Computer Security

Defense attorneys for Army Pfc. Bradley Manning on Sunday grilled military officers about the intelligence analyst's dealings with classified information, suggesting that computer security at his Iraq base was lax and rules were routinely broken. Prosecutors sought to emphasize that Manning, the 24-year-old accused of sending hundreds of thousands of classified files to the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks, was well trained in how to handle sensitive information and knew not to distribute it. Manning's direct supervisor, Sgt. First Class Paul Adkins, was set to testify Sunday but invoked his Article 31 rights, similar to the Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination.

If there are nearly 20,000 cyber security jobs are available in the state of Maryland, why hasn't it been shouted from the roof tops ("Cyber help wanted," Feb. 27)? Most employment news we hear now is fairly dismal. With this many high-paying positions needing to be filled, the school system must take more notice. Baltimore's Digital Harbor High School, a marvelous place dedicated to technology and located right in Federal Hill, is one place to start. Recruiters from the National Security Agency, U.S. Cyber Command and other government and private agencies should stop by and encourage students to enroll in computer security programs and pursue degrees in the field.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Companies are taking more safety measures to protect the security of information on their computer networks, according to a recent study by the Computer Security Institute.The study, the institute's first, said 60 percent of 242 companies and government agencies surveyed use encryption technology to protect their data.Computer network security has become more important as more companies connect far-flung operations using local and wide area networks. When a company uses a network or has users dial into a network using public telephone lines, the risk of security breaches rises.

Nineteen thousand four hundred thirteen. Focus on that number. Like so many numbers in news articles, you might easily have skipped over 19,413. But this is an important number for what is happening in Maryland higher education. According to the Cyber Security Jobs Report issued this month, this is the number of job openings in Maryland, as of October 2012, for qualified cybersecurity professionals. These are good, high-paying jobs. They are in such demand that the unemployment rate for people who qualify for them must be nearly zero.

Trusted Information Systems, one of western Howard County's three largest employers and an international leader in computer security, is expanding again.The company, which started in the Glenwood home of founder and President Stephen T. Walker, has outgrown its office building on Route 97 and is constructing an identical building.Mr. Walker, a former computer security expert with the National Security Agency and the Pentagon, started his company with a single worker in 1983.In little more than a decade, he had more than 100 employees and offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco and London.

Darrell M. Gaver, a retired computer security expert who worked for the Social Security Administration, died of colon cancer Wednesday at his home in Parkville. He was 62. Born in Seaford, Del., and raised in Parkville, Mr. Gaver was a 1958 graduate of Parkville High School. He earned his bachelor's degree in accounting from University of Baltimore in 1964. He began his accounting career at Westinghouse Electric Corp. in Linthicum in 1964. In 1966, he joined Exxon USA in Towson, where he worked as a computer programmer until 1979.

The Johns Hopkins University is tightening its computer security after hackers broke into a computer at the medical school and secretly used it to generate a flood of e-mail advertisements.Efforts by the university to cope with the October break-in have caused balky and intermittent e-mail service for seven months for hundreds of staff members at the East Baltimore campus. At least once, e-mail service through the system, called "welchlink," shut down for two days."What was unique about this break-in was how slick it was," said J. Robert Sapp III, director of advanced technology for the Welch Medical Library.

Trusted Information Systems Inc. said yesterday that the U.S. government has agreed to let it export the strongest computer encryption systems that have ever been allowed to leave the United States.The Commerce Department gave permission for the Glenwood-based computer security company to export encryption systems that have mathematical keys of up to 168 "bits" long, a measure of the strength of the coding and the difficulty it will pose to hackers or government officials trying to crack the code.

When Rockville-based Axent Technologies went public in April, investors drove up it's stock price 34 percent, to $18.75 from $14, in the first day's trading. That roar of support made Axent one of the hottest traded stocks in the U.S. that day.So far, Wall Street's swooning hasn't waned for Maryland's newest publicly held company, which raised $36 million in the IPO. Axent's stock has risen as high as $21.75 since the April 24 public offering.What's all the fuss about?After all, Axent is a young company that posted a loss last year.

A privacy advocacy group said yesterday that the National Security Agency's expanding role in protecting U.S. computer networks against attack by hackers or terrorists carries the hidden risk of a "subtle erosion" of the civil liberties and privacy rights of U.S. citizens.In May, President Clinton established a number of new government agencies and boards charged with shoring up the nation's "critical infrastructure" -- the computers that control, for example, air traffic, electricity and banking.

