Cybersecurity

cybersecuurity

Much Ado About Zero Trust

What is Zero Trust? A zero trust network is not a new concept, but it has become more popular in recent years. The Zero Trust security strategy is a way of defending against data breaches. It's a response to the...

DOE Investing $12M to Enhance Cybersecurity of Energy Systems

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) on Wednesday announced that it is investing $12 million for six new research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) projects to develop cybersecurity technology to help ensure energy delivery systems are designed, installed, operated, and...

Crypto Trader Wintermute Hit by $160 Million Hack

Hackers have stolen digital assets worth around $160 million from crypto trading firm Wintermute, according to a tweet from its CEO on Tuesday. CEO Evgeny Gaevoy posted on Twitter that the company was experiencing an ongoing hack that had...
uber breach

Uber Investigates Hack After Report of Breach

Uber said on Thursday it is investigating a possible breach of its network after a hacker gained access on Thursday to the company’s internal system, forcing it to shut several internal communications and engineering systems. A hacker compromised an employee's...

TikTok Denies it Was Hacked After Hacker Group’s Claim of Massive Data Breach

TikTok denied a hacker group’s claim that it was able to obtain the source code and user data from the popular video-sharing platform. The hacker, who goes by the name AgainstTheWest, says they gained access to the personal information of...

InterContinental Hotels Group Confirms Cyberattack

Holiday Inn owner, Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG), has confirmed the company has been hit by a cyberattack. IHG owns hotel brands such as Holiday Inn, Holiday Express, Regent, Crowne Plaza, Kimpton, and Six Senses. It confirmed the attack with a...
hack

FBI, CISA Warn Ransomware Attacks on Schools May Increase

Intelligence experts in the United States are warning schools of the increased chance of cyberattacks as schools resume. In a public advisory issued Tuesday, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said actors from Vice...

Twitch Confirms Data Breach

Game-streaming platform Twitch on Wednesday confirmed a data breach which reportedly divulged confidential company information and streamers' earnings. In a statement, the company said that "some data was exposed to the internet due to an error in a Twitch server...

Neiman Marcus Breach Compromises Data of 4.6 Million Customers

Luxury goods store Neiman Marcus said Friday that it was in the process of notifying 4.6 million online customers that some of their data had been compromised as part of a data breach that took place last year. According to...
nsa

NSA, CISA Release Guidance on Selecting and Hardening Remote Access VPNs

The National Security Agency and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released a joint Cybersecurity Information Sheet on Thursday, detailing factors to consider when choosing a virtual private network (VPN) and top configurations for deploying it securely. Titled, “Selecting...

Senators Introduce Bipartisan Legislation to Mandate Reporting of Cyber Attacks and Ransom Payments

Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, and Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, the committee’s ranking member, have introduced bipartisan legislation to require critical infrastructure owners and operators to report to the...

CISA Releases New Tool to Help Organizations Protect Against Insider Threats

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) on Wednesday released an Insider Risk Mitigation Self-Assessment Tool aimed at assisting public and private sector organizations in assessing their vulnerability to an insider threat. By answering a series of questions, users receive...

Senate Democrat Introduces Legislation to Strengthen U.S. Cybersecurity

Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) on Friday introduced a pair of bills to address vulnerabilities in America’s cybersecurity defenses. The Continuity of Economy Act of 2020 would direct the President to develop a plan to ensure essential functions of the economy are...

FBI Warns on Increase in Exploitation of Mobile Banking Apps by Criminals

The FBI on Wednesday warned that malicious cyber actors were targeting mobile banking apps. As the public increases its use of mobile banking apps, partially due to increased time at home, the FBI anticipates cyber actors will exploit these...

U.S. Senators Press Trump Administration to End Weaponization of Facial Recognition Technology

Severeal U.S. senators on Wednesday pressed Trump administration officials to end federal law enforcement’s weaponizing of facial recognition technology against peaceful protesters exercising their First Amendment rights to speak out about the police killing of George Floyd and other black...

