ICD Brief 138.
10.06.2019.-16.06.2019.
This is an updated ICD 138 with breaking news.
Breaking News
New York Times: US ramping up cyber attacks on Russia
“Washington (CNN)The US is escalating cyber attacks on Russia’s electric power grid and has placed potentially crippling malware inside the Russian system, The New York Times reported Saturday. Two administration officials told the Times they believed President Donald Trump had not been briefed in any detail about the US computer code being implanted inside the Russian grid. Pentagon and intelligence officials describe to the Times “broad hesitation” to tell Trump about the details of the operations against Russia. They tell the Times there was concern over how Trump would react, and the possibility that Trump might reverse the operations or discuss it with foreign officials.”
Looking back three years since the ICD Brief launch, the world has made great progress towards building a context and a new world order for this new dimension. Yet this week’s Brief is a litany of questions from governments and corporations on how to create policies that safely govern systems from privacy to artificial intelligence.
USA
“House lawmakers on Monday approved a bill that would stand up a crack team of government cyber defenders who could parachute in when networks come under attack. Sens. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., are sponsoring the bill’s current Senate counterpart, which was approved by committee in February.”
“Concerns for U.S citizens’ privacy are growing after U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials confirmed photos of travelers faces and license plates had been breached. It was the result of a major cyber-attack on a federal subcontractor, according to the Washington Post.”
“’Deep fakes raise profound questions about national security and democratic governance, with individuals and voters no longer able to trust their own eyes or ears when assessing the authenticity of what they see on their screens,’ the committee said in a statement.
In his opening remarks, Committee chair Rep. Adam Schiff said the spread of manipulated videos presents a “nightmarish” scenario for the 2020 presidential elections — leaving lawmakers, members of the news media and public ‘struggling to discern what is real and what is fake.’”
By: George Grachis
“I have been in this career for decades, yet it seems like we are still at square one. Back in 1970-1995 Kevin Mitnick had an advantage – he was a groundbreaking hacker, long before all the script kiddies showed up on the scene. Mitnick penetrated some of the most high-profile networks in the world using social engineering schemes. He tricked insiders into revealing access codes and passwords. We now call this phishing and it’s highly automated.”
“For the past six months, Silicon Valley’s tech giants have been engaged in a growing debate over privacy and the appropriate uses of personal data as part of their business models. “
“The American cybersecurity giant Symantec has downplayed a data breach that allowed a hacker to access passwords and a purported list of its clients, including large Australian companies and government agencies.”
Australia
“The Federal Government is close to finalising guidelines that will try to keep Australians safe as the world adopts artificial intelligence.”
China
“The new draft China cybersecurity law from the Chinese Cyberspace Administration, which is in charge of overseeing the critical information infrastructure of China (including telecommunications and financial services), makes clear that China can restrict certain U.S. companies from doing business within the country on national security grounds. ”
“Telegram founder Pavel Durov said a massive cyber-attack on his messaging service originated in China, raising questions about whether Beijing tried to disrupt a protest involving hundreds of thousands that erupted on the streets of Hong Kong.”
Czech Republic
“The Ministry of Labour and Social affairs and the General Financial Directorate are just some of the government offices with serious cybersecurity issues, according to an examination conducted by the National Cyber and Information Security Agency, the Czech daily Deník N reported on Wednesday.”
EU
“On 7 June 2019, Regulation (EU) 2019/881 on ENISA (the European Union Agency for Network and Information Security) and on information and communications technology cybersecurity certification, also known as the Cybersecurity Act, was given the final go-ahead and published in the Official Journal of the European Union. The Cybersecurity Act will come into force on 27 June 2019.”
“Representatives of Member States, industry, academia and civil society are attending the EU Digital Assembly 2019 on 13 and 14 June.”
Germany
“After 497 bidding rounds, Germany’s Federal Network Agency Bundesnetzagentur (BNetzA) announced the results of its 5G spectrum auction, with Deutsche Telekom winning the most lots in the 2GHz and 3.6GHz bands.”
Iran
Twitter has removed almost 4,800 accounts it claimed were being used by Iran to spread misinformation.The accounts were deleted alongside others from several different groups as Twitter tries to tackle interference. It revealed the deletions in an update to its transparency report that aims to expose the “spread of misinformation by insidious actors.”
Israel
“Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev), the world’s largest beer maker, said on Thursday it was opening a cybersecurity unit in Israel to help protect itself from a growing number of attacks.”
Japan
“A Japan-Estonia e-governance forum taking place in Tokyo on Wednesday is to feature opening remarks by Japan’s IT Minister Takuya Hirai and will be attended by hundreds of Japanese companies.”
Netherlands
“The national coordinator for counter-terrorism and security NCTV expressed concerns about the fact that almost all of the Netherlands’ vital processes and systems have been digitized, and that there are virtually no fall-back options. This makes the Netherlands insufficiently resilient and therefore vulnerable to digital attacks, the NCTV said on Wednesday, NU.nl reports.”
“The Dutch police are concerned about an increasingly popular development in cybercrime, which the police refer to as cybercrime-as-service. Criminals can now buy cyber attacks easily, cheaply and at any time of day or night, the police said in a statement.”
Singapore
“Singapore and the UK are coming together to ramp up cyber security in their respective financial sectors.”
UK
“Nearly half (45%) of UK residents polled by security firm McAfee either do not check the security of their internet connection or are willing to connect to an unsecured network while travelling, a survey shows.”