US builds net for cyber war games

17 June 2011 Last updated at 14:07 GMT The US system will be used as a test bed for internet security projects The United States government is building its own "scale model" of the internet to carry out cyber war games.

Several organisations, including the defence company Lockheed Martin, are working on prototypes of the "virtual firing range".

The system will allow researchers to simulate attacks by foreign powers and from hackers based inside the US.

More than $500m (?309m) has been allocated by the Department of Defense to develop "cyber technologies".

The National Cyber Range project is being overseen by the Defense Advance Research Projects Agency (Darpa), which was also involved in early network research that led to the internet.

When ready, it will function as a test-bed for defensive and possibly offensive technologies such as network protection systems.

Having a controllable mini-internet would allow researchers to carry-out experiments "in days rather than the weeks it currently takes," Darpa spokesman Eric Mazzacone told the Reuters news agency.

Unlike the real internet, the in-house version could be wiped or reset between tests, explained Mr Mazzacone.

Development of the National Cyber Range is currently in the hands of several organisations, including Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and Lockheed Martin.

One of their prototypes will be selected to go into operation later in the year.

Act of war

The United States has been gradually increasing funding for internet security-related projects.

US defence secretary Robert Gates said that the country was under almost constant cyber attacks

In 2008, the US military was the subject of a serious cyber attack when part of its network became infected by a worm known as agent.btz.

President Obama, in May 2009, declared the cyber threat to be one of the "most serious" challenges facing the country.

Since then, his government claims to have been the subject of several attempted attacks, originating from overseas.

Lockheed Martin, one of the contractors involved in the National Cyber Range project was itself the subject of a security breach in May 2011.

Earlier this month, the Pentagon said it planned to publish proposals to categorise cyber attacks as acts of war.

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Hackers target UK games developer

10 June 2011 Last updated at 14:56 GMT By Daniel Emery Technology reporter, BBC News UK based Codemasters is the latest firm to be hit by hackers The personal details of thousands of people have been stolen after hackers targeted British games developer Codemasters.

The firm described the data theft as "significant" saying names, addresses, phone numbers and dates of birth were all taken on 3 June.

However, it said that payment details were not compromised.

The latest security breach comes in the midst of a spate of hacker attacks, including several against Sony.

Codemasters said it took the compromised website offline as "as soon as the intrusion was detected".

Probe

A subsequent investigation revealed that hackers managed to take the personal details of thousands of users, including names, addresses, email addresses, phone numbers and dates of birth, passwords, IP addresses, XBox gamer tags, and biographies.

In an e-mail sent to some of its customers, the firm advised users to "change any passwords you have associated with other Codemasters accounts.

"If you use the same login information for other sites, you should change that information too.

"Furthermore, be extra cautious of potential scams, via email, phone, or post that ask you for personal or sensitive information."

A spokesperson for Codemasters told BBC News that they still had no idea who targeted their sites, or how many people had their details compromised, although they said that it would affect tens of thousands of users.

Codemasters said its website - codemasters.com - would remain offline "for the foreseeable future" with users being directed to its Facebook page.

Brad Langford from Manchester contacted the BBC after receiving an e-mail from Codemasters, warning that his personal details may have been taken.

He said: "Sensitive information such as date of birth, and some times postal address are tools to hackers who try and steal identities.

"Does a company like Codemasters or any video game company really require such sensitive information? In my opinion - no."

Another Codemasters website user, Leanne Lee from Eastbourne, accused the company of being slow to respond.

"I was a little shocked that it took them a week to let us all know and an impersonal e-mail with no follow up on their Facebook group either except a brief post in their discussion board section.

"We should have been informed as soon as they had taken down the site," she said.

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