EU Watchdog to Establish Taskforce to Investigate TikTok; Question’s Use of Clearview’s Facial Recognition Tech

An EU taskforce will examine the practices of Chinese video app TikTok, and sent a strong warning with regard to the use of Clearview AI by law enforcement authorities. TikTok, owned by China’s ByteDance, allows users to create short videos,...
windows

DHS Warns of Windows 10 Vulnerability to Cyberattack Due to Exploit Code in the Wild

The Department of Homeland Security's cybersecurity advisory division has warned Windows 10 users of the possibility of a wave of cyberattacks due to the recent publication of an exploit code. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) said there is...

Nintendo Revises Number of Hacked Accounts: Says About 300,000 Accessed

Japanese gaming giant Nintendo has admitted that an additional 140,000 user accounts were accessed by unauthorized means, pushing the number up to about 300,000. Hackers gained access to user accounts in April, obtaining personal information such as birthdays and...

Lawmakers Query DHS on Use of Predator Drone to Monitor George Floyd Protesters

Some Democrats on the House Committee on Oversight and Reform queried the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on what it termed "the use of DHS resources," which include drones and armed uniformed officers, to "surveil and intimidate peaceful protesters who...

Amtrak Discloses Data Breach

The National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak) has disclosed a data breach which may have led to the compromise of customer personally identifiable information (PII). In a letter to the Attorney General's Office of Vermont, made public on Friday, the rail...

Security Researchers Find Personal Data of 20 Million Taiwanese Citizens on Darkweb Marketplace

Personally identifiable information belonging to more than 20 million Taiwanese citizens was allegedly found by security researchers on a darknet marketplace. In a blog post published on Friday, Cyble said their researchers came across a leaked database on the darkweb...

U.S. Attorney’s Office Releases Tips For Protecting Children From Online Predators During COVID-19

United States Attorney Andrew Birge offered tips to help parents and guardians keep their children safe from on-line predators. "With schools and entertainment facilities closed during the COVID-19 pandemic, kids are using the Internet more and more. Unfortunately, that means...

Eagle Eye Networks Deploys Over 13,000 Cameras In Mexico City in City-Wide Surveillance Project

Eagle Eye Networks, a provider of cloud video surveillance, announced on Thursday what it termed one of the fastest completions of a large scale, fully integrated city-wide surveillance program, by installing 13,720 cameras in 4 months. The company, headquartered in...
nsa

NSA Releases Advisory Addressing Risk from Transport Layer Security Inspection

The National Security Agency (NSA) has released a Cyber Advisory that addresses managing risk from Transport Layer Security Inspection (TLSI). The document defines TLSI (a security process that allows incoming traffic to be decrypted, inspected, and re-encrypted), explains some risks...
phone

Tips on Safeguarding Data Before Upgrading Mobile Phones

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has released an article with tips on how to protect personal information before trading in a mobile phone for a newer model. FTC recommends the following four steps to safeguard these devices: Back up...

Macy’s Stock Drops in Wake of Data Breach

Macy's confirmed on Tuesday that its website suffered a security breach for a week in October exposing the personal information of customers including their payment details. Macy’s stock lost 10.9% in Tuesday trading, its worst one-day performance in three months....
dji drone

WhiteFox Secures Remote ID for Drone Manufacturer DJI

WhiteFox, a provider of drone security,partnered with the world's largest drone manufacturer DJI to secure drone and operator identity during the United Nations International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Drone Enable 3 Symposium. ICAO is a United Nations specialized agency representing...
drone

Lawmaker Urges Justice Department to Prevent Drones from Interfering with Firefighting

Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) on Friday wrote to the Department of Justice to exercise its legal authority to prevent drones from interfering with firefighting efforts in California and throughout the West. “Troubling reports have surfaced, such as on October 31,...

UniCredit Says 2015 Breach Exposed Data of 3 Million Clients

UniCredit said on Monday that it has uncovered a data breach involving the personal records of 3 million domestic clients, the third security incident at Italy’s top bank in recent years. A file generated in 2015 contained names, city, telephone number...

