Cyber City, USA News

A House bill unveiled Wednesday by leaders of the Intelligence panel would set up an information exchange between spy agencies and businesses about threats to computer networks. The usually secretive committee will consider the bill in an open markup on Thursday.
Government-private sector information sharing is a key piece of the cybersecurity legislation debate. Indeed, it was one of the main issues senators were unable to resolve in a meeting last month with the Obama administration, and it is the subject of other House bills, too. Businesses control an estimated 85 percent of the nation’s digital infrastructure.
Under the new draft measure, businesses could voluntarily receive threat information from the...

Shopping online this holiday season might be more convenient, but the risks for identity theft remain very real.
About 47 percent of consumers plan to buy gifts online, a 3 percent increase from the amount reported last year, according to a survey from the National Retail Federation. And more online shoppers means more money being spent.
November and December are expected to draw more than $60 billion in online sales, 15 percent more than what was purchased last year and about one-third of all online sales volume for 2011, according to Forrester Research.
With all that money just a click away, consumers need to be cautious when making online purchases. Here are a few tips from industry experts about how...

Spokesman: No indication of risk to critical infrastructure or threat to public safety

Federal investigators are looking into a report that hackers managed to remotely shut down a utility's water pump in central Illinois last week, in what could be the first known foreign cyber attack on a U.S. industrial system.
The Nov. 8 incident was described in a one-page report from the Illinois Statewide Terrorism and Intelligence Center, according to Joe Weiss, a prominent expert on protecting infrastructure from cyber attacks.
The attackers obtained access to the network of a water utility in a rural community west of the state capital Springfield with credentials stolen from a company that makes software used...

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- L-3 Communications (NYSE:LLL - News) announced today that it has formed a cooperative partnership in cybersecurity research and development with Virginia Tech’s Ted and Karyn Hume Center for National Security and Technology (Hume Center). A key element of this relationship will be the establishment of L-3’s Cybersecurity Solutions Center, which will be co-located with Virginia Tech’s Cybersecurity Innovations Lab in Northern Virginia. L-3’s STRATIS division, an industry leader in cyber, intelligence and IT service and solutions, will lead this effort.

This new partnership will enhance L-3’s ability to deliver innovative national security solutions. L-3 will offer, in collaboration with...

In the 1970s, I loved the music of Tower of Power, especially their “What Is Hip” song.

I was thinking about that song yesterday as part of the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce’s technology council meeting. For two hours, technology leaders met to put together a strategy for 2012of what they think will help grow our reputation among prospective businesses.

The chamber divided everyone into four groups — academic, government-military, education and business. Each group addressed issues such as how to increase the education base for our tech sectors. The business group, of which I was part of, noted how city leadership needed to get tech leaders involved in the recruiting process.

Yet,...

The Pentagon has laid out its most explicit cyberwarfare policy to date, stating that if directed by the president, it will launch “offensive cyber operations” in response to hostile acts.

Those hostile acts may include “significant cyber attacks directed against the U.S. economy, government or military,” Defense Department officials stated in a long-overdue report to Congress released late Monday.

But the report is still silent on a number of important issues, such as rules of engagement outside designated battle zones — a sign of how challenging the policy debate is in the newest and most complex realm of warfare.

The statements are consistent with preexisting policy, but have never before been...

WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- The 688th Information Operations Wing's 39th Information Operations Squadron members were honored with a 2011 U.S. National Cybersecurity Innovation Award during a ceremony here Oct. 21.

The award, presented by officials from the SANS Institute at the 2011 National Cybersecurity Conference, recognizes innovations undertaken by civilian companies and government agencies to develop and deploy processes or technologies that have not been deployed effectively before, shows a significant impact on reducing cyber risk, can be scaled quickly to serve large numbers of people and may be adopted efficiently by other organizations.

The 39th IOS at Hurlburt Field, Fla., is a detachment of the 688th...

Click the Link below for WOAI to hear about the Cyberpatroit Program at SW High School

http://www.woai.com/news/local/story/Cool-in-School-Cyberpatriot-Program...