Kevin G. Coleman

 

Posts by Kevin G. Coleman

Has Stuxnet, Duqu and Flame Ignited a Cyber Arms Race?

By

Intelligence organizations are racing to collect cyber intelligence in efforts to identify and monitor the development, use and sale of offensive cyber capabilities by individual actors, criminal organizations, terrorist groups and nation states. This is a formidable undertaking to say the least. Consider the facilities and infrastructure needed to make a tank. Now think about the facilities and infrastructure needed to make a cyber weapon. All you need is ambition coupled with a laptop, Internet connection, programming skills, a search engine for research and maybe a couple of books – all of which are openly available. Add to that the hacker underground and black-market for malicious code and sale of newly discovered vulnerabilities and you have everything needed for the development and sale of cyber weapons. Keep reading →

 /  Published July 2, 2012 at 3:30 PM

Sophisticated Cyber Weapon Goes Down

By


Cyber investigators looking at the Stuxnet code determined that on June 24th the sophisticated cyber weapon would stop operating and remove itself from the systems it had infiltrated.

This function was identified long ago and cyber researchers have patiently waited to see what if any implications this will have on the tens of thousands of computers in more than 155 countries the sophisticated cyber weapon had infected. By all accounts this is a self-destruction, an unusual function not often seen embedded within malicious code. The inclusion of this function is a strong indicator that those behind this cyber attack did not believe that Iran would discover the malicious code. Keep reading →

 /  Published June 25, 2012 at 12:00 PM

Cyber Intelligence: Cyber And The Threat of Wildfires

By

Cyber intelligence comes in a variety of forms and from many places and sources. For years intelligence organizations look at routine communications by organizations they target to gain insight from the communications that the targeted group or organization has with its members.

For a while now intelligence organizations have been monitoring an online magazine known as Inspire which is said to be produced by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Keep reading →

 /  Published June 18, 2012 at 12:30 PM

Cybersecurity Market: Hot or Cool?

By

You can tell when a market is heating up by the projections of analysts and forecasts by market report writers. That is certainly the case when it comes to the cyber security market. Some research suggests that the 2012 global market for cybersecurity products and services ranges between a pessimistic view of about $55 billion USD and an optimistic view of nearly $70 billion USD with an average annual increase of $5 billion USD. With 26 million new strains of malware identified in 2011 it is easy to justify this level of security product and service sales. Keep reading →

 /  Published June 14, 2012 at 9:00 AM

Cyber Intelligence: Stuxnet Disclosure Raises Spectre Of Retaliation

By

The big news reverberating through cybersecurity circles last week, reported by the New York Times, that the U.S. was behind the Stuxnet cyber attack on Iranian nuclear enrichments back in 2010 has set off a new firestorm of concern about the likelihood of retaliation.

The news report was based on information provided by “unnamed participants in the program.” In the article it states that the information in the piece was called an “account of the American and Israeli effort to undermine the Iranian nuclear program is based on interviews over the past 18 months with current and former American, European and Israeli officials involved in the program, as well as a range of outside experts.” Keep reading →

 /  Published June 4, 2012 at 8:01 AM

Cyber Intelligence: The Flame Intensifies

By

In a move that suggests the incendiary impact of malicious software, Iran has now publicly threatened the United States over the Flame malware incident that has gained worldwide attention in recent days.

Flame has been dubbed the “utlimate spy” and for good reason. Iran was the country hit the hardest by the state-of-the-art piece of malware. Keep reading →

 /  Published May 31, 2012 at 8:01 AM

Cyber Intelligence: Flame – The Swiss Army Knife Of Cyber Weapons

By

It happened again. A number of countries have been hit by what has been called the most sophisticated piece of malware seen to date.

The malware is called Flame – appropriate given the number of computers that have been burned by this latest cyber weapon. Keep reading →

 /  Published May 29, 2012 at 10:35 AM

Cyber Intelligence: “Every Classified Database” Compromised?

By

It is hard to go online without seeing yet another report about an inappropriate disclosure of classified information and last week was no different.

From an undisclosed location in Canada, Chris Doyon — also known under the hacker handle of Commander X, who is an active member of the group known as Anonymous (and pictured in an FBI photo above) — recently told the Postmedia in Canada: “Right now we have access to every classified databases in the U.S. government. It’s a matter of when we leak the contents of those databases, not if.” Keep reading →

 /  Published May 21, 2012 at 1:58 PM

Cyber Intelligence: Sharing Intelligence With Infrastructure Providers

By

The spirit of necessity has taken hold and U.S. Cyber Command, the National Security Agency (NSA) and even the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) along with the office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) are sharing cyber intelligence with critical infrastructure providers and technology companies in the private sector.

Of course this is done on a case by case basis and there clearly needs to be an identified threat and of course a need to know. Keep reading →

 /  Published May 14, 2012 at 11:33 AM

Cybersecurity: Top Secret System Compromised

By

The Ministry of Defence Main Building in London.

Information became public last week about another successful cyber attack. While that has become the norm, what makes this different is that this successful attack hit the UK Ministry of Defence’s Top Secret System. Keep reading →

 /  Published May 7, 2012 at 12:10 PM
Page 3 of 81234567...8