Ankura Cyber Threat Intelligence Bulletin: August - September 2022

Ankura Cyber Threat Intelligence Bulletin: August – September 2022

Over the past sixty days, Ankura’s Cyber Threat Investigations & Expert Services (CTIX) Team of analysts has compiled key learnings about the latest global threats and current cyber trends into an in-depth report: The Cyber Threat Intelligence Bulletin. This report provides high-level executives, technical analysts, and everyday readers with the latest intel and insights from our expert…

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According to the American IT giant, the hacker attack took place in early December and underscored “the fast and significant expansion in the scope of Iranian operations since the start of the Israel-Hamas conflict”.

The fake news broadcast focused on Israel’s operations in Gaza and was accompanied by a banner that read: “We have no choice but to hack to deliver this message to you."

The AI news anchor then went on to present graphic – and unverified images – of Palestinians, including women and children, allegedly killed or injured by Israeli forces in Gaza.

"I was watching BBC News around 10.30 pm when the programme was abruptly disrupted, and instead, harrowing visuals from Palestine appeared on my screen. I watched transfixed as my screen froze, and a message from the hacker popped up in all caps against a green background. This was immediately followed by a news bulletin presented by an AI anchor. It was surreal and scary," a Dubai resident told Khaleej Times.

Another user interviewed by the same newspaper recounted how she was unable to shield her children from the graphic images that suddenly popped up on the TV screen.

“Every channel we switched to displayed the same content," she said.

In its February 8 report, Microsoft's Threat Analysis Centre (MTAC) said the disruption had also reached audiences in Britain and Canada.

MTAC attributed the attack to Cotton Sandstorm – a group it has previously identified as “an Iranian state actor sanctioned by the US Treasury Department for their attempts to undermine the integrity of the 2020 US presidential elections”.

AI ‘a key component’

Microsoft said the group, which labelled itself “For Humanity” during the operation, had published videos on the Telegram messaging app, showing how it had hacked into three online streaming services and disrupted “several news channels” with the fake AI broadcast.

It added it was “the first Iranian influence operation Microsoft has detected where AI played a key component in its messaging”.

Since the start of the war, Microsoft said it had noted collaboration between groups affiliated with Iran and, in particular, between a group linked to Iran’s intelligence and security ministry and “Hezbollah cyber units”.

Fabrice Popineau, an AI specialist who lectures and conducts research at France’s prestigious engineering school CentraleSupélec, said the attack was quite a feat. “The achievement is not so much the production of an AI-generated news broadcast, but the fact that they managed to insert it in the right place,” he said.

Nicolas Arpagian, vice-president of cybersecurity firm HeadMind Partners, also pointed to the technical aspect of how the group had attacked the streaming services.

"The cyber attack did not directly target the television channels but the operators of them, not the sender but the receiver," he explained.

According to Arpagian, these type of attacks – in which graphic photos and videos are displayed – fall under a special propaganda category known as “agit-prop”, aiming to spark an emotional reaction and political agitation.   

"As soon as you have people feeling it, experiencing it in their homes, in their privacy, the goal is achieved,” he said.

Surge in Iranian cyber attacks

Iran’s upswing in hackings and influence campaigns highlights the regime’s desire to show that it can attack anywhere, anytime. Microsoft said that while it had tracked only nine Iranian-linked groups active in Israel in the first week of the war, this number had grown to as many as 14 just two weeks into the conflict.

It also said that Iranian cyber influence operations had skyrocketed from around one operation “every other month” in 2021, to 11 in October, 2023, alone.

In November last year, these Iran-backed groups also started to extend their attacks beyond Israel to include Israeli allies. Among the targets were a handful of small town water utilities in the United States, including in Pennsylvania, where stunned staff at the Aliquippa water authority discovered that their industrial control device had been hacked. A message on the device screen read: “You have been hacked. Down with Israel. Every equipment ‘made in Israel’ is Cyber Avengers’ legal target.” The Cyber Avengers is affiliated to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, which is a key branch of the country’s armed forces.

This particular attack was remarkable in the sense that it targeted Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs), which are commonly used in factory automation processes, including robotised machines and assembly line devices. Such attacks can therefore heavily disrupt operations, and, depending on the industry affected, cause major damage.

US police have opened an investigation into the attack.

The Doomsday Clock's Current Time and the Global Quest for Stability

In a world constantly grappling with geopolitical tensions, environmental challenges, and technological uncertainties, the iconic Doomsday Clock stands as a symbolic reminder of the precarious nature of our existence. As of the latest update, the Doomsday Clock's hands hover at a certain point, reflecting the perceived proximity to global catastrophe. To keep abreast of the current time on this symbolic timepiece, enthusiasts and concerned citizens turn to doomsdayclockcurrenttime.com, where the latest insights into the precarious state of our planet are unveiled.

Originating from the United States, the Doomsday Clock was established in 1947 by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Initially focused on the threat of nuclear warfare, the clock's scope has expanded over the years to encompass other existential risks, such as climate change and emerging technologies. The clock's setting is adjusted by the Bulletin's Science and Security Board in consultation with its Board of Sponsors, which includes Nobel laureates and other distinguished experts.

As of the current update on https://doomsdayclockcurrenttime.com/, the clock's hands remain fixed at a specific point, indicating the perceived level of danger facing humanity. This positioning is a reflection of various global factors, including geopolitical tensions, climate change, nuclear arsenals, and the potential misuse of cutting-edge technologies. Understanding the factors influencing the clock's current time sheds light on the complex challenges our world faces and the urgent need for international cooperation.

Geopolitical tensions have long been a key factor in determining the Doomsday Clock's time. The rivalry between major powers, regional conflicts, and the proliferation of nuclear weapons all contribute to an atmosphere of uncertainty. Recent developments in international relations and diplomatic efforts are closely monitored to assess their impact on global stability. The website doomsdayclockcurrenttime.com serves as a hub for those seeking in-depth analyses and expert opinions on the geopolitical landscape.

Climate change, another critical factor influencing the Doomsday Clock, is an ever-growing concern. Rising temperatures, extreme weather events, and the depletion of natural resources pose severe threats to our planet. The website provides information on the latest scientific findings, international agreements, and initiatives aimed at addressing climate change. Understanding the environmental challenges is essential for individuals and policymakers alike to contribute to sustainable solutions.

Nuclear weapons and their potential use or proliferation also play a pivotal role in the setting of the Doomsday Clock. Ongoing disarmament efforts, arms control negotiations, and the actions of nuclear-armed nations are scrutinized for their impact on global security. Visitors to doomsdayclockcurrenttime.com can access detailed assessments of nuclear arsenals, international treaties, and advancements in non-proliferation efforts.

Emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, biotechnology, and cyber capabilities, present new and complex challenges to global stability. The potential for misuse or unintended consequences from these technologies is carefully considered when determining the Doomsday Clock's current time. The website provides insights into the ethical considerations, policy debates, and international collaborations aimed at ensuring the responsible development and deployment of these transformative technologies.

