This Google manager shares his secrets of Project Aristotle for building an effective team * MEdia Dragon --- Matt Sakaguchi (he even remembers Keiko"s and Jeff"' wedding anniversaries)
To Catch A Robber, The FBI Attempted An Unprecedented Grab For Google Location Data ...
South Coast homes under threat from two out of control bushfires
Afraid to use-medicare citizenship queue blows out 300 per-cent
Skyscrapers in Asian Melbourne
Afraid to use-medicare citizenship queue blows out 300 per-cent
Skyscrapers in Asian Melbourne
Two New South Wales men have been sentenced for their role
in a significant money laundering and tax evasion scheme after an investigation
by the Serious Financial Crime Taskforce (SFCT). Anthony Castagna (70) from
Gordon was sentenced to seven years' imprisonment, with a non-parole period of
four years and Robert Agius (68) from Sydney was sentenced to seven years'
imprisonment. …
The IRS Has Rehired Hundreds of Fired Employees. Congress Should Step In.
Reuters: “Three of every 10 candidates running for the U.S. House of Representatives have significant security problems with their websites, according to a new study by independent researchers that underscores the threat hackers pose to the November elections…A team of four independent researchers led by former National Institutes for Standards and Technology security expert Joshua Franklin concluded that the websites of nearly one-third of U.S. House candidates, Democrats and Republicans alike, are vulnerable to attacks. NIST is a U.S. Commerce Department laboratory that provides advice on technical issues, including cyber security. Using automated scans and test programs, the team identified multiple vulnerabilities, including problems with digital certificates used to verify secure connections with users, Franklin told Reuters ahead of the presentation. The warnings about the midterm elections, which are less than three months away, come after Democrats have spent more than a year working to bolster cyber defenses of the party’s national, state and campaign operations
CyberScoop
August 10,
2018
A
bipartisan group of House lawmakers introduced a bill Friday that aims to
assist state governments in their election security efforts and boost
cooperation between the federal and state officials on the issue. The bill
shares the name of a companion bill in the Senate, the Secure Elections Act,
which senators from both major parties have been pushing along for months.
The Hill
August 9,
2018
Democrats
on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee are urging its
Republican chairman to subpoena the State Department for documents related to
former Secretary Rex Tillerson’s move to close an office responsible for
advancing U.S. interests in cyberspace. The letter, sent Thursday to Chairman
Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), says the State Department has not provided the necessary
documents stemming from a bipartisan request almost a year ago after Tillerson
disclosed to Congress his broader plan to reorganize the department.
A
Senator Claims That Russian Hackers Are In Florida's Voter Systems. Local
Officials Are Skeptical.
BuzzFeed
August 8,
2018
Florida
Sen. Bill Nelson claimed Wednesday that Russian hackers “right now” are “in
[the] records” of county election offices, prompting confusion from Florida
state and county officials who said they are unaware of such an attack.
Speaking to the Tampa Bay Times, Nelson said that the hackers “have already
penetrated certain counties in the state and they now have free rein to move
about.”
The Hill
August 8,
2018
House
Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) on Wednesday
again urged the Senate to pass legislation that would rename and reorganize the
Department of Homeland Security’s cyber wing, citing compounding threats to
U.S. interests in cyberspace.”
The Hill
August 7,
2018
Maryland
Sens. Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen, both Democrats, asked Treasury Secretary
Steven Mnuchin on Tuesday to review a Russian oligarch’s investment in a
company that runs part of the state’s election system.
Business
Insider
August 4,
2018
Tabitha
Isner, the Democratic candidate running in Alabama's 2nd Congressional District
in this year's midterm elections, claims Russians attempted to hack her
campaign's website in mid-July and that she has received little assistance from
law enforcement — and even her own party — in the aftermath.
ADMINISTRATION
GCN
August 10,
2018
When it
comes to cyber intrusions, email is the by far the biggest attack vector. One
recent study found that phishing accounts for more than 90 percent of all
successful attacks worldwide.
The
Washington Post
A federal
judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought by a prominent Republican fundraiser
alleging the Qatari government orchestrated the hacking of his emails, saying
the sovereign nation could not be sued for an overseas cyberattack.
Fifth
Domain
August 9, 2018
Research
conducted by the National Security Agency has found that after five hours of
cyber operations, performance drops and frustration begins to increase among
staffers.
FCW
August 9,
2018
The
National Archives and Records Administration is (possibly) a model for federal
agencies looking to comply with a binding operational directive issued by the
Department of Homeland Security last year to boost security of federal websites
and email.
The
Washington Post
August 8,
2018
The White
House is drafting an executive order that would authorize President Trump to
sanction foreigners who interfere in U.S. elections, the administration’s
latest effort to demonstrate it is serious about combating Russian
disinformation and hacking.
Ars
Technica
August 8,
2018
The Federal
Communications Commission lied to members of Congress multiple times in a
letter that answered questions about a "DDoS attack" that never
happened, an internal investigation found. The FCC made false statements in
response to a May 2017 letter sent to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai by Sens. Ron Wyden
(D-Ore.) and Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii).
