Arms makers turn focus from bombs to bytes

[sunny]

EADS Chairman and CEO Louis Gallois speaks at 2010 Reuters Aerospace and Defense Summit 2010 in Washington, September 8, 2010.
Credit: Reuters/Hyungwon Kang

By Deepa Seetharaman

(Reuters) - Global arms makers that have long relied on planes, tanks and guns for profits are increasingly focusing on the bits and bytes of cybersecurity as they bend to new U.S. government priorities and a potential new battlefield.

Weapons manufacturers are snapping up smaller companies that specialize in cybersecurity. This is a fragmented market with smaller niche players whose services range from thwarting threats to computer networks to posing them in order to help defenders spot vulnerabilities.

"We have created a special business unit for cybersecurity because we think that it's a field of expansion for us," EADS (EAD.PA) Chief Executive Louis Gallois told the Reuters Aerospace and Defense Summit in Washington this week.

Cybersecurity is a growing concern across the U.S. government. This year, the Pentagon tapped Army General Keith Alexander as the first commander of U.S. Cyber Command. It was created to better defend the Pentagon's 15,000 computer networks that link more than 7 million machines.

It will centralize command of U.S. military cyberspace operations, pull together existing resources and seek synergies that officials say did not previously exist. The command is to become fully operational next month.

The confidential nature of the work as well as the rapidly morphing nature of the threat makes for big business opportunities, executives said.

"It's hard to put your arms around the size of that market due to the classified nature of that business," said L-3 Communications Holdings Inc (LLL.N) CEO Michael Strianese.

"You read about the bad things that happen, data being taken or things being hacked into in the public domain," Strianese told the Reuters summit. "Can you imagine what's going on that you don't read about?"

EXPIRATION: 'THREE MONTHS'

Alastair MacWillson, a senior executive in Accenture's cybersecurity practice, estimated the value of the global cybersecurity market at $80 billion to $140 billion, depending on how broadly it is defined.

Boeing Co (BA.N), the Pentagon's No. 2 supplier by sales, has made several acquisitions in the cyber sector, including the purchase of Argon ST earlier this year. Market Research Media has estimated the federal government will spend $55 billion between 2010 and 2015 on cybersecurity.

Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N), the Pentagon's No. 1 supplier, and Northrop Grumman Corp (NOC.N), the third-biggest, also told the summit they were keeping an eye out for possible cyber-related acquisitions.

A key challenge is that any defense against cyber threats must be constantly updated. A given defense could have a shelf life of as little as three months, Lockheed Martin Chief Executive Robert Stevens said at the summit.

"You don't want to buy something that has a rapidly expiring value because you own it as a core proprietary solution and it's of very little value in a year or two," Stevens said. "Almost by the time you integrate the company, the value could be gone."

'TALENT WARFARE'

This paves the way for what Accenture's MacWillson termed "talent warfare" among companies jockeying to enter the cybersecurity space.

"Cyber to us involves predominantly having the right very smart people and then creating a climate for those people where they have all the contemporary means and mechanisms of understanding the cutting edge of how technology is being applied and can respond with real creativity and adaptability to that cutting edge," Stevens said.

Defense companies are not the only ones eyeing cybersecurity acquisitions. Top suppliers already compete and partner with the information technology companies, and insiders expect competition to heat up.

"Not only the players in the defense industry, but there's plenty of commercial companies that are also players in the cyber market that have technologies," Strianese said.

(Reporting by Deepa Seetharaman; additional reporting by Jim Wolf and Karen Jacobs, editing by Matthew Lewis)

[sunny]

Internet is Latest Battleground in Thailand's Heated Political Landscape

The Internet is the latest battleground in Thailand's stormy political climate as the government attempts to shut down Web sites critical of it and the monarchy. The government is using tough laws to silence online criticism, but net users are finding ways to be heard.

During months of political protests earlier this year, the Thai government shut down thousands of Web sites it said fanned the protests or criticized the royal family.

