Apple iOS 5.1 released, updates security

Apple released the iOS 5.1 software update which comes with a variety of improvements and bug fixes.

CFNetwork
An issue existed in CFNetwork's handling of malformed URLs. When accessing a maliciously crafted URL, CFNetwork could send unexpected request headers.

HFS
An integer underflow existed with the handling of HFS catalog files.

Kernel
A logic issue existed in the handling of debug system calls. This may allow a malicious program to gain code execution in other programs with the same user privileges.

libresolv
An integer overflow existed in the handling of DNS resource records, which may lead to heap memory corruption.

Passcode lock
A race condition issue existed in the handling of slide to dial gestures. This may allow a person with physical access to the device to bypass the Passcode Lock screen.

Safari
Safari’s Private Browsing is designed to prevent recording of a browsing session. Pages visited as a result of a site using the JavaScript methods pushState or replaceState were recorded in the browser history even when Private Browsing mode was active. This issue is addressed by not recording such visits when Private Browsing is active.

Siri
An attacker with physical access to a locked phone could get access to frontmost email message.

A design issue existed in Siri’s lock screen restrictions. If Siri was enabled for use on the lock screen, and Mail was open with a message selected behind the lock screen, a voice command could be used to send that message to an arbitrary recipient. This issue is addressed by disabling forwarding of active messages from the lock screen.

VPN
A format string vulnerability existed in the handling of racoon configuration files.

WebKit
A cross-origin issue existed in WebKit, which may allow cookies to be disclosed across origins.

A cross-origin issue existed in WebKit, which may allow content to be dragged and dropped across origins.

Multiple cross-origin issues existed in WebKit.

Multiple memory corruption issues existed in WebKit.

Tips for Network and Internet Security

Computers, staying vulnerable on account of having the two wired and wireless connections, are already a sufferer to be able to internet security threats. Nevertheless, you’ll be able to enhance your internet along with network security by means of handful of steps and generate a network that can’t be hacked simply by anybody.

We can notice wonderful attempts being carried out by many people companies to enhance their internet and also network security. It is been recently occurring due to the progress of high speed internet services and wireless internet connection containing enticed many hackers to get into it and misuse that. That is why, one can find numerous prone computers throughout the world, being bombarded simply by spyware, virus as well as malware triggering numerous instances of security problems, identity fraud as well as cyber crimes.

The initial step you need to decide to use increase your internet and network is by putting in a new firewall. Any firewall registers just about any unauthorized conversation that will tries to occur in any network as well as any illegal connection to access the particular internet. Firewall may give consumers options to permit or perhaps refute any interaction which may seem unsafe for the computer.

Spyware tend to be destructive packages which rob very delicate information like usernames, passwords, personalized and also banking data. Viruses are usually computer programs that have to be able to multiply and trigger significant harm to the device’s functionality. Hence, additionally it is extremely important to setup a great antivirus and also antispyware in addition to that firewall on the computer. Make certain your current antivirus, antispyware as well as firewall plans are generally updated often.

It is vital to make use of high quality passwords that cannot be cracked by simply any kind of hacker. Usually do not download any data or software from the to never be trusted websites. Tend not to download email accessories in case you are unsure with regards to its supply. If you feel your PC will be afflicted by a spyware, you need to take a look at the particular genuinely of any website login site before you decide to distribute your own password onto it. An individual may deploy additional software that may repair mistakes inside your computer’s pc registry. They’re many of the simple ways you can utilize to enhance the internet as well as network security.

McAfee Antivirus Software – Troubleshooting Solutions Virus In Your Computer

Computer viruses are very dangerous because computer viruses can steal your personal identity and password, so the hackers can get financially. The virus will be hidden on the system so that you will never notice. For those of you who frequently shop online, of course there is a threat to you on that bank account details can be found and tracked by the virus. You can prevent yourself from this crime by purchasing software antivirus. McAfee exists to eliminate all such threats.

