Three views on Pres. Obama’s delayed selection of cybersecurity czar
September 15, 2009
Since his historic May 29th speech calling for strong U.S. cybersecurity policy, Pres. Obama has been silent on the topic, as internal White House debate continues about the naming of a cybersecurity adviser reporting directly to Obama. Here are three perspectives on the delay:
Patricia Titus, Chief Information Security Officer, Unisys Federal Systems. LastWatchdog guest blog post. 15Sept2009
While the delay in appointing a national cyber security coordinator is cause for …More
The stage is set for a Vista worm, as Microsoft scrambles to ready SMB2 patch
September 9, 2009
A strong dose of déjà vu enshrouds the heightened security advisory Microsoft issued today about the newly-disclosed SMB2 zero-day vulnerability in the Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 operating systems.
It was one year ago today — September 2008 — that Chinese malware brokers were spotted selling a $37 tool kit that allowed anyone to exploit a newly-disclosed RPC-DCOM vulnerability in Windows XP and Windows Server 2000.
To its credit, Microsoft …More
SMB2 zero-day flaw could expose Vista PCs to Conficker-like worm attack
September 9, 2009
Microsoft has just disclosed that the SMB2 zero day vulnerability — for which no patch exists — is remotely exploitable.
The software giant is raising a bright red flag because this affects all Windows Vista and certain Windows Server 2008 PCs.
I’ve begun polling some top security researchers and analysts about the go-forward implications of advisory no. 975497 just issued by Microsoft.
The backdrop: Independent researcher Laurent Gaffie earlier this week took credit for discovering — and publicly disclosing — the …More
The Internet’s 40th anniversary timeline of milestones
September 2, 2009
The Associated Press and Symantec have each compiled timelines to mark the 40th anniversary of the creation of the Internet. The compilation below begins with LastWatchdog’s description of the current threat landscape. Combined and supplementing the timelines reveal how a military grade experiment, designed with an open architecture that preserves s anonymity, evolved into a global force, embraced with equal fervor by corporations, braggarts and criminals.
Summer of 2009: Bad URLs swamp the Internet. …More
Privacy advocates push back against Google-led effort to kill online advertising rules
September 1, 2009
Do you believe tracking people’s every move online should be considered an invasion of privacy?
Or that Google might someday use online behavioral profiling to help target ads for predatory loans to consumers who can least afford it?
That’s the stance ten top consumer and privacy advocacy groups are taking as they rallied round today and called on Congress to back the Federal Trade Commission’s move toward more aggressive policing of …More
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