On the last full day of his administration, then President Donald Trump issued an executive order (EO) “to address the use of United States Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) products by foreign malicious cyber actors.” This EO follows an Obama Administration EO that set up a formal structure to sanction foreign entities for “significant malicious … Continue reading Trump Issues Cloud EO; Its Fate Is Unclear
The Google/Fitbit deal could ultimately get blocked. Even though the European Union (EU) has signed off on Google’s acquisition of Fitbit with some conditions, the United States (U.S.) and Australia are still assessing the deal. Moreover, given that both nations are in the midst of acting against Google and other tech companies, one, if not … Continue reading Google Buys Fitbit Even Though U.S. and Australia May Still Oppose
It’s not clear who will end up where, but new Senate chairs will change focus and agenda of committees and debate over the next two years. With the victories of Senators-elect Rafael Warnock (D-GA) and Jon Ossoff (D-GA), control of the United States Senate will tip to the Democrats once Vice President-elect Kamala Harris (D) … Continue reading Preview of Senate Democratic Chairs
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 “Russian Hackers Broke Into Federal Agencies, U.S. Officials Suspect” By David Sanger — The New York Times.; “Russian government hackers are behind a broad espionage campaign that has compromised U.S. agencies, including Treasury and Commerce” By Ellen Nakashima and Craig Timberg — The Washington Post; “Suspected Russian hackers spied on U.S. Treasury emails … Continue reading Further Reading, Other Developments, and Coming Events (14 December)
As to be expected, a plethora of people from the tech world or with tech experience will guide the transition to the Biden Administration. The Biden-Harris Transition has announced the teams that will review the agencies of the United States (U.S.) government with an eye towards the policies and personnel President-elect Joe Biden may want … Continue reading Biden Transition Teams Announced
Further Reading “ICE, IRS Explored Using Hacking Tools, New Documents Show” By Joseph Cox — Vice. Federal agencies other than the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Intelligence Community (IC) appear to be interesting in utilizing some of the capabilities offered by the private sector to access devices or networks in the name of … Continue reading Further Reading, Other Developments, and Coming Events (11 November)
Further Reading “U.S. Cyber Command Expands Operations to Hunt Hackers From Russia, Iran and China” By Julian Barnes — The New York Times. The United States (U.S.) agency charged with offensive cyber operations sent teams around the world to undisclosed locations to work with partner nations to foil Russian, Chinese, and Iranian efforts to disrupt … Continue reading Further Reading, Other Developments, and Coming Events (4 November)
Further Reading “The Police Can Probably Break Into Your Phone” By Jack Nicas — The New York Times. So, about “Going Dark.” Turns out nations and law enforcement officials have either oversold the barrier that default end-to-end encryption on phones creates or did not understand the access that police were already getting to many encrypted … Continue reading Further Reading, Other Developments, and Coming Events (27 October)
The U.S. and UK announced Russian hacking, including attempts to derail the last few Olympic Games. The EU also announced unrelated cyber sanctions. The United Kingdom’s Government Communications Headquarters’ (GCHQ) National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) unveiled the Russian Federation’s military hacking of past Olympics and the scheduled but delayed Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Even though … Continue reading Russian Hacking Uncovered
Michael Kans 