McAfee anti-virus software program is simple to setup and configure. You will get great security against every latest computer virus. McAfee anti-virus antispyware intelligent make use of that can remove malware in your laptop or computer. McAfee anti-virus protection is very helpful to protect many different computer viruses for example keys, pirate loggers as well as Internet Trojan viruses.

Quite a lot of free antivirus software, but will not be as good antivirus tool you pay. McAfee automatic alerts to protect computer users when there is an effort that was done by a suspicious file to run, by giving the option to block files at the gateway. Computer viruses constantly always designed to defeat anti-virus software, so McAfee is always put through updates with the latest virus definitions so that your machine will be protected against all types of latest viruses.

Tips On How To Choose a Good Antivirus Software

A great antivirus is essential plan for all those computer owners, however viruses typically propagate from the internet, there are several additional avenues computer masters who don’t use the internet could get computer viruses especially by means of removable drives like flash drives. This as a result means that a person regardless of where you happen to be however employing a computer should purchasing antivirus software.

It is therefore important for each 1 or severe computer owners to not acquire free of charge antivirus software’s but purchase one coming from a real merchant. Even so one should consider extra care just before purchasing a great antivirus given that several anti – infections are generally more serious as compared to viruses on their own. It is also important to have a very full list of antivirus software to help you inside selection before you make an order.

An individual ought to deploy a great antivirus which provides live encoding in a way that you happen to be guarded if you are browsing or perhaps doing your perform. That is beneficial to everybody seeing as there are numerous infections which slip straight into each of our computers without each of our understanding if we are browsing on the particular web. An antivirus which provides live scanning should be able to check out almost all data files and programs because you available these that may provide you with the essential stability.

A good antivirus also need to be able to find distrustful software. Every time a individual is browsing on, there are numerous malicious those who prompt these phones set up applications and pieces of software that may ‘t be risk-free. There’s also periods, once we decide to obtain programs on our own not understanding that they be virus ridden. For this reason you may need an antivirus that can immediately discover dubious programs.

Computer Security Ideas For Protecting Your PC

Computer security has now end up being the most important worry towards the PC people around the world. Every time the computer becomes attached to the Internet, it can be subjected to hazards regarding various varieties. You’ll find cyber criminals called as hackers that are forever in search pertaining to computers with less or even zero security. So if you feel ignorant regarding PC security, then you can definitely effortlessly become a victim of these attack along with finally get losing your own important information as well as information. The best way to shield your computer? Well, right here comes the need for computer security providers. A lot of computer services companies are there within the market that provide PC security support for the computer customers in order to appreciate secure precessing.

In order to obstruct almost all infiltrating attempts of the cyber criminals, you can even use various techniques; just like you may possibly consider adding anti-virus software, anti-spyware program as well as a firewall. These applications play really crucial function throughout safeguarding your current PC in opposition to episodes. There are numerous anti-virus software programs available on the web. The majority of the good antivirus software companies offer their particular tryout version. It is possible to install his or her trial version before deciding on your paid one. If the application gives good protection, and then choose the paid version. IT should be taken into account which paid variations will be more beneficial to protect your own PC as compared to the trial versions.

Similar to antivirus programs, it’s also advisable to make use of anti-spyware program along with firewall. The following a lot of totally free programs can be found. You can select these or even obtain one. If you download the particular software, it is obviously suggested in order to download coming from a good along with genuine website. In numerous cases, websites including this specific software integrate spyware as well as adware. So instead of performing good, you may placed your PC into a significant issue.

Should you be a new comer to the actual site of computer , nor have got good thought regarding PC security, the actual best solution is to find computer security services from your dependable company. The reason why? There are plenty of factors that cause this kind of. Your first as well as primary point is basically that you might not understand which usually antivirus program is going to be perfect for your own computer as well as which usually firewall you should utilize. Of course, if you wish to download a free program, you might not understand that web site you can get it safely. Due to this explanation, it ‘s better to find the help of the best tech support vendor.