In conclusion, the Doomsday Clock serves as a poignant reminder of the collective responsibility humanity holds in safeguarding our planet. The current time displayed on this symbolic timepiece, as accessible on doomsdayclockcurrenttime.com, reflects the ongoing efforts and challenges faced by individuals, governments, and organizations worldwide. By staying informed and engaged with the factors influencing the clock's setting, we can contribute to a future where the hands of the Doomsday Clock move away from midnight, signaling a world of greater stability and security.

Prognosen für 2024: Zunahme von KI-gestütztem Phishing

2024 werden Cyberkriminelle neue Exploits für mobile, tragbare und intelligente Geräte entwickeln, so die Kaspersky Prognosen. Außerdem erwarten sie, dass es mehr staatlich-unterstützte Angrife geben wird. Advanced-Persistent-Threats (APTs) sind die gefährlichsten Bedrohungen, da sie komplexe Tools und Techniken nutzen, häufig sehr zielgerichtet und schwer zu erkennen sind. Im Rahmen des jährlichen Kaspersky Security Bulletins veröffentlicht Kaspersky Prognosen für das kommende Jahr. Die Prognosen für das Jahr 2024 wurden auf Basis der weltweit eingesetzten Threat Intelligence Services von Kaspersky entwickelt. „Die gestiegene Verfügbarkeit von KI-Tools in diesem Jahr ist auch Bedrohungsakteuren groß angelegter und ausgeklügelter APT-Kampagnen nicht entgangen. Jedoch erwarten wir, dass sie nicht nur diese nutzen werden; wir werden darüber hinaus neue Methoden für Supply-Chain-Angriffe, das Aufkommen von Hack-for-Hire-Diensten, neuartige Exploits für Verbrauchergeräte und vieles mehr sehen. Unser Ziel ist es, fortschrittliche Bedrohungsdaten zur Verfügung zu stellen, die den neuesten Bedrohungsentwicklungen immer einen Schritt voraus sind und Unternehmen in die Lage versetzen, Cyberangriffe effektiver abzuwehren“, fasst Igor Kuznetsov, Director im Global Research and Analysis Team (GReAT) bei Kaspersky, die APT-Prognosen für das kommende Jahr zusammen. KI-gestütztes Spear-Phishing, Zunahme von Exploits für mobile Geräte und neue Botnets KI-Tools werden die Erstellung von Spear-Phishing-Nachrichten vereinfachen und es Angreifern sogar erlauben, konkrete Personen zu imitieren. Hierzu könnten sie neue Automatisierungsmethoden entwickeln und online gesammelte Daten in Large-Language-Models (LLMs) einspeisen, um Anschreiben im Stil einer Person zu verfassen, die dem Opfer bekannt ist. Weiterhin markierte die dieses Jahr bekanntgewordene APT-Kampagne Operation Triangulation einen Meilenstein bei Exploits, die mobile Geräte treffen. Dies dürfte zu weiteren Untersuchungen von APTs führen, die sich gegen mobile, tragbare und intelligente Geräte richten. Die Experten von Kaspersky erwarten, dass Bedrohungsakteure ihre Überwachungsbemühungen ausweiten und über Schwachstellen sowie „stille“ Auslieferungsmethoden von Exploits – darunter Zero-Click-Angriffe über Messenger, One-Click-Angriffe über SMS oder Messaging-Apps –verschiedene Endgeräte ins Visier nehmen werden. Zudem dürften Angreifer den Netzwerkverkehr abfangen. Der Schutz privater und geschäftlicher Geräte wird daher immer wichtiger. Darüber hinaus wird zu mehr Aufmerksamkeit für Schwachstellen in häufig verwendeter Software und Geräten gemahnt. Die Entdeckung von Sicherheitslücken mit hohem und kritischem Schweregrad zieht mitunter nur Untersuchungen in begrenztem Umfang sowie verspätete Fixes nach sich. Dies kann den Weg für neue, große und verborgen operierende Botnets ebnen, die für zielgerichtete Angriffe genutzt werden können. Zunahme von Cyberangriffen staatlich-unterstützter Akteure und Hacktivismus als „The New Normal“ Angesichts der zunehmenden geopolitischen Spannungen könnte die Zahl staatlich-unterstützter Cyberangriffe im kommenden Jahr ansteigen. Diese Angriffe werden wahrscheinlich zu Datendiebstahl oder -verschlüsselung, Zerstörung von IT-Infrastrukturen, langfristige Spionage und Cyber-Sabotage führen. Durch geopolitische Konflikte haben zudem destruktive sowie Falschinformationen verbreitende Hacktivismus-Aktivitäten weltweit zugenommen. Die anhaltenden Spannungen lassen eine Fortsetzung dieses Trends erwarten. Dieser Hacktivismus führt zu unnötigen Untersuchungen und einer hieraus resultierenden Alarmmüdigkeit bei SOC-Analysten und Cybersicherheitsexperten. Weitere Prognosen für das Jahr 2024 Supply-Chain-Attacks-as-a-Service: Supply-Chain-Angriffe zielen auf kleinere Unternehmen ab, um in große Unternehmen einzudringen. Die Okta-Angriffe in den Jahren 2022 und 2023 verdeutlichen das Ausmaß der Bedrohung, deren Motiv von finanziellem Gewinn bis zur Spionage reichen. Im Jahr 2024 könnten neue Entwicklungen im Darknet-Markt für Zugangsdaten beobachtet werden, die effizientere und groß angelegte Angriffe ermöglichen. Neue Gruppen werden „Hack-for-Hire”-Dienste anbieten: Es gibt zunehmend „Hack-for-Hire“-Gruppen, die ihren Kunden, darunter Privatdetektive und Wettbewerber, Dienstleistungen für Datendiebstahl anbieten. Die Kaspersky-Experten gehen davon aus, dass sich dieser Trend im kommenden Jahr fortsetzen wird. Kernel Rootkits sind wieder auf dem Vormarsch: Trotz moderner Sicherheitsmaßnahmen wie Kernel Mode Code Signing, PatchGuard und HVCI (Hypervisor-Protected Code Integrity) werden die Barrieren, die eine Codeausführung auf Kernel-Ebene verhindern sollen, von APTs und Cyberkriminellen immer wieder umgangen. Durch Windows-Hardware-Compatibility-Publisher-(WHCP) Missbrauch ermöglichte Angriffe auf den Windows-Kernel werden wohl zunehmen; und der kriminelle Markt für EV-Zertifikate und gestohlene Codesigning-Zertifikate wachsen. Bedrohungsakteure werden zudem zunehmend BYOVD (Bring Your Own Vulnerable Driver) für ihre Taktiken nutzen. Managed-File-Transfer- (MFT) Systeme für fortgeschrittene Angriffe genutzt: MFT-Systeme sind zunehmend Cyberbedrohungen ausgesetzt, wie die Angriffe auf MOVEit und GoAnywhere im Jahr 2023 zeigten. Da viele Cyberkriminelle auf finanzielle Bereicherung und Betriebsstörungen aus sind, wird sich dieser Trend weiter fortsetzen. Unternehmen sollten in robuste Cybersicherheitsmaßnahmen investieren, denn die komplexe MFT-Architektur, die in größere Netzwerke integriert ist, birgt Sicherheitsrisiken. Neben Data Loss Prevention und Verschlüsselung sollten sie hierfür in Cybersecurity Awareness investieren.   Passende Artikel zum Thema Lesen Sie den ganzen Artikel

4 key insights: The new global AI cyber security guidelines - CyberTalk

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/4-key-insights-the-new-global-ai-cyber-security-guidelines-cybertalk/

4 key insights: The new global AI cyber security guidelines - CyberTalk

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

The first global agreement of its kind, eighteen nations have officially endorsed the newly published Guidelines for Secure AI System Development.

