Cyber War and Cyber Crime: What Your Anti-Virus Software Doesn’t See

ICCS 2012 | Fordham University and the Federal Bureau of Investigation

Since 2007, the ZeuS Trojan has infected almost 4 million computers in the United States alone. It can collect data on forms and documents, take screen shots, steal passwords, and give remote access to the host computer. Financial losses due to the ZeuS Trojan are estimated at up to $60 million. What’s really worrisome, however, is that ZeuS can change its signature and avoid detection by current antivirus solutions. According to Deloitte & Touch LLP principal and ICCS 2012 speaker Rich Baich, there are at least 26 known variants of the ZeuS Trojan, but there may actually be hundreds that haven’t yet been identified.

The third annual International Conference on Cyber Security: A White Hat Summit (ICCS 2012), a joint effort between the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Fordham University, brings together global leaders from law enforcement, industry and academia at Fordham’s Lincoln Center campus from January 9 through 12, 2012. ICCS 2012 will be an unparalleled opportunity for a first-hand look at critical intelligence on cyber crime and security—including details of real life operations. The conference will include three days of lectures, panel discussions, sponsor presentations, exhibitions, and exceptional networking opportunities.

Among the experts presenting at ICCS will be:

■Howard A. Schmidt, special assistant to the president and cybersecurity coordinator: keynote address;

■General Keith B. Alexander, commander, U.S. Cyber Command, director, National Security Agency/Central Security Service, will deliver the special keynote address;
■Thomas Ryan, co-founder and managing partner, Provide Security: When Hackers Attack: Protecting Your Online Identity;
■Giovanni DiCrescenzo, Telcordia Technologies: Private Information and Cryptography—How Private is It?;
■Angelos Stavrou, professor of computer science, George Mason University: Smart & Mobile Devices in Foreign Wars: Locking Down Linux, Software Apps, and Communications;
■See the ICCS program for more details: http://www.iccs.fordham.edu/program/2012-program-schedule

PRESS CREDENTIALS—All journalists will be required to submit a valid government ID and proof of employment/assignment (ID or letter) from their respective outlets. Holders of NYPD Press Credentials should also submit those. All photographic, audio and video equipment will be checked by security before admission to the venue (journalists should arrive 15 minutes in advance of the session(s) they want to attend to allow for checks).

Founded in 1841, Fordham is the Jesuit University of New York, offering exceptional education distinguished by the Jesuit tradition to approximately 14,700 students in its four undergraduate colleges and its six graduate and professional schools. It has residential campuses in the Bronx and Manhattan, a campus in Westchester, the Louis Calder Center Biological Field Station in Armonk, N.Y., and the London Centre at Heythrop College in the United Kingdom.

Contact:

Bob Howe, Fordham University
(212) 636-6538, howe@fordham.edu

Visit http://www.iccs.fordham.edu/ for more details on ICCS 2012, including a full schedule.

Earth Observations

This unusual image was photographed through the Cupola on the International Space Station by one of the Expedition 30 crew members.
 
The lake just above the bracket-mounted camera at center is Egirdir Golu in Turkey, located at 38.05 degrees north latitude and 30.89 degrees east longitude. A Russian Soyuz spacecraft is docked to the station at lower right and part of the Permanent Multipurpose Module (PMM) can be seen just above it.
 
The photo was taken on Dec. 29, 2011.
 
Image Credit: NASA

Computer Science & Engineering at the Nexus of Energy and Environment: A View from UCSD Microgrid

CISE Distinguished Lecture Series

January 19, 2012 10:00 AM  to

January 19, 2012 11:00 AM
NSF, Room 110

Abstract:

This talk examines how ‘microgrids,' which are self-managed grids with local cogeneration capabilities, can be used as testing grounds for the prototyping and testing of smart grid technologies.   Using the prototype of a microgrid at the campus of the University of California at San Diego, we present energy data that points to promising methods for operation of various types of buildings that leverage coordinated use of sensing, information processing, and building HVAC systems.

Based on measurements and analysis, we show that for the emerging class of ‘mixed-use' buildings - that is, buildings with a non-trivial component of energy use by IT equipment -- significant possibilities exist to reduce total energy use from 10% to 30% based on effective duty-cycling of the IT and HVAC equipment, without affecting the comfort quality or availability of the building and compute resources.  We examine the emerging computer science problems arising from energy arbitration, alternative energy sourcing and capacity provisioning for computational resources through dynamic deferral of energy loads.