Intro to Next Generation Firewalls

The traditional stateful firewall filters traffic based upon ports and protocols. For example, blocking or allowing the entire port 80 for HTTP traffic or port 443 for HTTPS traffic. It’s an "all-or-nothing" approach.
Newer firewall technology can also filter traffic based upon the applications or traffic types traversing these ports. For example, you could open port 80 for only select HTTP traffic, for those specific applications, sites, or services you allow. Think of it as blending the firewall and quality of service (QoS) functionalities into one solution.

These application-aware firewalls are commonly cited as a next-generation firewall (NGFW) but they are, basically, a form of a unified threat management (UTM) solution. However, the term UTM is usually applied to products that lack the true application-awareness and are targeted towards the SMB market. UTM products usually offer additional functions over traditional firewalls, such as antivirus, antispam, or even intrusion prevention systems (IPS).

The fine-tuning of traffic provided by NGFWs can help in both security and bandwidth control aspects. Since they’re smarter and provide deeper inspection, they have the potential to catch more malicious activity. They can also serve as content filters and provide QoS functions, so higher priority applications receive higher priority bandwidth. Along with the general need for better overall security, NGFWs are in demand due to the increase of cloud services and outsourced software as a service (SaaS) providers.

Common characteristics 

Here are the common features of most NGFWs:

Standard firewall features: They include the traditional (first-generation) firewall functionalities such as stateful port/protocol inspection, network address translation (NAT), and VPN.

Application identification and filtering: This is the chief characteristic of NGFWs. They can identify and filter traffic based upon the specific applications, rather than just opening ports for any and all traffic. This prevents malicious applications and activity from using non-standard ports to evade the firewall.

SSL and SSH inspection: NGFWs can even inspect SSL and SSH encrypted traffic. They can decrypt traffic, make sure it’s an allowed application and check other policies, and then re-encrypt it. This provides additional protection from malicious applications and activity that try to hide using encryption to avoid the firewall.

Intrusion prevention: Being more intelligent and with deeper traffic inspection, they may also be able to perform intrusion detection and prevention. Some next-gen firewalls might include enough IPS functionality that a stand-alone IPS might not be needed.

Directory integration: Most NGFWs include directory support (i.e., Active Directory). For instance, to manage authorized applications based upon users and user groups.

Malware filtering: NGFWs can also provide reputation-based filtering to block applications that have a bad reputation. This can possibly check phishing, virus, and other malware sites and applications.

What gives 

Keep in mind when comparing vendors they have varied approaches to implementing application-aware firewalls. The number of specific applications they can detect varies. Some may support as many as 5,000 applications, or as few as 800.

Additionally, the ability or process of how to identify new or unknown applications also differs among vendors. The depth of application awareness varies, as well. Vendors can offer what you might call sub-application or application-function awareness. They can, for example, distinguish between multiple applications hosted on the same site. Another example: you might block the sharing capabilities of an instant messenger while still allowing the ability to chat.

The vendors

Here’s a review of the technology behind some of the enterprise-level next-generation firewall vendors:
Palo Alto Networks: This is one of the first vendors to release an application-aware firewall. Their proprietary technologies include App-ID, User-ID, and Content-ID: App-ID classifies known and unknown applications traversing any port and protocol via clear-text or encrypted SSL or SSH connections; User-ID adds support of user and group policies via most all enterprise directories on the market in conjunction with the network-based User-ID agent; and Content-ID provides the real-time content inspection and filtering, URL filtering, and IPS functionality.

Barracuda Networks: Their Barracuda NG Firewall series combines NGFW and VPN technologies. It features application controls, intrusion prevention, Web filtering, antivirus, antispam, and network access control.

Juniper Networks: Their AppSecure software suite adds NGFW capabilities to their SRX Services Gateway. The application-awareness is provided by the AppTrack component. The AppFirewall and AppQoS components provide the traffic control and policy enforcement. Then the AppDoS and IPS components provide protection against attacks and malicious activity.

