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Pentagon declares the Internet a war domain
The Pentagon released a long-promised cybersecurity plan Thursday that declares the Internet a domain of war but does not spell out how the U.S. military would use the Web for offensive strikes.
The Defense Department’s first-ever plan for cyberspace states that DOD will expand its ability to thwart attacks from other nations and groups, beef up its cybersecurity workforce and expand collaboration with the private sector.
Like major corporations and the rest of the federal government, the military “depends on cyberspace to function,” the DOD strategy states. The U.S. military uses cyberspace for everything from carrying out military operations to sharing intelligence data internally to managing personnel assignments.
“The department and the nation have vulnerabilities in cyberspace,” the document states. “Our reliance on cyberspace stands in stark contrast to the inadequacy of our cybersecurity.”
Other nations “are working to exploit DOD unclassified and classified networks, and some foreign intelligence organizations have Read more…
Pentagon reveals 24,000 files stolen in cyber-attack
The Pentagon has disclosed that it suffered one of its largest ever losses of sensitive data in March when 24,000 files were stolen in a cyber-attack by a foreign government.
By Nick Allen
William Lynn, the US deputy secretary of defence, said the data was taken from the computers of a corporate defence contractor.
He said the US government had a “pretty good idea” who was responsible but did not elaborate.
Many cyber-attacks in the past have been blamed on China or Russia, and one of the Pentagon’s fears is that eventually a terrorist group will acquire the ability to steal data.
Mr Lynn disclosed the March attack in a speech outlining a new cyber-strategy, which formally declares cyberspace a new warfare domain, much like air, land and sea.
It calls for developing more resilient computer networks so the Read more…
EU cloud data can be secretly accessed by US authorities
US-owned companies bound by Patriot Act, says Microsoft
Personal information belonging to EU users of US-owned cloud-based services could be shared with US law enforcers without the user being informed, Microsoft has said.
The software giant said it could not guarantee that it would not have to hand over EU customers’ data on a new cloud service it has developed whilst keeping details of the data transfer secret.
Cloud services allow internet users to store data online instead of locally.
EU data protection laws state that organizations must tell people when they are asked to disclose their personal information.
These EU provisions might conflict with obligations US-based firms, such as Microsoft, face under US law.
The USA Patriot Act gives law enforcement authorities the right to access Read more…
China’s army develops ‘online war game’
BEIJING — After setting up its own cyber-warfare team, China’s military has now developed its first online war game aimed at improving combat skills and battle awareness, state press said Wednesday.
“Glorious Mission” is a first-person shooter game that sends players on solo or team missions armed with high-tech weapons, the China Daily reported.
Weapons used in the game are part of the actual arsenal of China’s People’s Liberation Army, it added.
The final version of the game, which took nearly three years to develop and test, was launched on June 20.
“I think it is possible the game will be made open online for Chinese military fans to download and play,” an unnamed PLA press officer was quoted as saying.
China has the world’s biggest online population at more than 477 million users, according to official data.
The launch of the game comes after the military announced earlier this year that it had set up an elite Internet security task force to fend off cyber attacks.
Despite numerous allegations from around the world pointing at China as a source of cyber attacks, the state press, citing military officials, denied that the elite task force was set up as a “hacker army”.
DARPA’s advance research arm building virtual Internet to battle cyber attacks
The Pentagon’s advanced research branch is working on a virtual version of the Internet to further the U.S.’s resistance against cyber attacks. According to Reuters, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, more commonly known as DARPA, is setting up something called the National Cyber Range. The National Cyber Range would be a virtual “testbed” to simulate a mini-Internet. Officials could use it to test virtual cyber-warfare games that experiment with different computer-generated-attack situations.
DARPA, the same agency that started that whole Internet thing in the 1960s, created the National Cyber Range project to make it simple to create different scenarios, combine those scenarios, and ultimately test any potential situations that may have to be dealt with on the real Internet. The purpose is to test things like network protocols as well as satellite and radio Read more…
FBI seizes servers in brute force raid
The FBI seized a number of web servers during a recent data center raid in Reston, Virginia – a facility used by the Swiss-based hosting company Digital One.
The operation knocked several web sites offline, including those run by New York publisher Curbed Network.
“This problem is caused by the FBI, not our company. In the night FBI [took] 3 enclosures with equipment plugged into them, possibly including your server — we cannot check it,” DigitalOne CEO Sergej Ostroumow confirmed in an official email to clients.
