Critical Infrastructure Protection

Energy, telecom, finance, and water infrastructures continue to expand, but how well are they protected? Explore the latest advances and vulnerabilities in the frameworks that keep your organization up and running, whether it’s a regional network or the national power grid.

Securing Energy Substations

Applying cyber security measures to industrial control systems represents some unique challenges.  How do you obtain situational awareness across zones while enforcing the maximum possible level of network separation?  How do you protect against malware while limiting the application of patches and updates to real-time systems?  If a system is compromised in some way, how Read more…

Tags: critical infrastructure, energy, substation

McAfee AV Solution Developed for NetApp ONTAP 8.1

McAfee has developed an Anti Virus solution to protect our customer’s data storage devices. Jim Waggoner, CISSP, Director of Product Management for McAfee discusses the new McAfee AV solution developed for NetApp ONTAP 8.1 which is pre loaded on every NetApp ONTAP device. Read about this exciting new development at the NetApp Community Forum! How to Read more…

Urchins, LizaMoons, Tigers, and Bears

In early April, I wrote about the famed “LizaMoon” SQL-injection attacks. I said it then, and I’ll say it again now: SQL-injection (SQLi) attacks are a constant. Some of these attacks are more visible than others.  Some adversaries find intelligent ways to hide their tracks so as not to splatter evidence of their misdeeds all over various search Read more…

Tags: Cybercrime, Data Protection, database security, enterprise, lizamoon, malware, mass sql injection, Network Security, sql attacks, SQL Injection, urchin.js

In the Dark: Crucial Industries Confront Cyberattacks

Decades ago when the early communications networks were formed, scientists rallied around the joy of sending data at light speed and happily connected once-disparate networks together to create the early stages of the “Internet.”  This capability eventually enabled conversations, money transfers, massive data sharing, and the confluence of convenience and efficiencies unlike any the world Read more…

Tags: critical infrastructure, Cybercrime, enterprise, Public Sector, Stuxnet

Cyberspies Hack Power Grid – Those in the Know, Knew!

Last month the press was abuzz with the news that the US electric grid has been hacked by foreign operatives. To anyone who has studied security in the power industry, this isn’t much of a surprise. Last fall (Aug/Sept 08), I conducted a survey of 200 critical infrastructure operators (the people who actually work in Read more…

Tags: Compliance, critical infrastructure

Outtage Demonstrates Need for Critical Infrastructure Security

Hi Folks, This morning I heard news reports that the south bay had a telecommunications fiber cut, but my friend Bob from Gilroy had texted me using his phone saying that the local Gilroy PD said it was some sort of fire that caused the outtage. Then this afternoon, I overheard some folks saying there Read more…

Tags: critical infrastructure, espionage, power grid, power loss, Telecommunications

Critical Infrastructure Attacks Aren’t Science Fiction

It’s a scary story reminiscent of the cold war era that sounds like it comes right out of a science fiction novel: Spies linked to Russia and China penetrated the U.S. electrical grid. The cyberspies have left behind software programs that could be used to disrupt the system, according a report Wednesday on the front Read more…

Tags: critical infrastructure, Telecommunications

Smart Grids Need to Be Smarter … and Safer

Once again, technology is leading us down a garden path. Today’s new bright, shiny, object in the energy sector is called the smart grid. Smart Grid devices are small computers that are connected to the power grid, giving customers and power companies better control over the electricity they use. There are about 2 million of Read more…

Tags: critical infrastructure

Hacking for Political Gain

Yet again, the Internet is proving to be a fertile ground for subversive hacking for the sake of political gain. We saw it in April 2008 when Radio Free Europe was shut down for 2 days by the Belarusian opposition groups on the anniversary of Chernobyl. We saw it in July 2008 during the Russia/Georgia Read more…

Tags: critical infrastructure