What do Jay Leno, Madonna and Cameron Diaz have in common, besides celebrity? According to new research, they are the most frequently spammed-about personalities. Analysis of 25 million spam messages by Internet security solutions provider BitDefender revealed that cyber crooks most commonly use Jay Leno, Madonna and Cameron Diaz to …
Read More »UK: Terrorists Use Facebook, Twitter for 'Cyber Jihad'
The British government is warning about the threat of al-Qaida using online technology to plan attacks in pursuit of a “cyber jihad,” BBC News reports. According to U.K.’s updated counterterrorism strategy published Tuesday, terrorists’ use of social media to disseminate information and radicalize people is “commonplace,” and evidence shows extremists …
Read More »UK Spy Agency Hacks Terrorist Website to Swap Bomb Plans with Cupcake Recipe
British intelligence officials hacked into a website run by an al-Qaida leader to substitute bomb-making plans with a cupcake recipe, The Daily Telegraph reports. “Operation Cupcake” was undertaken by MI6 and and Britain’s Government Communications Headquarters to disrupt efforts by al-Qaida to recruit terrorists-to-be with the English-language Inspire magazine, the …
Read More »Fake Tweets Announce bin Laden Live and Kickin'
If you happen to spend some time on Twitter — outside of work hours, of course — you might have seen tweets announcing news from CNN “conforming” that former terrorist leader Osama bin Laden is alive. Whatever you do, do not click on those URLs, warns Internet security firm Websense, …
Read More »Weekly Roundup of GovCon News — New Appointments, Data Breach Advice and More
From the Publisher, Jim Garrettson We strive to cover all aspects of the news that government contractors find relevant across several online sites and our quarterly print magazine, GovConExec. Here are some of stories that may have caught your eye this past week. Executive Biz broke the news that QinetiQ …
Read More »Hackers Plant Blackhole Exploit Kit on Bin Laden Witness' Website
A man who live tweeted about hearing helicopters and explosions in Abbottabad mere hours before Osama bin Laden’s death was announced has found himself the target of hackers, according to security firm Websense. Sohaib Athar (@ReallyVirtual) links to his website from his Twitter account and has become a major source …
Read More »Bin Laden’s Demise Affirms Intelligence Contractors
The American public greeted news of Osama bin Laden’s death with cries of victory and celebration. Relief a long sought after enemy no longer threatened was palpable. Hope renewed that a time before fallen Towers, a shattered Pentagon and a cratered Pennsylvanian field could in some small way be had …
Read More »Bin Laden Death Leads to Scam Surge
In the wake of President Barack Obama’s late-night announcement yesterday that the world’s most-wanted fugitive, Osama bin Laden, had been captured and killed, scammers were quick to jump at the opportunity to exploit the news by creating email scams and phishing attacks related to the terrorist leader’s demise. The newly …
Read More »Hitting Where It Hurts: Economic Terrorism
Terrorists are not just looking to kill as many Westerners as possible, they are also looking to paralyze and disrupt Western economies, according to Professor Gabriel Weimann, a researcher at the University of Haifa. Since the 1990s, Jihadist terrorism has come to dominate the terrorist landscape, with nationalist groups employing …
Read More »