New York—July 20, 2010: In 2008, spies broke into the Pentagon. No violence was involved. No guard was overpowered, no knockout gas was used. Instead, a simple flash drive was left in an employee parking lot waiting for some unsuspecting government employee to find it and, with a little luck, plug it into their computer on the Pentagon’s network. On the flash drive was sophisticated spyware that gave the attacker access to Central Command’s classified network. And just like that, the world’s most powerful country was losing a war it wasn’t even aware it was fighting.
UPDATE SEE “White House Cyber Chief Sees Joint Effort Against Net Threats“
This year’s second annual International Conference on Cyber Security (ICCS 2010), 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 August 2 through 5, 2010. ICCS 2010 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 65 top experts presenting at ICCS will be:
- FBI Director Robert S. Mueller, III, on the state of domestic efforts to protect data and communications;
- Howard A. Schmidt, special assistant to the president and cybersecurity coordinator, delivers the keynote address;
- Consuelo B. Carver, the FBI’s assistant legal attaché in Moscow, on working with Russian Federation law enforcement on cyber crime investigations in the Russian Federation;
- Captain Daryl R. Hancock, U.S. Navy, U.S. Fleet CYBERCOM/U.S. 10th Fleet, on the newly created Cyber Command at the National Security Agency;
- Evan F. Kohlmann, partner, Flashpoint Global Partners, on hacking Al-Qaida: social networking, technology, and terrorism;
- Richard Boscovich, senior attorney at Microsoft’s digital crimes unit, on going on the offensive against cybercrime through public and private action;
- Amit Yoran, CEO of NetWitness Corporation, on the catastrophic failure of the IT security industry;
- Preet Bharara, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York;
- and Edward M. Stroz, founder and co-president of Stroz Friedberg, on incident response experiences in the private sector.
See the ICCS program for more details: http://www.iccs.fordham.edu/program.htm
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).
