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“The Rise of CyberEspionage” – Chris Mark Published in Homeland Security Network June 18, 2012

Posted by Chris Mark in cyberespionage, cybersecurity.
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An article I wrote on the Rise of Cyber Espionage was picked up by the Homeland Security Network.  I must admit that the article title is not what was submitted but the article is one I wrote.  If you are interested, spin on over to the Homeland Security Network and read the article.  Any feedback would be appreciated..here is an excerpt:

“On April 15, 2011, the US Congressional Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations conducted a hearing on Chinese cyber-espionage. The hearing revealed the US government’s awareness of Chinese cyberattacks. In describing the situation in her opening remarks, sub-committee chairperson Dana Rohrbacher astutely stated:

“[The]United States is under attack.”12 “The Communist Chinese Government has defined us as the enemy. It is buying, building and stealing whatever it takes to contain and destroy us. Again, the Chinese Government has defined us as the enemy.”

“RSA Doesn’t Dine Alone” – China Suspected In Pipeline Attack May 13, 2012

Posted by Chris Mark in cybersecurity, InfoSec & Privacy, terrorism.
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For background on this story, please read the previous post, as well as an earlier post titled: “Cyberattack underway against US Pipelines”. While the timing of this story is fortuitous for this author, the event is frightening.  According to the Christian Science Monitor “Those analyzing the cyberspies who are trying to infiltrate natural-gas pipeline companies have found similarities with an attack on a cybersecurity firm a year ago. At least one US government official has blamed China for that earlier attack.”  The referenced security firm is RSA.   Again quoting CSM: “Investigators hot on the trail of cyberspies trying to infiltrate the computer networks of US natural-gas pipeline companies say that the same spies were very likely involved in a major cyberespionage attack a year ago on RSA Inc., a cybersecurity company. And the RSA attack, testified the chief of the National Security Agency (NSA) before Congress recently, is tied to one nation: China.”

Anyone who doubt that the US is under attack by  China should read about the attacks against Dupont, RSA, Lockheed Martin, and more.

“Doing Time Before Being Convicted?” – Analyist Accuses Merchant of PCI Non-Compliance May 11, 2012

Posted by Chris Mark in cybersecurity, Data Breach, Industry News, InfoSec & Privacy.
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I wrote this in May 2012.  Given the current position in the industry if proclaiming victims of cybercrime to be wholly responsible, I thought it appropriate to publish again.

I was reading a an article on BankInfoSecurity.com titled: “Online Retailer Breached”.  I am taken aback at the attitude of the quoted analyst.  A Gartner analyst took a very bold step of accusing the merchant of “non compliance” then seemingly qualifying his statement by adding: “The attacker was probably able to attack unencrypted card numbers,” he says. “But given the lack of details, it’s hard to say for certain.” (more…)

Guest Post: “Of Payments, Privacy, and Social Networks” April 15, 2012

Posted by Chris Mark in Industry News, InfoSec & Privacy.
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As I have been out of town at a charity event and had little time to blog, I am publishing a blog from the incomperable Dr. Heather Mark 😉  Please enjoy…

“By now, many of you have probably heard about the smartphone app creatively and aptly named “Girls Around Me.” For those that have not heard, it is essentially an application that aggregates the “check in” location data of women using Facebook, foursquare, and other social, location based services.  It then displays for the user the locations and names of “girls around” him (or her, I don’t think the app discriminates).  The app promises to “turn your town into a dating paradise.”  For privacy professionals, the app sparks an interesting debate.  Is privacy infringed if the person in question volunteers the information.  On one side of the argument are those that would say “no – if the user has volunteered information then privacy is not compromised by the application.”  The converse of that argument, however, is one that centers on a definition of privacy that hinges on the appropriate use of information.  If the user did not volunteer the information in an effort to join this “dating paradise” then privacy is certainly infringed.  Certainly, one can see that the application in the wrong hands has the potential for misuse.  But, what if we use the information for good, rather than evil?”  read more here! 

Ethical Relativism- Sky News Morphs into Anonymous? April 5, 2012

Posted by Chris Mark in Industry News, InfoSec & Privacy, Laws and Leglslation.
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By now most are probably aware of the email hacking scandal that severely damaged Rupert Murdoch’s NewsCorp empire.  NewsCorp reporters were caught illegally accessing phone calls of the UK Royal family and hacking into email accounts of individuals.  Murdochs’ son had to resign from his position as Chairman of BSkyB which own UK’s Sky News.

According to a report on CNN this morning UK news channel Sky News said Thursday it had authorized its journalists to hack into the e-mail of individual members of the public on two occasions.  The very same people (journalists) that will scream for “freedom of speech” and “freedom of the press” and claim journalistic integrity are now violating the public’s privacy in a scramble to maintain market share and increase revenue?  (more…)