Bio:

Rajesh K. Gupta is a professor and chair of Computer Science and Engineering at UC San Diego, and holds the QUALCOMM endowed chair.  His research interests are in energy efficient systems that have taken turn towards large-scale energy use in recent years.  His ongoing efforts include energy-efficient data-centers and large scale computing using memory-coherent algorithmic accelerators and non-volatile storage systems.  He currently serves as EIC of IEEE Embedded Systems Letters. Gupta is a Fellow of the IEEE.

To Join the Webinar:

The Webinar will be held from 10:00-11:00am EST on January 19, 2012 in Room 110.

To attend virtually, please register by January 18, 23:59 PDT at: https://mmancusa.webex.com/mmancusa/j.php?ED=175952377&RG=1&UID=0&RT=MiMxMQ%3D%3D

After your registration is accepted, you will get an email with a URL to join the meeting. Please be sure to join a few minutes before the start of the webinar. This system does not establish a voice connection on your computer; instead, your acceptance message will have a toll-free phone number that you will be prompted to call after joining.  Please note that this registration is a manual process; therefore, do not expect an immediate acceptance.  In the event the number of requests exceeds the capacity, some requests may have to be denied.

This event is part of Distinguished Lecture Series.

Meeting Type

Lecture

Contacts

Dawn Patterson, (703) 292-8910 dpatters@nsf.gov

NSF Related Organizations

Directorate for Computer & Information Science & Engineering

Rifleman Radio Completes Key Operational Test

An advanced lightweight radio that will connect troops on the front lines to the Army’s tactical communications network has completed its operational test.

 The Joint Tactical Radio System, or JTRS, Rifleman Radio and its Soldier Radio Waveform, known as SRW, Network Manager component were the only systems under a formal program of record test at the recently concluded Network Integration Evaluation 12.1 here. While Soldiers from the 2nd Brigade, 1st Armored Division, also informally evaluated more than 45 other tactical communications systems, the Rifleman Radio test represents a key step toward fielding the Army’s future network.

The two-pound radio, which is carried by platoon, squad and team-level Soldiers for voice communications, can connect with handheld devices to transmit text messages, GPS locations and other data. Through SRW, it connects lower echelon Soldiers to one another and back to their leaders at the company level so they can rapidly exchange information.

“I use it for overall command and control because it builds a network that allows me to talk to my subordinate elements,” said Capt. Ryan McNally, a company commander within 2/1 AD who evaluated the Rifleman Radio at Network Integration Evaluation, or NIE, 12.1. “It’s the first time I’ve actually had radios down at the squad level. So my dismounted riflemen, they all have the radio as well. It allows them to talk to their team leaders when they’re spread out, and also allows them to talk to the squad leader.”

McNally said the ability to communicate with the radios instead of shouting or using hand-and-arm signals had altered his Soldiers’ tactical approach to their missions.

 “We have to factor in being able to talk to each other over a distance, rather than everybody being essentially co-located with a limited amount of space and distance between them,” McNally said. “Now we can expand that space and distance. We can cover a larger area.”

McNally’s company used the radios in conjunction with handheld devices running Joint Battle Command-Platform software. JBC-P is the future version of the Army‘s friendly force tracking and messaging system, known as Force XXI Battle Command Brigade and Below/Blue Force Tracking, known as FBCB2/BFT, which also allows users to plot hazards and enemy locations on a digital map. Plugged into the Rifleman Radio, these devices provided mission command and situational awareness information down to Soldiers at the tactical edge.

“They can get their grid (position) off of it, and they can see anybody else who has a Rifleman Radio,” McNally said. “You can send messages, create routes, drop a chem light (to show a building has been cleared), and send reports.”

During the test, the Army captured data on the radio’s performance in two ways: through instrumentation on the systems themselves, and through human data collectors who accompanied Soldiers throughout their missions.

“When they have a radio and they’re talking on it, I have a guy there that’s writing down information and talking to them, with specific questions that we’ve given them,” said test director Mike Nott.

He said the company formally testing the Rifleman Radio was physically isolated from the rest of 2/1 AD to ensure the integrity of the test, despite the complex NIE environment.

“Although they’re still part of the overall exercise and still in the scheme of maneuver, we physically separated them on the ground, and we did that on purpose,” Nott said. “We wanted to be able to control that battle space.”

 The Army will evaluate those test results during the coming months, as it finalizes the makeup of its network Capability Set 13, which will begin fielding to up to eight brigade combat teams in fiscal year 2013.

