Hasta La Gadget!

Well, the Pentagon is finally fed up with hackers picking on its buddies and foreign intelligence taking shots at its computer systems, and has decided that such cyber attacks can constitute an act of war. Of course, the powers that be won’t be bombing you for simply sending them some spyware, but attempts to sabotage US infrastructure (power grids, public transit, and the like) may be met with heavy artillery. It’s unclear how our government will identify the origin of an attack or decide when it’s serious enough to start shooting, but Uncle Sam is looking to its allies to help create a consensus answer for those questions. The retaliatory revelation is a part of the Pentagon’s new cyber strategy that’ll be made public in June — so saboteurs beware, your next internet incursion might get you an ICBM in your backyard.

Pentagon says cyber attacks are acts of war: send us a worm, get a missile in return? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 May 2011 14:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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RSA SecureID dongles add a layer of protection to everything from office pilates class schedules to corporate email accounts, with banks, tech companies, and even U.S. defense contractors using hardware security tokens to protect their networks. Following a breach at RSA in March, however, the company urged clients to boost other security methods, such as passwords and PIN codes, theoretically protecting networks from hackers that may have gained the ability to duplicate those critical SecureIDs. Now, Lockheed Martin is claiming that its network has come under attack, prompting RSA to issue 90,000 replacement tokens to Lockheed employees. The DoD contractor isn’t detailing what data hackers may have accessed, but a SecureID bypass should clearly be taken very seriously, especially when that little keychain dongle is helping to protect our national security. If last month’s Sony breach didn’t already convince you to beef up your own computer security, now might be a good time to swap in ‘Pa55werD1’ for the rather pathetic ‘password’ you’ve been using to protect your own company’s trade secrets for the last decade.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Update: According to Reuters, Lockheed Martin sent out a statement to clarify that it promptly took action to thwart the attack one week ago, and consequently “no customer, program or employee personal data has been compromised.” Phew! [Thanks, JD]

RSA SecureID hackers may have accessed Lockheed Martin trade secrets, cafeteria menus (update: no data compromised) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 29 May 2011 11:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Continue reading Eurocopter X3 hybrid sets new speed record of 430km/h, readies for next search and rescue mission

Eurocopter X3 hybrid sets new speed record of 430km/h, readies for next search and rescue mission originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 20 May 2011 09:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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No need to worry about that loud, fiery exploding noise in Florida last week — that was the sound of us all becoming a little bit safer. An Atlas 5 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral on Saturday, carrying Lockheed Martin’s Space-Based Infrared Systems (SBIRS) Geo-1. The spacecraft will be followed by three more satellites launched in the next five years, all totaling $17.6 billion. Ominously referred to as “persistent overhead surveillance,” the $1.3 billion first piece of the SBIRS constellation missile defense system is set to replace the antiquated Defense Support Program launched in 1970. It’s a small price to pay to keep those darn space invaders out of our hair.

Continue reading First piece of SBIRS missile defense system launched, not shot down

First piece of SBIRS missile defense system launched, not shot down originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 May 2011 03:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Unless you’ve been living in Tora Bora, you’ve undoubtedly heard that a few minor things happened this week. As such, for this week’s toolkit, we’ve rounded up nine objects that we think the U.S. military probably found helpful in their pursuit of Osama bin Laden. More »