Crafted by the U.K’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) in collaboration with the Cyber Security and Information Security Agency (CISA), with contributions from Google, Amazon, OpenAI and Microsoft experts, among others, these guidelines aim to establish a unified, shared understanding of AI-related risks and effective mitigation strategies.

The guidance is intended for AI providers who utilize third-party hosted models, those who interface with AI models through APIs, and for developers at-large.

To keep things simple, we’ve condensed and summarized the critical points that you and your organization may want to make note of on your journey towards more advanced and comprehensive cyber security:

Four key insights

1. Secure-by-design and secure-by-default. In a bid to proactively protect AI-based products from cyber intrusions and attacks, the guidelines stress the importance of secure-by-design and secure-by-default principles.

For developers, specific considerations outlined in the document include prioritizing security when selecting a model architecture or training dataset and ensuring that the most secure options are set-by-default. It is expected that the risks of alternative configurations will be clearly described to users.

At the end of the day, the guidelines advocate for developers to assume responsibility for downstream security results, rather than shifting the responsibility to customers and consumers, post-scripting.

2. Supply chain security risks. The guidelines advise that developers consider where code components are acquired from; in-house or externally, and that security measures are applied accordingly.

If acquired externally, developers should review and monitor the security posture of suppliers, ensuring adherence to high standards. In particular, the guidelines recommend that developers implement scanning and isolation for third-party code.

3. AI’s unique code risks. The guidelines make note of several cyber threats that are specific to AI (prompt injection attacks, data poisoning) that require unique cyber security considerations. It is recommended that developers include AI-specific threat scenarios when testing user inputs for attempts to exploit systems.

4. Collaborative and continuous. The guidelines provide in-depth discussions of best practices throughout the four code lifecycle stages; design, development, deployment, and operation and maintenance.

Further, the NCSC and CISA advocate for developers to share information with the greater AI community in order to evolve and advance systems.“When needed, you escalate issues to the wider community, for example publishing bulletins responding to vulnerability disclosures, including detailed and complete common vulnerability enumeration.”

More information

“We know that AI is developing at a phenomenal pace and there is a need for concerted international action, across governments and industry, to keep up,” said the United Kingdom’s National Cyber Security Centre CEO, Lindy Cameron, in a public statement.

While the guidelines were approved by Australia, Canada, Chile, Czechia, Estonia, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Poland, South Korea, Singapore, the United States, and the United Kingdom, the world’s leading developer of AI, China, has not yet signed the document.

The guidelines have been published on the heels of the first-ever global summit on artificial intelligence safety, recently hosted in the U.K, which aimed to address risks posed by AI.

For more expert insights into artificial intelligence, please click here. Also, be sure to check out our latest AI predictions for 2024, here. Lastly, to receive timely cyber security insights and cutting-edge analyses, please sign up for the cybertalk.org newsletter.

Bulletin Of Atomic Energy [Interview] Doomsday Clock | July 2022

Interview | Doomsday Clock

The Bulletin equips the public, policymakers, and scientists with the information needed to reduce man-made threats to our existence.

About Us

At our core, the Bulletin is a media organization, posting free articles on its website and publishing a premium digital magazine. But we are much more. The Bulletin’s website, iconic Doomsday Clock, and regular events help advance actionable ideas at a time when technology is outpacing our ability to control it. The Bulletin focuses on three main areas: nuclear risk, climate change, and disruptive technologies. What connects these topics is a driving belief that because humans created them, we can control them.  

The Bulletin is an independent, nonprofit 501 (c) (3) organization. We gather a diverse array of the most informed and influential voices tracking man-made threats and bring their innovative thinking to a global audience. We apply intellectual rigor to the conversation and do not shrink from alarming truths.

The Bulletin is committed to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. The profound challenges of our moment cannot be met without increasing the diversity of background and perspective of our organization. Data show that homogenous organizations have blind spots that obscure incoming risks and areas of opportunities. The Bulletin is determined to improve diversity along the lines of age, gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and gender identity and expression. We are less far along on race and ethnicity than we are in improving diversity in the other categories. No one person makes a team diverse, but together, we are committed to moving intentionally toward greater diversity so that we may better represent our growing audience and more powerfully reflect and advance our mission that affects all humanity.

Our Community

The Bulletin has many audiences: the general public, which will ultimately benefit or suffer from scientific breakthroughs; policymakers, whose duty is to harness those breakthroughs for good; and the scientists themselves, who produce those technological advances and thus bear a special responsibility. Our community is international, with half of our website visitors coming from outside the United States. It is also young. Half are under the age of 35.

Our Promise

We promise to be understandable and influential: We provide lucid facts and commentary that are accessible to the public, policymakers, and scientists. We move people to action. We make appropriate use of our Doomsday Clock to help the public quickly grasp the jeopardy they are in. The Clock is an educational tool and is often how both children and adults are introduced to our mission.

We promise to be vigilant: We maintain worldwide surveillance on the evolution of already-identified threats as well as emerging dangers that may not be on our readers’ radar.

We promise to be solution-oriented: We are an early-warning system, but we are also determined to inject hope into the conversation by offering achievable actions. We are not a debating society; we strive to fix problems.  

We promise to be fair-minded: We are not partisan; we believe that government policies must be based on facts, not ideology. We have one prejudice: We are opposed to extinction.

Our Story

The Bulletin began as an emergency action, created by scientists who saw an immediate need for a public reckoning in the aftermath of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. One mission was to urge fellow scientists to help shape national and international policy. A second mission was to help the public understand what the bombings meant for humanity.

These scientists anticipated that the atom bomb would be “only the first of many dangerous presents from the Pandora’s Box of modern science.” They were all too correct. Humanity now faces additional threats from greenhouse gases, cyber attacks, and the misuse of genetic engineering and artificial intelligence.

The Bulletin’s Doomsday Clock serves as a vivid symbol of these multiplying perils, its hands showing how close to extinction we are. With the energy of words and ideas, we seek to motivate our audience to acknowledge emerging threats, manage their dangers and turn back the hands of the Doomsday Clock.

