Press

A male’s genome contains information that can help scientists guess his surname, American and Israeli researchers have discovered. The findings have serious implications for data privacy; intelligence services around the world are bound to be interested.

“An Interactive Graph of the Certificate Authority Ecosystem”
December 14, 2012 | Posted by Soulskill, Slashdot.org

Researchers of the International Computer Science Institute in Berkeley have created an interactive diagram that shows root-CAs, their intermediates, the relationships between them and how many certificates have been signed by them. The graph was generated by passively monitoring the Internet uplinks of a number of (mostly) edu sites for SSL connections and their certificate Information.

“Rogue Pharma, Fake AV Vendors Feel Credit Card Crunch"
October 18, 2012  |  Brian Krebs, Krebs On Security

Security experts are warning that a newly discovered vulnerability in Internet Explorer 8 is being actively exploited to break into Microsoft Windows systems. Complicating matters further, computer code that can be used to reliably exploit the flaw is now publicly available online. In an advisory released May 3, Microsoft said it was investigating reports of a vulnerability in IE8, and that it was aware of attacks that attempt to exploit this bug. The company stresses that other versions of IE — including IE6, 7, 9 and 10 are not affected by the vulnerability. However, all versions of IE8 are vulnerable, including copies running on Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7.

“Colleges Receive $10 Million Grant to Study Cyber Crime”
September 28, 2012  |  Catherine Groux, U.S. News University Connection

Last year, the federal Internet Crime Complaint Center received more than 300,000 reports of cyber crime, as it watched Americans lose about $485.3 million to such attacks in 2011 alone. These figures show the rise of cyber crime throughout the nation and underline the need for the U.S. to find ways to prevent it.

“Cybercrime Project Receives $10 Million from NSF"
September 28, 2012  |  Caroline Murphy, The Daily Californian

A project conducted by researchers from the UC Berkeley-affiliated International Computer Science Institute, UC San Diego and George Mason University has received a $10 million, five-year grant from the National Science Foundation to study social and economic issues connected to cybercrime. While much of cyber-security research focuses on the technological side of attacks, Beyond Technical Security: Developing an Empirical Basis for Socio-Economic Perspectives will take an interdisciplinary look into cybercriminals — how they work with each other, the marketplaces that they work in and the profit they gain.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) this week awarded $50 million for more than 70 research projects focused on securing cyberspace in the United States. The Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace awards are aimed at protecting critical infrastructure from cyberthreats. "Securing cyberspace is key to America's global economic competitiveness and prosperity," said NSF Director Subra Suresh, in a statement. "NSF's investment in the fundamental research of cybersecurity is core to national security and economic vitality that embraces efficiency while also maintaining privacy."

Computer scientists at the Univ. of California, San Diego, the International Computer Science Institute at Berkeley and George Mason University have received a $10 million, five-year grant from the National Science Foundation to map out the illicit activities taking place in the cybersecurity underworld and to understand how the mind of a cybercriminal works.

“UC Berkeley Part of $10 Million NSF Study of ‘Human Element’ in Cybercrime"
September 25, 2012  |  Steven Brown, San Francisco Business Times

Experts from the University of California and George Mason University will study the "human element" of cybercrime with the help of a $10 million, five-year grant from the National Science Foundation. The NSF is giving the money to the International Computer Science Institute on Center Street in downtown Berkeley, as well as to teams from UC San Diego and George Mason University.

Computer scientists at the University of California, San Diego, the International Computer Science Institute at Berkeley and George Mason University have received a $10 million, five-year grant from the National Science Foundation to map out the illicit activities taking place in the cybersecurity underworld and to understand how the mind of a cybercriminal works.

“PharmaLeaks: Rogue Pharmacy Economics 101"
June 22, 2012  |  Brian Krebs, Krebs On Security

Consumer demand for cheap prescription drugs sold through spam-advertised Web sites shows no sign of abating, according to a new analysis of bookkeeping records maintained by three of the world’s largest rogue pharmacy operations. Researchers at the University of California, San Diego, the International Computer Science Institute and George Mason University examined caches of data tracking the day-to-day finances of GlavMed, SpamIt, and Rx-Promotion, shadowy affiliate programs that over a four-year period processed more than $170 million worth of orders from customers seeking cheaper, more accessible and more discretely available drugs. The result is perhaps the most detailed analysis yet of the business case for the malicious software and spam epidemics that persist to this day.

Pages