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London, Wedesday, July 24, 2002
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INFOCON News
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[News Index]
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[1] Justifying the Expense of IDS, Part One: An Overview of ROIs for IDS
[2] Transportation agency may miss security deadlines
[3] Symantec's SecurityFocus buyout met with pessimism
[4] Cyberterrorism drill set
[5] Senate chairmen take aim at Lieberman on homeland bill
[6] High-Flying Schmidt
[7] Detecting and Removing Malicious Code
[8] Bill to standardize manufacturers' e-commerce
[9] Privacy advocates urge use of states' common laws
[10] Protecting Intellectual Property Is Still a Challenge in Asia-Pacific
Region
[11] Here's one more trick up hackers' sleeves
[12] There's certs and certs - VeriSign badmouths rivals
[13] The Web is hot, but profits remain cool
[14] UK ISP loses key email wiretap case on appeal
[15] UK unveils Open Source policy, may make it 'default' option
[16] Pentagon gives up part of airwaves for wireless industry
[17] CIA lifts restriction on recruiting 'dirty' informers
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News
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[1] Justifying the Expense of IDS, Part One: An Overview of ROIs for IDS
by David Kinn and Kevin Timm
last updated July 18, 2002
Introduction
A positive return on investment (ROI) of intrusion detection systems (IDS) is
dependent upon an organization's deployment strategy and how well the successful
implementation and management of the technology helps the organization achieve
the tactical and strategic objectives it has established. For organizations
interested in quantifying the IDS's value prior to deploying it, their
investment decision will hinge on their ability to demonstrate a positive ROI.
ROI has traditionally been difficult to quantify for network security devices,
in part because it is difficult to calculate risk accurately due to the
subjectivity involved with its quantification. Also, business-relevant
statistics regarding security incidents are not always available for
consideration in analyzing risk.
http://online.securityfocus.com/infocus/1608
good NIST IDS paper:
http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistpubs/
SP 800-31 Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS), November 2001
----------------------------------------------------
[2] Transportation agency may miss security deadlines
By Matthew Weinstock
Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta said publicly for the first time Tuesday
that the department may miss looming deadlines to bolster security at the nation
's airports.
Speaking before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Aviation
Subcommittee, Mineta said that Congress' delay in approving emergency funding
for the Transportation Security Administration is undermining the agency's
ability to carry out its mission.
"I was prepared to renew our pledge to meet the ambitious deadlines established
by Congress and explain how we are going to get there," Mineta told the panel,
which he chaired during his days in the House of Representatives. "But the
extraordinary delay in approving funding and new restrictions imposed on the TSA
have dramatically undermined our ability to meet this goal."
http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0702/072302w1.htm
----------------------------------------------------
[3] Symantec's SecurityFocus buyout met with pessimism
By Thomas C Greene in Washington
Posted: 22/07/2002 at 19:05 GMT
There's been considerable discussion this weekend of the recent sale of
SecurityFocus to mega-corporation Symantec for a sweet $75 million. At issue in
particular is SF's BugTraq mailing list, which has for years been the most
popular full-disclosure vulnerability list going.
While Symantec has stated that it will not exert influence on BugTraq, which it
now owns, many list members find that assurance hard to trust. However, in this
case only time will tell. I personally have little doubt that the SF staff
intend to keep BugTraq and its extensive archives independent and free. Whether
they'll succeed in the long run is an entirely different matter.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/26315.html
Alternatives to BugTrack:
Full Disclosure
http://lists.netsys.com/mailman/listinfo/full-disclosure
Vulnwatch
http://www.vulnwatch.org/subscribe.html
----------------------------------------------------
[Key sentence: 'Collaboration is necessary, security experts say, because the
private sector controls 85 percent of the nation's critical infrastructure,
which includes telecommunications, transportation and essential government
services.' WEN]
[4] Cyberterrorism drill set
Operation Dark Screen to help government, industry prepare for attacks
BY Dan Caterinicchia
July 22, 2002
Federal, state and local government officials are partnering with
representatives from the private sector and the utilities community in a
cyberterrorism exercise designed to identify the links between them in
defending - and responding to - a cyberattack.
http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2002/0722/tec-drill-07-22-02.asp
----------------------------------------------------
[5] Senate chairmen take aim at Lieberman on homeland bill
By Brody Mullins and Geoff Earle, CongressDaily
In another sign of intramural tensions over homeland security legislation,
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., is taking aim at a
key section of the Senate bill that would give the new Homeland Security
Department broad powers to gather intelligence, sources told CongressDaily
Monday.