Evaluating the Security of Sliced Data Storage in the Cloud

Storage slicing is an innovative storage technology offered by companies including Symform and Cleversafe. The technology works by breaking chunks of data up into multiple slices, encrypting them, adding extra bits for redundancy (in a similar fashion to RAID), and then distributing the slices to multiple storage devices -- often in separate geographical locations. Only a proportion of the slices needs to be retrieved in order to recreate the original block of data, thus ensuring that the data remains available even if multiple storage devices fail completely.

With Cleversafe, your sliced data resides in your own private cloud, or on rented storage systems in one or more data centers. Symform's system is more unusual in that it uses the concept of storage sharing – in which slices of your data are stored on the storage devices of multiple other Symform customers. In return, you are obligated to make a portion of your own company's unused storage capacity available to host slices of other Symform customers' data.

The advantage of the data dispersal approach is that the volume of storage space needed is usually well below what is required by traditional replication methods. For companies with large amounts of data, this can mean a significant savings in storage requirements. And by distributing the slices in multiple locations, the underlying data is protected in the event of multiple storage device failures or even a disaster disabling an entire data center.

Storage slicing clearly offers benefits in terms of storage optimization and business continuity preparedness, but what about security? How can you be sure your data is well protected when it is dispersed to multiple locations? Symform's system in particular, in which your data is stored on other (unknown) organizations' storage devices, should surely set alarm bells ringing.

In fact, both companies have built comprehensive security features into their services, and while Symform and Cleversafe take different approaches, both claim to offer high levels of security for your data.

How It Works

Symform's system works by breaking your data into 64MB chunks, and encrypting each chunk with strong AES 256-bit encryption using a unique key. Each encrypted chunk is divided into 64 1MB fragments, and 32 parity fragments are then generated and added using a RAID algorithm to make 96 1Mb fragments. These fragments are then distributed randomly to 96 different storage nodes -- storage made available by other Symform users. The keys for the AES encryption are managed by Symform itself in a distributed database the company calls Cloud Control.

If your organization has experience with encryption key management, then there is no reason why you can't also pre-encrypt your data using any algorithm you choose, before the data enters the Symform system. This can offer an additional layer of protection, but if you lose the key then your data will be permanently lost.
To put the security of Symform's system in perspective, let's imagine that your company stored its data unencrypted in a single data center. A hacker managing to infiltrate the data center in this situation could easily get access to your data. You could add a level of security by encrypting your data -- but if you stored the key in the same data center and the hacker accessed the key, then he would also be able to access the data.

Using Symform's approach, even if hackers were to infiltrate Cloud Control and access the keys for every block of encrypted data, they would encounter an additional barrier: to access the data they would need to retrieve 64 fragments of a given block from 64 different unknown locations. Even if this were achievable and the original data block reassembled, this might still not be enough if the data has been pre-encrypted by the customer.

A more likely scenario is that a hacker might gain access to one of the data fragments stored on a Symform customer's storage device. But the fragment by itself is useless: it contains what appears to be random data, and it has just one sixty-fourth of the information needed to reconstitute a block of the original data, which would anyway be encrypted at least once, and possibly twice.

Cleversafe's approach to data security is slightly different. Cleversafe uses a variable level of redundancy that you select. For example, you could choose to have your data split into sixteen slices, with only ten needed to reassemble the original data. When a file enters the system ,an integrity check value is added to it and it is then encrypted with AES, using a random 256-bit key. A hash of the data plus the key is then added to the encrypted data to create a data package, which is then divided into sixteen slices. These slices are distributed and stored on separate storage devices at the same or separate locations. To reassemble the package, it is necessary to retrieve at least ten slices, and once this has been done it can be decrypted using the key that gets reassembled along with the rest of the package.

As additional security measures, all traffic between a client machine and a storage device is protected using Transport Layer Security (TLS), and each storage device uses digital certificates to prevent "rogue storage nodes" from being added to the system.