The Bulletin has reset the minute hand on the Doomsday Clock 24 times since its debut in 1947, most recently in 2020 when we moved it from two minutes to midnight to 100 seconds to midnight. Every time it is reset, we’re flooded with questions about the internationally recognized symbol. Here are answers to some of the most frequent queries.

What is the Doomsday Clock?

The Doomsday Clock is a design that warns the public about how close we are to destroying our world with dangerous technologies of our own making. It is a metaphor, a reminder of the perils we must address if we are to survive on the planet.

When the Doomsday Clock was created in 1947, the greatest danger to humanity came from nuclear weapons, in particular from the prospect that the United States and the Soviet Union were headed for a nuclear arms race. The Bulletin considered possible catastrophic disruptions from climate change in its hand-setting deliberations for the first time in 2007.

Who created the Doomsday Clock?

Co-editor Hyman Goldsmith asked artist Martyl Langsdorf to come up with a design for the cover of the June 1947 edition of the Bulletin, the first issue published as a magazine rather than a newsletter. Martyl—as she was known professionally—was married to a physicist, Alexander Langsdorf, who worked on the Manhattan Project while at the University of Chicago.

At first the artist considered using the symbol for uranium. But as she listened to the scientists who had worked on the Bomb, as they passionately debated the consequences of the new technology and their responsibility to inform the public, she felt their sense of urgency. So she sketched a clock to suggest that we didn’t have much time left to get atomic weapons under control.

Who decides what time it is?

In the early days, Bulletin Editor Eugene Rabinowitch decided whether the hand should be moved. A scientist himself, fluent in Russian, and a leader in the international disarmament movement, he was in constant conversation with scientists and experts within and outside governments in many parts of the world. Based on these discussions, he decided where the clock hand should be set and explained his thinking in the Bulletin’s pages.

When Rabinowitch died in 1973, the Bulletin’s Science and Security Board took over the responsibility and has since met twice a year to discuss world events and reset the clock as necessary. The board is made up of scientists and other experts with deep knowledge of nuclear technology and climate science, who often provide expert advice to governments and international agencies. They consult widely with their colleagues across a range of disciplines and also seek the views of the Bulletin’s Board of Sponsors, which includes 13 Nobel Laureates.

When were the hands set farthest from midnight?

In 1991, with the end of the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union signed the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, the first treaty to provide for deep cuts to the two countries’ strategic nuclear weapons arsenals, prompting the Bulletin to set the clock hand to 17 minutes to midnight.

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They may even be ready to supply a driving service, performing as a chauffeur to deliver you safely to your vacation spot whereas staying aware of any doable dangers. They might also observe your automobile to make sure you aren't followed by anyone else. As well as, a bodyguard can go to a spot ahead of time to take a look at the route, the world, all entrances, and stand and look ahead to the shopper to show up to escort them in. An executive of VIP bodyguard can even test for potential vulnerability in the house and/or transportation, even transportation routes, including further reinforcement or making changes the place wanted. They can give useful advice on how to remain secure and what to do within the occasion of a dangerous scenario. Lastly, a bodyguard presence can act as a deterrent towards potential dangers. When a bodyguard is seen, it might put folks off from making an attempt anything towards extremely trained personal safety.

This expansion will solely help the personal sector when they are faced with cyber threats and will assist with intrusion detection and prevention capabilities. DHS just lately released a refreshed model of its National Cyber Incident Response Plan (NCIRP), with a strong focus on how the U.S. The NCIRP describes a nationwide strategy to dealing with cyber incidents. In addition, it additionally addresses the necessary role that the private sector, state and local governments, and a number of federal agencies play in responding to incidents and how the actions of all fit collectively for an integrated response. As mentioned above, the majority of infrastructure in North America is owned and operated by the personal sector. Due to this, it's vital that the public and personal sectors work together to share related menace information. Over the previous few years, DHS, the FBI, and the Division of Vitality have made appreciable strides in bettering information sharing and giving categorized access to intelligence products corresponding to bulletins, alerts, and secret degree briefings.

Discover consistent employment. Relying on your actual expertise, you could possibly land a full time job in one of many specialties listed above. Working for private security jobs is another choice, and the on-the-job training it supplies might be invaluable even when you've got regulation enforcement coaching. Search purchasers among insurance companies and attorneys in addition to non-public people. Though one in 4 PIs are self-employed, we do not recommend starting a business until you may have a minimum of a number of years of expertise. X Reliable Source US Bureau of Labor Statistics U.S. Know what's authorized and what isn't. As a PI, you're toeing the road relating to the techniques you are using to catch your perp. Just because you're a PI doesn't mean you'll be able to break the law. Keep secure (and employed) and get conversant in the laws. Pretexting (the act of pretending to be another person to obtain information) is mostly considered as solely unethical. Nonetheless, it is prohibited within the US for those who pretend to be a government official or use your id to acquire telephone or bank data.

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To adjust to enterprise standards and industry laws, you want to guard sensitive data and prevent its inadvertent disclosure. Recognizing that need, we’re introducing new security management that blocks external sharing of files uploaded to OneDrive and SharePoint until a DLP scan has been accomplished to prevent overexposure of delicate data and compliance with the sharing and sensitivity policies set by the tenant administrator. Your organizations need to allow straightforward sharing with nameless links, however, at the identical time as soon as a file is scanned by DLP (Data Loss Prevention) and flagged as delicate then it is critical to block any anonymous access and sharing for that file. private security contracts permits you to attain this need. When working with partners and collaborators, it often becomes vital to ask them into your company intranet to collaborate in Teams, Yammer, and different apps across Microsoft 365. Restricted person access for OneDrive allows you to invite exterior collaborators to your intranet to entry documents, conversations, and more; however, prevents those users from creating OneDrive sites or accessing content stored on particular person users OneDrive sites. Want an early start with these new and upcoming security and compliance capabilities? What's coming on this launch?

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1947-2016

Since 1947, the “Doomsday Clock” has symbolized the likelihood of a man-made global catastrophe (represented by midnight). Its first setting was seven minutes to midnight. Humanity’s worst point was two minutes to midnight, set at the height of the Cold War in 1953 when the United States and the Soviet Union began testing hydrogen bombs.

In 1981, during the Second Cold War arising from the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in December of 1979, the Doomsday Clock was set at four minutes to midnight; by 1984, it advanced to three minutes to midnight, the closest it had been since 1953. But in 1988, the United States and Soviet Union signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, and the Clock was pushed back to six minutes to midnight.

By 1991, the Cold War was officially over; the Berlin Wall had fallen; the Soviet Union was dissolving; and the United States and Russia entered into the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. The Doomsday Clock was pushed back to 17 minutes before midnight, the furthest point it ever reached. Although the Clock has advanced since then, since the early 1980s it has never been closer than three minutes to midnight...

...until the election of Donald Trump.

