ISD Podcast Episode 135 for May 21, 2010. This podcast is our contribution back to the community where we will discuss the vulnerabilities of interest, information security related news hopefully providing you a few laughs and a little knowledge.
Announcements:
MyHardDriveDied.com:
- MHDD Data Recovery Class current dates and locations:
- San Francisco – June 14th -18th
- Atlanta – July – 12th-16th
- Dallas, TX – October – 11th – 15th
- Washington DC – December 6th – 10th
- Cost is $3500 for all classes to reserve and register, call (678) 445-9007, email: smoulton@nicservices.com or go to http://www.myharddrivedied.com. Use the Discount Code: isdpodcast for a $300 discount.
SANS Mentoring Program:
- Jason Lawrence will also be putting on the SANS Mentor Forensics 508 – Computer Forensics and Investigations course in Sandy Springs starting Tuesday, June 22, 2010 – Tuesday, August 24, 2010 (http://www.sans.org/mentor/details.php?nid=21538). Use the Discount Code: isdpod15 for a 15% discount.
Atlanta ISSA:
- ISSA Chapter is hosting a CISSP Workshop starting May 26 – August 14 (Preparing for the August 15, 2010 Exam) 6:00 to 9:00 PM 2 sessions per week, every Wednesday and Friday at the Clendenin Building, Kennesaw State University. The CISSP workshop is free of charge to Metro Atlanta ISSA members only. For further information, contact Ben Sholes, Director of Training, at: training@gaissa.org.
- ISSA International Conference – September 16, 2010 (http://www.issa.org/page/?p=105)
North Alabama ISSA:
- Hosting Second annual North Alabama Cyber Security Summit to be held on June 9th in Huntsville AL. Event is open to ISSA members at a discounted price ($35 full price is $50).
- For more information please visit the North Alabama ISSA’s web site at: http://northalabama.issa.org/
Friends of the Podcast:
Webhosting services:WebSpeedway
Stories of Interest:
News item 1: http://www.news.com.au/business/breaking-news/hacker-stole-7m-game-code-at-tech-show/story-e6frfkur-1225868939880
A BOSTON man appeared in court today charged with trying to download the code of a soon-to-be released video game at a tech convention. Justin May, 20, of Delaware, was attending the March PAX East 2010 in Boston where he allegedly used his laptop to hack into an Xbox 360 Test Kit that was demonstrating the game Breach, and downloaded the code, WBZ reported.
Breach, an unreleased game due out this northern summer worth $US6m ($7.1m), was being shown for the first time at the convention by Atomic Games, a subset of Destineer.
“Breach, and our Hydrogen game engine, are the result of millions of dollars of investment and years of hard work,” said Peter Tamte, President of Atomic Games. “It would have been very harmful if Breach had been posted on the internet months before its planned release.”
News item 2: http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle09.asp?xfile=data/theuae/2010/May/theuae_May541.xml§ion=theuae
The UAE should have a strategy to defend itself against cyber crimes, cyber espionage and the possibility of a cyber war, an expert on security said. “We should know who can and will attack us and we should be able to defend ourselves,” Richard A. Clarke, who has served three consecutive US presidents as senior White House advisor, said in a lecture, “Cyber War: The next Threat to the UAE’s National Security”, at the Emirates Centre for Strategic Studies and Research.
Praising the UAE’s role at the UN and GCC level against cyber threats, he said, “Diplomacy is one way to deal with these threats at the international level. Diplomacy and dialogue can be used to control them. The UAE has a great role to play in creating an international system of cyber teeth.”
Every nation is vulnerable to cyber threat, including the UAE, since it is one of the most wired nations in the world, he said. Masdar’s (Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company) work on alternativee energy, for instance, could be of interest to many and espionage in a modern society can come from anywhere in the world.
News item 3: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/us-hypocrisy-in-china-cyberwar-says-expert/story-e6frgakx-1225868338373
The recent China-US “cyberwar” exposed American hypocrisy on the issues of government surveillance and censorship, according to a US-based expert on security system design.
“Why is the country with the best technology for online surveillance of its citizens’ communications taking other nations to task over censorship and free speech?” Mr Ranum, chief security officer of Tenable Network Security, challenged a packed forum at AusCERT 2010.
“For years, the US has embraced portions of the hacker community into our labs to build cyber-weapons, and there’s government funding connections between our offensive weapons writers and our defensive weapons writers.
“We own the search engines everybody uses, and the incredibly valuable data they produce.
“So it’s bizarre that in the recent exchange of accusations over China targeting dissident supporters of the Dalai Lama, no country asked the US to rein in its own cyber-hackers.”
