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Showing posts from April 2, 2017

Does the world need a Geneva Convention for cyber warfare?

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The joint USA-Israel-developed Stuxnet worm, which destroyed the centrifuges crucial to Iran's nuclear programme in 2007, signalled a shift in the way cyber attacks were deployed and perceived. Stuxnet was a success. It demonstrated that cyber attacks could be used to profound material impact where traditional acts of aggression did not succeed. The covert use of cyber weapons worked where sanctions and the threat of violence did not. Image: NSA headquarters, Wikimedia Commons Stuxnet was discovered three years later in 2010. Since, the capabilities of nation states, criminal gangs, and state-sponsored groups have only increased. But the rules of play could not be murkier.  The Tallinn Manual In 2009, a group of cyber security experts began work on the first Tallinn Manual, a non-binding study on how international law might apply to cyber warfare. The first edition was published in 2013, and the second, the Tallinn Manual 2.0, published in February this year.  The issue

Congress addresses cyberwar on small business: 14 million hacked over last 12 months

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A bill making its way through the U.S. Senate proposes to do what  cybersecurity  experts say is long overdue: Create a set of resources and guidelines small businesses can use to protect themselves from a steadily increasing number of cyberattacks. If passed, the  Main Street Cybersecurity Act , introduced at the end of March, would update the  Cybersecurity Enhancement Act of 2014 , which called for the National Institute of Standards and Technology to provide a voluntary  set of guidelines  for big businesses to follow in order to manage and reduce their cybersecurity risks. As a result of the 2014 act, cybersecurity became one of NIST's primary focus areas, and the federal government made a verbal commitment to fund cybersecurity research. This new piece of legislation — discussed during  a meeting  of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation on Wednesday — directs NIST to consider small businesses in updating those guidelines. "By creating

ETA's disarmament sows suspicion in Spain

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Victims of the terrorist group ETA say the move to disarm is propaganda, as nationalist parties and associations want an end to the harsh treatment of Basque prisoners. Santiago Saez reports from the Basque Country. There's something odd about a door in Ruben Mugica's office in San Sebastian (Basque Country, Spain) that leads into a cozy and elegant meeting room. It's the little glass peephole which seems out of place. What's the point of such a device to look into another room in the same office? "This is where the bodyguards used to be, and they would use the hole to check who came into the office," Mugica said, just a few hundred yards away from the place where ETA murdered his father, PSOE leader Fernando Mugica. He points to the wooden table in the room. "This used to be packed with sub-machine guns," he told DW. Now, the table is empty and the bodyguards are long gone.     Watch video 01:08 Symbolic step

Germany activates new cyber warfare unit

On Wednesday, German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen officially commissioned the country’s Cyber and Information Space Unit (KdoCIR). The new military command will form a separate part of the Bundeswehr (armed forces), along with the army, navy and air force. The unit is to be set up in two stages: its personnel currently totals 260, but is due to expand to 13,500 soldiers by July 1. In future, the tasks of cyber warfare, information technology, strategic reconnaissance and geo-information systems of the Bundeswehr and operational communication will be placed under the central control of the KdoCIR. The KdoCIR’s first head of staff is Lieutenant General Ludwig Leinhos, a commander with a reputation as a “cyber warrior.” Before being appointed head of Cyber and Information Space, he was responsible for cyber defence at NATO Headquarters in Brussels. According to the  Süddeutsche Zeitung,  Germany is seeking to take the lead internationally in the field of cyber warfare and

Are these the battle lines for World War Three? Graphic shows which countries are siding with Russia or the US in their support - or condemnation - of Assad

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President Donald Trump, 70, launched airstrikes on a Bashar al-Assad controlled airbase in Syria on Thursday Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today praised the American airstrike following the chemical attack He said that the strikes sent a 'strong and clear' message that chemical weapons will not be tolerated in 2017  Both Britain and Australia praised the US action as an 'appropriate response' to what happened in the  week Syria and Russia have denounced it as an 'act of aggression' with Putin saying it damages relationship with US The US airstrikes on a  Syrian  regime airbase have hardened the dividing lines across the world in regards to the Assad regime. MailOnline has set out world leaders' positions on the conflict, which clearly shows the split between pro and anti-Assad countries. It suggests which side of the battle line countries would position themselves on should the escalating crisis turn into an all out global conflic