2017 (11:57:30)

In January of 2017, the prospect of Trump’s presidency alone was enough to push the Doomsday Clock to two-and-a-half minutes to midnight, due to his reckless approach to both nuclear weapons and climate change:

“Both his statements and his actions as president-elect have broken with historical precedent in unsettling ways. He has made ill-considered comments about expanding the US nuclear arsenal. He has shown a troubling propensity to discount or outright reject expert advice related to international security, including the conclusions of intelligence experts. And his nominees to head the Energy Department and the Environmental Protection Agency dispute the basics of climate science. In short, even though he has just now taken office, the president’s intemperate statements, lack of openness to expert advice, and questionable cabinet nominations have already made a bad international security situation worse. ... The political situation in the United States is of particular concern. The Trump transition team has put forward candidates for cabinet-level positions (especially at the Environmental Protection Agency and Energy Department) who foreshadow the possibility that the new administration will be openly hostile to progress toward even the most modest efforts to avert catastrophic climate disruption. Climate change should not be a partisan political issue. The well-established physics of Earth’s carbon cycle is neither liberal nor conservative in character. The planet will continue to warm to dangerous levels so long as carbon dioxide continues to be pumped into the atmosphere—regardless of who is chosen to lead the United States or any other country.”

2018 (11:58:00)

In January of 2018--because Trump had fulfilled all of his worst expectations--the Doomsday Clock advanced to two minutes to midnight, a tie for the worst situation in the Clock’s history. And the blame was placed squarely at the feet of the United States under Donald Trump:

“In 2017, world leaders failed to respond effectively to the looming threats of nuclear war and climate change, making the world security situation more dangerous than it was a year ago—and as dangerous as it has been since World War II. The greatest risks last year arose in the nuclear realm. North Korea’s nuclear weapons program made remarkable progress in 2017, increasing risks to North Korea itself, other countries in the region, and the United States. Hyperbolic rhetoric and provocative actions by both sides have increased the possibility of nuclear war by accident or miscalculation. But the dangers brewing on the Korean Peninsula were not the only nuclear risks evident in 2017: The United States and Russia remained at odds, continuing military exercises along the borders of NATO, undermining the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), upgrading their nuclear arsenals, and eschewing arms control negotiations. In the Asia-Pacific region, tensions over the South China Sea have increased, with relations between the United States and China insufficient to re-establish a stable security situation. ... And in the Middle East, uncertainty about continued US support for the landmark Iranian nuclear deal adds to a bleak overall picture. To call the world nuclear situation dire is to understate the danger—and its immediacy. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Science and Security Board believes the perilous world security situation just described would, in itself, justify moving the minute hand of the Doomsday Clock closer to midnight. But there has also been a breakdown in the international order that has been dangerously exacerbated by recent US actions. In 2017, the United States backed away from its long-standing leadership role in the world, reducing its commitment to seek common ground and undermining the overall effort toward solving pressing global governance challenges. Neither allies nor adversaries have been able to reliably predict US actions—or understand when US pronouncements are real, and when they are mere rhetoric. International diplomacy has been reduced to name-calling, giving it a surreal sense of unreality that makes the world security situation ever more threatening. Because of the extraordinary danger of the current moment, the Science and Security Board today moves the minute hand of the Doomsday Clock 30 seconds closer to catastrophe. It is now two minutes to midnight—the closest the Clock has ever been to Doomsday, and as close as it was in 1953, at the height of the Cold War.”

2019 (11:58:00)

This morning the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists announced that absolutely no progress has been made over the past year, and that the Doomsday Clock remains at two minutes to midnight, still the closest it has ever been. Once again, the United States under Donald Trump figures prominently as the cause:

“In the nuclear realm, the United States abandoned the Iran nuclear deal and announced it would withdraw from the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), grave steps towards a complete dismantlement of the global arms control process. Although the United States and North Korea moved away from the bellicose rhetoric of 2017, the urgent North Korean nuclear dilemma remains unresolved. Meanwhile, the world’s nuclear nations proceeded with programs of ‘nuclear modernization’ that are all but indistinguishable from a worldwide arms race, and the military doctrines of Russia and the United States have increasingly eroded the long-held taboo against the use of nuclear weapons. On the climate change front, global carbon dioxide emissions—which seemed to plateau earlier this decade—resumed an upward climb in 2017 and 2018. To halt the worst effects of climate change, the countries of the world must cut net worldwide carbon dioxide emissions to zero by well before the end of the century. By such a measure, the world community failed dismally last year. At the same time, the main global accord on addressing climate change—the 2015 Paris agreement—has become increasingly beleaguered. The United States announced it will withdraw from that pact, and at the December climate summit in Poland, the United States allied itself with Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait (all major petroleum-producing countries) to undercut an expert report on climate change impacts that the Paris climate conference had itself commissioned.”

As if the twin threats of nuclear apocalypse and climate disaster weren’t enough, the worldwide spread of a particular brand of rhetoric (a.k.a. “lies”) has exacerbated the danger:

“Amid these unfortunate nuclear and climate developments, there was a rise during the last year in the intentional corruption of the information ecosystem on which modern civilization depends. In many forums, including particularly social media, nationalist leaders and their surrogates lied shamelessly, insisting that their lies were truth, and the truth ‘fake news.’ These intentional attempts to distort reality exaggerate social divisions, undermine trust in science, and diminish confidence in elections and democratic institutions. Because these distortions attack the rational discourse required for solving the complex problems facing humanity, cyber-enabled information warfare aggravates other major global dangers—including those posed by nuclear weapons and climate change—as it undermines civilization generally.”

Sound familiar?

Friday, February 11, 2022

A sign of ransomware growth: Gangs now arbitrate disputes (AP) Cyber criminal gangs are getting increasingly adept at hacking and becoming more professional, even setting up an arbitration system to resolve payment disputes among themselves, according to a new report by the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom that paints a bleak picture of ransomware trends. Ransomware gangs, which hack targets and hold their data hostage through encryption, caused widespread havoc last year with high-profile attacks on the world’s largest meat-packing company, the biggest U.S. fuel pipeline and other targets. The new report on 2021 ransomware trends highlights the growing maturity and specialization of the ransomware market, with independent operators filling a lucrative niche market. Specialists now range from the hackers who can break into networks or develop ransomware to the nontechnical operators who negotiate payments with victims. The United Kingdom’s National Cyber Security Centre said it’s seen some ransomware gangs offer a 24/7 help center to victims to expedite ransom payments and restore encrypted data. “The criminal marketplace is incredibly, incredibly efficient and constantly evolving,” said John Hultquist, vice president of intelligence analysis at the cybersecurity firm Mandiant.

Canada’s capital is jammed, its border crossings are blockaded, and there’s no end in sight (Washington Post) Canada’s usually sleepy capital is under a state of emergency. It’s been nearly two weeks since the self-styled “Freedom Convoy” reduced its key arteries to a parking lot. Three crossings on the U.S.-Canada border, including the busiest, have been partially blockaded. Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security is warning that U.S. truckers are potentially planning to block roads in major metropolitan areas in protest of vaccine mandates, and that the protest activity could impact the Super Bowl in Los Angeles this Sunday as well as President Biden’s State of the Union address March 1, according to a copy of the bulletin obtained by The Washington Post. Canadian officials continued to condemn the “illegal” blockades and detailed their deleterious effects on national security and the economy. But there were few indications of how or when authorities will bring them to an end.