With Cleversafe's system there is no central key repository that could be compromised because fragments of each key are distributed with each slice, and the key can only be reassembled by retrieving a threshold number of slices. This can only be done using Cleversafe Accesser software or client software and an Accesser hardware appliance, after authenticating yourself on to the system. Anyone accessing individual data slices on any storage device would only see apparently random data, with no clue as to where the other slices are located. And without the other slices, it is not possible to reassemble the key.

Clearly, as the owner of the data you need to be able to access it whenever you need to -- and with the correct authorization credentials to use either Symform's or Cleversafe's systems you can reassemble your data from distributed slices. A hacker with those same credentials could reassemble it too. But what is also clear is that an unauthorized user faces an insurmountable challenge in trying to steal your data by accessing the distributed storage devices themselves.

How to Secure Your Facebook Business Page

Do you manage a Facebook Page for your business or organization? If so, you're probably aware that many of the same security issues that plague personal profiles also apply to Pages. But what you may not know is that there are several additional security issues that you should be thinking about when managing a Facebook Page.

The top areas you should be thinking about include: Securing your Page, locking down your admin accounts, and securely managing apps, comments, posts, and abuse.

In this article, I’ll discuss each of these areas and give you some tips on keeping your company's Facebook presence as secure as possible.

Configure Your Page for Maximum Security

To review and manage your Page settings, you must first log in with your personal Facebook account. Once you're logged in, click the arrow in the upper right corner and select your page. Now you'll be using Facebook as your Page (rather than as yourself), and you'll be able to review and update your page settings and permissions, admin accounts, and featured settings. You can also access these settings by clicking the Edit Page button in the upper right when viewing your Facebook Page. You'll want to periodically review these settings, as Facebook often makes changes and additions in these areas.

On the Your Settings page, it's a good idea to enable the setting  labeled Always comment and post on your page as [Your Page Name], even when using Facebook as [Your Personal Name]. Doing so will help hide your personal Facebook account from your Page's visitors, which is a good idea in case your personal account gets hacked. On this page you'll also likely want to enable the email notifications so you can regularly keep tabs on postings and comments left by the public. If you have other people set up as Page admins, keep in mind these settings are unique to each admin. It's a good practice to make sure all admins are following a consistent policy with regard to these settings.

On the Manage Permissions page, pay close attention to the Posting Ability, Moderation Blocklist, and Profanity Blocklist settings.

On the Manage Admins page, make sure you keep the list of admins up-to-date and remove anyone who no longer needs access.

On the Featured page, it's a good idea to stay away from designating any of your admins as Featured Page Owners, because the act of exposing your admins' personal accounts could make your Page more vulnerable to hacking. Furthermore, your admins might inadvertently post content on their personal profiles that would not be appropriate for your Page visitors.

Protect Your Admin Accounts

Remember, admin access to your Page content and settings is managed via personal Facebook accounts. Any person that is set as an admin for your Page can login with his or her personal Facebook account credentials to manage the page. This means that if an admin's personal Facebook account becomes compromised, then the hacker automatically has admin access to the Page content and settings as well. (Unfortunately, admins can't mitigate this risk by creating multiple Facebook accounts: It is a violation of Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities to maintain more than one personal account.)

To help keep their personal accounts secure, all Page admins should be familiar with and follow the tips and best practices listed on the Facebook security page and in the downloadable Facebook Security Guide. Some of the steps you can take to secure your personal account include: Making your profile and content private, and enabling SSL connections. You should also carefully review which apps have access to your account and disable all the ones you can live without.

Manage Apps, Comments, and Abuse

Facebook apps let you add custom functionality to your Facebook Page, which can help create a more compelling experience for your visitors. For example, you can use the Hosted iFrame app to add custom tabs to your Facebook Page.

But before you add a Facebook app to your Page, make sure to read the app reviews and carefully review the list of permissions requested by the app. Some apps may pose privacy risks while others may be completely malicious. Review your app list periodically and remove those you don't use.