NordVPN Admits to a 2018 Data Center Breach

Virtual private network provider NordVPN has confirmed that it was hacked March 2018. This admission comes after rumors that the company had been breached. According to the company, an expired internal private key became exposed earlier this year, allowing for the...

NIST Releases Plan For Federal Engagement in the Development of AI Standards

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) last week announced the release of its long-anticipated Plan for federal engagement and U.S. leadership on artificial intelligence (AI) standards. Titled, U.S. Leadership in AI: A Plan for Federal Engagement in Developing Technical...
texas flag

Texas Hit With Ransomware Targeted Against 23 Organizations Connected to Local Government Departments

A cybersecurity incident on August 2019 in the U.S. state of Texas in which about 23 entities connected to smaller local governments where hit by a ransomware attack had led to the launch of an investigation into the matter...

US Grants Huawei Another 90-Day Extension to Purchase From American Suppliers

The Trump administration has extended a deadline for U.S. businesses to cut ties with Chinese telecommunications firm Huawei, according to a statement by Department of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross on Monday. The reprieve given to Huawei permits the Chinese firm...

DHS CISA Warns That Iranian Hackers Increasingly Using Destructive ‘Wiper’ Attacks

The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Director Christopher C. Krebs on Saturday released a statement in response to the recent rise in malicious cyber activity, including spear phishing and brute force attacks, by...

Hackers Target Mobile Phone Networks in Sophisticated Cyber Espionage Attack

Hackers compromised companies in more than 30 countries with the aim of gathering information on individuals in government, law-enforcement and politics, according to a report from Investigators at U.S.-Israeli cyber firm Cybereason. Cybereason's chief executive, Lior Div, told Reuters that...
nsa

NSA Releases Advisory on BlueKeep Vulnerability

The National Security Agency (NSA) has released a cybersecurity advisory for CVE-2019-0708—a vulnerability dubbed BlueKeep. Although Microsoft has issued a patch, potentially millions of machines are still unpatched and remain vulnerable. Microsoft has warned that this flaw is potentially “wormable,”...
breach

11.9 Million Patients Affected by Quest Diagnostics Breach

Medical testing company Quest Diagnostics revealed on Monday that a third-party billing company has been hit by a data breach affecting 11.9 million patients. The breach affected the personal information of the patients, including Social Security numbers, financial information...

HSCC Releases Medical Device and Health IT Joint Cybersecurity Plan

The Healthcare and Public Health Sector Coordinating Council (HSCC) on Wednesday released new recommendations for manufacturing and managing the security of medical devices for clinical practice. The voluntary, consensus-based Health Industry Cybersecurity Practices (HICP) is the culmination of a year...

DOE Awards $40 Million in Funding for Grid Modernization Initiative

The Department of Energy (DOE) last week announced $40M in FY19 funding for the Grid Modernization Initiative (GMI). The GMI, a crosscutting initiative involving all the applied energy offices, focuses on working with public and private partners to develop...

International Ransomware Attack Could Cost $193B in Economic Damages: Report

A new report from the Cyber Risk Management (CyRiM) project has projected that an international ransomware attack could cost $193 billion in damages. Such an attack would cost the US $89 billion, accounting for nearly half of the total...

US Intelligence Officials Warn China, Russia Pose Biggest Espionage and Cyberattack Threats

China and Russia possess cyber capabilities capable of disrupting US critical infrastructure, including power networks, US companies, the military and election systems. Iran and North Korea are also capable of launching similar disruptive cyberattacks. This poses a significant threat...

Apple Facetime Privacy Breach: New York AG and Governor Announce Investigation

New York Attorney General Letitia James and Governor Andrew Cuomo on Wednesday announced an investigation into Apple’s failure to warn consumers about the FaceTime bug and slow response to addressing the issue. The bug jeopardized the privacy of consumers by...

Justice Department Announces Efforts to Disrupt Joanap Botnet Used By North Korean Hackers

The Justice Department on Wednesday announced what it called “an extensive effort” to map and further disrupt, through victim notifications, the Joanap botnet – a global network of numerous infected computers under the control of North Korean hackers that...

