The Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) was established in 2002 as a Federal law designed to increase the security posture of Federal Systems and their supporting entities. Since its establishment, an increasing number of Federal information systems and databases have been integrated into non-Federal agencies, including municipalities, law enforcement, and contractors.
I ran across an interesting CNN interview with Kevin Mitnick (Former Hacker) as the guess. In the interview, he discussed the importance of having a personal firewall, being aware when using public wireless access points.
He later recommended the use of VPNs when using public wireless access, using a more secure browser such as Google’s Chorme as well as using the “FREE” tool known as “Personal Software Inspector” to let you know if your software is out of date.
News on Twitter buzzed recently as security professionals and hackers alike shared information pertaining to a network breach of top U.S. weapons manufacturer Lockheed Martin. Initially it was not immediately clear if any sensitive information was stolen or compromised, but late Saturday evening,Reuters and MSNBC reported “Lockheed Martin Corp., the U.S. government’s top information technology provider, said on Saturday that it detected and thwarted “a significant and tenacious attack” on its information systems network.”
A Hacker group known as “The Lulz Boat” hacked the PBS website on Sunday and posted a false story claiming the rapper Tupac Shakur who has been dead for 15 years is actually alive and living in New Zealand.
The Department of Homeland Security is planning to increase its cyber-security workforce to 400 members by adding an additional 140 members by 2012. Phillip Reitinger, deputy undersecretary of the DHS’s National Protection and Programs Directorate, stated, “we plan to hire 140 additional cybersecurity experts by October 2012 bringing the agency’s total to 400.”
Google discovered Chinese hackers tried to steal the passwords of senior U.S. government officials as well as South Korean officials, Chinese activists and journalists this past Wednesday. There are also reports thousand of other email accounts were also targeted.
The Obama Administration officially launched its international cybersecurity strategy in a White House event on Monday, May 16. The event was lead by Homeland Security Advisor John Brennan and Howard Schmidt, the White House Cybersecurity Coordinator. In addition, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Attorney General Eric Holder, The Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, the Deputy Secretary of Defense William Lynn and Secretary Gary Locke of the Commerce Department participated as a unified sign of support.
On May 19, Facebook, Google and Apple appeared before a Senate subcommittee on Capitol Hill lead by Senator John Rockefeller, D-West Virginia, and Senator John Kerry, D-Massachusetts, to discuss claims they are not adequately safeguarding their customers’ location privacy on mobile devices.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) plan a public forum next month on privacy concerns about cell phones and their ability to track the location of users.
The June 28 forum will include recommended best practices individuals can use to guard their privacy.
SANS will be back in Boston, MA with an exceptional information security training lineup this August. Why not get your management, security, and forensics training at SANS Boston 2011 on August 8-15? We are bringing our top courses and best instructors to make this the perfect training event for you! Register before June 29 and save $400.
