Let’s play a little game called Good Idea/Bad Idea. Round One: Saving money. That’s a good idea! Round two: Saving thousands of dollars in a Bitcoin wallet that’s highly susceptible to hackers and heists. As the customers of Bitcoin payment processor BIPS will tell you, that’s a bad idea.
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Microsoft has come up with a spanking new Cybercrime Center headquarters as part of their efforts to highlight its fight against cybercrime. This particular project has also been admitted by Microsoft to be a “CSI kind of place,” where it does seem to be focused on building awareness of potential threats as well as promoting Microsoft’s efforts when it comes to the non-stop fight against cybercrime. Microsoft Digital Crimes Unit general counsel David Finn said, “It’s like a functional movie set.But there is real-life cybercrime going on, and these are real-life labs to fight it in a cutting-edge way. This is not a TV show – we have important cases we’re working on right now, right on the other side of the window.”
Microsoft figured out that around half of online adults have fallen under the shadow of cybercrime in the past year, and cybercrime itself is said to cost the global economy up to $500 billion each year – now that is certainly a whole lot of money. Those who drop by the headquarters will be treated with information about specific cases which Microsoft did work on, where among them include the Citadel botnet which was believed to have infected millions of computers, and it was used to steal around $500 million from businesses and individuals. [Press Release]
Cybercrime Center By Microsoft original content from Ubergizmo. 
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Virtual crime can lead to very real damage, and the European Parliament knows this well enough to have just issued a draft directive toughening up the EU’s penalties for internet-based violations. Get caught running a botnet and you’ll face a minimum of three years in prison; dare to attack critical infrastructure and you may spend five years behind bars. Don’t think of hiring someone for corporate espionage, either — the directive makes whole companies liable for online offenses committed in their name. EU nations will have two years to adopt the directive as law, although an existing, unofficial agreement suggests that at least some countries won’t wait that long to enforce the new rules.
Filed under: Internet
Via: Reuters
Source: European Parliament
The US Department of Defense told a Washington thinktank yesterday that it would spend $23 billion in the next four years to kick its cyber defenses up a gear. That’ll include building out a “secure 4G wireless network that will get iPads, iPhones and Android devices online by mid-2014,” according to Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Martin Dempsey. The DoD recently approved Blackberry 10, iOS and Samsung Galaxy devices with Knox, and General Dempsey himself was packing a smartphone he said would “make Batman and James Bond jealous.” While there were no details about how such a mobile network would be locked down, he did say that all 15,000 of the Department’s computer networks would be consolidated into an enterprise cloud system to increase security. All that is to combat a “17-fold” cyber warfare increase in just over two years — no doubt including recent Chinese hacking that the White House took the rare step of recently highlighting.
Filed under: Wireless, Internet
Via: The Verge
Many of the Pentagon’s most advanced weapon systems — including the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and PAC-3 Patriot missile system — were compromised by Chinese hackers, according to a classified document obtained by the Washington Post. The list of weapons was part of an earlier DoD report condemning Chinese cyber-espionage activities, but had been confidential until now. Other systems hacked are said to include the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), the Navy’s Aegis ballistic-missile defense system, the F/A-18 fighter, V-22 Osprey and the Littoral Combat Ship used for shore patrol. Many of these form the foundation of defense systems from Europe to the Persian Gulf — and their breach goes a long way toward explaining Washington’s unprecedented dressing-down of China.
Filed under: Misc
Via: The Verge
Source: Washington Post
The US Department of Defense has taken the unusual step of singling out China’s cyber-spying activities in its annual report. Though the government has tacitly chided such deeds before and even threatened sanctions, yesterday’s document marks the DoD’s first direct allegation of Chinese espionage. It said that hacks directed toward government and business “appear to be attributable directly to the Chinese government and military” for the purpose of “exfiltrating information” to benefit its defense and industry. The paper also highlighted China’s “lack of transparency” with regard to its military, saying that expenditures on cyber-military operations and other defense spending were likely far in excess of the $114 billion it reported. Meanwhile, China denied the accusations, saying it was equally the victim of similar breaches, and suggested that the two nations work together to resolve the problem.
Filed under: Misc
Via: BBC
Source: US Department of Defense
Sure, it’s not the first elite cybercrime-fighting team we’ve heard of, it’s also not everyday you hear the likes of Intel, Lockheed Martin and AMD buddying up on research. The companies are looking to address the “complex problems” in cyber security, with the private, non-profit group (which also includes Honeywell and RSA/EMC) aiming to work somewhere between government-funded security research and commercial products already out there. The Cyber Security Research Alliance is already in talks with NIST, and plans to launch a security research symposium early next year. The CSRA will also start tracking cyber security R&D, “prioritize” those aforementioned challenges, and hopefully come together for the greater good.
Continue reading AMD, Intel and RSA team up, form the Cyber Security Research Alliance
Filed under: Misc, Internet, Mobile, AMD, Intel
AMD, Intel and RSA team up, form the Cyber Security Research Alliance originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 25 Oct 2012 10:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Google’s pretty much aced searching for your latest whim, so now it’s turning its efforts to criminals. Working with the Council on Foreign Relations, the internet giant has been exploring ways of using its technology for the greater good. Yahoo reports that Google Ideas will meet with the CFR (and other groups) this week to develop global crime fighting strategies. Other attendees include Juan Pablo Escobar (son of Pablo,) assistant US defense secretary Andrew Weber and the DEA director of counter-terrorism Brian Dodd. Look out for the Google+ most wanted hangouts coming soon.
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
Google searches for criminals in bid to reduce global crime originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 17 Jul 2012 12:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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