Vanity
Fair
August 7,
2018
Almost a
year ago, the Department of Homeland Security alerted roughly half of all U.S.
states that their election systems had been the targets of hackers linked to
Russia. Jeanette Manfra, the head of cybersecurity at the Department of
Homeland Security, later confirmed the attacks. “We saw a targeting of 21
states and an exceptionally small number of them were actually successfully
penetrated,” she told NBC News in February. Even worse, experts have warned
that Russia’s attempts at meddling did not end in 2016.
Gov Info
Security
August 6,
2018
The cost of
the city of Atlanta's mitigation and subsequent IT overhaul following a massive
SamSam ransomware infection earlier this year could reach $17 million.
FCW
August 6,
2018
As head of
Army Cyber Command, Lt. Gen. Stephen Fogarty seeks to expand the command’s role
beyond cyberspace to include electronic and information warfare. “We have to be
careful about boxing ourselves in with the word cyber,” Fogartysaid during an
Aug. 2 event hosted by the Association of the Army. environment.”
NPR
August 4,
2018
States
across the country are in the process of receiving grants from the federal
government to secure their voting systems. Earlier this year Congress approved
$380 million in grants for states to improve election technology and "make
certain election security improvements."
INDUSTRY
Wired
August 10,
2018
Security
meltdowns on your smartphone are often self-inflicted: You clicked the wrong
link, or installed the wrong app. But for millions of Android devices, the
vulnerabilities have been baked in ahead of time, deep in the firmware, just
waiting to be exploited. Who put them there? Some combination of the
manufacturer that made it, and the carrier that sold it to you.
CyberScoop
August 10,
2018
The world’s
most popular game just arrived on Android in an unusual and potentially
dangerous way. Fortnite is a cash cow of a video game. The free-to-play,
first-person-shooter contest takes in hundreds of millions of dollars every
month across computers, consoles and iPhones as users make a mountain of small
purchases like new clothes or dance moves for their characters.
Wired
August 10,
2018
The
connected devices you think about the least are sometimes the most insecure.
That's the takeaway from new research to be presented at the DefCon hacking
conference Friday by Ricky Lawshae, an offensive security researcher at Trend
Micro.
Ars
Technica
August 10,
2018
Hackers
have been exploiting a vulnerability in DLink modem routers to send people to a
fake banking website that attempts to steal their login credentials, a security
researcher said Friday.
Wired
August 9,
2018
The first
pacemaker hacks emerged about a decade ago. But the latest variation on the
terrifying theme depends not on manipulating radio commands, as many previous
attacks have, but on malware installed directly on an implanted pacemaker.
Gov Info
Security
August 9,
2018
Nearly two
dozen security weaknesses in OpenEMR - open source electronic medical record
and practice management software - left patient data vulnerable to cyberattacks
before most were patched, according to the London-based security research firm
Project Insecurity. "I believe, by definition, open source software is
more prone to coding risks and inconsistencies than 'closed source' code'"
software, says former healthcare CIO David Finn, executive vice president of
security consultancy CynergisTek. "That said, plenty of bad code comes out
of proprietary software developers, too." In its Aug. 7 report, Project
Insecurity says researchers determined that attackers could bypass patient
portal authentication, wage SQL injection attacks, complete remote code execution,
gain information disclosure without authentication, upload files without
restrictions, wage cross-site request forgery attacks and complete
unauthenticated administrative actions.
Wired
Apple's
supply chain is one of the most closely monitored and analyzed in the world,
both because of the control the company exerts and keen interest from third
parties. But there's still never a guarantee that a mass-produced product will
come out of the box totally pristine.
Vice
Motherboard
August 9,
2018
Hacking is
getting harder and harder. Today, to gain meaningful, remote access to an
iPhone requires a string of several different exploits, likely developed by a
team of individuals focused on different parts of the operating system.
BBC
August 9,
2018
Security
flaws have been found in major city infrastructure such as flood defences, radiation
detection and traffic monitoring systems. A team of researchers found 17
vulnerabilities, eight of which it described as "critical". The
researchers warned of so-called "panic attacks", where an attacker
could manipulate emergency systems to create chaos in communities. The specific
flaws uncovered by the team have been patched.
Wired
August 9,
2018
The tiny,
portable credit card readers you use to pay at farmer's markets, bake sales,
and smoothie shops are convenient for consumers and merchants alike.
CNet
August 8,
2018
Your safety
online shouldn't be your problem -- it should be the tech giants'. Parisa
Tabriz, nicknamed "Google's Security Princess" and the company's
director of engineering, delivered the keynote speech at the Black Hat
cybersecurity conference Wednesday in Las Vegas, where she discussed issues
with the state of cybersecurity.
The
Financial Times
August 8,
2018
Stock trading
platforms such as AvaTrade and IQOption are failing to secure sensitive data
including passwords, according to a report exposing significant vulnerabilities
in their software.
