U.S. Not Vulnerable to Type of Cyberattacks Launched at Georgia

Experts agree that the U.S. is probably more Internet-dependent than any place in the world and hence more vulnerable than any other country. However in a CNN report today, Scott Borg, director of the United States Cyber Consequences Unit, a nonprofit research institute, says that U.S. "can command so much bandwidth that it's hard to overwhelm our servers," in light of last week's, and still ongoing, cyberattacks against Georgia. "We are vulnerable to more sophisticated attacks, but right now most of the people who want to do us harm don't have those capabilities," says Borg. more»

Largest Study to Date of IPv6 Traffic on the Internet

Security and network management company, Arbor Networks, in partnership with more than ninety network services and content providers from around the world, has published an extensive study of Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) traffic on the Internet. The results of a year-long research project provide, for the first time according to the report, a global perspective on the amount of IPv6 traffic on the Internet. There are "exactly 900 days remaining until the end of the Internet, or at least the exhaustion of IPv4 registry allocations," says Craig Labovitz Arbor Networks chief scientist. more»

Google Launches Free The Airwaves, Pushing White Spaces Issue

Google has announced today the launch of a new website promoting the unlicensed use of "white space" spectrum. The initiative is called "Free The Airwaves" which encourages Internet users to get proactive on the white spaces issue, if they "care about the future of the Internet." Minnie Ingersoll, Google Product Manager, explains in a related blog post: "For quite some time we've been talking about the potential of the unused airwaves between broadcast TV channels ("white spaces") to provide affordable, high-speed wireless Internet connectivity nationwide. For this to happen, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) must allow unlicensed use of this spectrum..." more»

Android Rumored as More Than Just a Mobile OS

According to reports, Google's Android mobile phone operating system (OS) to be launching in few weeks might actually be indented to be more than just a mobile OS. Google may be aiming at expanding Android as a universal operating system spanning set-top boxes for televisions, mp3 players and other communication and media devices and services. According to Eric Eldon of VentureBeat, rumors about this plan have actually been circulating since last year. Google chief internet evangelist and Internet co-creator Vint Cerf hinted at Google's larger focus during a talk on innovation journalism in 2006, before Android existed..." more»

John McCain Unveils His Technology Policy Statement

U.S. republican presidential candidate John McCain has unveiled his technology policy statement. The statement includes candidate's positions on major tech issues such as Net neutrality, patent protection and piracy, broadband availability, and privacy and particularly focuses on increased innovation, intellectual property protection, and preserving technology through market forces. more»

Washington Debates: When is a Cyberattack an Act of War?

Cyberattacks against Georgia have started debates in Washington on whether the laws of war apply in cyberspace, Siobhan Gorman reports in the Wall Street Journal today. "Cyberweapons are becoming a staple of war. The Georgian conflict is perhaps the first time they have been used alongside conventional military action. Governments and private cyberwarriors can exploit Internet security gaps to not only take down government Web sites but also take control of power grids and nuclear reactors." One key deciding factor, according to one expert in the report, is whether the tools of cyberattacks are weapons? more»

UK Government Wants to Log Every Call, Text and Email

Britain's local councils, health authorities and hundreds of other public bodies may soon have the ability to access details of all personal text, emails and internet usage under UK's Home Office proposals published yesterday. According to a report from the Guardian, "ministers want to make it mandatory for telephone and internet companies to keep details of all personal internet traffic for at least 12 months so it can be accessed for investigations into crime or other threats to public safety." The Home Office says keeping communications data is critical in order to fight against terrorism. more»

Internet, Broadband Companies Admit to Tracking User Behavior Without Explicit Consent

According to a letter released recently by the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee, several Internet and broadband companies have admitted to using targeted-advertising technology without explicitly informing customers. Ellen Nakashima of the Washington Post reports: "Google, in its letter to committee Chairman John Dingell, Markey, Stearns and Rep. Joe L. Barton, stressed that it did not engage in potentially the most invasive of technologies -- deep-packet inspection, which companies such as NebuAd have tested with some broadband providers. But Google did note that it had begun to use across its network the 'DoubleClick ad-serving cookie,' a computer code that allows the tracking of Web surfing." more»

U.S. Internet Speed Growth Too Slow, Will Take Over 100 Years to Catch Up With Japan

According to a recent study by Communications Workers of America's (CWA's), United States has not made significant improvement in the speeds at which residents connect to the Internet. U.S. continues to fall far behind other countries. "...between 2007 and 2008, the median download speed increased by only four-tenths of a megabit per second (from 1.9 mbps to 2.3 mbps), and the median upload speed barely changed (from 371 to 435 kbps). At this rate, it will take the United States more than 100 years to catch up with current Internet speeds in Japan." more»

U.S. Military to Spend $4.4M on Network Monitoring Upgrades in Wake of Sophisticated Cyber Attacks

BBN Technologies, an advanced technology solutions firm, has been awarded $4.4 million in funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) for a Scalable Network Monitoring program. "Scalable networking monitoring has become necessary as cyber attacks have grown more subtle and sophisticated," says BBN's announcement. "New technologies and applications provide new attack routes and have made traditional signature-based and anomaly detection-based defensive measures inadequate in both speed and sensitivity. To be effective in today's networks, detection algorithms must operate quickly, efficiently, and effectively in large, content-rich environments. To meet this challenge, the BBN team will develop a complete solution that is intrinsically scalable, designed for ultra high-speed deployment, and produces events that can be correlated with other network events to provide true positive alerts." more»

Russian Cyber Attack on Georgia, Government Websites Down or Replaced With Fakes

Russia has been accused of attacking Georgian government websites in a cyber war to accompany their military bombardment. In a statement released using a replacement website built on Google's blog service, the Georgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said: "A cyber warfare campaign by Russia is seriously disrupting many Georgian websites, including that of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs." more»

Majority of Active Malware Attacks Go Undetected, Says New Report

A recent test of leading anti-virus vendors over a thirty-day period has revealed that more than half of all malware threats on the Internet go undetected, according to a report issued today by cyber intelligence firm, Cyveillance. Data for the test was compiled from thousands of active malware threats that Cyveillance says it detects daily and was then fed through each of the vendors' anti-virus solutions in real-time. more»