The Rifleman Radio is part of the JTRS Handheld, Manpack, Small Form Fit, or HMS, family of radios. In June the HMS program achieved Milestone C, authorizing the Army to procure a low-rate initial production lot of up to 6,250 Rifleman Radios and up to 100 Manpack Radios. NIE results will help inform further purchasing decisions for the equipment.

The software-programmable JTRS radios, which can use encryption to safeguard information, are built to send Internet Protocol packets of data, voice, video and images via multiple waveforms between static command centers, vehicles on the move, and dismounted individual Soldiers on patrol. The JTRS waveforms, SRW and the Wideband Networking Waveform, known as WNW, are integrated with the satellite communications backbone of the Army network, Warfighter Information Network-Tactical, or WIN-T, to transmit that information on the upper tactical internet.

 The Rifleman Radio is a key component to building the ground-level lower tactical network, bringing the most communication disadvantaged users — the small unit down to the individual user — into the network.

During NIE 12.1, Soldiers used the radios and handheld devices in a variety of realistic scenarios, including convoy operations, medical evacuation, reconnaissance and counterinsurgency. One 2/1 AD platoon leader, 2nd Lt. Travis V. Mount, said the technology showing the positions of his troops allowed him to save time by immediately adapting and executing his plans rather than tracking down personnel first.

“No matter what kind of organization you’re running, if you have dismounts who are going to be on the ground you like to be able to see where your personnel are,” Mount said. “If all I need is information on their position, I don’t have to go through an intermediary. I can on the spot adapt my plan.”

He said the Tactical Ground Reporting, known as TIGR, software application running on the handhelds was also valuable for sharing patrol information such as routes, places and people of interest.

“Instead of having to go to the Tactical Operations Center at the end of the day to download the information on the events and observations, I can either (do it in) real time or when I have a lull in the mission,” Mount said. “I can just plug it in right there.”

Public Safety Technology in the News

Merced County, California Solar Panels to Power Local Jails
Huffington Post, (12/21/2011)

Merced County will use solar energy to power the county's correctional facilities, a move expected to save $14 million in electricity bills over 25 years. The 1.4 megawatt photovoltaic array was installed on 4.5 acres adjacent to the John Latorraca Correctional Facility and the Iris Garrett Juvenile Justice Correctional Complex in El Nido. Money saved by the project will be deposited in a fund used to support other capital improvements, including planned energy efficiency upgrades at all county facilities. The system was developed and installed by Siemens, who upgraded the corrections' complex lighting system to improve energy efficiency and the economics of the entire project.
Link to Article

U.S. Police Fatalities Rose 13 Percent in 2011
Bloomberg News, (12/29/2011), Seth Stern

According to the National Law Enforcement Memorial Fund, 173 officers died in the line of duty in 2011, an increase of 13 percent over the previous year. More U.S. law enforcement officers were killed by firearms than in traffic-related incidents in 2011, the first time that has occurred in 14 years. Gunfire accounted for 68 deaths, and 64 officers were killed in traffic-related incidents, including car or motorcycle crashes and being hit while standing outside their vehicles. Job-related illnesses and causes such as falls, drowning, stabbings and electrocution accounted for 27 deaths. U.S. Attorney General Holder called the rising fatalities "appalling and unacceptable" and said Justice Department is determined to reverse the numbers through training regimens and protective equipment purchases.
Link to Article

Lawmakers to Consider Repealing Red-Light Cameras
naplesnews.com, (12/28/2011), Katherine Albers

Florida state lawmakers may consider repealing the law allowing the use of red-light cameras. A bill introduced December 27 is similar to one debated last year, which passed in the House, but died in the state Senate. Proponents of the cameras note that they increase safety. Collier County issued 20,624 red-light camera citations in 2010 at $158 each. The county began its red light program in April 2009. Statewide, attorneys have filed lawsuits arguing that the cameras assume drivers are guilty until proven innocent.
Link to Article

Greenacres to Buy Voice-Stress Analysis System, a Technology Some Studies Question
Palm Beach Post, (12/28/2011), Willie Howard

