Preview of Senate Democratic Chairs

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, 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 (14 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)

Biden Transition Teams Announced

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, Other Developments, and Coming Events (11 November)

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, Other Developments, and Coming Events (4 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, Other Developments, and Coming Events (27 October)

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)

Russian Hacking Uncovered

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

Further Reading, Other Developments, and Coming Events (22 October)

Further Reading  “A deepfake porn Telegram bot is being used to abuse thousands of women” By Matt Burgess — WIRED UK. A bot set loose on Telegram can take pictures of women and, apparently teens, too, and “takes off” their clothing, rendering a naked image of females who never took naked pictures. This seems to … Continue reading Further Reading, Other Developments, and Coming Events (22 October)

U.S. Sues Google

One of possibly two suits alleging that Google engaged in antitrust and anti-competitive practices was filed. This one is arguing that Google’s search engine practices violate U.S. law. The United States (U.S.) Department of Justice (DOJ) and a number of states have finally filed the antitrust suit against Google that has been rumored to be … Continue reading U.S. Sues Google