Airbus Says Systems Breached in Cyberattack

Airbus on Wednesday said it had detected a cyberattack on its commercial aircraft business information systems which resulted in unauthorized access to data. Affected data includes professional contact and IT identification details of some Airbus employees in Europe, the...

NCSC Launches Campaign to Help Private Sector Tackle Threats From Nation State Actors

The National Counterintelligence and Security Center (NCSC) on Monday said it is distributing videos, brochures, and other informative materials to help the private sector guard against growing threats from foreign intelligence entities and other adversaries. According to the NCSC, it...

Delivery Robot Goes up in Flames: Manufacturers Blame ‘Human Error’

An autonomous food delivery robot caught fire on a Berkeley, California walkway on Friday. The robot is part of a fleet of robots manufactured and managed by the startup, Kiwi. The company released a statement in which it said...
autonomous

Self-Driving Cars Increasingly Targeted by Vandals in Arizona

Self-driving vehicles have increasingly become the targets of vandals in Arizona with the police there recording at least 21 incidents over the past two years. This includes people pointing guns, jumping in front of the vehicles, slashing tires and...

BT Removes Huawei Equipment From 5G Network Core

Britain’s BT Group said on Wednesday it was removing Huawei Technologies’ equipment from the heart of its 5G mobile network when it is rolled out in the UK. BT also confirmed that it was stripping Huawei equipment from the...

NYPD Unveils 14 Newly Acquired Drones and Special Unit to Operate Them

The New York Police Department (NYPD) on Tuesday announced its Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) program, which will be comprised of newly acquired Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), or drones, and the licensed NYPD officers of the Technical Assistance Response Unit...

Scammers go Low-Tech to Target Senior Citizens

The FTC issued a warning on Monday about a ruse by scammers to get people to part with money in the form of gift cards or cash, sent by mail. According to the FTC, scammers even go as far as...
irs

Phishing Scams on the rise, Taxpayers Urged not to ‘Take the Bait’

The IRS has warned people to be on the lookout following what it termed “a surge of new, sophisticated email phishing scams.” According to the IRS, taxpayers saw many more phishing scams in 2018 and recorded a 60 percent increase...

FTC Recommends Precautions to Prevent identity Theft Following Marriott Breach

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Monday released an alert to provide affected users with recommended precautions against identity theft after the recent breach of the Marriott International Starwood guest reservation database. According to Marriott, the hackers accessed people’s names,...
dhs

DHS, FBI, NCCIC Issue Alert on SamSam Ransomware

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center (NCCIC) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on Monday issued an activity alert to inform computer network defenders about SamSam ransomware, also known as MSIL/Samas.A. Specifically,...
hack

Quora Hacked: 100 Million Users Affected

Q&A website Quora disclosed on Monday that one of its systems was accessed without authorization by hackers on Friday, with the user data of approximately 100 million users affected. Compromised information include: Account information, e.g. name, email address, encrypted (hashed)...

Dem Lawmakers Query Law Enforcement’s Use of Amazon’s Controversial Facial Recognition Software

Eight democratic lawmakers sent a letter to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on Thursday reiterating their concern about Amazon’s facial recognition technology, Rekognition, and the company’s decision to make it available for the use of law enforcement agencies. The lawmakers acknowledged...

Hackers Access Marriott Guest Reservation Database, Compromising Data of 500 Million Guests

Marriott International Inc said on Friday that there was unauthorized access to the Starwood guest reservation database, which contained guest information relating to reservations at its Starwood properties, on or before September 10, 2018. Starwood brands include: W Hotels, St....

Financial Institutions in Singapore Develop Blockchain Settlement System

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and Singapore Exchange (SGX) said on Sunday they have successfully developed Delivery versus Payment (DvP) capabilities for the settlement of tokenized assets across different blockchain platforms. DvP system utilizes smart contracts to simplify post-trade...

