White House Issues Supply Chain EO and Asks Congress For $37 Billion To Help Production of Semi-Conductors

The Biden Administration orders an assessment of key U.S. supply chains, including policy changes. The White House is also seeking funding to help ease the semi-conductor shortage. As rumored, President Joe Biden signed an executive order on United States (U.S.) supply chains. Executive Order (EO) 14017, “America’s Supply Chains” directs the new administration to undertake … Continue reading White House Issues Supply Chain EO and Asks Congress For $37 Billion To Help Production of Semi-Conductors →

Further Reading, Other Developments, and Coming Events (22, 23, 24, and 25 February 2021)

Further Reading “The Long Hack: How China Exploited a U.S. Tech Supplier” By Jordan Robertson and Michael Riley — Bloomberg. This piece argues that the United States (U.S.) government knew of vulnerabilities in Super Micro Computer Inc.’s products used by the People’s Republic of China (PRC) but chose to keep them secret. This article follows … Continue reading Further Reading, Other Developments, and Coming Events (22, 23, 24, and 25 February 2021) →

Senate Intelligence Views SolarWinds From The Private Sector Perspective

Congress starts chewing over the hack of agencies and companies, hinting at policy prescriptions. The first public hearing on the massive hack associated with SolarWinds and most likely perpetrated by the Russian intelligence services occurred this week. The Senate Intelligence Committee heard from private sector witnesses, including from SolarWinds, in what will be the first … Continue reading Senate Intelligence Views SolarWinds From The Private Sector Perspective →

Further Reading, Other Developments, and Coming Events (18 February 2021)

Further Reading “Google, Microsoft, Qualcomm Protest Nvidia’s Acquisition of Arm Ltd.” By David McLaughlin, Ian King, and Dina Bass — Bloomberg. Major United States (U.S.) tech multinationals are telling the U.S. government that Nvidia’s proposed purchase of Arm will hurt competition in the semi-conductor market, an interesting position for an industry renowned for being acquisition … Continue reading Further Reading, Other Developments, and Coming Events (18 February 2021) →

Further Reading, Other Developments, and Coming Events (17 February 2021)

Further Reading “Sheryl Sandberg Downplayed Facebook’s Role In The Capitol Hill Siege—Justice Department Files Tell A Very Different Story” By Thomas Brewster — Forbes. According to charging documents, Facebook, and not Parler, was the app of choice the insurrectionists used in planning to storm the United States Capitol. And, of course, Facebook initially claimed this … Continue reading Further Reading, Other Developments, and Coming Events (17 February 2021) →

Further Reading, Other Developments, and Coming Events (16 February 2021)

Further Reading “India cuts internet around New Delhi as protesting farmers clash with police” By Esha Mitra and Julia Hollingsworth — CNN; “Twitter Temporarily Blocked Accounts Critical Of The Indian Government” By Pranav Dixit — BuzzFeed News. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government again shut down the internet as a way of managing unrest or discontent … Continue reading Further Reading, Other Developments, and Coming Events (16 February 2021) →

Further Reading, Other Developments, and Coming Events (11 February 2021)

Further Reading “3G Could End This Year. For People Who Rely on Basic Phones, That’s a Big Problem.” By Hannah Frishberg — OneZero. The major telecommunications carriers will soon shut down their 3G coverage and with it, the last of the “dumb” phones will theoretically no longer work. There are other issues, however. In some … Continue reading Further Reading, Other Developments, and Coming Events (11 February 2021) →

House Committee Kicks Off With Cybersecurity Hearing

Congress starts chewing over the Russian hack of many agencies through SolarWinds. What changes as a result is the key question. In its first hearing of the new Congress, the House Homeland Security Committee delved into United States (U.S.) public and private sector cybersecurity in light of the seemingly massive SolarWinds hack. However, one of … Continue reading House Committee Kicks Off With Cybersecurity Hearing →

Further Reading, Other Developments, and Coming Events (9 February 2021)

Further Reading “Why Intel's troubles should concern us all” By Ina Fried — Axios. One of the last major American semi-conductor manufacturers is struggling to keep up with rivals, and this could be very bad for United States (U.S.) national security. Biden Administration officials have made noise signifying they understand, but we will see what, … Continue reading Further Reading, Other Developments, and Coming Events (9 February 2021) →

Further Reading, Other Developments, and Coming Events (3 February 2021)

Further Reading “What We Learned From Apple’s New Privacy Labels” By Brian X. Chen — The New York Times. Another look at the App Store privacy labels Apple has rolled out and how confusing they can be. It can be confusing to compare the privacy and data usage afforded by a developer such that its … Continue reading Further Reading, Other Developments, and Coming Events (3 February 2021) →