US states scaling back mask mandates (WSJ) Nine states are scaling back mask mandates, as Covid-19 case numbers fall and more officials push to get back to normal. New York, Illinois, Massachusetts and Rhode Island say rules requiring masks or proof of vaccinations would end by March. They joined California, Oregon, New Jersey, Connecticut and Delaware, which made similar announcements earlier this week.

Disaster politics claims a victim in Greece (ABC) Last week, Greece’s agriculture minister, Spilios Livanos, traveled to Sparta to announce compensation payments would be made to farmers who had suffered crop damage from frost. While in Sparta, Livanos met with the mayor and was caught on video laughing about how compensation payments for natural disasters can help win elections. Livanos was heard saying that Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ conservative New Democracy party won an uphill election battle in 2007 “by taking bags (of money) to compensate” those affected by wildfires that had ravaged southern Greece weeks earlier, killing scores of people. The mayor himself had been a cabinet official when the New Democracy party was in government in 2004-2009. Mitsotakis became party leader in 2016 and wasn’t part of the 2004-2009 government. But he will be front and center in Greece’s next parliamentary election in 2023, so he didn’t appreciate what Livanos had to say. When Mitsotakis demanded an explanation from Livanos, the chagrined minister “admitted that he should have reacted differently,” and offered his resignation, which was accepted.

Ukrainians not panicking as West ramps up invasion rhetoric (AP) U.S. officials say the threat of a Russian invasion in Ukraine is more serious than others that have come and gone during nearly a decade of trench warfare. The White House national security advisor warned that an all-out invasion could happen any day, and President Joe Biden said “it would be wise” for Americans other than essential diplomats to leave Ukraine and ordered the deployment of 1,700 troops to neighboring Poland. But even as the rhetoric out of Washington ramps up, a sense of calm prevails in the Eastern European nation among soldiers and citizens alike, from relatives of those in the trenches on up to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who campaigned on a promise of ending the drawn-out conflict and has repeatedly called for diplomacy to carry the day. While waves of Ukrainians fled their homes during 2014 fighting that saw Russia annex the Crimean Peninsula and back separatists in the eastern province of Donbas, so far people are staying put in the areas closest to the Russian troop movements. The calm expressed by Zelenskyy and others owes in part, perhaps, to the fact that they have little control over the situation before them. Ukraine is vastly overmatched by Russia not only in troop numbers but in arms and equipment.

Turkey’s Doctors Are Leaving, the Latest Casualty of Spiraling Inflation (NYT) Anxiety rose after an assistant doctor died last fall when she plowed her car into the back of a truck after a long shift. Then there were the growing cases of violence. An assistant doctor abandoned his career after a patient stabbed him in the stomach and hand. A pregnant nurse was hospitalized after being kicked in the belly. The worsening economy and soaring inflation, which has reduced some doctors’ salaries close to the level of the minimum wage, have brought many to a tipping point, driving them in growing numbers to search for better opportunities abroad. Their departures are a sad indictment of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who burnished his own reputation by expanding universal health care over his 18 years in power. It was one of his signature achievements. For many of his supporters, that action alone remains their main reason to support him. But the strains of those overhauls wrought by Mr. Erdogan, in addition to those brought by the pandemic—and now galloping inflation—have undermined the very professionals on whom the health system depends. More than 1,400 Turkish doctors left their posts to work abroad last year, and 4,000 over the past decade, according to the Turkish Medical Association, the largest association of medical professionals in the country. Many more are preparing applications and have requested certificates of good standing from the organization, officials said.

China’s love of big (AP) Tiananmen Square. The Forbidden City. The Great Wall. The Three Gorges Dam. Dozens of high-end malls in Beijing. China has thousands of years of doing things in a really big way, reinforcing its perceived place in the world and the political power of its leaders—from emperors to Mao Zedong to the current leader, Xi Jinping. This affinity for bigness isn’t new. It goes back to a dozen dynasties that ruled China for thousands of years—one of which re-created an entire army of terra cotta warriors to be buried with an emperor. It’s a tradition of projecting large-scale power that was adopted by the Chinese Communist Party when it took over in 1949. Writing in his book “Mandate of Heaven,” U.S. China scholar Orville Schell explained how Mao, who led China’s communist revolution, expanded Tiananmen Square in the 1950s to make it the largest public square in the world—100 acres. Schell wrote of Tiananmen, calling it “a propagandist’s dream come true. Everything about it was gargantuan.” The colossal begins with the country’s population of 1.4 billion and extends to public buildings all around China. A shopping mall in the western city of Chengdu, the New Century Global Center, is billed as the largest building on Earth. How big? Three Pentagons could fit inside. Or at least 300 football fields.

Philippines welcomes back foreign travelers after 2 years (AP) The Philippines lifted a nearly two-year ban on foreign travelers Thursday in a lifesaving boost for its tourism and related industries as an omicron-fueled surge eases. Foreign travelers from 157 countries with visa-free arrangements with the Philippines who have been fully vaccinated and tested negative for the virus will be welcomed back and will no longer be required to quarantine upon arrival. The government also ended a risk classification system that banned travelers from the worst-hit countries. The Philippines imposed one of the world’s longest lockdowns and strictest police-enforced quarantine restrictions to quell a pandemic that caused its worst economic recession since the 1940s and pushed unemployment and hunger to record levels. More than a million Filipinos lost their jobs in tourism businesses and destinations in the first year of the pandemic alone, according to government statistics.

Results of the war on terror (The Intercept) On September 20, 2001, President George W. Bush stood before Congress and declared a “war on terror” that would “not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped, and defeated.” Over the next 20-plus years, the tab on that conflict, which began in Afghanistan but spread across the globe to Burkina Faso, Iraq, Libya, Mali, Niger, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria, Tunisia, and Yemen, has ballooned to more than $6 trillion. The payoff has been dismal: To date, the war has killed around 900,000 people, including more than 350,000 civilians; displaced as many as 60 million; and led to humanitarian catastrophes and the worst U.S. military defeat since the Vietnam War. American cash has built armies that have collapsed or evaporated when challenged; meanwhile, the number of foreign terrorist groups around the world has more than doubled from 32 to 69. It didn’t have to be this way, according to a new study of counterterrorism approaches from Brown University’s Costs of War Project. “Terrorism is a political phenomenon,” writes researcher Jennifer Walkup Jayes in “Beyond the War Paradigm: What History Tells Us About How Terror Campaigns End.” “Counterterrorism strategies which address the root causes of terrorism, rather than the organizations and people that commit it, might end the waves of terrorist violence.”

