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Hackers rushed to defend WikiLeaks on Wednesday, launching attacks on MasterCard, Visa, Swedish prosecutors, a Swiss bank, and others who acted against the site and its jailed founder, Julian Assange. Internet "hacktivists" under the banner "Operation Payback" claimed responsibility in a Twitter message for causing severe technological problems on MasterCard's website. MasterCard had recently severed ties with WikiLeaks. Although MasterCard acknowledged a disruption in its Secure Code system for verifying online payments, spokesman James Issokson assured that consumers could still use their credit cards securely. Later on Wednesday, Visa's website also became inaccessible. These online attacks are part of a broader wave of support for WikiLeaks sweeping the Internet. Twitter was flooded with messages of solidarity for the group, while its Facebook page reached 1 million fans. However, late Wednesday, Operation Payback itself faced difficulties as many of i...

The leaked American diplomatic cables released by whistleblower WikiLeaks this week have not only taken the world’s governments and financial markets by storm but have also caused a stir in Pakistani cyberspace. Pakistan has topped the global charts for 'WikiLeaks' searches on Google. Pakistan's obsession with the news is no secret. Being Pakistani means being accustomed to the many 'happenings' that fuel a booming news media industry. Whether it is bomb blasts, natural disasters, match-fixing scandals, crime, corruption allegations, or military operations, the news media is never short of things to report. Pakistani viewers and readers have a healthy diet of news to feed off, built up over years of a developing media landscape. Among the top 20 most visited websites by Pakistani internet users, according to Alexa, four are news websites belonging to mainstream media outlets. When it comes to secrets contained in leaked diplomatic cables, the value of the news see...

The computer virus Stuxnet, which some experts believe was created specifically to target Iran's nuclear facilities, could also threaten U.S. infrastructure, according to a senior Department of Homeland Security official. "That virus focused on specific software implementations, and those software implementations did exist in some U.S. infrastructure," Greg Schaffer, the department's assistant secretary for cybersecurity and communications, told reporters at a breakfast Monday morning. "So, there was the potential for some U.S. infrastructure to be impacted at some level." Schaffer described Stuxnet as a "very tiered, complex, and sophisticated virus" that has attracted worldwide attention because it specifically targeted supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems at Siemens plants, including those in Iran. Experts have suggested that the cost and manpower required to create such a virus indicate that a government, rather than a rog...

Google has made its most direct challenge to Microsoft with the launch of its new operating system, Chrome OS, which aims to surpass Windows. This marks a significant move in the battle for the future of personal computing. With Chrome OS, users can get online much faster. The system powers up instantly and logs onto the web within seconds. During the first public demonstration in San Francisco, Google showcased that a user could be surfing the net within 60 seconds of turning on their computer. Chrome OS also brings users closer to storing all their photographs, music, and emails online instead of on a hard drive. These files would be kept in the "cloud" on the internet and accessed from any device with an internet connection. Eric Schmidt, Google’s Chief Executive, stated, "Cloud computing will define computing as we know it." The first computers running Chrome OS, made by Acer and Samsung, will go on sale in mid-next year—more than six months behind schedule....

Microsoft has detailed new security features for Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) that will help users prevent sites from tracking their activity across browsing sessions. The new feature, set to launch with the first release candidate of IE9 early next year, uses a list to control which third-party elements can be blocked from tracking. These elements include advertisements and embedded widgets from specific providers. Dean Hachamovitch, head of Internet Explorer development, explained how this feature works on Microsoft's IE blog: "A Tracking Protection List (TPL) contains Web addresses (like msdn.com) that the browser will visit (or 'call') only if the user visits them directly by clicking on a link or typing their address. By limiting the calls to these websites and resources from other web pages, the TPL limits the information these other sites can collect. You can look at this as a translation of the 'Do Not Call' list from the telephone to the browser and we...

Two college students from Kohat, missing since October, have been formally charged by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for allegedly sharing information about the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan with an Indian hacker, officials and parents have reported. The FIA's Cyber Crime Wing registered a case against Saim Ali Shah, son of Zulfiqar Ali Shah, and Salal Ali Shah, son of Sajid Ali Shah. The charges were filed in the Rawalpindi circle under Sections 419, 420, 468, and 41 of the Pakistan Penal Code and the Anti-Terrorism Ordinance (ATO) related to cyber crimes. On October 13, 2010, a special unit of FIA, Rawalpindi, raided a house in Garhi Banoorian. They took both cousins, along with their computers and CDs, without informing the local police or their parents. Zulfiqar Ali Shah, speaking to this scribe, explained that his son and nephew had developed an online friendship with an Indian national in August. This individual claimed to have hacked the official ...

