According to Wired.

Paller said it is "highly unlikely" that the process (that) controls computers behind critical infrastructure like power in the United States would run on the Windows operating system.

"There is no information available at this time to indicate that the power outages in the northeast United States and Canada are related to intruder activity," said the Computer Emergency Response Team at Carnegie Mellon, in response to questions about the worm.

posted by mt at 09:44

Counter-googling.

A real-life COUNTER-GOOGLING example? The Bel Air Hotel in LA already Googles first-time guests upon arrival, based on their reservation details (name and address), leading to personalized services like assigning guests a room with morning sun if Googling shows the guest enjoys jogging early in the day.

posted by mt at 09:38

NY Daily News on the implications of yesterday's power problems in the Northeast.

The outages' domino effect proved that securing computer networks and facilities in one state could be rendered ineffective if a connecting power system's safeguards fail, these expert said.

"If it can happen by accident or happenstance, it can happen through malicious activity," a New York State official told the Daily News. "It highlights that the system is vulnerable to somebody who knows what they're doing."

Energy and terrorism specialists said America's power grids are wired with vast interconnected computer networks - making them potentially vulnerable to cyberattack or inside sabotage.

"It's all computerized," said a congressional source involved in energy policy. "All it would take is one miscue, and it would overload the entire system."

posted by mt at 09:16

From the Washington Times:

Computer systems at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., were shut down this week as a result of the "Blaster" computer worm.

The desert base is home to the Air Force Flight Test Center, which conducts work on the B-2 and B-1B bombers, the airborne laser, the Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle, the new F-22 Raptor jet fighter, the Joint Strike Fighter and other high-tech weapons.

"We stopped access to our base computer network Monday about 2 p.m. because of the Blaster worm," said Air Force Lt. Col. Kerry Humphrey, a base spokeswoman.

"We don't know how much damage was done, but we're slowly but surely getting our system back on line."

posted by mt at 09:09

The FBI is looking for the origins of Blaster. This report got me wondering - how do you track the source of a massive worm or virus? My best guess would be trying to document a few of the earliest reports and tracing back from there, if at all possible. That's assuming some doofus wasn't out bragging all over IRC about his l33t new worm.
posted by mt at 11:55

Old Slate piece on the difference between a virus and a worm.
posted by mt at 13:25

Jupiter Research analyst Michael Gartenberg comments on Blaster and everyday security. Some very good points, I like the excerpt below.

If security issues are going to be resolved it’s going to take more than finger pointing at the folks in Redmond. IT managers need to take accountability for their systems, software vendors for the correct installation and maintenance of their programs and consumers for their households. This is the price of the enablement provided by a digital lifestyle.

posted by mt at 10:08

Microsoft security patch.

Breakdown and removal of the worm.
posted by mt at 11:49

Def Con roundup. Decent review by a conference attendee.
posted by mt at 11:17

Excellent, insightful comments on the recently nixed DARPA futures project. Also ties into the Security Focus column on a futures market for the computer security world.

One of the goals of Delphi is to dig out hidden consensus among differing viewpoints on the same topic. While a simple numeric score may seem a blunt object for forecasting, a group of scores creates an interesting analysis tool. For instance, a strong bi-modal distribution several related topics is highly suggested of a paradigm rift. Delphi is also useful to dig out 'sneaking suspicions' that are valuable insights, but may never get aired in a formal group presentation.

posted by mt at 10:15

USAToday reports on the nearly 500 webcams installed in Biloxi classrooms to monitor students and teachers.
posted by mt at 11:51