Cybersecurity News: 6/22/12
With little progress being made in Washington, the focus this week falls on foreign nations and their efforts to enhance cybersecurity.
In Iran, with continued reports of cyber attacks against the country’s nuclear program, Gholam Reza Jalali, the director of the Passive Defense Organization, announced late last week that the nation is working to boost its cyber defenses, particularly surrounding its industrial systems.
“The important point is that we develop mechanisms for cyber defense in a way that we will be able to defend the country against new viruses,” said Jalali according to the Tehran Times.
But a new attack may have already penetrated the nation’s network, according to one Iranian official.
In a report issued Thursday by Iran’s Press TV, Intelligence Minister Heidar Moslehi acknowledged that the country had uncovered plans made by the US, UK and Israel “to launch a massive cyber attack against Iran’s facilities.”
And while it is uncertain whether Moslehi was referring to the recent Flame cyber attack or another new piece of malware, the intelligence minister said that the plans for the attack were detected after a nation-state summit held in Moscow earlier in the week focused mainly on Iran’s nuclear capabilities.
But while speculations and reports continue to roll in, Iran’s answer for detecting future attacks in real-time may not be too far off.
That is, if the country can get its hands on the Japan National Institute of Information and Communications Technology’s (NICT) latest development, the Direct Alert Environment for Darknet And Livenet Unified Security (DAEDALUS).
Being called a “futuristic” approach to cybersecurity, DAEDALUS is a cyber attack monitoring and alert system, which delivers real-time attack attempts in 3D imagery, using a developed observation network and packet analyzing or “packet sniffing” technology.
A simulation of the new system, featured on YouTube, has already been viewed nearly 64,000 times since being posted to the site on Tuesday.
“Knock knock, future’s here!” suggested one YouTube commenter. Though you can judge for yourself after watching the demo video.
To note, in Greek mythology, Daedalus was a god of innovation and skilled craftsmanship. And with the hype surrounding Japan’s new cyber technology, it’s safe to say the developers at NICT gave the new system some thought.
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Michelle Kincaid is a DC-based public affairs professional specializing in technology policy. She is also founder of the blog CybersecurityNews.org. Follow her on Twitter at @OnCybersecurity.
