Israel Recruits Teenagers to Fight Cyber Warfare

Israel is poised to launch a fresh national programme aimed at training young people in cyber defence in response to growing concern about online attacks from Iran. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the programme, named Magshimim Le'umit, will provide a three-year course and targets students aged 16-18.

During an address at the Ashkelon Academic College, the Jerusalem Post claims Netanyahu said Israel's systems are under attack from Iran, adding: "We are bolstering our ability to deal with these threats via the Israel National Cyber Bureau (INCB) that we established." The prime minister continued by saying that children are the "future interceptors" for the state of Israel, and that: "We are one of the world's

International Business Times

US, Israel behind Flame virus

The United States and Israel jointly developed the Flame virus, which collected intelligence for a cyber-attack on Iran’s nuclear program. This has been confirmed by a number of Western officials familiar with classified data on the effort.

­The CIA, the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Israeli military were all involved in developing malware to sabotage Iran’s nuclear program, the officials confirmed. “This is about preparing the battlefield for another type of covert action,” noted one official, as quoted by The Washington Post. “Cyber-collection against the Iranian program is way further down the road than this.”

Experts say Flame was designed to replicate even on highly secure networks. It allowed its creators to monitor the infected computer, activate microphones and cameras, take screenshots, log keyboard strokes, extract geolocational data from images and send and receive commands via Bluetooth wireless technology.

The virus came to light last month, when Iran detected cyber-attacks on its Oil Ministry and oil export facilities. “The virus penetrated some fields — one of them was the oil sector,” Gholam Reza Jalali, an Iranian military official told the country’s state radio at that time. “Fortunately, we detected and controlled this single incident.”

Some US officials were unsatisfied with the attack. They say it was the result of a unilateral decision by Israel, which failed to consult its American partners on the move.

More on RT - Also see Stuxnet

Obama's new Pentagon strategy: Strip benefits & buy more weapons

The world's biggest military is about to get smaller - with President Obama announcing the biggest strategy review in years, to try and make the U.S. army leaner and cheaper. It includes changing from large ground wars, to what he says will be an expanded agile force across Asia, the Pacific and the Middle East.

RT on YouTube

Japanese Government working on cyberweapon

The Japanese Defense Ministry is in the process of developing a computer virus capable of tracking, identifying and disabling sources of cyber-attacks, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned. The development of the virtual cyberweapon was launched in 2008. Since then, the weapon has been tested in a closed network environment.

Cyberweapons are said to already be in use in countries such as the United States and China. However, in Japan there is no provision on the use of cyberweapons against external parties in existing legislation on foreign attacks. With this in mind, the Defense Ministry and Foreign Ministry have begun legislative consideration regarding the matter, according to sources.

The most distinctive feature of the new virus is its ability to trace cyber-attack sources. It can identify not only the immediate source of attack, but also all "springboard" computers used to transmit the virus. The virus also has the ability to disable the attacking program and collect relevant information. 

The Daily Yomiuri

Former CIA official sees terrorism-cyber parallels

Different wars for different times. Cofer Black, a former top CIA counterterrorism official, said on Wednesday he sees parallels between the terrorism threat that emerged before the September 11 attacks a decade ago and the emerging cyber threat now.

The question of validation -- judging the severity of the threat and who is behind it -- is just as much an issue now as it was in the lead-up to the September 11 attacks, he told an audience of information security experts at the annual Black Hat conference. Black said he became very familiar with al Qaeda during his 28 years at CIA, including one assassination attempt against himself.

More on Reuters

Biggest-ever series of cyber attacks uncovered

Security experts have discovered the biggest series of cyber attacks to date, involving the infiltration of the networks of 72 organizations including the United Nations, governments and companies around the world.

Security company McAfee, which uncovered the intrusions, said it believed there was one "state actor" behind the attacks but declined to name it, though one security expert who has been briefed on the hacking said the evidence points to China.

The long list of victims in the five-year campaign include the governments of the United States, Taiwan, India, South Korea, Vietnam and Canada; the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN); the International Olympic Committee (IOC); the World Anti-Doping Agency; and an array of companies, from defense contractors to high-tech enterprises.

More on Reuters

Body of murdered cyberwar expert found in landfill

The body of a decorated US Army officer was found dumped in a Delaware landfill on New Years Eve day, a few days after he expressed concern that the nation wasn't adequately prepared for cyber warfare, according to news reports following the bizarre whodunit.

Events surrounding the murder of John P. Wheeler III, who most recently worked part-time for defence contractor Mitre Corporation on cyber defence topics, read like a Tom Clancy novel. The 66-year-old worked for three Republican administrations, was special assistant to the Secretary of the Air Force, served in the office of the Secretary of Defence, and penned a manual on the effectiveness of biological and chemical weapons, which urged US forces to show restraint.

The day after Christmas – five days before his body was found as it was being dumped from a trash truck into the Cherry Island Landfill in Wilmington – Wheeler sent long-time friend Richard Radez an email expressing concern that the US wasn't sufficiently prepared for “cyber warfare,” according to The Associated Press.

“This was something that had preoccupied him over the last couple of years,” Radez told the news organization.

More on The Register

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