By now the news of a purported hack at the NSA revealing a 2013 suite of Zero Days, and their link to the agency's Technical Analytics Organization (TAO) aka The Equation Group, has been analyzed ad infinitum. Most conclude -- prematurely, we believe -- that the leak of such a large cache of Zero Day vulnerabilities and exploits represents a huge embarrassment for the NSA, as … [Read more...]
Zero Days vs. Malware — What’s the Difference?
In the popular mind, Zero Days and Malware – including Trojans, bots, bugs, rootkits, worms, spyware and other forms – are commonly lumped together under the general heading of viruses and more recently “cyber attacks.” While the latter term is appropriate as a generic catch-all, it is important for law enforcement to understand the difference between Zero Days and Malware as … [Read more...]
PLATH Group Expands from RF Monitoring to Cyber Security and Malware
As an acknowledged leader in military RF monitoring and analysis for more than 60 years, PLATH Group surprised many analysts in 2012 with its sudden dip into markets of primary interest to intelligence agencies and law enforcement: cyber security, forensics and malware. Was PLATH changing course? No, that is hardly the case. PLATH simply took advantage of an opportunity to … [Read more...]
Blue Coat Plus Symantec: Enterprise Cyber Conquest
So Symantec buys Blue Coat Systems for US $4.65 billion. It is a curious thing when a struggling company buys another for twice the most recent bid, installs the acquired team’s leader as CEO, neglects to mention that the two firms have some conflicting products, then announces the sale late on a Friday -- generally a red flag that someone seeks to bury a story after analysts … [Read more...]
Is China’s Counter-Terrorism Law Really So Dreadful?
Six months have passed since implementation of China's Counter-Terrorism Act, a law that drew fierce criticism from privacy organizations, tech companies that do business in China, and U.S. President Obama. Heading the list of complaints were objections to Chinese authorities’ plans to require “back doors” into network equipment and end user devices, as well as access to all … [Read more...]