French President Macron Launches International Agreement on Cybersecurity Principles

President Emmanuel Macron of France on Monday launched the Paris Call for Trust and Security in Cyberspace aimed at developing common principles for securing cyberspace. Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Mr Jean-Yves Le Drian, laid out the challenges...

Salesforce Wins Patent to Detect Spam Email Using Blockchain Technology

Salesforce has won a patent to detect spam emails using blockchain technology. U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) published a document, Nov. 7. that describes the intent of the cloud-based customer relationship management firm to use blockchain to ensure...

NCCIC Releases Report on Use of JexBoss by Hackers to Carry Out Exploits

The NCCIS on Thursday released a report on the use of exploitation tool JexBox by hackers to remotely access the systems of victims. Analysis Report (AR) AR18-312A: JexBoss - JBoss Verify and EXploitation Tool provides information on JexBoss' capabilities,...

Bank of England to Carry Out Test to Gauge Finance Sector’s Resilience to Cyber Attacks

The Bank of England said it will carry out a test on Friday to gauge the financial sector's ability to withstand a major cyberattack. According to the BoE, it will host a one-day exercise on Nov. 9 in partnership...
hacker

DOJ Charges Chinese Intelligence Officials With Recruiting Hackers and Insiders to Steal Aviation Data

The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Tuesday that 10 Chinese intelligence officers and hackers have been charged with stealing airline engine technology from French and U.S. companies. According to the DOJ, the Chinese intelligence officers and those working under their...

Nation-State Actors are Becoming More Aggressive in Attacking Our Supply Chain – NCSC Director

Director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center William Evanina weighed in on the impact of the supply chain problem on America, from an economic and intelligence standpoint, during a media session at the Symantec Government Symposium, on October...

U.S. Restricts Exports to Chinese Semiconductor Firm Fujian Jinhua Due to National Security Risks

The Department of Commerce on Monday said it has taken action to restrict exports to Chinese semiconductor firm Fujian Jinhua, due to the belief that Jinhua poses a significant risk of becoming involved in activities that are contrary to...

User Data of About 9.4 Million Passengers Compromised in Cathay Pacific Hack

One of Asia’s top airlines, Cathay Pacific said Wednesday that it has discovered “unauthorized access” to the personal data of approximately 9.4 million passengers. The company said it initially discovered suspicious activity on its network in March 2018. Unauthorized access ...

British Airways Says Cyberattack Bigger Than Previously Thought

The cyberattack on British Airways affected even more customers than previously thought, the company said on Thursday. In September, the organization announced that hackers had stolen the data of thousands of British Airways customers, who had to cancel their credit...
ransom

Super Micro Denies Allegations Chinese Hacked Chips: To Review Hardware

Super Micro Computer Inc on Monday stated in a letter to customers it will review its hardware for any proof of installation of malicious chips in its motherboards as alleged in a recent media report. A Bloomberg report on Oct.4...

Google Hid Google+ Security Bug That Exposed Information of Almost 500,000 Users

Google’s Vice President of Engineering Ben Smith on Monday revealed that the company will shut down the consumer version of its social network Google+ because data from up to 500,000 users may have been exposed to external developers by...
server

Chinese Government Allegedly Infiltrates Servers of Multiple U.S. Companies: Amazon, Apple Deny

The Chinese government managed to gain access to the servers of almost 30 U.S. companies, including Apple and Amazon, according to a Bloomberg report. The infiltration occurred via the placement of tiny microchips, about the size of a rice grain,...

50 Million Users Affected in Latest Facebook Security Breach

Facebook said Friday it has discovered a security issue affecting almost 50 million accounts. According to Facebook, attackers exploited a vulnerability in Facebook’s code that impacted “View As”, a feature that lets people see what their own profile looks...

Port of San Diego’s IT Systems Disrupted by Ransomware Attack

The Port of San Diego said Thursday it is partnering with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to investigate what it referred to as “a serious cybersecurity incident” that has disrupted the...
uber breach

Uber Reaches $148 Million Settlement With U.S. States Over 2016 Breach

Uber has reached a $148 million settlement with 50 U.S states, including Washington, D.C., to resolve allegations that it failed to report a significant data 2016 data breach. The company paid hackers $100,000 to destroy stolen data from the breach...

