Cybersecurity News

Just one month after reports surfaced that Iran was hit with yet another cyber attack, the country is back in the spotlight, this time being blamed for a series of cyber attacks on U.S. banks.

According to Reuters, the websites of Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase unexpectedly went down last week, with a source familiar with the issue telling the news agency that “massive denial-of-service attacks” were to blame.

But as the banks continue to investigate, some are already speculating that the attacks were a product of Iranian hackers, retaliating for U.S. and European sanctions against Iran’s financial institutions.

“I don’t believe that these were just hackers who were skilled enough to break in to cause disruption,” said Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) in an interview that aired on C-SPAN. “I think that this was done by Iran and [its army] the Quds Force.”

Calling it a counterattack, Lieberman said that Islamist extremists had announced their bank breach plans on a website just days before the attacks were carried out, adding that the New York Stock Exchange was another intended cyber target.

Lieberman went on to say that while it “wasn’t a very sophisticated attack,” the incident serves as a “powerful example” of America’s network vulnerabilities.

But according to Iran’s Fars News Agency, the U.S.’ charges are false, and the Middle Eastern country is not at fault.

“Iran has not hacked the U.S. banks,” Gholam Reza Jalali, director of Iran’s Civil Defense Organization, told FNA on Sunday.

Further refuting the claims, Jalali advised that the attack accusations were “aimed at demonizing Iran in cyberspace to portray the country as a global threat to cybersecurity and justify the U.S. and Israeli cyber attacks on Iran.”

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Following are some additional cyber headlines you may have missed:

FEDERAL NEWS:

Sec. Panetta talks computer hacking issues with Chinese (AP)

White House confirms cybersecurity order in the works (The Hill)

Democratic senators call for ‘cybersecurity’ executive order (CNET)

Napolitano: Executive order on cybersecurity is ‘close to completion’ (The Hill)

Cybersecurity should be more active, former FBI official says (Washington Post)

Federal electric grid regulator creates cybersecurity office (Press Release)

New DHS website to highlight education, training in cybersecurity (WBJ)

Sequestration could hurt cyber defense program (NextGov)

Cybersecurity concerns trouble feds, survey finds (FCW)

Election 2012: What’s at stake for fed tech? (FCW)

INDUSTRY OVERVIEW:

Microsoft urges customers to install security tool (Reuters)

Symantec expands its Australian operations (TechSpectator)

Booz Allen and RSA join forces in cybersecurity marketplace (GSN)

Boeing and Sojitz to pursue cybersecurity business in Japan (DefPro)

Tech lobbying powerhouse set to open doors in Washington (Reuters)

Pandora security vulnerability puts some user passwords at risk (TechCrunch)

First inductees to National Cyber Security Hall of Fame unveiled (Press Release)

INTERNATIONAL  OUTLOOK:

Chinese cyber attacks hit Japan over islands dispute (AFP)

Official: US won’t surrender Internet control to UN agency (The Hill)

Pre-infected PCs expose flaws in global supply chain (Huffington Post)

German cybersecurity agency prods users to ditch IE (Computerworld)

HACKING HIGHLIGHTS:

Cracked! Hacker claims to jailbreak the iPhone 5 (All Things D)

FBI warns cyber criminals are targeting banks to conduct wire fraud (The Hill)

Report: Eastern European hackers more sophisticated than Asian counterparts (Wall Street Journal)

Hacker connected to the Chinese govt likely behind Tibet attacks (Phayul)

CYBER INSIGHTS:

Cybersecurity special issue (InformationWeek)

Cybersecurity: Where do we draw the line on information sharing? (ZDNet)

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