U.S. to create cybersecurity military command!

WASHINGTON, April 21 (Reuters) - The Obama administration plans to create a new military command to focus on Pentagon computer networks and offensive capabilities in cyberwarfare, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing current and former officials familiar with the plans. The initiative will reshape the military’s efforts to protect its networks from attacks by hackers, especially those from countries such as China and Russia, the newspaper said.

Pentagon officials were quoted as saying the new command will be unveiled within the next few weeks.
The cyber command will likely to be led by a military official of four-star rank and initially would be part of the Pentagon’s Strategic Command, the newspaper said, citing officials familiar with the proposal.

Spokesmen for the Pentagon and White House were not immediately available for comment. President Barack Obama is expected to announce a plan to improve cybersecurity this month after completion of a White House review of the issue, the Wall Street Journal said.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates plans to announce the creation of a new military “cyber command” after the roll-out of the White House review, the report said, citing multiple military officials familiar with the plan.

The newspaper earlier reported that computer spies have repeatedly breached the Pentagon’s costliest weapons program — the $300 billion Joint Strike Fighter project.

The identity of the attackers and the amount of damage to the project could not be learned, the paper said.

The Journal quoted former U.S. officials as saying the attacks seemed to have originated in China, although it noted it was difficult to determine the origin because of the ease of hiding identities online.

The Chinese Embassy said China “opposes and forbids all forms of cyber crimes,” the Journal said.

Culled from Reuter News

McAfee Annual Security Report: Three Major Global Challenges Emerged

First, cybercrime isn’t yet enough of a priority for governments around the world to allow the fight against it to make real headway worldwide. Added to that, the physical threat of terrorism and economic collapse is diverting political attention elsewhere.

In contrast, cybercriminals are sharpening their focus. Recession is fertile ground for criminal activity as fraudsters clamour to capitalize on rising use of the Internet and the climate of fear and anxiety. Are we in danger of irrevocably damaging consumer trust and, in effect, limiting the chances of economic recovery?

Second, cross border law enforcement remains a long-standing hurdle to fighting cybercrime. Local issues mean laws are difficult to enforce transnationally.

Read more

Cisco: Worldwide cyber security threats set to rise as economy slows down

Cisco report warns of more sophisticated, targeted internet attacks, says spam accounts for nearly 200 billion messages each day, approximately 90 per cent of worldwide e-mail.

Cisco has warned that internet-based attacks are becoming increasingly sophisticated and specialised as profit-driven criminals continue to hone their approach to stealing data from businesses, employees and consumers. In the 2008 edition of the Cisco Annual Security Report, the company identifies the year’s top security threats and offers recommendations for protecting networks against attacks that are propagating more rapidly, becoming increasingly difficult to detect, and exploiting technological and human vulnerabilities.

“Every year we see threats evolve as criminals discover new ways to exploit people, networks and the internet. This year’s trends underscore how important it is to look at all basic elements of security policies and technologies,” said Patrick Peterson, Cisco fellow and chief security researcher.

According to the report:

• The overall number of disclosed vulnerabilities grew by 11.5 per cent over 2007;
• Vulnerabilities in virtualisation technology nearly tripled from 35 to 103 year over year;
• Attacks are becoming increasingly blended, cross-vector and targeted;
• Cisco researchers saw a 90 per cent rise in threats originating from legitimate domains, nearly double what was seen in 2007;
• The volume of malware successfully propagated via e-mail attachments is declining. Over the past two years (2007-2008), the number of attachment-based attacks decreased by 50 per cent from the previous two years (2005-2006).
• According to Cisco, spam accounts for nearly 200 billion messages each day, approximately 90 per cent of worldwide e-mail. The US is the biggest source at 17.2 per cent. Other countries who contribute spam include Turkey (9.2 per cent), Russia (eight per cent), Canada (4.7 per cent), Brazil (4.1 per cent), India (3.5 per cent), Poland (3.4 per cent), South Korea (3.3 per cent), Germany and the UK (2.9 per cent each).

• Phishing. While targeted spear-phishing represents about one per cent of all phishing attacks, it is expected to become more prevalent as criminals personalise spam and make messages appear more credible.
• Botnets. Botnets have become a nexus of criminal activity on the internet. This year, numerous legitimate Web sites were infected with IFrames, malicious code injected by botnets that redirect visitors to malware-downloading sites.
• Social engineering. The use of social engineering to entice victims to open a file or click links continues to grow. Cisco expects that in 2009, social engineering techniques will increase in number, vectors and sophistication.
• Reputation hijacking. More online criminals are using real e-mail accounts with large, legitimate Web mail providers to send spam. Reputation hijacking offers increased deliverability because it makes spam harder to detect and block. Cisco estimates that in 2008 spam resulting from e-mail reputation hijacking of the top three Web mail providers accounted for less than 1 per cent of all spam worldwide but constituted 7.6 per cent of the providers’ mail traffic.