White House to Prioritize Cyber Offense on Hackers in New Cyber Strategy

The Trump administration on Thursday warned foreign hackers of its intention to increase offensive measures as part of a new national cyber security strategy. “We will identify, counter, disrupt, degrade, and deter behavior in cyberspace that is destabilizing and contrary...
hacker

Wyden Says State-Backed Hackers Targeted U.S. Senate Staff

A Democratic senator said in a letter to Senate leaders Wednesday that foreign government hackers continue to target the personal accounts of U.S. senators and their aides. Sen. Ron Wyden (Ore.) expressed “serious concern” that the Senate's security office “apparently...

We Are at The Edge of Realizing the Potentials of Bug Bounties and Crowdsourced Security – Hackerone

More organizations are taking advantage of bug bounty programs to strengthen their security postures. It simply makes sense – crowdsource the best cyber talent at scale to find those security gaps before the bad actors find them, and exploit...
equifax

ICO Slams Equifax With Maximum £500,000 Fine Over 2107 Breach

UK’s Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has issued Equifax with a £500,000 (US$660,000) fine for failing to protect up to 15 million citizens' personal data. The incident, which happened between 13 May and 30 July 2017 in the US, affected 146...
breach

Hackers Steal Newegg Customer Data Via Malicious Javascript Code

Online retailer Newegg is the latest victim of the actors behind Magecart, a financial theft group responsible for the recent breach of British Airways website and mobile application, involving about 380,000 victims. Their latest exploit was discovered by cybersecurity firm...

NCCIC Issues Advisory on Potential Hurricane Florence Phishing Scams

The National Cybersecurity & Communications Integration Center (NCCIC) has urged for increased vigilance against malicious cyber activity seeking to exploit interest in Hurricane Florence. Fraudulent emails commonly appear after major natural disasters and often contain links or attachments that direct...
cyber

Symantec Offers Free ‘Spoof Proof’ Campaign Website Testing Service Ahead of Elections

Cybersecurity firm Symantec on Tuesday said it is offering a free service to enable political candidates and campaigns test the security and authenticity of their websites. The AI-driven technology analyzes websites in Symantec’s telemetry, and if it discovers a spoofed...
ai

SAP Pioneers Development of Guiding Principles for Artificial Intelligence

German software firm SAP on Tuesday published what it called guiding principles for artificial intelligence. With the trend towards greater integration of AI into the society, the company said it designed the principles steer the development and deployment of...

Multiple PHP Vulnerabilities Could Allow Attackers Control Affected Systems

The Multi-State Information Sharing & Analysis Center (MS-ISAC) has released an advisory on multiple Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP) vulnerabilities. An attacker could exploit one of these vulnerabilities to take control of an affected system. PHP is a programming language originally designed...

UK’s Mass Surveillance Exposed by Snowden Ruled Unlawful

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Thursday ruled that UK's bulk interception powers, exposed by the whistleblower Edward Snowden, is illegal. In a landmark judgment, the court ruled agencies had violated rights as there were no proper safeguards. In...
phone

AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile Demo Standardized Mobile Authentication

The Mobile Authentication Taskforce, comprised of AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon, will showcase its authentication solution that is less dependent on passwords to secure user accounts at Mobile World Congress Americas 2018. Developed collaboratively by the four largest U.S. wireless...
cyber

Trump Signs Executive Order Allowing Sanctions for Election Meddling

President Trump on Wednesday signed an executive order allowing sanctions on foreign companies, organizations or entities the government determines to have interfered in U.S. elections. The executive order also requires any federal agency aware of election meddling to promptly report...

Hefty Fines Await Online Firms if They Fail to Remove Extremist Content Within an Hour

The European Union has proposed hefty fines on Google, Facebook, Twitter and other online platforms if they fail to remove extremist content within one hour. “One hour is the decisive time window in which the greatest damage takes place,” Jean-Claude...

