Congress

Fancy Bear APT

Update: Emboldened, Fancy Bear hacking crew targets French, German Politicians

In-brief: emboldened by media attention for its escapades in the U.S. Presidential election, the hacking crew known as “Fancy Bear” is targeting political parties in France as well as Germany, the firm Trend Micro reported on Tuesday – the latest evidence of meddling in foreign affairs. (Editor’s note: updated to add comment by Michael Sulmeyer, Director of the Cyber Security Project at Harvard University’s Belfer Center. PFR Apr 25 2017.)

East Front of United States Capitol

Republican bill aims to bolster U.S. attack attribution capabilities

The problems that surround cyber attribution came into sharp relief in recent weeks, as the Department of Homeland Security and FBI attempted to pin attribution for the hacking of Democratic party organizations on hackers affiliated with the government of Russia, with only mixed success. Attribution was again an issue after The Washington Post -citing the DHS and FBI report- said Russians had hacked their way into the U.S. electrical grid by way of a Vermont utility. That report was eventually walked back as more evidence emerged about the incident.  Pointing the finger of blame – it turns out – is easier said than done in matters of cyber espionage and cyber war. Now the folks over at Cyberscoop point to a new bill designed to boost the government’s ability to do cyber attribution and foster government-industry ties. New cybersecurity legislation aims to bolster the U.S. government’s attribution capabilities as well […]

Security Pros Pan US Government Report on Russian Hacking

In-brief: security experts say the 13 page report, released Thursday, falls well short of offering conclusive evidence of Russian involvement in the hacking, even as The Obama Administration acts to punish Russia for its involvement.

On Capitol Hill: Calls For A Federal Role in Securing World of Dangerous Things

Some of the nation’s top experts on cyber security and the Internet of Things urged Congress to take a more forceful approach to securing a burgeoning population of Internet connected devices before security and quality issues undermine consumer confidence. Members of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce were told in separate testimony that security problems such as the recent denial of service attacks linked to the Mirai botnet will become more common and could threaten the integrity of the Internet and of the nation’s broader economy if left unaddressed. The Committee heard from Dr. Kevin Fu of the University of Michigan, Bruce Schneier of IBM and a fellow at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and Dale Drew, the Chief Security Officer of Level3 Communications. All three, to varying degrees, advised a bigger government role in setting standards for devices connected to the Internet.  And all three warned that a failure to […]

home automate and smart home devices

We Need Smart Public Policy for the Internet of Things | IEEE Spectrum

In-brief: is regulation the right approach to securing The Internet of Things or can industry clean up its own act? IEEE Spectrum takes a look.