cyberwar

The admission that the US was behind cyberattacks on Iran legitimizes cyberwar for enemies of the US as well as its friends. More seriously, it makes an arsenal of semi-violent responses available to culture warriors who aren't satisfied with simply shouting at those who disagree.

Symantec captured a new version of the module the Stuxnet descendant Duqu uses to penetrate new systems, but not the part that shows where it gets its orders. Kaspersky, meanwhile, cracked the mystery of Duqu's mysterious coding language and identified characteristics of the coding team that built it; nothing's sure, but the profile is consistent with government work.

NATO announced a cyberwar rapid-response team whose mission is to counter sudden attacks and return systems to their original state. The idea sounds fine, but considering the speed and increasing aggression of cyberattackers, the new team sounds distinctly little league.

Iran claims it shot down a U.S. RQ-170 spy drone, but won't release proof or say if a new Russian electronic counter-measures system brought it down. Killed or crashed, the drone is one shot in a a cyber/real war using malware, murder and explosive sabotage as weapons.

The cyberattack from Russia reported to have have caused major damage at an Illinois water utility last month turns out to have been gross misinterpretation, but one proven to have been credible by a similar attack on a similar utility at almost the same time.

Though it couldn't pin responsibility to China, the U.S. commission examining security issues between the U.S. and China warns we'd better get ready for wars that start with bad guys killing our satellites.

Symantec released a report today with an unusually detailed description of the forensic investigation and trackback to the source of a series of espionage attacks on chemical companies involved in the defense industry. Suspect responds, 'Who, me?'

According to the New York Times, the White House and Pentagon talked about whether to attack both Libya an Pakistan with digits before door-kickers. Did they decide not to so as not to show reveal how unprepared for cyberwar the U.S. really is?

After six months of investigation and what it says is plenty of evidence of who is to blame for the data breach that undermined 40 million SecureID token users, RSA announced only that it can say only that the culprit was a hacker and a "nation state." Why so coy, RSA?

Think tank report on security in the U.S. since the 9/11 attacks warns the potential for cyber-terrorism is "not science fiction," but that plans to deal with it apparently were.

Through an FOIA request, Ars Technica got FBI case files that show how it pursued Anonymous in 2008; methods aside, when and whether it will investigate cybercrime is hard to predict.