IBM Distributes Malware-Infected USBs at Conference

Last August we blogged that an IBM study concluded: Trust No One. Well, I guess that even includes IBM. Several sources including SC Magazine are reporting that USB drives given out by IBM at the Australian Computer Emergency Response Team (AusCERT) 2010 conference were infected with malware.

Thanks to David Nardoni for this post.

US regulators form plans to encourage banks to better protect customers from online fraud

SC Magazine is reporting that "a panel with representatives from the FDIC, the Federal Reserve System and other agencies is reacting to the rapid evolution of malicious computer programs designed to drain accounts. Among its plans is to require financial institutions to contact customers through means beside the internet, following European banks actions in placing calls to clients' mobile phones to ensure that they intend to transfer money."

Read the entire story at SC Magazine.

Thanks to Richard Greenberg for this story.

Are Cars Next for Cybercriminals?

The New York Times reports that in a "paper, which will be presented at a computer security conference next week in Oakland, Calif., computer security specialists at the University of Washington and the University of California, San Diego, report that while modern cars have extensive safety engineering in the design of their computer control systems, little thought has been given to the potential threat of hackers who may want to take over the networks that increasingly control modern cars. ...The researchers asked what could happen if a hacker could gain access to the network of a car, said Tadayoshi Kohno, a University of Washington computer scientist. He said the research teams were able to demonstrate their ability to circumvent a wide variety of systems critical to the safety of drivers and passengers. ...They also demonstrated what they described as “composite attacks” that showed their ability to insert malicious software and then erase any evidence of tampering after a crash. ... The researchers were able to activate dozens of functions and almost all of them while the car was in motion."

Read the NY Times story.

Defense Department Creates New Cyber Command Led by Lt. General Keith Alexander

The Washington Post reports that Lt. General Keith B. Alexander, director of the National Security Agency, has been confirmed to head the new Cyber Command. The new command will have both an offensive and defensive capability, including both the ability to block incoming attacks and of launching attacks against enemy computer networks.

The New York Times reported last month that the Defense Department created Cyber Command in response to hundreds of thousands of attacks every day against the computer networks essential to the Pentagon and military by individual hackers, criminal groups and nations.