A new program in Canada gives doctors the option of prescribing national park visits (NPR) A walk in the park may be just what the doctor ordered. A new program launched last month in Canada gives some doctors the option of providing patients with a free annual pass to the country’s national parks as part of an effort to increase access to nature and the health benefits to be found outside. The typical park prescription program allows doctors to write more general prescriptions for time spent out in nature; two hours a week, at least 20 minutes at a time, is what PaRx director Dr. Melissa Lem suggests, according to the Washington Post. Research has long pointed to the mental and physical health benefits of spending time outdoors. A 2019 study concluded that those who spent between 120 minutes or more outside per week reported positive effects on their general health and well-being when compared to those who didn’t get outside at all.

Department of Homeland Security stuck in neutral while awaiting confirmation vote for Mayorkas

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Department of Homeland Security stuck in neutral while awaiting confirmation vote for Mayorkas

Alejandro Mayorkas, the nominee for DHS secretary, will have a final confirmation vote this week after a holdup in the Senate that angered Democrats and caused a flurry of effort to get the confirmation done quickly.

The vote, originally scheduled for Monday, has been pushed to Tuesday due to the winter storm that hit the Washington, DC, metropolitan area, which is impacting flights of senators coming into town, according to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s office.

“You can tell that we are in a semi-holding pattern at the very top until Mr. Mayorkas is confirmed as Secretary and starts giving more clear public direction and more specific leadership effort,” one department official said.

That puts Mayorkas’ start behind his predecessors. Presidents Donald Trump and Barack Obama had confirmed secretaries on their first days in office.

While DHS political appointees have begun to fill out their jobs, according to department officials, leadership roles continue to be filled by officials in acting capacities — a trend that was ubiquitous during the Trump administration.

Another DHS official said the delayed confirmation was “more of the same,” as acting officials have led the department for much of the past four years.

“More than any other department with national and homeland security responsibilities, DHS is in severe need of new strategic vision and day to day operational leadership, as the Trump administration gutted the top leadership ranks across the department,” said Carrie Cordero, Appradab legal and national security analyst and senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, who served at the Department of Justice and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

Last week, the White House delayed an executive order to launch a family reunification taskforce because of the holdup on Mayorkas’ confirmation, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Friday. The taskforce, aimed at reuniting children who were separated from their parents at the border under the Trump-era enforcement policies, will be led by Mayorkas once he is confirmed, she said.

“We had hoped that Ali Mayorkas would be confirmed” by the end of last week, Psaki added.

‘Unprecedented challenges’

Since Biden took office, DHS has been run by TSA Administrator David Pekoske, who stepped in until Mayorkas can be confirmed. Last Wednesday, Pekoske issued a rare threat bulletin, which included a warning that domestic violent extremists may be emboldened by the attack on the US Capitol.

“We are facing unprecedented challenges and threats to our national security during these emergencies, and our country urgently needs our Secretary of Homeland Security in place to guard against these dangers and keep the American people safe,” a White House spokesperson told Appradab in a statement Friday.

Heading into the second full week of Biden’s presidency, the delayed transition at the top of DHS prompted two former Homeland Security secretaries to hold a press conference urging a swift confirmation.

“The tradition has been, understandably, that national security positions within the incoming administration are confirmed on the day of inauguration,” former DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff said Wednesday during a virtual press conference. “The Department of Homeland Security has been operating under temporary leaders for the last four years, certainly in the last two years. And the department is hungry to have permanent experienced leadership.”

Obama-era Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano argued that having a permanent, confirmed security “sends an important signal” through the federal government and to states and localities that “this is the person they’re going to be dealing with during President Biden’s term.”

Once confirmed, Mayorkas will also be responsible for repairing a department that’s been rattled by leadership turnover and vacancies for the better part of the last four years. The department has been without a Senate-confirmed leader since Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen was ousted in spring 2019.

“The stability that you have from a confirmed appointment, versus a bunch of actors, would be refreshing,” a DHS official told Appradab.

A number of top positions inside DHS require Senate confirmation, including the heads of FEMA, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and the immigration and border agencies, all of which remain helmed by officials in an acting capacity.

Completing the confirmation process for the Secretary is a “critical first step,” said Cordero.

Meanwhile, pressure has mounted on the Biden administration to respond to one of the worst data breaches ever to hit the US government. Revelations surfaced in December that hackers had put malicious code into a tool published by SolarWinds, a software vendor used by countless government agencies and Fortune 500 businesses.

The department’s cyber agency is still working to understand the full scope of the data breach, and questions remain about whether it is up to the job.

Biden is expected to install Rob Silvers, a top Obama-era official who previously led cyber efforts at DHS, to lead DHS’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, but he has yet to take the helm or be publicly announced. Silvers would join another of Obama’s cyber officials, Eric Goldstein, who has already started as a senior CISA adviser and comes from Goldman Sachs where he worked as the head of cybersecurity policy.

CISA has been led by a career official in an acting capacity since Trump fired his most visible cybersecurity official, Chris Krebs, after the presidential election.

Officials have briefed new political appointees at DHS headquarters on the SolarWinds incident, a CISA official told Appradab.

“[I]ncident response support is ongoing, as a cyber incident of this complexity, and because of the length of time that the adversary has had access to some of these networks, remediation — both short term and long-term rebuilding — will be a protracted process,” the CISA official said.

The Senate Homeland Security Committee voted Tuesday to advance Mayorkas’ nomination to the floor and held a hearing into the nominee’s qualifications to lead the department.

But some Republicans wanted a hearing for Mayorkas before the Senate Judiciary Committee, in addition to his hearing before the Homeland Security Committee.

Mayorkas is the first Biden nominee who has met a Republican filibuster.

Several GOP senators, led by Texas Sen. John Cornyn, called for the additional hearing, citing Mayorkas’ role overseeing many of the Biden administration’s immigration policies. Cornyn told reporters last week that “there’s a number of problems” with the Mayorkas nomination.

Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois called the request for a hearing “totally political.”

“This is indefensible. We are withholding the leadership of the Department of Homeland Security,” Durbin added.

The Senate voted Thursday to break a GOP filibuster and advance the nomination of Mayorkas.

Appradab’s Priscilla Alvarez, Manu Raju, Clare Foran and Ryan Nobles contributed to this story.

Schools remain key targets for hackers, US intelligence officials say

Schools remain key targets for hackers, US intelligence officials say

In a joint cyber security bulletin issued Thursday by the FBI, DHS and a consortium that monitors nationwide online threats, officials said hackers are “targeting kindergarten through twelfth grade (K-12) educational institutions, leading to ransomware attacks, the theft of data, and the disruption of distance learning services.” The bulletin noted that hackers targeting schools have disrupted…

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Cell-tower attacks by idiots who claim 5G spreads COVID-19 reportedly hit US

Enlarge / A World Health Organization advisory.

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The Department of Homeland Security is reportedly issuing alerts to wireless telecom providers and law enforcement agencies about potential attacks on cell towers and telecommunications workers by 5G/coronavirus conspiracy theorists. The DHS warned that there have already been “arson and physical attacks against cell towers in several US states.”