Greenacres, Fla., plans to purchase a voice-stress analysis system for interrogating suspects and screening job applicants. The city council approved $16,084 for a system. Suspects in major cases have been taken from Greenacres to other departments for voice-stress tests in the past, and the company that makes the equipment says the system has an accuracy rate of 96 percent and a false positive rate of 0.7 percent. However, a study published by the National Institute of Justice found that voice-stress technology was "no better than flipping a coin" in detecting lies about drug use. The study noted, however, that the presence of a voice-stress system during an interrogation made those being questioned less likely to lie. The voice-stress system is used by 148 other Florida law-enforcement agencies, according to the manufacturer.
Link to Article

Nearly 1,000 Inmates to Be Released From KY Prisons
FOX19, (01/03/2012), Brad Underwood

Kentucky officials expect to save $442 million over the next 10 years with the release of 990 nonviolent inmates in the New Year. According to the Kentucky Department of Corrections, the inmates being released are nonviolent offenders with good prison records. Offenses include burglary, drunken driving, drug trafficking, drug possession, evidence tampering, forgery and fraud. The state has hired 60 probation and parole officers to supervise the released offenders, and offenders on probation and parole will immediately join rehabilitation programs. Offenders ineligible to be released under the program include those who have six months or less to serve for violation of probation or parole, those sentenced to two years or less, and those convicted of a capital offense or Class A felony.
Link to Article

Crestview Police to Field Meth Lab Cleanup Unit
Destinlog.com, (01/02/2012), Paula Kelley

Law Enforcement agencies in Okaloosa County, Fla., stand to benefit from a plan by Crestview police to field their own specially trained unit to clean up methamphetamine labs. Four Crestview officers have been trained in clean up, who in turn will be available to help other county law enforcement agencies. The officers will be loaned to other departments at a lower cost than departments pay private companies to perform the work. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration announced in 2011 that funds to offset meth lab clean-up costs had been cut, leaving agencies to fill in the gap. The DEA estimates that on average it costs $3,000 to clean up a small meth lab. Officers responding to a lab will wear protective gear.
Link to Article

Top 30 Law Enforcement Technology Stories
Government Technology, (12/31/2011)

Government Technology has compiled a list of the top law enforcement technology articles for 2011. Find out about a mobile investigation app that is helping to bring criminals to justice in Seattle, how predictive policing is reducing crime in Santa Cruz, Calif., how a database of more than 24,000 shoe prints is helping police investigators in Cape Coral, Fla., and the development of a new device that combines iris, facial and fingerprint recognition scanning into a smartphone, giving nearly instantaneous identification results to an officer using it in the field.
Link to Article

Serious Crime Fell by 8 Percent in Boston in 2011
Boston.com, (01/03/2012), Andrew Ryan

Serious crime in Boston declined by 8 percent in 2011, with the largest drop in aggravated assaults, which fell by more than 16 percent. The number of reported homicides, robberies, larcenies and vehicle thefts also fell; rape was the only major crime that increased, surging by almost 12 percent. Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis III attributed the overall fall in serious crimes to officers' hard work and a commitment by the city to keep the same number of police on the street through the economic downturn. An increase in reported rapes does not necessarily mean that sexual assaults are on the rise, according to Davis and rape intervention experts. Rape is one of the most underreported crimes because roughly 80 percent of the victims are attacked by someone they know. The city ended the year with 62 homicides, a decline of 12 killings from 2010, representing a reduction of 16 percent. Homicides remained concentrated in the Dorchester, Roxbury and Mattapan neighborhoods.
Link to Article

Madisonville Police Get Body Armor
SurfKY News Group, (01/03/2012)

The Madisonville Police Department in Kentucky will be able to purchase 13 ballistic-resistant vests thanks to a state grant. The $9,425 grant from the Kentucky Office of Homeland Security was awarded under the state-funded Law Enforcement Protection Grant Program, which is financed from the sale of weapons confiscated by law enforcement personnel in a variety of criminal cases. According to the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), more than 3,000 law enforcement officers' lives have been saved by body armor since the mid-1970s. Community Development Director Daron Jordan noted that vests are usually under warranty for up to five years, and that the body armor that the city is purchasing will "meet or exceed" NIJ body armor standards.
Link to Article

T2 Treatments for PTSD Get Virtual

A service member puts on a headset with a screen for each eye.He’s given a joystick that’s built with low-frequency vibrations and sounds, mirroring the vehicle he drove while on the battlefield. As he navigates through the virtual combat world, his head movements are tracked with an orientation system. Pre-fabricated smells mimicking burning rubber and weapons firing are released into the air, and the service member ventures into virtual war.