If you allow posting by visitors (as specified in permissions), you can always remove posts and comments from your page that you deem inappropriate. Simply view your page, hover over the post or comment, and you’ll find a small icon for deleting it. If you accidently remove or hide a post, you may be able to recover it by clicking the Wall link on your Page and selecting Hidden Posts.

You can also remove or permanently ban troublemakers from your page. When removing a post or comment, you’ll be asked whether or not you want to just delete the content or delete and ban the user.
To help protect your business or brand, you should periodically search Facebook for any third-party pages or profiles about your organization. Users could create hate groups and imitation pages about your organization or brand for malicious reasons.

If you do find inappropriate content you can report it to Facebook. Even if you find a username of a page or personal profile that infringes your rights, you can report that as well.

Lastly, you might want to check Facebook’s official Privacy for Page Admins info. If you have specific questions regarding pages or their security, consider posting them on the Facebook Pages Forum. And it bears repeating that you'll want all page admins to follow good security practices when using their personal accounts as well, so be sure to check out the general Facebook Security page too.

Quantum computer

           "A quantum computer is any device for computation that makes direct use of distinctively quantum mechanical phenomena, such as superposition and entanglement, to perform operations on data."

In a classical (or conventional) computer, information is stored as bits; in a quantum computer, it is stored as qubits (quantum bits).

The basic principle of quantum computation is that the quantum properties can be used to represent and structure data, and that quantum mechanisms can be devised and built to perform operations with this data. Although quantum computing is still in its infancy, experiments have been carried out in which quantum computational operations were executed on a very small number of qubits.

Research in both theoretical and practical areas continues at a frantic pace, and many national government and military funding agencies support quantum computing research to develop quantum computers for both civilian and national security purposes, such as cryptanalysis. If large-scale quantum computers can be built, they will be able to solve certain problems exponentially faster than any of our current classical computers (for example Shor's algorithm).

Quantum computers are different from other computers such as DNA computers and traditional computers based on transistors.

Some computing architectures such as optical computers may use classical superposition of electromagnetic waves, but without some specifically quantum mechanical resources such as entanglement, they have less potential for computational speed-up than quantum computers. The power of quantum computers Integer factorization is believed to be computationally infeasible with an ordinary computer for large integers that are the product of only a few prime numbers (e.g., products of two 300-digit primes).

By comparison, a quantum computer could solve this problem more efficiently than a classical computer using Shor's algorithm to find its factors.

This ability would allow a quantum computer to "break" many of the cryptographic systems in use today, in the sense that there would be a polynomial time (in the number of bits of the integer) algorithm for solving the problem.

In particular, most of the popular public key ciphers are based on the difficulty of factoring integers, including forms of RSA.

These are used to protect secure Web pages, encrypted email, and many other types of data.
Breaking these would have significant ramifications for electronic privacy and security.

The only way to increase the security of an algorithm like RSA would be to increase the key size and hope that an adversary does not have the resources to build and use a powerful enough quantum computer.

It seems plausible that it will always be possible to build classical computers that have more bits than the number of qubits in the largest quantum computer.

Top 10 Tips To Keep Your Computer Secure

Thinking of spending your normal life without this amazing device is really annoying. So, in other words, we can say that life becomes quite unmanageable in the absence of computer. But, computer without internet connection seems to be useless and boring. As we all know, internet connection is great source of keeping you update with lots of information and is the greatest mean to answer your queries. Other than these, internet is greatest mode of entertainment and recreation like playing games and much more.

Just because of so much interesting facts are attached to a computer with internet connection, it plays significant role in our life. Therefore, loads of people spend most of the time on their PC. Though the computer with internet connection is quite useful but it also has numerous security risks. And, it proves to be quite hectic to get your system rid off such harmful attacks. Such attacks not only prove to be hazardous for your system but also just because of them your secrets and private information can be damaged or stolen. Therefore, it is advisable to almost all computer users with internet connections to go for safety measures for security of your computers. 

Here are top 10 computer security tips:

1. Use of Antivirus Programs: The most effective and basic tips for computer security is to go for Antivirus protection programs. It is quite wise decision to have anti-virus software on your computer for the protecting your computer from the known viruses. But for new viruses, keep in mind to update your anti-virus program daily.

