Government

Researcher demonstrates Pentagon XSS vulnerability

Dan Kaplan December 09, 2009

A months-old cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability affecting the website for the Pentagon was brought to light again this week when a researcher posted two attack scenarios.

UK cyber security centre to launch

Mark Mayne June 15, 2009

No 10 to unveil 'widened' US-style cyber security strategy within weeks

Obama appoints federal chief information officer

Angela Moscaritolo March 06, 2009

President Obama has appointed the first-ever federal chief information officer (CIO).

Removable devices pose new security risk

Joy Persaud July 17, 2008

Government departments 'must beef up the security of removable devices such as USB memory sticks and removable hard drives' to avoid data breaches.

Exclusive: Bletchley Park set for Lottery rescue

Richard Thurston July 04, 2008

The home of Britain's codebreaking efforts during the War has entered into detailed discussions with the Heritage Lottery Fund for significant funding to rebuild its rotting infrastructure

Indian Government withdraws threat over BlackBerry services

Richard Thurston July 04, 2008

The threat which could have led to the country's BlackBerry services being suspended appears to have lifted after the Government backed down on its own demands for access to users' data

HMRC breach would have been avoided for just £15,000

Richard Thurston July 03, 2008

The catastrophic loss of information of 25 million UK citizens last year would have been avoided if Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs had spent a maximum of £15,000 on the extraction of data, but it turned down this expenditure because information security was such a low priority, one of the breach investigators revealed today

Data watchdog admits to deluge of Central Government breach info

Richard Thurston July 03, 2008

The Information Commmissioner's Office has revealed it has been voluntarily informed of a huge number of security breaches - mostly in Westminster - while it eyes up plans for a new law which could make the reporting of such incidents compulsory

US Army set to hire internet spies

Richard Thurston July 02, 2008

The American military is to increase its intelligence on the internet by hiring a contractor to analyse web pages, chatrooms and blogs on pertinent threats 24 hours a day

Europe just "weeks" away from data sharing deal with FBI

Richard Thurston July 01, 2008

Brussels insiders have confirmed that the European Commission is nearing the conclusion of talks with the Americans over the provision of citizens' personal information to the FBI for terrorism fighting purposes

Exclusive: Privacy campaigners may sue EC over provision of citizens' personal data to the FBI

Richard Thurston June 30, 2008

A leading civil rights organisation is threatening the European Commission with legal action as Brussels nears an agreement with the US over plans to release details of individuals' credit card histories and internet browsing habits to the FBI

Poynter review: HMRC has radically reduced security risks

Richard Thurston June 26, 2008

PwC chairman Kieran Poynter, the man tasked to investigate what happened in the catastrophic HMRC data breach, has revealed that significant progress has been made since the disastrous information leakage last October

Case study: Deep inside the Serious Fraud Office's digital forensics unit

Richard Thurston June 26, 2008

The SFO invited SC Magazine for a sneak preview of its recently revamped digital forensics unit, where scientists were hard at work dissecting and interrogating the latest mobile devices

Oyster card hackers may have their research blocked

Richard Thurston June 26, 2008

Two Dutch academics who came to London last week to prove they could break the cipher behind London's Oyster travel card have been warned by the country's Government not to expose any secrets in their upcoming paper on the subject

Pacific island knocked off internet by DDoS attack

Richard Thurston June 26, 2008

The Marshall Islands have been subjected to a prolonged bout of unexpected email traffic, preventing citizens receiving emails, but the reason for the attack remains unclear

Poynter Review, IPCC severely criticise HMRC over data breach

Richard Thurston June 25, 2008

Two separate reports into the data leakage of 25 million records from Revenue & Customs last year have widely condemned data security procedures in the Government department

CCTV cameras that listen as well as watch

Richard Thurston June 25, 2008

University researchers are developing artificial intelligence software which can be loaded onto CCTV cameras to enable them to locate incidents by noise alone

Dutch academics hack Oyster card

Richard Thurston June 24, 2008

Security lecturers from a leading Netherlands university travelled to London last week to crack the Oyster smart card, clone it and get a free day's travel, while they pursue an open source alternative

Police line up £2.5m smart card project

Richard Thurston June 23, 2008

The National Police Improvement Agency is looking for suppliers to roll out a 10-year nationwide smart card system

Sweden adopts eavesdropping legislation

Richard Thurston June 20, 2008

A controversial bill passed by the Swedish Government this week will entitle one of the country's intelligence agencies to monitor all phone calls, faxes and emails crossing its borders

RIM: BlackBerry service won't be shut down despite ultimatum

Richard Thurston June 18, 2008

The manufacturer of the BlackBerry devices is standing firm against Indian Government demands for access to users' data and it is convinced threats to shut down the service in the country won't come to fruition

Government admits breaching data rules following PC theft

Richard Thurston June 18, 2008

A senior civil servant has revealed that his department did not meet its own data protection guidance as the PC of minister Hazel Blears was stolen from her constituency office

NASA hacker appeals to House of Lords to overturn extradition

Richard Thurston June 18, 2008

Appearing in Parliament this week, Gary McKinnon's legal team have argued that his planned extradition to the US should be overturned because US officials abused legal processes, while lawyers representing the Home Office say the extradition should proceed

Interview: Louise Bennett

Richard Thurston June 17, 2008

As the chair of the security forum at the British Computer Society, Dr Louise Bennett has an excellent bird's eye view of what's going wrong with the nation's security, as she tells SC Magazine

Home Secretary faces grilling after second secret document leak

Richard Thurston June 16, 2008

Jacqui Smith is to face questioning from the chair of the home affairs select committee over whether the country's fight against terrorism has been compromised after a second set of confidential Government documents was left on a train

NASA hacker to make House of Lords appeal on Monday

Richard Thurston June 13, 2008

Gary McKinnon, the Briton who hacked into multiple US Government computer networks, saying he was looking for evidence of extra-terrestrial life, will next week appeal his extradition to the US

Ministry of Defence to bolster internet intelligence

Richard Thurston June 13, 2008

The MoD is increasing its focus on online intelligence gathering - partly by using information from newspapers and blogs - and admits it needs to start exploiting data held in networks owned by other countries

Ministers extend ENISA remit

Richard Thurston June 13, 2008

ENISA, the agency which advises the European Commission on all information security matters, will not now face the axe, and instead has had its existence extended until 2012

Government suspends civil servant over al-Qaeda document leak

Richard Thurston June 12, 2008

A Cabinet Office employee who left top secret documents regarding Iraq and Al-Qaeda on a busy London commuter train has been suspended; police are investigating

MPs urge Government caution over handling of citizens' data

Richard Thurston June 10, 2008

In a report, the Home Affairs Committee says it's imperative that the Government builds trust with citizens, else there is a real danger the country will slide into a surveillance society