Defense attorneys for Army Pfc. Bradley Manning on Sunday grilled military officers about the intelligence analyst's dealings with classified information, suggesting that computer security at his Iraq base was lax and rules were routinely broken. Prosecutors sought to emphasize that Manning, the 24-year-old accused of sending hundreds of thousands of classified files to the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks, was well trained in how to handle sensitive information and knew not to distribute it. Manning's direct supervisor, Sgt. First Class Paul Adkins, was set to testify Sunday but invoked his Article 31 rights, similar to the Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination.

Like skilled cat burglars, teams of college-age hackers slithered past defenses to probe the soft underbelly of a sophisticated computer system. Their mission: to steal secrets and leave an electronic calling card. As they tapped away on laptops and spoke in low voices, knots of educators, business leaders, parents and government officials hovered nearby, smiling and nodding with approval. In the eyes of the organizers of the Maryland Cyber Challenge and Conference, today's hacker could be tomorrow's cybersecurity hero.

Millions of Americans, and more than a billion Internet users worldwide, depend on the Internet's speed and accuracy for commercial, financial, personal and governmental transactions. Unfortunately, too few of us are fully aware of the dangers we face from computers and other devices that connect to the Internet. As a result, we are all at risk. Cybersecurity is more than just about cyber crime. Cybersecurity has become an urgent homeland security issue because computer networks, critical infrastructure and key resources of the United States are at risk of being compromised, disrupted, damaged or destroyed by cyber terrorists, cyber criminals or spies.

Bill Anderson calls it his "aha" moment - that sudden flash of insight when he drew a career-altering connection between decades-old research and his job as a computer security expert. At that time, nearly two years ago, Anderson had a comfortable job as vice president at an established computer security firm in Maryland. But while sitting on his couch one day reading Consciousness Explained, a book by American philosopher Daniel Dennett, Anderson learned about one scientist's research into variations in the way the human eye reads and processes text and images.

A few days ago, customers of Baltimore-based Provident Bank received notification that their credit and debit card numbers may have been compromised in a theft described as potentially one of the largest personal data heists ever. The culprit here was a piece of malicious software placed on the computer network of Heartland Payment Systems in Princeton, N.J., which processes 100 million transactions a month. Although officials don't know how many Provident customers or other consumers were victimized, the breach at Heartland is just one wave in a rising tide of data theft that suggests tough new federal controls are needed on how organizations handle the data they collect.

They attacked in waves, breaching several layers of security in an attempt to corrupt a nation's computer network. Two, three, five times per day, the computer hackers tried to get in. And each time the Naval Academy's midshipmen withstood the challenge. But they remained tense as the clock wound down Friday, since their opponents were more than formidable: They were the technical wizards of the National Security Agency. "The biggest surprise is that there haven't been any surprises yet," said Midshipman Ryan W. Collins-Minkel of Tampa, Fla. The Cyber Defense Exercise, conceived by an NSA official seven years ago, pits teams of future military officers against each other to see who can build and maintain the most secure computer network.

Nineteen thousand four hundred thirteen. Focus on that number. Like so many numbers in news articles, you might easily have skipped over 19,413. But this is an important number for what is happening in Maryland higher education. According to the Cyber Security Jobs Report issued this month, this is the number of job openings in Maryland, as of October 2012, for qualified cybersecurity professionals. These are good, high-paying jobs. They are in such demand that the unemployment rate for people who qualify for them must be nearly zero.

PALO ALTO, Calif. -- If you've ever ordered a book over the Internet or checked the balance in your bank account, a flash across your computer screen probably said your transaction was "secure" -- a promise that your financial information would not be broadcast across the Internet.Standing behind such a promise is Whitfield Diffie, who looks as if he took a wrong turn at Woodstock and emerged in the blue-suit world of Washington.This math whiz-turned-inventor-turned-lobbyist has become a fixture of Senate subcommittee rooms, American Bar Association meetings, math conventions and even military conferences.

WASHINGTON -- Federal investigators say they have found serious computer security flaws that could lead to the improper disclosure of sensitive medical information on people enrolled in Medicare and Medicaid. In a new report, the investigators, from the Government Accountability Office, said "key information security controls were missing" from a huge communication network used by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. As a result, they said, sensitive, personally identifiable information "could be improperly modified, disclosed or deleted."

The Veterans Affairs data analyst responsible for the largest computer breach in government history earned a little bit of redemption yesterday -- but two experts said it may not be enough to prevent his termination. The government-issued laptop and external hard drive stolen from the analyst's Aspen Hill home May 3 were recovered, and the data appeared to be untouched, according to the FBI. In addition, the Associated Press reported that the 34-year veteran of the agency had permission to access and work with large amounts of sensitive data from home -- although not on the machine that was stolen, Tim S. McClain, the VA's general counsel, told a congressional committee.