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India has mandated that all government ministries and departments secure their websites with proper certification. This directive follows the hacking of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) website by a group calling themselves the "Pakistani Cyber Army." The National Informatics Centre has been instructed to host websites only after these ministries and departments provide security certification and comply with government guidelines, according to India's Press Information Bureau (PIB). The CBI website was defaced by hackers over a week ago. The attackers claimed their actions were in retaliation for similar hacks on Pakistani websites. A CBI spokeswoman stated that the site would undergo a thorough security audit and fix all vulnerabilities before being restored. Importantly, the agency's internal IT systems remained uncompromised. As of Wednesday morning, the CBI site had not yet been restored. India's Minister of State for Communications and IT, Sachin

"Operation Payback" is evolving, as attackers have initiated a fax-based campaign against companies that severed ties with WikiLeaks. Hacktivists from the group "Anonymous" are urging members to send faxes to Amazon, MasterCard, PayPal, Visa, Tableau Software, and Moneybookers. This action aims to create a fax-based version of denial-of-service attacks, according to Netcraft. Over the past few days, the group has launched distributed-denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks against websites of several companies and organizations, including MasterCard and Visa. Paul Mutton from Netcraft blogged, "This latest campaign by the Anonymous group is analogous to the distributed denial of service attacks it has been carrying out against websites over the past week. In essence, this has turned into a DDoS attack against fax machines. The group started the fax-attacks on Dec. 13 at 13:00 GMT and published a list of target fax numbers in their call to arms." "The Anon

Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) is a strategic framework that helps organizations continuously assess and manage cyber risk. It breaks down the complex task of managing security threats into five distinct stages: Scoping, Discovery, Prioritization, Validation, and Mobilization. Each of these stages plays a crucial role in identifying, addressing, and mitigating vulnerabilities - before they can be exploited by attackers.  On paper, CTEM sounds great . But where the rubber meets the road – especially for CTEM neophytes - implementing CTEM can seem overwhelming. The process of putting CTEM principles into practice can look prohibitively complex at first. However, with the right tools and a clear understanding of each stage, CTEM can be an effective method for strengthening your organization's security posture.  That's why I've put together a step-by-step guide on which tools to use for which stage. Want to learn more? Read on… Stage 1: Scoping  When you're defin

Over the past three days, the European Union, the U.S., and NATO have approved new plans to combat cybercrime. On Monday, the European Commission announced its proposals to develop three systems aimed at enhancing cybersecurity for citizens and businesses. First, the E.U. plans to establish a cybercrime center by 2013 to coordinate cooperation between member states, E.U. institutions, and international partners. Second, a European information sharing and alert system, also set for 2013, will facilitate communication between rapid-response teams and law enforcement authorities. Third, the Commission aims to create a network of Computer Emergency Response Teams (CERTs) by 2012, with a CERT in every E.U. country. Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmström assured that these systems would not lead to the creation of another citizens' information database. She emphasized that the goal is to manage the flow of information to prevent cyber-attacks, not to store data. Meanwhile, follo

Hacktivists are militant hackers attacking sites in Egypt, Morocco, Spain, and Israel. Their screen messages resemble banners used in protests, supporting various political, social, or religious ideologies. Active in Morocco, they often hack sensitive security systems. Behind their computer screens, these hackers meticulously encode and decode IT security systems, seeking the slightest vulnerability to launch attacks. Known as hackers in Morocco, they relentlessly penetrate local and foreign sites. Egypt, Kuwait, and Israel have all fallen victim to their actions. Rise of Hacktivism These hackers are not casual credit card thieves but belong to a new category of activists known as "hacktivists." The Internet fuels this underground movement, but their ideological beliefs keep it alive. "It is the oldest form of hacking. Many developing countries resort to this mode of protest," says Ali El Azzouzi, a Moroccan IT security expert. Recently, Morocco, like many other