ICD Brief 103.
08.10.2018.-14.10.2018.
Greetings from Brussels! It’s clear that we can no longer claim ignorance in most areas of the cybersphere.
USA
Pentagon Slow to Protect Weapon Systems from Cyber Threats
“The Pentagon has been slow to protect major weapon systems from cyber attacks and routinely found critical vulnerabilities that hackers could potentially exploit in those systems, a federal government report said on Tuesday.”
US Homeland Security Says No Reason to Doubt Firms’ China Hack Denials
“The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said on Saturday it currently had no reason to doubt statements from companies that have denied a Bloomberg report that their supply chains were compromised by malicious computer chips inserted by Chineseintelligence services.”
DHS, FBI Chiefs Say Cyber Inflects Every Security and Criminal Threat
“Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen told senators at an Oct. 10 hearing that globally pervasive internet connectivity not only makes the U.S. and its allies more susceptible to cyberattacks, it also makes it easier for terrorist organizations and transnational criminal groups to coordinate and recruit new followers, while leaving the country more susceptible to foreign influence operations online.”
Instagram Unveils New AI-Powered Anti-Cyberbullying Feature
“In honor of National Bullying Prevention month in the US, Instagram has unveiled its latest AI features that aims to help tackle cyberbullying by scanning posted content.
The new feature leverages machine-learning technology to detect bullying in posted photos, captions and comment, before forwarding the information to Instagram’s community operations team to review.”
FDA Warns of Medtronic Device Cybersecurity Risk
“The FDA has issued a cybersecurity safety communication about two Medtronic devices used to program pacemakers and other cardiac implants.”
FS-ISAC Awards Cybersecurity Scholarships in Europe
“Five women have been awarded cyber security scholarships at FS-ISAC’s 2018 EMEA Summit.
The Financial Services Information Sharing Analysis Center (FS-ISAC) has announced the winners of its Building Cybersecurity Diversity (BCD) scholarship programme in Europe.”
Bipartisan Pair of State Officials Praise Trump Administration on Election Security
“Democratic and Republican secretaries of state from New Mexico and Colorado on Thursday heaped praise on the Trump administration for helping to secure their election infrastructure ahead of the midterm elections next month.”
Israeli Cybersecurity Start-Up Awarded US Homeland Security Project
“Morphisec will become the first international business to receive a grant from the S&T’s Financial Services Cyber Security Active Defense Technologies category.”
Fifty State Attorneys General Reach Settlement over Cyber-Incident Disclosure
“Uber Technologies, Inc. has reached a settlement with the attorneys general for all fifty states and the District of Columbia regarding allegations that Uber had violated state data breach notification statutes and consumer protection laws in connection with a 2016 data breach. The monetary settlement is the largest state attorneys general settlement reached in the aftermath of a data breach and the first to include every state in the nation. It is also the most recent step in a trend of state law enforcement becoming increasingly aggressive in pursuing companies that have suffered data breaches, especially with regard to disclosure requirements.”
Ashville Beefs Up Cybersecurity Plans
“Asheville’s situation has drastically improved since 2012. The city’s IT Services department now runs regular cybersecurity drills and has developed an education program for employees, centered on the slogan “Sec_rity: It’s nothing without you.”
Australia
For CySCA Sponsors, Designing 103 Cybersecurity Challenges Takes Months of Careful Planning
“More than 400 young hackers are waking from their first decent sleep in two days after four teams from the University of NSW (UNSW) beat out the competition to dominate this year’s Cybersecurity Challenge Australia (CySCA) 2018.”
Australia Agrees to Train Indonesians in Cybersecurity
“Australia will send experts to train Indonesian law enforcement personnel in cyber security, Indonesian Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu said Thursday.”
Baltics/Estonia
Coordination Vital in Cybersecurity, Says Former Estonian Minister
“Cyber security has been recognised as being an essential part of national and international security, but this is not the domain of states acting alone, according to Marina Kaljurand, chair of the Global Commission on the Stability of Cyberspace, and former foreign affairs minister for Estonia.”
China
China Is Ahead of Russia as “Biggest State Sponsor of Cyber-Attacks on the West”
“China has become the biggest state sponsor of cyber-attacks on the West, primarily in its bid to steal commercial secrets, according to a report today by one of the world’s largest cybersecurity firms.”
Czech Republic
Czech Counterintelligence Helps Uncover Hezbollah Hacking Scheme
“The Czech Security Intelligence Service (BIS) issued a press release on Monday in which it says it cooperated with foreign partners in identifying, analysing and disabling servers in the Czech Republic and the wider world, which Hezbollah was using for cybernetic espionage.”
EU
Airbus Wins Blockbuster European Union Cybersecurity Contract
“Aerospace giant Airbus has won a blockbuster cybersecurity contract that will see it provide a range of security tools including a highly automated surveillance system to 17 European agencies and institutions.”
Germany
Internet Operator Challenges Network Tapping by German Spy Agency
“Internet exchange operator DE-CIX said on Thursday it had filed a constitutional complaint against the tapping into its network by Germany’s main spy agency, after an earlier petition was thrown out by a federal court.”
Ghana
Ghana Making Progress in Cyber Crime Combat
“Ghana is making progress in the prevention of the incidence of cyber crime because of government’s high level of commitment towards that cause, Dr Nana Kofi Annan, a consultant at the Ministry of Communications (MoC), has said.”
India
No Internet Shutdown in India: Cybersecurity Official
“A top government cybersecurity official on Friday clarified that India will not face any internet shutdown, quashing fears of an internet blackout in the country amid reports of a global outage. Russia Today had earlier reported that internet users across the globe may experience widespread network failures due to routine maintenance of key domain servers over the next 48 hours.”
In India, Cybersecurity Market to Grow to $35 Billion by 2025
“India’s cyber security market for products and services will grow up to $35 billion in 10 years from the present $4.5 billion. However, the security concerns of the growth are also high, said Gulshan Rai. Adviser to PM.”
Israel
New Israel – India Strategic Partnership in Cybersecurity
“A new Israel-India strategic partnership has been forged in the cybersecurity sphere. Tech Mahindra, and ELTA Systems, a group and subsidiary of Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) have partnered to to provide cutting-edge cyber solutions and services to government and enterprise customers in India and globally.”
Kenya
Kenya’s Safaricom Set to Reward Ethical Hackers
“Safaricom has launched this initiative in a bid to promote the fixing and removal of bugs by ethical hackers who are not necessarily employed as security personnel. The program would see hackers submit bugs to HackerOne, the telco company’s partner.
NATO
NATO to Be Fully Operational in Cyber Space by 2023
“Nato has to conduct operational activities in cyber space in the same way as it does in the sea, on land or in air, according to Antonio Missiroli, Nato assistant secretary general for emerging security challenges.”
UK
Manchester Named One of the UK’s Best Cities for Cybersecurity
“Manchester has been named one of the UK’s best cities for cyber security professionals. It was placed fifth in a league table which analysed salary, affordability, job availability and tech sector growth potential. Top ranked was Reading, followed by Leeds, Cardiff and Edinburgh.”