Findings for the report came in part from Cisco Security Intelligence Operations, an aggregation of tightly integrated data and security services derived from multiple Cisco divisions and devices to continuously assess and correlate Internet threats and vulnerabilities. In 2009, researchers from Cisco security teams say they will be watching the following trends closely:

• Insider threats. Negligent or disgruntled employees can threaten corporate security. The global economic downturn may prompt more security incidents involving employees, making it crucial for IT, HR, and other lines of business to collaborate on mitigating threats;
• Data loss. Whether through carelessness, breaches by hackers, or from insiders, data loss is a growing problem that can lead to grave financial consequences. Technology, education and clear, well-enforced data security policies can make compliance easier and reduce incidents;
• Mobility, remote working, and new tools as risk factors. The trend toward remote working and the related use of Web-based tools, mobile devices, virtualisation, ‘cloud computing’ and similar technologies to enhance productivity will continue in 2009. It will be a challenge for security personnel. The edge of the network is expanding rapidly, and the increasing number of devices and applications in use can make the expanding network more susceptible to new threats.

Expression of Gratitude to Our Official Supporters, Partners and Sponsors

As we embark on the new year journey of 2009, the Board and Management of Global Network for Cybersolution Ltd/Gte would like to express our profound gratitude to all our pioneered anti-cybercrime and cybersecurity advocacy supporters, sponsors and partners.

We would like to give exclusive special recognition to the support of His Excellency, President Musa Yar’dua, -The President and Commander-In-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency, Dr. Jonathan Goodluck, -The Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria , and the following government institutions and corporate bodies for supporting our historic and the 1^st National Cybercrime and Cybersecurity conference in Nigeria;

Government Institution official supporters

• The Presidency
• Federal Ministry of Justice of Nigeria (FMoJ)
• National Information Technology Development Agency (N.I.T.D.A)
  (Under Federal Ministry of Science and Technology)
• Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC)
• Ghana-India Koffi-Annan Center of Excellence in ICT, Ghana.
• Directorate of Cybersecurity – Office of National Security Adviser
• Representatives of the Sokoto, Kano, Bauchi, Imo, Nassarawa, Rivers, Lagos, and Ogun State Governments
• Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC)
• Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC)
• Nigeria Police Headquarters

Professional Bodies Supporters

• Computer Professional of Nigeria (CPN)
• Nigeria Computer Society (NCS)
• Nigerian Internet Registration Association (NIRA)
• Information Technology Association of Nigeria (ITAN)
  and host of others

Financial Institutions & Corporate Bodies/Sponsors

• First Bank of Nigeria PLC
• Access Bank of Nigeria PLC
• CHAMS PLC
• Dlink Nigeria Ltd
• Programmos
• System Specs Nig Ltd
• Omatek PLC
• Micromedia Computer Network Ltd
•  Connect Technologies Ltd
• Olujinmi & Akeredolu Chambers
• Paradigm Initiative Nigeria
• Zinox Computers
• ennovate NIGERIA

We appreciate your support, participation, sponsorship, and partnership that enabled us to succeed during the 1st National Conference on Cybercrime and Cybersecurity hosted in Abuja this year. We have all pioneered the emergence of Cyber-safety and Cybe security-legacy for Nigerian, and Africa continental.

We assured you the outcome and recommendations of the conference have been submitted to all relevant federal policy making institutions in the country, right from the presidency, National Security Adviser office, Nigeria Communication Commission, Federal Ministry of Justice as well as National Info. Tech. Dev. Agency (NITDA). We can assure you that Federal Government is taking major step toward implementing some of the recommendations.

Our collective actions at the conference is just the beginning of the enthronement of anti-cybercrime and cybersecurity culture in line with Global Cybersecurity Agenda as mandated by World Information Summit on Information Society.

The sensitization conference is reawakening policy makers and National legislative leaders, and is alreadily yielding unimaginable results some of which are; altering yet-to-be release New National IT Policy, accelerating implementation of National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection policy, 2nd reading of Cybercrime Law bill at the senate, sensitization of all relevant IT security stakeholders and professional bodies, as well renewed National media awareness coverage focusing on Cybercrime and Cybersecurity in the country.

We wish to assure you of our continued commitment and renewed drive to providing Anti-cybercrime initiatives and Cybersecuirty Advocacy, and look forward to a more rewarding partnership with our supporters and sponsors in this new year of Cyber-Realignment.

Shortly, we would be sending to your mailbox our unveiling Cyber-Safety and Security programs for our nations’ vulnerabilities. Please watch out for these program.

We use this opportunity to wish you all a prosperous new year.

Thank you and best regards.

Chairman LOC - Cybercrime Conference ‘08
Tel: +234-9-7801555
E-Mail: segun@cybersolutionafrica.org
Alt. E-Mail: cybersolutionafrica@hotmail.com
Website: www.cybersolutionafrica.org