Government


  • Two Danish ministries taken offline by cyber attack

    September 28, 2017

    A Turkish hacker group has claimed responsibility for a cyber attack that has rendered the Danish Ministry of Immigration website inaccessible. The Ministry of Immigration, as well as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, were hit Wednesday by a cyber attack thought to have come from a Turkish hacker group, reports broadcaster DR. The former ministry’s website ...

  • Kurat võtku! Estonia identifies security risk in almost 750,000 ID cards

    September 5, 2017

    The Estonian government has discovered a security risk in its ID card system, potentially affecting almost 750,000 residents. “When notified, Estonian authorities immediately took precautionary measures, including closing the public key database, in order to minimise the risk while the situation can be fully assessed and a solution developed,” according to an email by Kaspar Korjus, ...

  • UK Government issues cyber security guidelines for driverless cars

    August 7, 2017

    As vehicles get smarter, cyber security in the automotive industry is becoming an increasing concern. As a result, the UK government has issued new, relevant cyber security guidelines for connected and driverless cars. Cars are now becoming connected Wi-Fi hotspots, and are well on their way to autonomy. But, this leaves them vulnerable to hacking and ...

  • Swedish PM Lofven drops two ministers over IT crisis

    July 27, 2017

    Sweden’s Prime Minister, Stefan Lofven, says his minority government will not resign despite a security crisis over the handling of sensitive public data. He said two ministers would leave their posts, rejecting calls for a snap election. Citing Brexit and security he said “I won’t put Sweden in political crisis.” Meanwhile, the main opposition bloc said a vote ...

  • Experts Unveil Cyber Espionage Attacks by CopyKittens Hackers

    July 25, 2017

    Security researchers have discovered a new, massive cyber espionage campaign that mainly targets people working in government, defence and academic organisations in various countries. The campaign is being conducted by an Iran-linked threat group, whose activities, attack methods, and targets have been released in a joint, detailed report published by researchers at Trend Micro and Israeli ...

  • Vietnam seeks EU smart city know-how

    July 1, 2017

    Ho Chi Minh City requires Europe’s experience and solutions to create smart cities, a conference heard on June 30. Speaking at the “Cyber security, Internet of Things and Connected Services towards a smart city” conference, organised by the European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (EuroCham), Vo Quang Hue, vice chairman of EuroCham, said: “The Smart Cities ...

  • MPs lose email access as Parliament targeted in ‘sustained’ cyberattack

    June 25, 2017

    A cyberattack on MPs and Peers’ emails has prompted Parliament’s security team to shut down external access to its systems. An email sent to parliamentarians on Friday and shown to Sky News said: “Earlier this morning we discovered unusual activity and evidence of an attempted cyberattack on our computer network.” It claimed that “hackers were carrying out ...

  • Breach at UK.gov’s Cyber Essentials scheme exposes users to phishing attacks

    June 21, 2017

    The operation behind the UK government’s Cyber Essentials scheme has suffered a breach exposing the email addresses of registered consultancies, it told them today. The scheme’s badges are required by all suppliers bidding for “certain sensitive and personal information-handling contracts”. Companies were notified of the problem, which leaves them at greater risk of phishing attack, through ...

  • U.S. Government Embraces Automated Cybersecurity

    June 16, 2017

    Agencies in the federal government are working to develop tools and software that would automate cybersecurity – essentially, an effort to remove human error from the equation. A new report out by NextGovdetails the automation effort, and why these tools aren’t yet ready for government-wide deployment. Much of the cybersecurity efforts in government currently, revolve around ...

  • Australian Taxation Office struggles with cyber security

    June 2, 2017

    A parliamentary committee has heard the Australian Taxation Office is still months away from having a core set of cyber security checks in place. The tax office won’t have mandated security checks in place against external cyber threats until November, a committee has heard. An audit of the Australian Taxation Office, which also looked at other departments, ...

  • FDA, Industry Look for Gaps in Cybersecurity

    May 18, 2017

    The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Thursday kicked off a fortuitously-timed public workshop on medical device cybersecurity, the agency’s third on the subject to date. At the workshop, FDA officials, representatives from industry and researchers are trying to determine the current gaps in regulatory science as it relates to cybersecurity with the aim of ...

  • The government slashed NHS IT security contract despite warnings it would leave systems vulnerable to cyberattack

    May 13, 2017

    The UK government were repeatedly warned that NHS IT isystems were running on outdated operating systems that were vulnerable to attack, yet failed to ensure they were protected. Freedom of Information requests last sumer revealed that trusts across the country were still using Windows XP, despite a government contract with Microsoft to update protections for the system having ...

  • Donald Trump signs executive order on cybersecurity

    May 13, 2017

    President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to increase the White House’s role in the nation’s cybersecurity. The order assigns responsibility for protecting federal networks and critical infrastructure to the executive branch of government. The executive order declares that the heads of executive departments and agencies are to be held accountable for managing the cybersecurity risk ...

  • Callisto Group hackers targeted Foreign Office data

    April 13, 2017

    The UK’s Foreign Office was targeted by highly motivated and well-resourced hackers over several months in 2016. The BBC understands the government has investigated the previously unreported attack that began in April last year. The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre would not say whether data was stolen. But a source told the BBC that the most sensitive Foreign ...

  • Former White House CIO Calls for a Cybersecurity Reset

    April 12, 2017

    The IT community needs a total reset in the way they think about cybersecurity, according to former White House CIO Theresa Payton. “I think back ten years and I realize that we actually haven’t made a single one of your security problems go away, and you need to hold us accountable for that,” Payton said. “Name ...

  • Private sector’s national cybersecurity strategy contributions lacking

    April 11, 2017

    The private sector operates much of U.S. critical infrastructure, but is it doing enough to further national cybersecurity strategy efforts designed to protect these assets? The U.S. government has been very public about its concern for national cybersecurity. There have been grandiose speeches, presidential declarations and several attempts by the legislature to pass new cybersecurity laws. ...

  • Emergency cyber security unit to handle all reports of cyber threats in New Zealand

    April 11, 2017

    A new national cyber security unit will allow any New Zealander to report a suspected cyber threat – whether they’re an individual being targeted by online scam, or a business the subject of major hack. The Computer Emergency Response Team will act as a single point of contact to triage all cyber security threats in New ...

  • Federal Agencies Face A New Era Of Cybersecurity Threats

    April 6, 2017

    Federal agencies should implement new procedures to ensure their workforce is prepared for new cybersecurity threats, warned a federal report Tuesday. The current digital era has brought about technologies that have radically changed society, and allowed for a more convenient way to complete tasks and share information. They’ve also brought new threats that make cybersecurity an ...

  • Germany’s Merkel warns against cyber attacks on infrastructure

    March 14, 2017

    German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Tuesday protecting infrastructure from potential cyber attacks was a top priority and the federal government had to work together with localities on that. “Today we have a huge amount of possibilities to paralyze infrastructure from cyber attacks and it is… very very difficult. There are examples from Ukraine that are ...

  • WikiLeaks reveals CIA files describing hacking tools

    March 6, 2017

    WikiLeaks published thousands of documents Tuesday described as secret files about CIA hacking tools the government employs to break into users’ computers, mobile phones and even smart TVs from companies like Apple, Google, Microsoft and Samsung. The documents describe clandestine methods for bypassing or defeating encryption, antivirus tools and other protective security features intended to keep ...