May protests

The protests, which left 90 people dead and more than 1,400 injured, ended on May 19 when the army dispersed the crowds.

But the battle over the Internet continues.

Internet crackdown

Using the Computer Crimes Act and an emergency decree, the government shuts sites it thinks support the red-shirt protest movement. Media rights groups say more than 50,000 Web sites have been closed.

Chiranuch Premchaiporn is a director with Prachatai.com, an on-line news site the government shut down in April. A big concern for the government apparently was the site's discussion boards.

She says Prachatai shut the discussion board in July. Chiranuch faces charges under the Computer Crimes Act and if convicted could go to jail.

"Even I believe in the freedom of expression or free speech but I understand some limitation and we also set up a kind of system to moderate some content that can be considered violate the rights of the people or violate the law," Chiranuch said.

Government position

Government spokesman Panitan Wattanaygorn defends the Internet censorship policy.

"The situation under the emergency decree is very different," said Panitan. "On one hand we still keep the freedom of the media. But on the other hand we do look into certain messages that create tension, confrontation and push people to confront among one another and that activity is monitored."

A decade ago, it was easier for the government to control the media. TV and radio have long been state-controlled.

And newspapers faced attacks during Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's administration earlier in this decade.

Tough to control

Chris Baker, an author and political analyst on Thailand, says new technologies are harder to control.

"In the past the government was able to control all broadcast media very closely and generally could influence the press," Baker said. "But that situation has totally changed with cable and satellite TV spinning out of control, community radio and the whole Internet as well."

Prachatai.com is an example of that. Pinpaka Ngamson, an editor for the site, says the government could only shut it temporarily.

"Now it's not difficult for us to work anymore, we know how to cope with this kind of order from the government," said Pinpaka. "We just change our server and use another URL [Uniform Resource Locator] and go on with our work."

Media plea

Thai media commentators have called on the government to rethink on-line censorship. They say it reinforces international opinion that Thailand's media is increasingly less free.

Supinya Klanarong, a media activist, says the Computer Crimes Act is applied too broadly beyond insults against the royal family. Supinya says more media restrictions have emerged since the anti-government protests ended in May.

"It means a general opposition Web site related to the red-shirt movement or the critics of the government are also being blocked as concern for national security, too," Supinya said. "So it's not only about the issue related to les majeste but is also about political Web site in general, especially the dissident point of and the opposition."

Some of the concerns appear to have been heard.

Improvements

Government leaders say they hope to improve draft legislation on the Internet laws.

Panitan, the government spokesman, says the there is a need to balance security and Internet freedom.

"On the one hand we regulate these activities in such a way that it's not going to harm our national interests," Panitan added. "Specific activities may not be allowed to be in those Web sites. But on the other hand we want to keep other communications open."

But media groups such as the Southeast Asian Press Alliance say the government has been intimidating Web users who engage in "sensitive political discussion". The group warns that shutting down Web sites may backfire and lead to the radicalization of those who post political comments on-line.

Thai Political Battles Move to the Internet

[sunny]

US Law Enforcement Holds Meeting on Cyber Security

As the world becomes increasingly dependent on the Internet and computer technology to conduct its business, its social and international relationships and its wars, the threat to those networks from terrorists and criminals becomes more dire. A three day FBI-sponsored conference on cyber-security was attended by leaders in law enforcement, industry, government, and the military and reports on some of the issues involved and strategies proposed.

In the 20 seconds it will take to listen to this paragraph, the world will conduct 680,000 Google searches and send 88 million emails. The world's half billion Facebook users will post 140,000 status updates, and the "Automated Clearing House" computer network that connects all American financial institutions will process 12,000 electronic payments.

