[IS&T Security-FYI] SFYI Newsletter, March 6, 2012

[Monique Yeaton]

In this issue:


1. Cyber Challenge Competitions Offer Hands-on Training

2. New ZeuS Variants Get Instructions Through P2P Network

3. Tip: Backup Your Essential Files



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1. Cyber Challenge Competitions Offer Hands-on Training

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Panelists speaking at the RSA Conference in San Francisco earlier this week said that according to the Cyber Challenge, colleges are not adequately preparing students to work in the field of cyber security.


Cyber Challenge national director Karen Evans compared the problem to "trying to field a professional baseball team when there's no little league team out there." One competitor, Alex Levinson, said his college education did not prepare him to work in cyber security, and that the Cyber Challenge competitions provide the opportunity "to go through and learn the actual hands-on skills that you're going to use in the workplace."


Cyber Challenge is a public-private partnership that offers cyber security competitions and camps for high school and college students as well as working professionals.


Read the full story online<http://wiredworkplace.nextgov.com/2012/02/cyber_challenge_fills_education_void.php?oref=latest_posts>.


Learn more about the US Cyber Challenge<http://workforce.cisecurity.org/>.



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2. New ZeuS Variants Get Instructions Through P2P Network

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The most recently detected variants of ZeuS/SpyEye are receiving instructions not from command-and-control (C&C) servers, but through peer-to-peer (P2P) networks. C&C servers have increasingly become the targets of takedown orders and monitoring by authorities. A version detected last year used P2P as a means of communication if C&C servers became unavailable, but the newest version has made C&C servers unnecessary.


Read the full story online<http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/250488/symantec_new_zeus_botnet_no_longer_needs_central_command_servers.html>.



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3. Tip: Backup Your Essential Files

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It's usually just a matter of time before we experience a disaster with our computer that could cause us to lose every single file we ever stored on it. Whether the disaster is an irreparable drive or a loss or theft of the machine, that sinking feeling is one we always hope to avoid.


Having a backup folder is similar to insurance for our computers. We might lose the hardware, but the software and all our hard work and collected media need not disappear, so we can be back up and running on a working computer as soon as possible.


As a member of the MIT community, you can sign up for a basic backup plan at no cost, using the Tivoli Storage Manager (TSM) service through IS&T. TSM enables users to back up computer files to a secure server via MITnet or the Internet. The no-cost option lets you store up to 15GB. The other options store up to 300GB for $15/month or up to 10TB for $65/month.


Learn more about TSM<http://ist.mit.edu/services/backup/tsm>.


Other options for backups<http://ist.mit.edu/security/backup>.



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Read all Security FYI Newsletter articles and submit comments online at http://securityfyi.wordpress.com/.

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Monique Yeaton
IT Security Communications Consultant
MIT Information Services & Technology (IS&T)
(617) 253-2715
http://ist.mit.edu/security


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