http://www.geostrategy-direct.com/geostrategy-direct/secure/2011/06_08/ba.as p?
Cyberthreats increasing: Critical U.S.infrastructure being hit often Senior Obama administration security officials said last week that the threat posed by cyber attacks on U.S. computer networks is growing as systems have numerous security vulnerabilities. "The United States confronts a dangerous combination of known and unknown vulnerabilities, strong and rapidly expanding adversary capabilities, and limited comprehensive threat and vulnerability awareness," said three senior officials in prepared testimony to the House Judiciary committee. "Within this dynamic environment, we are confronted with threats that are more targeted, more sophisticated, and more serious." http://www.geostrategy-direct.com/geostrategy-direct/images/2011/crimecyber. jpg "Governments have become as reliant on information technology as corporations have." <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/02/cybersecurity-us-diplomatic-priori ty_n_870179.html> Getty _____ The three officials were James A. Baker, associate deputy attorney general, Greg Schaffer, assistant secretary for cyber security at the Homeland Security Department and Ari Schwartz, senior adviser at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Critical U.S. infrastructure including electrical grids, financial institutions and transportation networks were hit with repeated cyber intrusions and cyber crime has increased dramatically over the past decade, they said at a hearing of two subcommittee that deal with crime and information security May 25. "Sensitive information is routinely stolen from both government and private sector networks, undermining confidence in our information systems, the information collection and sharing process, and the information these systems contain," the officials said. While the lost of intellectual capital is "deeply concerning," the three officials said "we increasingly face threats that are of even greater concern." "Our nation is at risk. The cybersecurity vulnerabilities in our government and critical infrastructure are a risk to national security, public safety, and economic prosperity," Messrs. Baker, Schaffer and Schwartz stated. In later testimony, Robert W. Holleyman, president of the Business Software Alliance, said current cybersecurity threats are gave and fall into four categories: cybercrime, espionage targeting corporations, espionage against governments and cyber warfare. "Cyber attacks against the computers, servers and networks on which companies depend have reached unprecedented levels of sophistication, with the aim of committing extortion or stealing intellectual property and other trade secrets for the benefit of competitors," Holleyman said. "Governments have become as reliant on information technology as corporations have; as a result, advanced persistent threats that penetrate government computers, servers and networks can produce significant intelligence." On cyberwarfare, Hollyman said the dependence of the nation on networks "can be exploited by another to electronically disable its critical infrastructure, essential governmental services and military capabilities." Among the attack trends outlined by Hollyman are: . Targeted attacks: Attackers increasingly identify specific targets and develop sophisticated plans for compromising their computers. They have learned that the easiest vulnerability to exploit is our trust of friends and colleagues. . Social networking: Linked to the first trend is the exploitation of online social networks which provide rich research for tailoring an attack allowing hackers to learn our interests, gain our trust, and convincingly masquerade as friends. . Stealth: Once inside an organization, a targeted attack attempts to avoid detection until its objective is met. Exploiting zero?day vulnerabilities (previously unknown and unpatched security holes) and using rootkits (software that provides privileged access) are two effective ways of evading detection. . Attack kits that are packaged and traded as easy-to-use attack kits in a vast underground economy. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, discuss-os...@yahoogroups.com. -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor biso...@intellnet.org http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: osint-subscr...@yahoogroups.com Unsubscribe: osint-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.com *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. 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