Indeed, the near-boundless scope of Internet use underscores the global threat of cyber crime and terrorism, said FBI Director Robert Mueller during his speech at the 2010 International Conference on Cyber Security at New York's Fordham University. "We live in a wired world. And our networks help us to stay in touch with family and with friends, collaborate with colleagues worldwide and shop for everything from books to houses. And they help us manage our finances, and make businesses and government more efficient," he said.

But he adds our reliance on these networks also makes us vulnerable. "Criminals use the Internet to commit fraud and theft on a grand scale and to prey upon our children. Spies and terrorists can exploit our networks by attacking our critical infrastructure and threatening our national security," he said.

What makes Internet-based terrorism particularly challenging, says Austin Berglas, who oversees over 1000 special agents in the FBI's New York Cyber Branch, is the way the Internet makes their identities and physical locations extremely difficult to trace. "They don't have to park a car on 42nd street and blow it up. They could disable financial institutions networks and not allow people to access to their funds. They can bring down electrical grids and power grids. They could create a power blackout in New York City. That's an act of terrorism," he said.

The Internet's ability to transmit information instantly across international borders is a strength when done for legitimate purposes, but a huge vulnerability when the intent is malicious or criminal. The threat is even more dangerous when military computer networks are involved.

U.S. Navy Captain Daryl Hancock is the intelligence officer assigned to Cyber Command for the United States 10th Fleet. He says that much like the business and government sectors, much of the navy's business is conducted over the World Wide Web.

"We have some closed networks but much of what we rely on is the World Wide Web, the Internet as you know it. That's how we move our supplies; that's how we communicate through those mechanisms. Our biggest concern right now is espionage. People don't do espionage nowadays so much cloak and dagger. They do it through cyberspace. They can do it with a thumb drive. They can do it through hacking into your secure networks and they can exfiltrate [take out] the data that way. So we're focused on defending those networks and keeping them secure," he said.

Hancock says that some Navy weapons systems remain connected to the World Wide Web, and that this makes it possible, at least in theory, for outsiders to hack into those systems, and launch weapons remotely. That's one reason why a huge part of his job is educating Navy personnel to be the first line of defense against cyber-threats.

"We've got to change the culture of our sailors in order to make them aware of the threats and vulnerabilities so that they can't just introduce things or charge their iPod on a computer that's hooked into our network, or use a thumb drive that's not been cleared and is safe. It's difficult nowadays when everybody has a cell phone, everybody has a Facebook page. And a lot of that is education - just helping them understand the importance that they play," he said.

As our dependence on the Internet skyrockets, so do the sophistication and number of cyber-security threats, and therefore the number of business dedicated to creating new products and approaches to counter those threats. Traditionally, that has meant firewalls, password codes and the like to prevent criminal from entering one's computer network.

However, according to Gary Gagnon who directs Cyber Security for the MITRE Corporation, the real challenge is how to minimize damage once a hacker or criminal has actually made it past those first-line defenses.

"Once the guy is in what happened in your network? What did he do in your network, what has been taken, has been compromised. How do I figure out all the places that he is. So that when I do pull him out I know I've got him out completely and he doesn't have one more toehold in my network that I didn't see. And I think I'm all set and I'm running my business or I'm running my federal government organization again he comes back into that little toehold and begins his operation again. It's a game. He's trying to get in and we're trying to get him out. Industry is starting to see that there is a market for products like that It's a game," he said.

Because the world that gets even more tightly interconnected every day, the stakes of that game could not be higher. Finding the right balance between the freedom of access to information on which the Internet depends, and the need for cyber security and safeguards to privacy on which both prosperity and peace largely depend will remain a challenge far into the future.