“After [the] FBI’s unprofessional ‘work’ we can not restart our own servers, that’s why our Web site is offline and support doesn’t work.”
Unsurprisingly, the raid has been tentatively linked to an ongoing investigation of Lulz Security.
Indeed, an unnamed government official told the New York Times the FBI was “actively investigating” LulzSec along with suspected “affiliated” hackers.
While most Americans probably don’t really care about a few downed sites, the brute force raid executed by the Feds surely doesn’t bode well for the future.
One can’t help but wonder what comes next: mass Gmail seizures, Amazon cloud server confiscations, or perhaps entire data centers carted off in FBI trucks?
Clearly, U.S. law enforcement officials must learn how to minimize “collateral damage” to neutral civilian infrastructure during cyber-related raids. If they don’t, such operations could potentially be as disruptive as those executed by hostile digital infiltrators.
Rather ironic, don’t you think?
Next generation Internet addresses tested on global scale
WASHINGTON (AFP) – A worldwide test was under way on Wednesday of the next generation of Internet addresses designed to replace the dwindling pool of 4.3 billion unique identifiers in the original system.
Hundreds of companies, organizations and institutions around the world are taking part in “World IPv6 Day,” including Internet giants such as Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo!
Internet Protocol version 6 is the new system of unique identifying numbers for websites, computers and other Internet-connected gadgets and is replacing the original addressing system, IPv4, which is nearing exhaustion.
IPv6 provides more than four billion Read more…
Iran Vows To Unplug The Internet
The leadership in Iran sees the project as a way to end the fight for control of the Internet, according to observers of Iranian policy inside and outside the country. Iran, already among the most sophisticated nations in online censoring, also promotes its national Internet as a cost-saving measure for consumers and as a way to uphold Islamic moral codes.
In February, as pro-democracy protests spread rapidly across the Middle East and Read more…
New Internet tech transmits data at 26 terabytes per second
In a dramatic breakthrough, scientists have learned how to use optical fiber to transmit data over a single laser at speeds that dwarf even today’s fastest Internet connections.
Using techniques called “fast Fourier transform” and “orthogonal frequency division multiplexing,” scientists at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany were able to stitch 300 individual data streams into colors beamed by a single laser, which were then picked apart at the other end.
The result of their experiment was a blazing fast transfer rate of 26 terabytes per second.
A terabyte is the equivalent of 1,000 gigabytes — the measurement used to grade most consumer level computer hard drives.
A more complex version of the experiment was previously used to demonstrate the transmission of data at over 100 terabytes per second, but it required hundreds of lasers.
This latest research shows that similar speeds are possible with far less energy output.
Such bandwidth would enable an Internet user to download the entire library of congress in about 10 seconds, according to the BBC.
The experiment was outlined in the latest edition of the scientific journal Nature Photonics.
EU set to unveil neutral net neutrality plans
The European Commission will unveil proposals to foster a neutral and competitive Internet on Tuesday (19 April), drawing praise from big industry for its cautiousness while consumer groups and activists lament its lack of substance. 
Background
Tim Berners Lee, often dubbed ‘the father of the Web’, ranks among the high-profile personalities to have publicly lobbied for regulation to mandate the neutrality of the Internet. However, others have argued that regulation is unnecessary and would threaten innovation.
At the heart of the issue is whether access to Internet services or content should be controlled and filtered rather than left free and provided according to the principle of ‘best effort’.
This principle implies that no provider can prioritise traffic on the Net for economic reasons. Instead, every user should be served with the providers’ ‘best effort’. This criterion has seen derogations in order to allow more professional use of the Internet. Therefore, a business user willing to pay more gets a faster and better connection.
However, extending this concept to many more users would run the risk of the majority getting such a poor service that it will prevent them from using the Internet. The borders between the two needs are currently being defined, and are subject to technological and regulatory developments.
The issue of net neutrality was first debated in the US a while ago, and is now generating intense debate in Brussels. It was also included in the EU’s review of telecoms rules (EurActiv 12/06/09).
While the US has long since passed legislation to ensure an open Internet, the EU has been struggling to catch up.
In a draft proposal seen by EurActiv, the European Commission does its homework on possible infringements of net neutrality but prefers to adopt a Read more…
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