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U.S. says worried by cyber-attacks; committed to Asia

(Reuters) - The United States is seriously concerned about cyber-attacks and is prepared to use force against those it considers acts of war, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said at a security meeting in Asia on Saturday.

He also assured Asian allies that the United States would protect sea lanes and maintain a robust military presence in the region despite a severe budget crunch and the protracted wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"We take the cyber threat very seriously and we see it from a variety of sources, not just one or another country," Gates said at the annual Shangri-La Dialogue, an apparent reference to reports that several of the attacks may have originated in China.

"What would constitute an act of war by cyber that would require some kind of response, either in kind or kinetically?" he said.

"We could avoid some serious international tensions in the future if we could establish some rules of the road as early as possible to let people know what kinds of acts are acceptable, what kinds of acts are not and what kinds of acts may in fact be acts of war." More...

06-05-2011 01:40

Sony Confirms Latest Hacker Intrusion

Sony Corp. (6758) said it contacted the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and took action to protect its websites after intrusions by a group of hackers.

“We have confirmed that a breach has occurred and have taken action to protect against further intrusion,” Michael Lynton, chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment, said in a statement. “We also retained a respected team of experts to conduct the forensic analysis of the attack.”

A group calling itself LulzSec posted statements online saying it broke into SonyPictures.com and downloaded unencrypted personal information, including passwords, e-mail addresses and dates of birth from 1 million user accounts.

The attack was the latest on Tokyo-based Sony, which in the past two months said more than 100 million accounts were compromised after hackers broke into its networks. Sony, which two days ago resumed full operation of the PlayStation Network in the U.S. and Europe after six weeks of suspension, said last month the intrusions will cost about 14 billion yen ($173 million) this fiscal year.

“My biggest concern is whether the expense related to unauthorized accesses will stay within 14 billion yen,” Tsunenori Ohmaki, an analyst at Tachibana Securities Co. in Tokyo, said yesterday. Online businesses have become more important to Sony as its main TV unit probably won’t contribute to earnings in the near future, he said. More...

06-04-2011 21:32

Stolen Data Is Tracked to Hacking at Lockheed

Lockheed Martin said Friday that it had proof that hackers breached its network two weeks ago partly by using data stolen from a vendor that supplies coded security tokens to tens of millions of computer users.

Lockheed’s finding confirmed the fears of security experts about the safety of the SecurID tokens and heightened concerns that other companies or government agencies could be vulnerable to hacking attacks.

The tokens, which are used to protect remote access to computer networks, are sold by the RSA Security Division of the EMC Corporation. RSA officials said Friday that they accepted Lockheed’s findings and were working with customers to offset the risks through other measures.

RSA disclosed in March that hackers had stolen data that could compromise a company’s SecurID system in a broader attack, and the breach of Lockheed, the nation’s largest defense contractor, is the first time that is known to have occurred. More...

06-04-2011 19:43

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