Levin favors establishing a new directorate for intelligence within the new
department, according to an aide, but would make the directorate the focal point
for the "receipt"-rather than the "analysis"-of information.
The change is intended to allow the current intelligence-gathering structure to
stay essentially in place, rather than creating new analysis functions that
Levin feels could be duplicative within the department.
http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0702/072302cdam1.htm
----------------------------------------------------
[I heard three talks by Schmidt and I usually found them interesting, but it
looks
like one of the only senior person with InfoSec front line experience within the
US gov
jumped on the scaremonger bandwagon as it is just easier than fighting against
FUD.
What a pity. WEN]
[6] High-Flying Schmidt
Unstoppable viruses, massive blackouts, hacked pacemakers? The government's
number two cyber security guy wasn't this apocalyptic when he worked for
Microsoft.
By George Smith Jul 22, 2002
This month's dose of demented prediction comes to you courtesy of Howard
Schmidt, chairman vice of the President's Critical Infrastructure Protection
Board.
Alleged "zero-day viruses and affinity worms" will sunder business records, as
reported in Network World Fusion and credited to a Schmidt speech at an
Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA) conference. Brokerage
house trading records will be scrambled, corporate networks rendered molten,
CEOs humiliated.
http://online.securityfocus.com/columnists/97
----------------------------------------------------
[7] Detecting and Removing Malicious Code
by Matthew Tanase
Introduction
Has it happened yet? The phone call, the e-mail, the page, or maybe you
discovered it yourself. Something wasn't right: sluggish performance, too much
network activity, a missing file. After a little investigating, the
realization - you've been cracked. If this isn't familiar to you yet, odds are
it will be in the future. Crackers have access to countless variations of
malicious code: automated rootkits, trojans, viruses and specific exploits, all
designed to breach your security. Detecting and removing these programs can be a
daunting task, with little room for wasted time or error. In this article, I'll
explain techniques readers can use to get their system back on-line and prevent
it from happening again.
http://online.securityfocus.com/infocus/1610
----------------------------------------------------
[8] Bill to standardize manufacturers' e-commerce
Kent Hoover Washington Bureau Chief
The House passed legislation calling for the National Institute for Standards
and Technology to work with the private sector to create voluntary standards for
electronic links between manufacturers and their suppliers.
Under the bill, which passed by a 397-22 margin, NIST also would provide
technical assistance and financial support to small and medium-size businesses
that set up enterprise integration pilot projects.
http://www.bizjournals.com/extraedge/washingtonbureau/archive/2002/07/22/bureau5
.html
----------------------------------------------------
[9] Privacy advocates urge use of states' common laws
Report: Lawsuits have held marketers in check
July 23, 2002 Posted: 3:01 PM EDT (1901 GMT)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- With consumer-privacy efforts stalled in Congress, one
expert is arguing that those who fear that intimate details of their private
lives could be exposed already have plenty of protection through existing common
law.
http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/industry/07/23/privacy.reut/index.html
----------------------------------------------------
[10] Protecting Intellectual Property Is Still a Challenge in Asia-Pacific
Region
Mike O'Sullivan
Los Angeles
24 Jul 2002 00:41 UTC
Listen to Mike O'Sullivan's report from Los Angeles (RealAudio)
O'Sullivan report - Download 458k (RealAudio)
Piracy of films, software and other intellectual property, remains a problem in
the Asia-Pacific region. But officials from the area, meeting in Los Angeles
this week, report their governments are providing ever-greater protection for
copyrights and patents. Nevertheless, countries are being urged to step up
domestic enforcement.
http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=CF0E096B-1EE7-4461-824A535F5A956BD2&;
title=Protecting%20Intellectual%20Property%20Is%20Still%20a%20Challenge%20in%20A
sia%2DPacific%20Region&catOID=45C9C78B-88AD-11D4-A57200A0CC5EE46C
----------------------------------------------------
[11] Here's one more trick up hackers' sleeves
Robert Vamosi,
Senior Associate Editor,
CNET/ZDNet Reviews
Wednesday, July 24, 2002
In the early days of the Internet, Web pages were flat. Now they are dynamic,
often created on the fly and/or customized to incorporate your preferences. For
example, Travelocity.com offers information about travel to and from
destinations you choose each time you visit the site.
