president given the power to shut down the Internet

Here's a bill with "NIGHTMARE" written in bloody letters all over it. This bill introduced in the senate would allow the white house to declare a 'cyber emergency' and effect the response. The 1st draft said the president could shut down the internet, both private and public networks. After a huge PR storm, the 2nd draft has toned that rhetoric down a little, but not enough. What a gov't takeover of private business this would be! The gov't would dictate the security measures that have to be taken to secure networks. Just think, every company could have the same carbon copy security plan. Wouldn't be any problem with that now, would there?

ref: http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/082809-cybersecurity-bill.html?hpg1=bn

Terabit Ethernet

This isn't technically security related...yet! It is just interesting how fast things keep changing. I am still getting used to a 20mbps connection on copper, and here comes a 6.4 Tbps on fiber optics. Still in development and testing, but, fascinating anyway. On a tangent, I read a couple months ago that Intel has prototyped a cpu, cooled with liquid helium, that clocks at over 100Ghz. Exciting times we are living in!

http://www.networkworld.com/news/tech/2009/033009-tech-update.html

SSH key compromise shuts down Apache website

Here's the full article:

http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/news/article/0,289142,sid14_gci1366479,00.html?track=sy160

When the US servers got hacked they had to switch all traffic to the EU mirrors. They didn't know how the hack got the key to start with. This is a good example of what happens with symmetric key encryption, when the key is compromised. "TOO MANY SECRETS" (from Sneakers).

DHS report: IT sector is resilient against serious cyberattacks

Many measures already in place to mitigate risks, although more can be done, report says

By Jaikumar Vijayan , Computerworld , 08/26/2009

A report from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security presents several scenarios in which well chosen attacks against key IT infrastructure elements could cause disruptions on a national scale. But the document also offers a surprisingly sunny assessment of the resilience and redundancies within the IT sector to mitigate the risk of such disruptions.

The 114-page report , released Tuesday, titled the "IT Sector Baseline Risk Assessment," was a joint effort between the DHS and the Information Technology Sector Coordinating Council (IT SCC). It is designed to give planners in the IT sector and in government a way to identify high-consequence risks and strategies for addressing them.

I'll rest better at night now! The private IT sector got a 'sunny assessment' from Dept. of Homeland Insecurity. This is the same dept. that has received no better than an 'F' grade on their audits from the GAO since the dept. was created. It means that they don't even follow their own internal procedures for security. Yet they tell us that 'more can be done'! If we had to rely on gov't innovation, we would all still be talking on tin cans with a string between them. I know, this is getting close to politics now so I'll shut up. "Sleep tight America, your government is awake".

Entire article: http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/082609-dhs-report-it-sector-is.html

A fun link!

here's a link for us 'older' people that remember the early days of the internet: the anticipation, the connection, the inevitable 'disconnected'; and for those a little younger it's still funny- like when my daughter found a box of my old 8-tracks in the attic and couldn't figure them out!

http://www.lazylaces.com/56Kmodem/

Hackers are people too...ok, if you say so!

I found this interview with a young woman that made a documentary titled "Hackers are people too". She has some curious viewpoints. The link to the interview is:
http://media.techtarget.com/audioCast/SECURITY/SecurityWireWeekly08132008.mp3

She says numerous times that "hackers are the people protecting you". She says they do this by hacking into systems to expose vulnerabilities. If a company hires you do this, it is a legitimate job, if not, isn't it just crime? Now using this line of thinking: we actually owe a debt to common street thugs, because by robbing us they are actually doing us a favor by exposing the weak spots in our police force! How people justify their atrocious behavior never ceases to amaze me. I guess as a former cop I tend to only see things from a certain vantage point. Anybody have any thoughts.

Are you there Diana, it's me David

Seriously, I can't get a comment to post on your site and I don't have your email. Need to discuss the syllabus project. I am at davidfalls.acc@gmail.com

MICROSOFT IS SUFFERING....

Well not too bad really, but you all enjoy hearing that!

I found a story about Chinese citizens jailed for piracy quite amusing. Officials in China on Thursday gave 4 men prison sentences from 2 to 3 1/2 years for software piracy. These men removed the authentication process from WinXP, gave the software away free, but, charged for advertising on the website. Chinese news agencies are calling this the 'nation's biggest software piracy case'. Who are they kidding? China 'exports' most of the world's pirated software and digital media. If China puts all the hackers away, what security jobs will there be for us?

Don't get me wrong, it is definitely unethical and illegal to make pirated software; but, what if Microsoft was to spend at least as many resources on development as they do on anti-piracy technology? We might see a Win OS that was stable! Personally, I like Microsoft for one reason: that I can make money fixing people's computers and teaching them how to use their wonderful Windows.

Are we ready for this?

Hello class. Now it gets interesting.