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Thread 'term "hackathon" trademarked in Germany': http://marc.info/?l=openbsd-misc&m=136766877107167 Bye, Marcus ----- Forwarded from InfoSec News <alerts {at} infosecnews (dot) org> Date: Wed, 24 Jul 2013 07:29:07 +0000 (UTC) From: InfoSec News <alerts [at] infosecnews (dot) org> To: isn (at) lists [dot] infosecnews {dot} org Subject: [ISN] How Would the U.S. Respond to a Nightmare Cyber Attack? http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=how-would-us-respond-nightmare-cyber-attack By Josephine Wolff Scientific American July 23, 2013 It???s been a busy summer for computer security mavens. The U.S. and China locked horns on cyber espionage, Edward Snowden allegedly leaked classified intelligence about National Security Agency (NSA) monitoring programs that target communication networks, and the Cobalt malware took 13 U.S. oil refineries offline. If you missed that last one, that???s because it was fictional -- a scenario created for a student cyber attack challenge held on June 15 at American University in Washington, D.C. The event was a sort of a hybrid Model U.N. hackathon cyber war games exercise, involving 65 college and graduate students (including myself) who are training for careers as future cyber warriors and policy makers. In many ways the Cyber 9/12 Student Challenge mirrors the U.S. government???s own Cyber Storm exercises, with the important exception that the student exercise isn???t mandated by Congress to strengthen cyber preparedness in the public and private sectors. The Cobalt malware -- an invention of the Atlantic Council, which hosted the event - was fake, but its target was a real-life vulnerability: the U.S. energy infrastructure, specifically the oil refineries and pipelines that produce and transport gasoline and other refined fuel products all across the country. Almost any discussion or description of a doomsday cyber scenario involves an attack on U.S. critical infrastructure. You can see this play out in the Cyber Storm exercises hosted every few years by the Department of Homeland Security for government and industry organizations to practice cyber threat responses. In three simulations that took place in 2006, 2008 and 2010, catastrophic cyber attacks caused clear and serious physical damage. A computer virus that turns off the lights, shuts down the telephone system and halts military operations could cost lives. [...] ----- End forwarded message -----