EU Lawmakers Advocate for Global Ban on Killer Robots

The European Union is advocating for concrete efforts against “killer robots” on Wednesday when the European Parliament passed a resolution calling for an international ban on the development, production and use of weapons that kill without a human deciding...
privacy

Internet Association Proposes Privacy Principles to Modernize National Privacy Legislation

A group representing major internet companies including Facebook, Amazon and Alphabet said on Tuesday it backed modernizing U.S. data privacy rules but wants a national approach that would block California’s new regulations that take effect in 2020. “Data has revolutionized...
cyber

Lawmakers Urge State Department to Adopt ‘Basic’ Cybersecurity Measures

A bipartisan group of Senators want the State Department to adopt what they refer to as basic cybersecurity measures to protect against phishing, hacks and other cyberattacks, in a letter released today. Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Cory Gardner, R-Colo., Ed...

Facial Recognition System Unveiled at Washington’s Dulles Airport Touted as ‘User Friendly’

Facial recognition systems are being used to speed up the boarding process at Dulles International Airport and may eventually eliminate the need for a boarding pass. As facial recognition technology use generates intense scrutiny, a new system unveiled at Washington's...
privacy

Chamber of Commerce Urges Congress to Implement Federal Privacy Standard to Block State Privacy Laws

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce on Thursday released its Privacy Principles, in which it urged Congress to adopt a “federal privacy framework that preempts state law on matters concerning data privacy in order to provide certainty and consistency to...
security

House Passes Bill to Allow DHS Block Risky Foreign Contractors

The House on Tuesday passed a bill to authorize the Secretary of Homeland Security to implement security requirements for information relating to supply chain risk. The Securing the Homeland Security Supply Chain Act of 2018 would give the Secretary of...

Attorney General Jeff Sessions ‘Concerned’ Social Media Companies Stifling Free Speech

The Justice Department will meet with state attorneys general to discuss concerns that social media platforms were “intentionally stifling the free exchange of ideas,” according to a statement released on Wednesday. “The Attorney General has convened a meeting with a...
doj

North Korean Charged by Justice Dept. in WannaCry, Sony Cyberattacks

The Department of Justice (DOJ) said on Thursday that it is charging a North Korean programmer for his involvement in a conspiracy to conduct multiple destructive cyberattacks around the world resulting in damage to massive amounts of computer hardware,...
dhs

Homeland Security Awards Major Contract to ManTech for Key Cybersecurity Program

ManTech on Wednesday announced a $668 million GSA FEDSIM award to support the Department of Homeland Security’s Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) Dynamic and Evolving Federal Enterprise Network Defense (DEFEND) program. Under the new six-year agreement, ManTech will serve as...
encryption

U.S., U.K and Three Other Nations Urge Tech Companies to Build Backdoors Into Encrypted Services

  The Governments of the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand have released a joint memo in which they urged tech firms to “voluntarily” build backdoors as part of their encryption designs to allow nations “combat...
privacy

NIST Launches Project to Develop Privacy Framework for Risk Management

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) on Tuesday announced that it has launched what it called a “collaborative project to develop a voluntary privacy framework to help organizations manage risk.” The proposed privacy framework will provide an enterprise-level...
ibm

Hidden Costs in Data Breaches Hard To Quantify – IBM

Hidden costs in data breaches – such as lost business, negative impact on reputation and employee time spent on recovery – are difficult and expensive to manage, according to a new study by IBM. The study found that one-third...

Justice Department Announces Indictment of 12 Russian Spies Suspected in DNC Hacking

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) on Friday announced that a grand jury in the District of Columbia returned an indictment charging twelve Russian nationals for committing federal crimes that were intended to interfere with the 2016 U.S. presidential...

Microsoft Advocates for Regulation of Facial Recognition Tech

Microsoft President Brad Smith on Friday called for greater government oversight and corporate responsibility regarding the growing application of facial recognition technology. According to Microsoft, the more powerful a tool, the greater benefit or damage it can cause. This...