[ฅนไท]

\\"นายกฯมาร์ค\\"ห่วงภัยเน็ต-เฟซบุ๊ก

เมื่อวันที่ 19 ก.ย. ที่ศูนย์การประชุมแห่งชาติสิริกิติ์ นายอภิสิทธิ์ เวชชาชีวะ นายกรัฐมนตรี เป็นประธานเปิดการประชุมเชิงวิชาการ \\"อิทธิพลของการใช้เทคโนโลยีการสื่อสารที่มีต่อเด็กหญิง และเยาวชนสตรี\\" โดยกล่าวตอนหนึ่งว่า เทคโนโลยีการสื่อสารในปัจจุบันทำให้เกิดการเปลี่ยน แปลงอย่างมาก ปัจจุบันคนไทยใช้อินเตอร์เน็ตถึงวันละ 3 ชั่วโมง และมีมากกว่า 5 ล้านคนที่ใช้เฟสบุ๊กในการสื่อสาร สื่ออิเล็กทรอนิกส์เหล่านี้ล้วนเป็นอันตรายต่อเยาวชนและสตรี ส่วนหนึ่งทำให้เกิดปัญหาการตั้งท้องตั้งแต่เป็นวัยรุ่น และการเป็นแม่ที่ต้องเลี้ยงลูกโดยลำพัง ซึ่งเป็นปัญหาที่เราต้องเอาชนะให้ได้ และเป็นเรื่องที่ผู้ปกครองต้องเข้าไปช่วยดูแลเพื่อให้เยาวชนรู้เท่าทัน และใช้อินเตอร์เน็ตในการพัฒนาไม่ให้เกิดการเสียเปรียบ หรือนำไปสู่ปัญหาอาชญากรรมทางอินเตอร์เน็ตได้

\\"อย่างลูกสาวของผมก็ใช้คอมพิวเตอร์ทุกวัน เราก็ต้องระมัดระวังอย่าให้เขาไปเจอปัญหาอาชญากรรมทางอินเตอร์เน็ต แม้อินเตอร์เน็ตจะมีประโยชน์มากมายในการเข้าไปค้นข้อมูลต่างๆ แต่ก็มีบางอย่างที่ทำให้เกิดอาชญากรรมได้ โดยเฉพาะกับเยาวชน ไม่เว้นแม้แต่เด็กหญิงหรือชาย เราหลีกเลี่ยงอิทธิพลของสื่ออิเล็กทรอนิกส์เหล่านี้ไม่ได้ แต่เราสามารถเลือกใช้ประโยชน์จากข้อมูลที่มีอยู่ได้\\" นายกฯ กล่าว

[sunny]

The U.S. government has launched a full-scale simulated cyberattack to gauge how the country might fare in the real thing.

Sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security, Cyber Storm III kicked off yesterday for a three-day series of simulated events designed to exploit holes in the nation's cybersecurity system.

Specifically, the exercise will "inject" more than 1,500 different types of threats to examine the ability of the people involved to prepare for cyberattacks, make the correct decisions to respond to them, and share sensitive information with the right parties.

Noting that the country's adversaries have moved beyond Web page defacements and DDoS (distributed denial of service) attacks, the DHS's Cyber Storm III Fact Sheet states that the new exercise will go a step further by trying to compromise trusted transactions and relationships.

"In Cyber Storm III, we're kind of using the Internet to attack itself," Brett Lambo, director of DHS's Cyber Exercise Program, told reporters in a pre-test briefing, according to AFP. "At a certain point, the operation of the Internet is reliant on trust--knowing where you're going is where you're supposed to be. We're going to try to compromise that chain of trust by attacking something that's fundamental to the operation of the Internet."

Lambo revealed that one of the simulations would compromise the encrypted digital certificates that verify identities online, while another would introduce issues into the DNS (domain name system) that pairs domain names with IP addresses.

Further, Cyber Storm III will incorporate certain aspects of the government's new National Cyber Incident Response Plan, a basic blueprint to determine who does what in case of a cyberattack. It will also be Washington's first chance to test the new National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center , which was set up last fall to act as a hub for coordinating cybersecurity.

Cyber Storm III will challenge a diverse group of thousands of people, including representatives from seven Cabinet-level departments along with the White House, intelligence agencies, 11 state agencies, 12 international partners, and 60 private sector companies.

