States across the nation are ramping up their digital defenses to prevent the hacking of election systems in 2018. The efforts come in the wake of Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election, which state officials say was a needed wake up call on cybersecurity threats to election systems and infrastructure.
The arrest in the U.S. on hacking-related charges of a British computer whiz hailed for slowing a massive global cyberattack in May has stunned and divided the cybersecurity community. It also shines a spotlight on a gray area in cybersecurity, the often hidden forums where experts trying to protect corporate and government interests interact clandestinely with suspected criminals.
A Chinese company that is the world’s largest drone manufacturer said it is “surprised and disappointed” by reports the U.S. Army has halted use of its remote-controlled aircraft because of cyber vulnerabilities. An Army memo, obtained by sUASnews.com and viewed by Defense One said the unnamed vulnerabilities that led to the ban on the small, commercially available drones manufactured by DJI of China were outlined in a classified report in May.
The British government issued new guidelines requiring manufacturers of Internet-connected vehicles to put in place tougher cyber protections to ensure they are better shielded against hackers. The government said it was concerned that smart vehicles, which allow drivers to do things such as access maps and travel information, could be targeted by hackers to access personal data, steal cars that use keyless entry systems, or take control of technology for malicious reasons.
China’s leading smartphone maker and one of its biggest Internet companies are in a showdown over user data, the big prize in the emerging era of artificial intelligence. To build its AI capability -- so that its phones can, say, make restaurant suggestions based on a user’s text messages -- Huawei Technologies Co. is collecting user-activity information on its advanced Honor Magic smartphone.
Chinese censors tested a new way of shutting down websites and cutting off the country’s internet users from the rest of the world. The censorship drill targeted tools that many in China use to thwart the country’s vast online censorship system, though Internet companies said it also hit some sites at random.
A cyber security researcher widely credited with helping to neutralize the global "WannaCry" ransomware attack earlier this year has been arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Marshals Service said. Marcus Hutchins, a British-based malware researcher who gained attention for detecting a "kill switch" that effectively disabled the WannaCry worm in May, was detained by FBI officials in Nevada days after tens of thousands of hackers descended on Las Vegas for the annual Black Hat and Def Con security conferences, a U.S. Marshals Service spokeswoman said.
With the blessings of President Donald Trump, two Senate Republicans embarked on a new effort to slash the number of green cards that the U.S. government awards to foreigners — a move that’s drawing another round of criticism from the tech industry. Under the so-called RAISE Act, unveiled by GOP Sens. Tom Cotton and David Purdue, the U.S. government would reduce legal immigration by half within 10 years of its enactment. Republicans propose to achieve that major cut in part by limiting green cards the government grants to extended family members while prioritizing applicants with high-skilled, highly paid jobs.
The Trump administration is reportedly considering using rarely invoked U.S. trade laws to compel China to crack down on theft of copyrights, patents and other intellectual property and fend off technology-sharing demands from Beijing. The Wall Street Journal and New York Times reported that U.S. trade officials are discussing ways to counter piracy and other practices deemed harmful to American businesses.
Internet companies are stepping up their opposition to a Senate sex trafficking bill they believe could make websites liable for what their users publish online. A coalition of tech trade associations sent a letter to Sens. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), the leaders of the Senate Homeland Security Subcommittee on Investigations, sharing their concerns.
Read the article: The Hill
The cyber attack that crippled Ukraine businesses and spread worldwide to shut down shipping ports, factories and businesses has taken a costly toll on the results of major U.S. and European companies in the latest quarter, with more to come. Cadbury chocolate maker Mondelez and freight logistics company FedEx Corp. are among five multinational firms, three from the United States and two in Europe, to report material financial damage in the closing days of the second quarter from the cyber "worm" known as NotPetya.
Amazon told CNET that it was suspending sales of phones from Blu, known for making ultra-cheap Android handsets, due to a "potential security issue." The move comes after security firm Kryptowire demonstrated how software in Blu's phones collected data and sent it to servers in China without alerting people.
A bipartisan group of U.S. senators plans to introduce legislation seeking to address vulnerabilities in computing devices embedded in everyday objects -- known in the tech industry as the "internet of things" -- which experts have long warned poses a threat to global cyber security. The new bill would require vendors that provide internet-connected equipment to the U.S. government to ensure their products are patchable and conform to industry security standards.
A self-described "email prankster" in the UK fooled a number of White House officials into thinking he was other officials, including an episode where he convinced the White House official tasked with cyber security that he was Jared Kushner and received that official's private email address unsolicited. White House officials acknowledged the incidents and said they were taking the matter seriously.
In recent years, Apple-obsessed sleuths have managed to ferret out the names and details of the company's products by searching trademark offices around the world. But their challenge has become exponentially harder thanks to a well-timed rule change at Jamaica's trademark office and some clever maneuvering in Liechtenstein.
It took less than a day for attendees at the DefCon hacking conference to find and exploit vulnerabilities in five different voting machine types. “The first ones were discovered within an hour and 30 minutes. And none of these vulnerabilities has ever been found before, they’ll all new,” said Harri Hursti, co- coordinator of the event.
HBO has joined the ranks of Hollywood entertainment companies to suffer a major cyber attack. EW has learned that upcoming episodes of a couple series and at least one alleged script or treatment have been put online by hackers who breached the company’s systems -- with more threatened to be coming soon.
A federal court in Virginia ruled that a local politician violated the free-speech rights of a constituent she banned from her Facebook page, in a case the judge said raises “important questions” about the constitutional restrictions that apply to social media accounts of elected officials.The ruling by U.S. District Judge James Cacheris in Alexandria, Va., could buttress a lawsuit in New York alleging that President Donald Trump unconstitutionally suppressed dissent by blocking Twitter users from following his account.
A prominent privacy rights watchdog is asking the Federal Trade Commission to investigate a new Google advertising program that ties consumers’ online behavior to their purchases in brick-and-mortar stores. The legal complaint from the Electronic Privacy Information Center, to be filed with the FTC, alleges that Google is newly gaining access to a trove of highly sensitive information -- the credit and debit card purchase records of the majority of U.S. consumers -- without revealing how they got the information or giving consumers meaningful ways to opt out.
President Vladimir Putin has signed a law that prohibits technology that provides access to websites banned in Russia, the government's website showed. The law, already approved by the Duma, the lower house of parliament, will ban the use of virtual private networks (VPNs) and other technologies, known as anonymizers, that allow people to surf the web anonymously.
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