian businesses – deal with telecom issues.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/02/17/telecommunications_regulations_in_canada/
MegaUpload Hit ‘Home’: The Dutch Government is proposing to make it easier to use copyrighted material without infringing copyright owners’ rights and plans to do this ‘unilaterally’ of the EU
Posted: 2012/02/17 in Copyright, Education / Awareness, Google, Legislation, Public Policy“If you look at the motion picture industry, you see that they continue to enjoy very healthy revenues. On the other hand the music industry has struggled somewhat. But in the end there are more opportunities being created by these new technologies than ever before. There are more bands, using more different technologies to reach more fans than ever before. So there is certainly no crisis of creativity. There’s more music, more video, more writing going on today than ever before,” Von Lohmann, chief copyright counsel for Google, said.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/02/17/dutch_government_to_further_liberalise_copyright/
KPN Decides To Outsmart Hackers…By Sending Snail Mail Containing Usernames And Passwords
Posted: 2012/02/17 in Cybercrime, Education / Awareness, Privacy / Data ProtectionCustomers are furious. KPN agrees with their view (that anyone who will intercept their snail mail will be able to access their personal details and e-mail messages) but is only able to halt the distribution of the letters as of this Sunday.
Previous disasters:
http://vrritti.com/?s=kpn
A New DNS Exploitation Technique: Ghost Domain Names (They Keep Popping Up)
Posted: 2012/02/17 in Cybercrime, Education / AwarenessThe exploit targets a weakness in the cache update logic of some of the DNS servers. The exploit allows the cache to be overwritten in such a way that it is possible to continuously extend the TTL for the delegation data of a particular domain and prevents it from ever expiring. The domain will be completely resolvable indefinitely even though it has been deleted from the TLD servers. These types of domains have been termed Ghost Domain Names.
Dutch students successfully steal laptops in 50% of their (scientific) attempts and create anti-theft algorithm
Posted: 2012/02/17 in Education / Awareness, Stats / reports, Tech EvolutionAlgorithm shows weaknesses in local security regimes. Main weakness in their scenario was the susceptibility to social engineering
Dutch language news article:
http://www.security.nl/artikel/40387/1/Studenten_stelen_laptops_voor_studiepunten.html
Anonymous launches ‘Operation Global Blackout’, aims to DDoS the Root Internet servers
Posted: 2012/02/17 in Cybercrime, Education / AwarenessIf one can build it, one can break it
Goldman Sachs programmer’s code theft conviction overturned
Posted: 2012/02/17 in Education / AwarenessHFT uses complex algorithms to engage in rapid trading to exploit the tiny price discrepancies in the markets. It can generate millions on a daily basis.
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/goldman-sachs-programmers-code-theft-conviction-overturned/69808
Dutch newspaper claims that Facebook is guilty of tax evasion by having its revenue flow through locations such as The Netherlands, Delaware, Ireland, Luxembourg and The Cayman Islands
Posted: 2012/02/17 in Education / Awareness, New Business Models, Public PolicyNo country has the amount of tax treaties that The Netherlands has to offer, enabling companies to have their interest, royalty and dividend ‘streams’ flow to The Netherlands at very low, or no costs at all, no matter the country of origin…
Google uses Ireland, The Netherlands and Bermuda.
Dutch language news article:
http://www.depers.nl/economie/631153/Facebook-geen-vriend-van-fiscus.html
UK Watchdog fines two Dutch firms £100,000 for online ‘squatting’ that misled consumers
Posted: 2012/02/17 in Cybercrime, Education / Awareness, EnforcementThe Netherlands is well known for its benign climate for cybercriminals
Polish government asks European Parliament not to sign ACTA
Posted: 2012/02/17 in Copyright, Education / Awareness, LegislationYou Can Stream Hulu Plus on the Wii Now
Posted: 2012/02/17 in Education / Awareness, New Business ModelsThis Computer Program Is Smarter Than 96 Percent of Humans
Posted: 2012/02/17 in Education / Awareness, Tech EvolutionArmies of entrepreneurs are trying to make money sifting through mountains of data from the Web and other sources, but one of the biggest challenges is simply getting control of the data in the first place
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-57379492-76/why-big-data-is-a-magnet-for-startups/
Dish looks to FCC for cues on its spectrum strategy
Posted: 2012/02/17 in Education / Awareness, New Business ModelsThe spectrum that Dish owns has the same satellite designation as LightSquared’s spectrum. As a result, it requires the same conditional waiver that would allow products running on that spectrum to be built without costly satellite capabilities. The spectrum was acquired last year from two bankrupt companies, DBSD North America and TerreStar Networks, which both had satellite-based ventures, for $2.8 billion. Unlike LightSquared’s spectrum, it doesn’t interfere with GPS equipment, making it valuable to anyone looking to build a wireless network, or augment an existing one
More:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57379833-94/dish-looks-to-fcc-for-cues-on-its-spectrum-strategy/