2. Avoid opening unknown emails or attachments: To safeguard your computer from hazardous viruses, it is strictly advisable not to open any suspicious emails with any sort of attachments. It will be wise decision to delete such mails and even its attachments. But, keep in mind, to delete such mails without opening them.

3. Not to download unsure files: Beware of the files like screen savers, games, freeware, etc. To save your computer, be sure of scanning the download before running them.

4. Use of firewalls: The best way to protect your computer is to make use of firewalls!! As the name suggests, firewall is just like a barrier between the outside wall and your computer. Basically, firewalls are of two types – Hardware firewalls and Software firewalls. 

5. Make use of strong Computer Password: For safety measures, it is must to keep your computer safe from any unauthorized person. For this purpose, use of computer password is recommendable especially, when the computer is not coming in use. Just try to choose the toughest password with use of special characters, lower or upper case or numbers so that the chances of being hacked lessen. 

6. Back-up your computer files: To overcome the problems like losing of computer data or stealing of important information, it is best suggested to back up your important files on CDs or other disks. It is the best means to keep your records safe and unrevealed. 

7. Make sure of disconnecting Internet when no more required: Connecting with Internet is just akin to two-way highway road, so it's better to get disconnected from internet when you are not doing anything online. This will keep your computer safe from accessing by any other computer. 

8. Avoid using floppies for transferring files between PCs: The most common way to transfer files from one computer to another is use of floppies. But did you know it is the simplest way to harm your computer system without much effort? So, make habit of scanning such floppies before transferring any files from them.

9. Avoid use of unnecessary toolbar or gadgets: Most of the time, use of unnecessary toolbar or gadgets creates great problem for your computer. So, it’s better to delete them!!

10. Use of authenticated security software: Beware of fraud or malicious security software!! Such software is of no use for your computer security.

Hackers breached NASA systems thousands of times in 2010-2011: federal report

WASHINGTON—NASA said hackers stole employee credentials and gained access to mission-critical projects last year in 13 major network breaches that could compromise U.S. national security.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration Inspector General Paul Martin testified before Congress on the breaches, which appear to be among the more significant in a string of security problems for federal agencies.

The space agency discovered in November that hackers working through an Internet Protocol address in China broke into the network of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Martin said in testimony released on Wednesday. JPL, one of NASA’s key labs, manages 23 spacecraft conducting active space missions, including missions to Jupiter, Mars and Saturn.

He said the hackers gained full system access, which allowed them to modify, copy, or delete sensitive files, create new user accounts and upload hacking tools to steal user credentials and compromise other NASA systems. They were also able to modify system logs to conceal their actions.

“Our review disclosed that the intruders had compromised the accounts of the most privileged JPL users, giving the intruders access to most of JPL’s networks,” he said.

In another attack last year, intruders stole credentials for accessing NASA systems from more than 150 employees. Martin said his office identified thousands of computer security breaches at the agency in 2010 and 2011.

The agency “ reported 5,408 computer security incidents that resulted in the installation of malicious software on or unauthorized access to its systems” he testified.

The hackers ranged from individuals trying to boost their skills to criminal groups and — possibly — spies, the report said. Suspects have been arrested in China, Estonia, Great Britain, Italy, Nigeria, Portugal, Romania and Turkey.

Martin also said NASA has moved too slowly to encrypt or scramble the data on its laptop computers to protect information from falling into the wrong hands.

Unencrypted notebook computers that have been lost or stolen include ones containing codes for controlling the International Space Station, as well as sensitive data on NASA’s Constellation and Orion programs, Martin said.

A NASA spokesman told Reuters on Friday the agency was implementing recommendations made by the Inspector General’s Office.

“NASA takes the issue of IT security very seriously, and at no point in time have operations of the International Space Station been in jeopardy due to a data breach,” said NASA spokesman Michael Cabbage.