This is the new Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy (VRET) being studied by National Center for Telehealth and Technology (T2), a Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury center. T2 is currently researching this therapy, which places service members face-to-face with their unique experiences on the battlefield to help treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and to help service members process memories. Once the study is completed, this unique treatment will be offered to service members and veterans.

“The whole treatment is customized to their memory, down to the day, time, weather conditions, location in the convoy and the combat stimuli themselves,” said Dr. Greg Reger, T2 lead psychologist. “The purpose is to activate the experience to increase emotional engagement, so they can process that memory.”

The study reviews the effectiveness of VRET by comparing it to prolonged exposure therapy. T2 conducted the trial based on growing evidence that VRET is an effective treatment for PTSD and because this form of therapy may help reach service members who might otherwise avoid traditional talk therapies because of perceived stigma.

VRET encourages service members to address psychological health concerns associated with their combat experience rather than avoid them. T2 subject matter experts are now trying the treatment on service members who have returned home.

The therapy program starts with three sessions with a psychologist where a service member discusses details they can remember from a traumatic event. Then, they re-live the experience in the virtual world for up to 10 sessions. While at first VRET may seem slightly jarring, it aims to reduce the anxiety the memory causes and help a patient work through their emotions.

“It can take the same amount of courage to do this treatment as it did to survive that battle experience,” said Reger. “Yet often, by the end of the sessions, patients regain control over the memory and their lives instead of being haunted by the trauma.”

2 created the Virtual PTSD Experience in January, where users can learn about PTSD causes, symptoms and resources in a virtual world environment. Users choose an anonymous avatar, and then can enter different virtual areas where they can experience simulations and talk with other visitors online.

“Users can access information for resources including afterdeployment.org, Real Warriors and Military OneSource in live media screens, so they can search those places with other avatars in their environment,” said Dr. Kevin Holloway, T2 psychologist. “Families and friends can also enter the virtual world. We had a military family member tell us ‘Wow. I never really got what he was going through, and now I get it.’”

Since many of today’s service members use advanced technology such as smartphones, tablet computers and gaming systems, virtual therapy provides an alternative for a wired generation that may prefer treatment outside of a psychologist’s office.

“This generation is really tech savvy—it’s a language they speak very well. These programs have an interface feel similar to online environments and video games,” said Holloway. “This treatment is more comfortable and cutting edge.”

Space Researchers Test Equipment at Fort Irwin

Fort Irwin Soldiers got a chance to help test equipment that they may never have imagined they’d see when they joined the Army.

A team of researchers for NASA and aerospace companies came to the installation in November to conduct field tests of equipment that could potentially be used in future missions to the moon and Mars. Their goal was to evaluate how humans could conduct surveys of soil and environment that would allow them to choose sites for outposts in space.

To accomplish that goal, the researchers played out a scenario that simulated a manned space landing in which astronauts arrive on the moon or Mars, travel in a pressurized rover, and perform soil tests and collect samples.

About 10 Soldiers were used to test a prototype of spacesuit ports that lock in to a pressurized rover. In this new design, the suits hang off the back of the rover, attached by head and shoulders to a port. This would eliminate the time-consuming need for astronauts to enter an airlock chamber to don spacesuits and acclimate to the air they’ll breathe. With the ports, astronauts need only to slip into the suit while inside the rover and unlock the port to perform space walks.

The new design also eliminates potential dust buildup in spaceships because the suits are always kept outside, said Pascal Lee, project lead for the field testing.

“The Soldiers were super helpful because they presented us with a wide range of body shapes and sizes,” Lee said. “We don’t want the suit ports to be too tightly tailored to an individual.”

Spc. Robert Pierre, 2nd Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, helped the researchers with their testing and got to try out the spacesuits.

“It’s definitely a new experience,” he said. “I never thought I would do something like this.”

Fort Irwin was chosen as the site for the testing because its terrain is similar to that of the moon and Mars, and because it could provide access to maxi-ambulance Humvees, which have been the standard vehicle used to simulate the pressurized rovers, Lee said. If pressurized rovers are eventually used, they would provide astronauts with mobile living and working quarters that would allow them to remain on the surface of the moon or Mars for extended amounts of time.

 Working at Fort Irwin was an extremely positive experience, Lee said. Plans are in the works for a second phase of research here in the spring that would test the feasibility of using robots to follow up on the outpost site evaluations performed by humans.

“Our collaboration with Fort Irwin was very fruitful,” Lee said. “It’s the beginning of a beautiful relationship.”

By Caroline Keyser, Fort Irwin Public Affairs