Techdirt. Stories filed under "cyberattack" Easily digestible tech news... http://www.techdirt.com/ en-us Techdirt. Stories filed under "cyberattack"http://www.techdirt.com/images/td-88x31.gifhttp://www.techdirt.com/ Tue, 2 Oct 2012 07:13:38 PDT White House Conveniently Confirms 'Cyberattack' Story Just As Its Pushing Cybersecurity Exec Order Mike Masnick http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20121001/16131220560/white-house-conveniently-confirms-cyberattack-story-just-as-its-pushing-cybersecurity-exec-order.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20121001/16131220560/white-house-conveniently-confirms-cyberattack-story-just-as-its-pushing-cybersecurity-exec-order.shtml Chinese hackers broke into a White House military office computer system with a "spear-phishing attack (like regular phishing, but directly targeted at a victim)". The White House has confirmed the story while saying that nothing sensitive was accessed:
A White House official speaking on background late Sunday confirmed there was an attempted hack but said that it affected an unclassified network, was “isolated” and that there was no evidence that any data had been stolen.
I'm not a huge fan of any sort of conspiracy theories, but it does seem questionable that this comes out just as the White House is circulating an executive order dealing with "cybersecurity," and so soon after the administration's preferred Cybersecurity Act got rejected by the Senate. The Free Beacon website that first broke the story seems to use it to suggest that the administration is "soft" on security -- though it was conservatives in the Senate who blocked the Cybersecurity Act from passing in the first place.

Either way, it seems likely that people are trying to hack into key networks all the time. This doesn't sound like much of a big deal, but the fact that the White House is confirming the news just as it's pushing this exec order (while still hoping to get legislation through in the lame duck session), at least makes you wonder if the whole thing isn't being "leaked" on purpose to get cybersecurity stories back into the press to push for the exec order or for a revival of the bill.

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]]> coincidence... http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20121001/16131220560 Mon, 10 Aug 2009 18:52:23 PDT Cyberattack That Brought Down Twitter & Facebook Only Highlighted The Guy It Hoped To Silence Mike Masnick http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090810/0256285821.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090810/0256285821.shtml silence an economics professor in the republic of Georgia, who online has gone by the name cyxymu. Jaokar noticed that cyxymu had very few followers on his Twitter account, but since the news has come out that he was the target of the attack, thousands of new followers have started paying attention to him. So whoever ran the attacks (cyxymu blames the KGB), which sought to first discredit cyxymu and then take him offline, seems to have only done the opposite. They've suddenly given him the world's attention.

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]]> whoops http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20090810/0256285821 Fri, 25 Jan 2008 17:20:00 PST Where Does The Internet Rank As A Utility? Michael Ho http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080122/18362043.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080122/18362043.shtml speculating on what the world would be like if the Internet was taken away somehow, asking various "futurists" what the ramifications would be. Fortunately, most of the respondents don't see such a thing happening -- unless a major catastrophic disaster occurred in which losing the Internet would be the least of our worries. But from there, they go on to predict the failure of web-based businesses such as eBay, Google and then just about any business that processes credit cards in a modern way. The futurists also discuss how society has become dependent on offshoots of the Internet, citing examples such as people's addiction to email, online dating and MMORPGs.

None of the predictions are particularly surprising, but the story does bring up the question of how vital the Internet is (or isn't, depending on your point of view). A couple examples come to mind where the Internet has been shut down temporarily. In mid-2007, the tactics of cyberwarfare were demonstrated against Estonia. After those cyberattacks, though, attention focused more on who was responsible rather than on the damage, since the actual effects to the country were pretty minor given that the interruptions only lasted a few hours, and not days or weeks. Closer to home, there was the 2003 power outage in the Northeast -- but that was electricity, not just the Internet. So based on these examples, it seems like the Internet isn't quite as important as water, gas or electricity, but perhaps it could be gaining on the power grid. Additionally, it's reassuring to know that futurists aren't projecting a 'Max Headroom' dystopia where telecommunications are more important than Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

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