Golfweek
August 8,
2018
It’s not
just elections. Hackers are now targeting major golf tournaments too. Shadowy
bandits have hijacked the PGA of America’s computer servers, locking officials
out of crucial files related to this week’s PGA Championship at Bellerive
Country Club and the upcoming Ryder Cup in France.
CyberScoop
August 7, 2018
While
stories of nation-state backed hackers threatening the U.S. power sector garner
regular headlines, a new experiment highlights the risk of unintended
consequences when less-skilled adversaries target the sector. Researchers from
Cybereason, a Boston-based company, set up a honeypot in mid-July that mimicked
a utility substation’s network environment, drawing the attention of a
determined attacker that repeatedly disabled the honeypot’s security system.
Bloomberg
August 6,
2018
Taiwan
chipmaker TSMC, reeling from a computer virus that shut down several plants
over the weekend, is expected to be able to fill orders on time for Apple Inc.
as it gears up to release new iPhones later this year.
INTERNATIONAL
CyberScoop
August 10,
2018
Most of
Pyongyang’s highest-profile cyberattacks over the past decade were cobbled
together with bits of reused code, overlapping networking infrastructure and
the indelible fingerprint of North Korean military hackers, a pair of
researchers have found. North Korea has come a long way since it first emerged
on the global stage as a nascent cyber threat.
CyberScoop
August 8,
2018
While the
vast majority of Asia-focused cybersecurity research examines government-backed
threats, a new report shows that the region’s dark web is becoming a fertile
training ground for independent hackers to learn more skills and trade new
exploits.
The Wall Street Journal
August 7,
2018
Iranian hackers are developing software attacks that render computer
systems inoperable until a digital ransom is paid, a new report says, a threat
that comes as the U.S. moves to reimpose tough economic sanctions on the
country. Over the past two years, researchers at Accenture PLC’s iDefense
cybersecurity-intelligence group have tracked five new types of so-called ransomware
they say were built by hackers in Iran.
AFP
The biggest
ever cyber attack to hit Singapore was carried out by highly sophisticated
hackers typically linked to foreign governments, a cabinet minister said
Monday, but did not give names. Hackers broke into a government database and
stole the health records of 1.5 million Singaporeans, including Prime Minister
Lee Hsien Loong who was specifically targeted in the "unprecedented"
hack, the government has said.
Reuters
August 4,
2018
Singapore's
foreign minister said on Saturday that Southeast Asian nations "didn't get
down to settling" a cyber security agreement with Russia. The draft of a
communique seen by Reuters before meetings between regional leaders and other
world delegates started on Thursday, spoke about strengthening cooperation with
Russia, accused of meddling in U.S. elections, in the field of cybersecurity.
The wording was dropped in the final communique issued on Thursday evening.
Asked about the proposed agreement, Vivian Balakrishnan told reporters:
"We didn't get down to settling it."
TECHNOLOGY
Wired
August 10,
2018
Researchers
who study stylometry—the statistical analysis of linguistic style—have long known
that writing is a unique, individualistic process. The vocabulary you select,
your syntax, and your grammatical decisions leave behind a signature.
CNBC
August 9,
2018
This week
in Las Vegas, some of the most talented cybersecurity minds have gathered to
take part in two of the year's biggest hacker conferences, Blackhat and Defcon.
The highlights of these conferences are often what can best be described as
cyber magic tricks, where technicians show off their skills by proving how they
can break into various devices, such as computers inside cars, voting machines
and medical instruments.
CyberScoop
August 8,
2018
The
delicate process for disclosing software and hardware bugs in medical devices
has made important strides in recent years, according to experts, as big
manufacturers have set up disclosure programs and the threat of lawsuits
against security researchers has receded. =
Vice Motherboard
August 8,
2018
Hackers
could mess with a city’s water supplies without attacking its critical
infrastructure directly, but instead targeting its weakest link:
internet-connected sprinklers, researchers warn in a new academic study.
Bleeping Computer
August 7,
2018
Let's
Encrypt announced yesterday that they are now directly trusted by all major
root certificate programs including those from Microsoft, Google, Apple,
Mozilla, Oracle, and Blackberry.
Heavyweight operational agencies enter Thodey’s ring
VERONA BURGESS: Home Affairs and ATO advocate a far more cohesive and collaborative APS and suggest ways of removing barriers to cross-agency and whole-of-government cooperation.
'Blatantly political' appointments risk public trust, says Labor MP
'POLITICAL APPOINTMENTS': Australia should reconsider how it doles out senior public service jobs, argues public servant-turned-Labor backbencher Julian Hill.
VERONA BURGESS: Home Affairs and ATO advocate a far more cohesive and collaborative APS and suggest ways of removing barriers to cross-agency and whole-of-government cooperation.
'Blatantly political' appointments risk public trust, says Labor MP
'POLITICAL APPOINTMENTS': Australia should reconsider how it doles out senior public service jobs, argues public servant-turned-Labor backbencher Julian Hill.
