Tag: hardware

Akamai: New DoS Tool Leads To Resurgence of SNMP Attacks

The security firm Akamai issued an advisory to customers on Thursday warning that a new software tool for managing distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks was leading to a resurgence in large-scale attacks that use Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) traffic to overwhelm web sites.   The Threat Advisory (reg wall) was issued by Akamai’s Prolexic Security Engineering and Response Team (or PLXsert). According to the advisory, Akamai began noticing a resurgence in DDoS attacks using SNMP on April 11. The company said that firms in industry verticals including consumer goods, gaming, online hosting and Software-as-a-Service and non-profits had all been targeted.   [Read more Security Ledger coverage of DDoS attacks here.] The company has identified new- and updated tools in the cyber underground, including one dubbed SNMP Reflector – that are enabling the attacks. Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is a protocol that is used for managing devices on a network including […]

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China Hacking Indictments Day 2: Now For The Blowback

The big news yesterday was about the U.S. Justice Department announcing the first-ever criminal charges against a foreign country for cyberspying. The news today may well be about China (and other countries) taking retaliatory actions, including similar legal steps against individuals in this country, working on behalf of the NSA, CIA or other government agencies. The Justice Department on Monday announced that a grand jury in the Western District of Pennsylvania indicted five Chinese citizens (PDF) for charges that include computer hacking and economic espionage directed at six American companies in the nuclear power, metals and solar products industries. The indictment alleges that the five defendants conspired to hack into American companies on behalf of competitors in China, including state-owned enterprises.  The stolen information included intellectual property that would allow the Chinese firms to better compete with their American competitors. The hackers also stole confidential information regarding business negotiations and other deals that would aid the Chinese […]

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GE Opens Purse To Boost IoT Security

One of the big questions looming over Internet of Things with regard to cyber security is how well legacy security products will adjust to the IoT context. I think its safe to say that many of the tools and technologies that populate traditional IT environments (think: antivirus) aren’t well suited to use with Internet of Things devices which are often power and resource-constrained. IoT is a “ten-years-from-now” problem for enterprises. But for manufacturers like GE, it’s a “today” problem. That’s why GE is already investing in technology that it thinks is well suited to securing IoT and industrial environments. Last week, the company announced one such deal: acquiring the firm WurldTech of Vancouver Canada. The deal, announced on May 9th, will add Wurldtech’s technology and professional services to GE’s portfolio, with GE saying that Wurldtech products and services will “help to enhance the reliability of Industrial Internet operations.” Wurldtech makes security […]

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Blade Runner Redux: Do Embedded Systems Need A Time To Die?

The plot of the 1982 film Blade Runner (loosely based on the 1968 novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K Dick) turns on the question of what makes us ‘human.’ Is it memories? Pain? Our ability to feel empathy? Or is it merely the foreknowledge of our own certain demise? In that movie, a group of rebellious, human-like androids – or “replicants” – return to a ruined Earth to seek out their maker. Their objective: find a way to disable an programmed ‘end of life’ in each of them.  In essence: the replicants want to become immortal. It’s a cool idea. And the replicants – pre-loaded with fake memories and histories – pose an interesting philosophical question about what it is that makes us humans. Our artificial intelligence isn’t quite to the ‘replicant’ level yet (the fictional tale takes place in 2019, so we have time). But some […]

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Vint Cerf: CS Changes Needed To Address IoT Security, Privacy

The Internet of Things has tremendous potential but also poses a tremendous risk if the underlying security of Internet of Things devices is not taken into account, according to Vint Cerf, Google’s Internet Evangelist. Cerf, speaking in a public Google Hangout on Wednesday, said that he’s tremendously excited about the possibilities of an Internet of billions of connected objects, but said that securing the data stored on those devices and exchanged between them represents a challenge to the field of computer science – and one that the nation’s universities need to start addressing. “I’m very excited,” Cerf said, in response to a question from host Leo Laporte. He cited the Philips HUE lightbulb as an example of a cool IoT application. “So you’re going to be able to manage quite a wide range of appliances at home , at work and in your car. Eventually, that will include things you’re […]

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