Further Reading, Other Development, and Coming Events (4 January 2021)

Further Reading “Microsoft Says Russian Hackers Viewed Some of Its Source Code” By Nicole Perlroth — The New York Times. The Sluzhba vneshney razvedki Rossiyskoy Federatsii’s (SVR) hack keeps growing and growing with Microsoft admitting its source code was viewed through an employee account. It may be that authorized Microsoft resellers were one of the … Continue reading Further Reading, Other Development, and Coming Events (4 January 2021) →

FY 2021 Omnibus and COVID Stimulus Become Law

The end-of-the-year funding package for FY 2021 is stuffed with technology policy changes. At the tail end of the calendar year 2020, Congress and the White House finally agreed on FY 2021 appropriations and further COVID-19 relief funding and policies, much of which implicated or involved technology policy. As is often the practice, Congressional stakeholders … Continue reading FY 2021 Omnibus and COVID Stimulus Become Law →

Further Reading, Other Developments, and Coming Events (15 December)

Further Reading “DHS, State and NIH join list of federal agencies — now five — hacked in major Russian cyberespionage campaign” By Ellen Nakashima and Craig Timberg — The Washington Post; “Scope of Russian Hack Becomes Clear: Multiple U.S. Agencies Were Hit” By David E. Sanger, Nicole Perlroth and Eric Schmitt — The New York … Continue reading Further Reading, Other Developments, and Coming Events (15 December) →

Further Reading, Other Developments, and Coming Events (10 December)

Further Reading “Social media superspreaders: Why Instagram, not Facebook, will be the real battleground for COVID-19 vaccine misinformation” By Isobel Asher Hamilton — Business Insider. According to one group, COVID-19 anti-vaccination lies and misinformation are proliferating on Instagram despite its parent company’s, Facebook, efforts to find and remove such content. There has been dramatic growth … Continue reading Further Reading, Other Developments, and Coming Events (10 December) →

Further Reading, Other Development, and Coming Events (8 December)

Further Reading “Facebook failed to put fact-check labels on 60% of the most viral posts containing Georgia election misinformation that its own fact-checkers had debunked, a new report says” By Tyler Sonnemaker — Business Insider. Despite its vows to improve its managing of untrue and false content, the platform is not consistently taking down such … Continue reading Further Reading, Other Development, and Coming Events (8 December) →

Further Reading, Other Development, and Coming Events (7 December)

Further Reading “Facebook steps up campaign to ban false information about coronavirus vaccines” By Elizabeth Dwoskin — The Washington Post. In its latest step to find and remove lies, misinformation, and disinformation, the social media giant is now committing to removing and blocking untrue material about COVID-19 vaccines, especially from the anti-vaccine community. Will the … Continue reading Further Reading, Other Development, and Coming Events (7 December) →

Armed Services Committees Agree On Final NDAA

The annual defense policy bill creates a new National Cyber Director and addresses other technology issues. Last week, the negotiators agreed on a final FY 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that could get passed as early as this week. To no great surprise, President Donald Trump has threatened to veto the annual policy and … Continue reading Armed Services Committees Agree On Final NDAA →

Further Reading, Other Developments, and Coming Events (18 November)

Further Reading “Trump fires top DHS official who refuted his claims that the election was rigged” By Ellen Nakashima and Nick Miroff — The Washington Post. As rumored, President Donald Trump has decapitated the United States’ (U.S.) Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). Director Christopher Krebs was fired via Twitter, after … Continue reading Further Reading, Other Developments, and Coming Events (18 November) →

Bill To Reform IOT Security in U.S. Passes Congress

A long awaited bill to revamp how the U.S. government secures its IOT is on its way to the White House. Last night, the Senate agreed to a House passed bill that would remake how the United States (U.S.) government buys Internet of Things (IOT) items, with the idea that requiring security standards in government … Continue reading Bill To Reform IOT Security in U.S. Passes Congress →

Further Reading, Other Developments, and Coming Events (17 November)

Further Reading “How the U.S. Military Buys Location Data from Ordinary Apps” By Joseph Cox — Vice’s Motherboard. This article confirms the entirely foreseeable: the Department of Defense and its contractors are obtaining and using personal information from smartphones all over the world. Given this practice is common in United States’ (U.S.) law enforcement agencies, … Continue reading Further Reading, Other Developments, and Coming Events (17 November) →