A phishing attack in January 2016 gave hackers illegal access to the Department of Interior network through remote logins on at least eight Gmail accounts, according to a report released May 24 by the Office of the Investigator General at DOI. […]
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The FBI is more focused on retaining and training existing employees than hiring young people who might be more technologically adept, according to Howard Marshall, deputy assistant director of FBI’s Cyber Division. […]
Malicious insiders often don’t get caught because of stovepiped security monitoring systems, according to Lou Bladel, a former FBI agent who led the Edward Snowden and David Petraeus investigations in his time there. […]
The organizational changes flowing around in James Comey’s head aren’t new or revolutionary. But they are for the FBI, and they could fundamentally alter what it means to be an FBI agent. […]
The FBI is building a facial recognition database that could potentially contain the face of every American, but it barely clears the accurate return rate requirements. […]
FBI Director James Comey confirmed in a House Select Committee on Intelligence hearing on Monday that his agency has been conducting an investigation since late July 2016 into Russia’s 2016 election hacking and whether members of the Trump campaign coordinated with that interference. […]
The Department of Justice today released an indictment of four men involved in the 2016 hack of Yahoo email accounts, two of whom were acting in their capacity as Russian FSB officers. […]
The FBI announced the release of its Most Wanted application, which provides citizens with pictures and information about investigations into wanted fugitives, missing persons, crime suspects, deceased victims, and others. […]
Federal Joint Analysis Reports should include stronger language on indicators of compromise, according to Cris Thomas, a network security strategist at Tenable. DHS and the FBI released a JAR on Dec. 29 that discusses the tools Russian intelligence officers used to compromise the networks and infrastructure associated with the recent U.S. presidential election. […]
The DHS-FBI Joint Analysis Report sheds light on the tools Russian intelligence officers used to compromise the networks and infrastructure associated with the recent U.S. presidential election. […]
The House last week passed the fiscal 2017 Intelligence Authorization Act, which includes a wide variety of cyber-related programs and policies. Although HR 6393 must still make its way through the Senate, the bill authorizes spending on everything from recruiting and retaining technology workers throughout the intelligence community and the FBI, to fighting online propaganda by ISIS and Russia, and cybersecurity threats facing U.S. seaports. […]
The U.S. government is charging Harold T. Martin III under the Espionage Act after concluding that the National Security Agency contractor took home 50 terabytes of classified data. […]
In order to educate law enforcement officials on how to deal with digital evidence and cyber-based crimes, the FBI has created the Cyber Investigator Certification Program, a project that, in partnership with Carnegie Mellon University, aims to address the concerns of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) over a lack of affordable cyber training options for officers. […]
The FBI arrested a National Security Agency contractor in August and is investigating whether he stole and released computer codes that the NSA developed to hack into foreign governments’ networks, according to a New York Times report. […]
Yahoo last year produced a software program that would search customer emails for information specified by U.S. intelligence officials, according to a report by Reuters. Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., condemned such actions, calling them “Big Brother on steroids.” […]
Two men from North Carolina were arrested Thursday on charges related to their alleged roles in hacking the computers of several senior government officials and government computer systems, according to the Department of Justice. […]
Catch up on some reading this weekend. Here are a few interesting items from MeriTalk. […]
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The FBI’s Safe Online Surfing Internet Challenge, which teaches students how to keep their information safe, avoid online predators, and identify cyberbullying, begins Thursday for the 2016-2017 school year. […]
“There is no such thing as absolute privacy in America.” That’s what FBI Director James Comey said in a counterattack on Silicon Valley’s stance on encryption. […]
From 2006 to 2015, 6,700 firearms were transferred to individuals with prohibiting domestic violence records that should have prevented them from obtaining weapons. The Government Accountability Office stated that better analysis of Federal Bureau of Investigation data could help lead to improved background checks on domestic violence cases. […]
The 2016 Symantec Government Symposium is coming up on Aug. 30, and its Cyber Awards deadline is June 1. The Cyber Awards recognize individuals who show excellence and leadership in government cybersecurity through individual contributions to programs that protect critical data and systems. […]
Law enforcement reported an increase in ransomware attacks during 2015, and it looks like these attacks will continue throughout 2016. To deal with the rising threats, the FBI posted recommendations. “These criminals have evolved over time and now bypass the need for an individual to click on a link. They do this by seeding legitimate websites with malicious code, taking advantage of unpatched software on end-user computers,” said James Trainor, the FBI Cyber Division Assistant Director. […]
While he was unable to address the Apple versus FBI case specifically, President Obama said he finds the discussion of encryption vitally important to national dialogue. “I am way on the civil liberties side of this thing,” he said Friday at the South by Southwest festival in Austin. […]
Both Apple and the FBI are taking extreme stances in the encryption debate, which makes picking a side complicated, according to a panel at the Cybersecurity for New America Conference. […]
In a national security hearing on worldwide threats, FBI Director James Comey defended the FBI’s demands that Apple provide access to the phone of San Bernardino shooter Syed Rizwan Farook. […]
Fight for the Future protesters gathered outside the FBI building in Washington, D.C., to stand against a court order that Apple create a program that would allow FBI officials to access the San Bernardino shooters’ phone. Apple CEO Tim Cook refused to comply with the order, creating a standoff between the company and the FBI. […]
A Federal court order would force Apple to unlock the iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino terrorists for the FBI. But the FBI versus Apple standoff has little to do with government surveillance powers and even less to do with imperiling the security of dissidents around the world. That’s just what the post-Snowden cottage industry of privacy-at-all-costs advocates, and Apple, want you to believe. […]
Apple CEO Tim Cook has vowed to fight Uncle Sam’s request that the company create software that would help the FBI circumvent the security protections on the iPhone used by one of the terrorists in the December massacre in San Bernardino, calling the step “too dangerous.” Also, there’s buzz around the Department of Homeland Security’s social media monitoring. […]
Encryption was a hot issue this week. FBI Director James Comey told the Senate Intelligence Committee about the struggle of both counter-terrorism and law enforcement efforts in accessing information on encrypted devices, such as cellphones. And Reps. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., and Blake Farenthold, R-Texas, introduced the ENCRYPT Act as a means of combating the push for decryption. […]
“Some studies say that cruelty to animals is a precursor to larger crime,” so the FBI will now track animal cruelty in the same way it does armed assault, arson, burglary, and homicide. […]