"Securing America's cyberinfrastructure requires close coordination with our federal, state, international, and private sector partners," DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano said in a statement. "Exercises like Cyber Storm III allow us build
upon the significant progress we've made in responding to evolving cyberthreats."

Cyber Storm III is the third exercise organized by the federal government to assess its cyberdefenses.

Launched in early 2006, Cyber Storm I attempted to see how government and the private sector would join together
to respond to a cyberattack. A report on this first exercise uncovered an insufficient number of "technical experts" who could analyze all the information coming through as well as difficulty determining who to call for help and the lack of a "triage" plan for cyberattacks.

Cyber Storm II in 2008 ramped up the challenge by injecting 2,000 different events, including hacking attempts, DDoS attacks, and even false intelligence information. The final report found that many participants weren't familiar enough with the roles and responsibilities of each organization involved in the exercise and didn't know how to access or use the tools available to them in dealing with a cybercrisis. (CNET News)

[DeathPower]

เกาหลีใต้อ้างแฮคเกอร์ในจีนเจาะข้อมูลลับ

เกาหลีใต้เผยแฮคเกอร์ในจีนได้ขโมยข้อมูลลับของกระทรวงกลาโหมและกระทรวงต่างประเทศ โดยใช้อีเมล์ปลอมที่อ้างว่าเป็นของเจ้าหน้าที่และนักการทูตเกาหลีใต้เพื่อเข้าถึงข้อมูลลับ

สำนักงานข่าวกรองแห่งชาติเกาหลีใต้ แถลงวันนี้ว่า ตรวจพบการเจาะข้อมูลทางคอมพิวเตอร์ในปีนี้ โดยแฮคเกอร์ส่งอีเมล์ในชื่อของนักการทูต ที่ปรึกษาของประธานาธิบดี และบุคคลที่ติดต่อคุ้นเคยกับเจ้าหน้าที่รัฐ ไปถึงเป้าหมาย พร้อมกับไฟล์แนบที่มีไวรัส ซึ่งหลอกว่าเป็นเอกสารสำคัญ เช่น รายงานการวิเคราะห์เศรษฐกิจเกาหลีเหนือ และเมื่อผู้รับเปิดไฟล์แนบ ไวรัสก็จะเริ่มดาวน์โหลดข้อมูลในคอมพิวเตอร์ของผู้รับ

นาย ลี จุง-ฮยุน ส.ส.ของพรรคแกรนด์ เนชั่นแนล แจ้งต่อที่ประชุมรัฐสภาเมื่อวานว่าข้อมูลชั้นความลับจำนวนมากพอสมควรอาจรั่วไหลออกจากกระทรวงกลาโหมและกระทรวงต่างประเทศ

ขณะเดียวกันกระทรวงต่างประเทศเกาหลีใต้ได้ขอให้หน่วยงานการทูตของเกาหลีใต้ประจำประเทศต่างๆเฝ้าระวังพิเศษต่อการเจาะข้อมูลในลักษณะดังกล่าวแล้ว

ก่อนหน้านี้ในเดือนมิถุนายนเวบไซต์หนึ่งของกระทรวงกิจการสาธารณะและความมั่นคง ถูกโจมตีด้วยเวบไซต์เกือบ 120 เวบในจีนพร้อมกันเพื่อทำให้เซิร์ฟเวอร์ล่ม และในเดือนกรกฎาคม 2552 เวบไซต์ของเอกชนและรัฐบาลสหรัฐและเกาหลีใต้ก็ถูกโจมตีในลักษณะเดียวกัน และทางเกาหลีใต้เชื่อว่าเป็นฝีมือของเกาหลีเหนือโดยใช้เซิร์ฟเวอร์ที่มีฐานอยู่ในจีน แต่เจ้าหน้าที่สหรัฐบอกว่ายังไม่ทราบต้นตอที่แน่ชัด