WikiLeaks' main website became inaccessible on Friday via its WikiLeaks.org domain after EveryDNS.net, a subsidiary of Dynamic Network Services, terminated its domain name service. EveryDNS.net terminated the WikiLeaks.org domain due to repeated Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS) attacks. These attacks threatened the stability of EveryDNS.net's infrastructure, which supports nearly 500,000 other websites. This information was stated on EveryDNS.net’s website. EveryDNS.net notified WikiLeaks via email, Twitter, and the chat function on the WikiLeaks.org website that its domain name service would be terminated within 24 hours. This period ended on Dec. 2 at 10 p.m. Eastern Standard Time in the U.S. EveryDNS.net remarked, "Any downtime of the Wikileaks.org website has resulted from its failure to use another hosted DNS service provider." In response, WikiLeaks tweeted, "WikiLeaks.org domain killed by U.S. EveryDNS.net after claimed mass attacks," urging su...

It will take several more years for the government to fully install high-tech systems to block computer intrusions. This prolonged timeline enables criminals to become more adept at stealing sensitive data, experts say. As the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) methodically works to secure the approximately 2,400 network connections used daily by millions of federal workers, experts suggest that technology may already be outpacing them. The DHS, responsible for securing non-military government systems, is gradually moving all government Internet and e-mail traffic into secure networks. These networks will eventually be protected by intrusion detection and prevention programs. However, progress has been slow. Officials are trying to finalize complex contracts with network vendors, resolve technology issues, and address privacy concerns related to monitoring employees and public citizens. The recent WikiLeaks release of over a quarter-million sensitive diplomatic documents highligh...

The recent hacking of the Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) website by a group called the 'Pakistani Cyber Army' has raised concerns about the security measures of servers maintained by the National Informatics Centre (NIC). The NIC is responsible for government server maintenance. While the NIC remains silent on the issue, sources in the security establishment suggest that the NIC's safety mechanisms were inadequate. Several reminders had been sent to NIC, urging them to upgrade their hardware. The CBI's official website was hacked on the night of December 3rd to 4th. The CBI has registered a case against unknown individuals in connection with the hacking. A report titled "Shadows in the Cloud" by a Canadian think-tank, comprising the "Information Warfare Monitor" and "Shadows Server," earlier this year indicated evidence of a cyber-espionage network. This network compromised government, business, and academic computer systems ...

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) confirmed on Saturday that its website was hacked. The CBI has registered a case under the Information Technology Act. "It has come to the notice of the CBI that its official website was unauthorizedly accessed and defaced during the night of December 3 and 4. A case has been registered in this connection in the cyber crime cell of the CBI,” an official spokesperson told the media on Saturday. Efforts are ongoing to restore the website. "Efforts are underway to restore the website with the help of the National Informatics Centre and CBI cybersecurity experts," said the spokesperson. Reports emerged on Friday that the website of India’s federal investigating agency had been hacked. The CBI website remained inaccessible today after it was hacked, allegedly by a Pakistani group. A group calling itself the Pakistan Cyber Army left a message on the CBI’s home page last night, claiming to have avenged the hacking of 40 Pakistani ...

In a troubling trend of tit-for-tat website defacements, a group of Indian hackers known as the ‘Indian Cyber Army’ hacked the Oil & Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) website [ www.ogra.org.pk ] on Saturday. The website was later restored by the site administrators. The message left on the OGRA page stated that the hack was in response to an attack on over 200 Indian websites by the ‘Pakistan Cyber Army’. The message read: "You Have Been Hacked By The ‘INDIAN CYBER ARMY’. This Is a Retaliation Of Hacking ‘CBI’." Previously, a group of Pakistani hackers, identifying themselves as ‘Predators PK,’ had hacked over 200 Indian websites. This attack was a form of retaliation for a recent cyber assault on Pakistani sites carried out by the Indian Cyber Army (ICA). Unlike the ICA attack, which was cited as ‘revenge for 26/11’, the message inserted by the Pakistani hackers did not suggest ideological motivations, but rat...

The increasing threats of cyberwar are keeping U.S. officials busy alongside ongoing wars on terror and drugs. Recent incidents highlight the rising cyberwarfare concerns: Google reported espionage attacks originating from China, mysterious Internet traffic activities related to China, the Stuxnet worm targeting Iranian nuclear centrifuges, an attack on the WikiLeaks site following the release of classified U.S. documents, and the significant Internet attack on Estonia a few years ago. To address these cyber threats, the U.S. has adopted military strategies for cybersecurity, establishing Cyber Command and placing national cybersecurity under the Department of Defense. However, relying solely on offensive strategies is not the best defense. Gary McGraw, CTO at Cigital and author, argues that more secure software, rather than cyber warriors, is essential to protect networks and online data. In his article, "Cyber Warmongering and Influence Peddling," McGraw emphasizes the nee...