The advantages of dynamic pages are many: content is fresher, easier to
maintain, and easier to navigate. Unfortunately, some dynamic Web sites also
expose you to cross-site scripting (XSS), a method of capturing personal
information that's becoming increasingly popular with malicious users.
http://www.zdnet.com/anchordesk/stories/story/0,10738,2875356,00.html
----------------------------------------------------
[12] There's certs and certs - VeriSign badmouths rivals
By ComputerWire
Posted: 07/24/2002 at 03:02 EST
Apparently refusing to be drawn into a digital certificate price war, VeriSign
Inc is said to be on the verge of raising the price of some certs by up to 60%,
and is mounting a marketing and education campaign saying its authentication
services are more trustworthy than those of some of its rivals.
http://www.theregus.com/content/6/25717.html
----------------------------------------------------
[13] The Web is hot, but profits remain cool
Amy Harmon and Felicity Barringer The New York Times
Wednesday, July 24, 2002
NEW YORK The reorganization of AOL Time Warner Inc. last week has been recounted
as a story of Time Warner, the king of traditional media, reclaiming its
rightful throne from the upstart digital pretender, America Online.
But as old-line media celebrates its return to power and to vogue, some analysts
and executives caution that the Internet's capacity to change the rules should
not be discounted too quickly. Investors may have repudiated the Internet, they
say, but consumers have not.
http://www.iht.com/articles/65484.html
----------------------------------------------------
[14] UK ISP loses key email wiretap case on appeal
By John Leyden
Posted: 07/23/2002 at 12:09 EST
A Law Lord yesterday brushed aside concerns from NTL that it might breach the
law in complying with an email wiretap request from the police.
Police have welcomed the ruling as a step in ensuring they get access to
information they need during the course of an investigation, while critics have
warned of a lack of adequate checks and balances guarding against abuse.
http://www.theregus.com/content/6/25712.html
----------------------------------------------------
[15] UK unveils Open Source policy, may make it 'default' option
By John Lettice
Posted: 07/23/2002 at 10:28 EST
The UK government yesterday announced its policy on Open Source software, and as
far as we can figure out, it seems to be cautiously pro. In answer to a
parliamentary question (and we strongly suspect 'plant' here), Home Office
minister Douglas Alexander said: "I am pleased to announce new policy on the use
of Open Source Software within UK Government. It explains how we will consider
Open Source Software solutions alongside proprietary ones in IT procurements and
award contracts on a value for money basis, seeking to avoid lock-in to
proprietary IT products and services."
http://www.theregus.com/content/4/25709.html
----------------------------------------------------
[16] Pentagon gives up part of airwaves for wireless industry
By Teri Rucker, National Journal's Technology Daily
Federal agencies charged with overseeing the nation's airwaves have found a way
to move government spectrum users to make 90 megahertz available to the wireless
industry by 2008, government officials said Tuesday during a press conference.
As part of the plan, the Bush administration on Tuesday submitted to Congress
legislative language that would create a trust fund to reimburse government
users that must move.
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and the
FCC completed a viability assessment that found 45 MHz of spectrum each in the
1710 to 1770 MHz bands and the 2110 to 2170 MHz bands without disrupting
communications systems critical to national security.
The industry has been lobbying Congress and the administration to make spectrum
in those bands available but found formidable opposition within the Defense
Department. The Pentagon insisted that comparable spectrum be found for
reallocation, that the costs to move be covered and that security operations not
be interrupted.
http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0702/072302td1.htm
----------------------------------------------------
[17] CIA lifts restriction on recruiting 'dirty' informers
James Risen The New York Times
Saturday, July 20, 2002
WASHINGTON The CIA has rescinded its seven-year-old guidelines requiring case
officers in the field to obtain approval from top management before trying to
recruit informers with questionable backgrounds, officials said. The agency
acted in the face of complaints from leading lawmakers that it had failed to
drop the guidelines earlier, even after Congress directed it to do so.
http://www.iht.com/articles/65099.html
----------------------------------------------------
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