The preposterous claim that 5G can spread the coronavirus, either by suppressing the immune system or by directly transmitting the virus over radio waves, led to dozens of tower burnings in the UK and mainland Europe. Now, the DHS “is preparing to advise the US telecom industry on steps it can take to prevent attacks on 5G cell towers following a rash of incidents in Western Europe fueled by the false claim that the technology spreads the pathogen causing COVID-19,” The Washington Post reported last week.

The DHS alert will include “advice on ways to reduce the risk of attack, including installing appropriate sensing and barriers, cyber-intrusion detection systems, closed-circuit television and monitoring drone activity near towers,” the Post article said. A telecom-industry official said that carriers in the US “have seen sporadic attacks on their cell towers that were apparently prompted by COVID-19 disinformation” over the past few weeks, the Post wrote.

In addition to warning telecoms, DHS reportedly issued an intelligence report on the topic “to senior federal officials and law enforcement agencies around the country,” ABC News reported Saturday. DHS also teamed with the FBI and National Counterterrorism Center to issue a joint intelligence bulletin to federal officials and law enforcement agencies, the ABC News report said.

“We assess conspiracy theories linking the spread of COVID-19 to the expansion of the 5G cellular network are inciting attacks against the communications infrastructure globally and that these threats probably will increase as the disease continues to spread, including calls for violence against telecommunications workers,” the DHS intelligence report said, according to ABC.

ABC did not publish the full intelligence report but provided several quotes from it. We contacted DHS and the USTelecom trade group today and will update this article if we get any response.

Update at 5:20pm ET: The DHS told Ars that it does not “comment on classified products, including official marked documents,” but that it “remains committed to protecting the American public from infrastructure attacks” and that its “intelligence arm remains vigilant in looking for any kind of emerging threat to the homeland.”

“Misinformation campaigns”

ABC quoted DHS as saying that “since December 2019, unidentified actors conducted at least five arson incidents targeting cell towers in Memphis, Tenn., that resulted in more than $100,000 in damages… Additionally, 14 cell towers in western Tennessee, between February and April, were purposely turned off by way of disabling their electrical breakers.”

The warning to law enforcement agencies said that an April 22 Facebook post “encouraged individuals associated with anarchist extremist ideology to commit acts of sabotage by attacking buildings and 5G towers around the world… in furtherance of an ‘International Day of Sabotage'” and that videos have been posted online “showing people how to damage or destroy cell towers,” according to ABC.

“Violent extremists have drawn from misinformation campaigns online that claim wireless infrastructure is deleterious to human health and helps spread COVID-19, resulting in a global effort by like-minded individuals to share operational guidance and justification for conducting attacks against 5G infrastructure, some of which have already prompted arson and physical attacks against cell towers in several US states,” the DHS report said. The DHS report also warned of possible attacks against the electric grid.

The World Health Organization maintains a list of COVID-19 myths, including the 5G conspiracy theory. “Viruses cannot travel on radio waves/mobile networks,” the WHO explains. “COVID-19 is spreading in many countries that do not have 5G mobile networks.”

Rather than being spread by radio waves, the WHO notes, “COVID-19 is spread through respiratory droplets when an infected person coughs, sneezes or speaks. People can also be infected by touching a contaminated surface and then their eyes, mouth, or nose.”

Conspiracy theories also suggest that 5G contributes to the coronavirus pandemic by suppressing the immune system. But as Ars Science Editor John Timmer wrote recently, the immune-system claim is “completely evidence- and mechanism-free.

“In both these cases, the only ‘evidence’ offered in support is the timing of 5G rollouts versus the appearance of the coronavirus in some locations, as well as maps that compare the locations of 5G services to the locations with the highest incidence of SARS-CoV-2,” Timmer wrote. “Neither of these make sense as evidence. 5G was present in a variety of locations for a while without coronavirus appearing in them,” and “plenty of cities without 5G service have also had high incidence of the virus.”

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Time check: Examining the Doomsday Clock’s move to 100 seconds to midnight

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The Doomsday Clock reads 100 seconds to midnight, a decision made by The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, during an announcement at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, on January 23, 2020.

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Today, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists released a statement that the group's Science and Security Board had moved the hands on the symbolic Doomsday Clock forward by 20 seconds to 100 seconds before midnight. Since the advent of the Doomsday Clock—even in the peak years of the Cold War—the clock's minute hand has never before been advanced past the 11:58 mark.

In a statement on the change, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists President and CEO Rachel Bronson said:

As far as the Bulletin and the Doomsday Clock are concerned, the world has entered into the realm of the two-minute warning, a period when danger is high and the margin for error low. The moment demands attention and new, creative responses. If decision makers continue to fail to act— pretending that being inside two minutes is no more urgent than the preceding period—citizens around the world should rightfully echo the words of climate activist Greta Thunberg and ask: "How dare you?"

Before 2017, the clock had not been at that mark since 1953—the year in which the United States and the Soviet Union both conducted atmospheric tests of their first thermonuclear bombs. Even during the Reagan years—during which the world came the closest it had ever come to a nuclear war—the clock was advanced only as far as three minutes before midnight. And in the fictional world of the original Watchmen comic books, the clock never advanced past five minutes to midnight.

The sum of all fears

Video of the Doomsday Clock announcement, today at the National Press Club in Washington, DC.

The reasons for adjustments to the time on the Doomsday Clock extend far beyond the risk of nuclear annihilation. Over the past two decades, concerns over nuclear proliferation and climate change have largely driven the ticking down of the clock. The last time the clock was set back a minute—in 2010—it was because of the perceived progress on climate change by the United Nations conference in Copenhagen and the ratification of the New START arms control agreement between the United States and Russia.

All of those good vibes have been erased over the last 10 years. And now, the Security Board has added a new reason for concern: cyberwarfare and other "disruptive" technologies.

"Humanity continues to face two simultaneous existential dangers—nuclear war and climate change—that are compounded by a threat multiplier, cyber-enabled information warfare, that undercuts society's ability to respond," the Science and Security Board members wrote in a joint statement. "The international security situation is dire, not just because these threats exist, but because world leaders have allowed the international political infrastructure for managing them to erode."

Objectively measuring things like "international political infrastructure" is difficult. And not much has really changed since 2019, when the board decided to not move the Doomsday Clock's hands. At that time, the board referred to the state of world security as a "new abnormal" and warned of the use of "cyber-enabled information warfare by countries, leaders, and subnational groups of many stripes." The board also voiced concern about the impact of technologies such as artificial intelligence.

But the one thing that is measurable is the degree of inaction on climate change. As the US withdraws from the Paris climate agreement, the world as a whole has done little to meet the deadlines agreed to, with efforts to meet the numbers needed to keep average global temperature from increasing more than 2° Celsius falling well short. The most recent UN Climate Summit ended without any solid plans to move forward.

Fear, uncertainty, and doubt

Enlarge /

A still from

WarGames

, as the WOPR's artificial intelligence locks down the countdown to global nuclear annihilation.

MGM/UA Entertainment via the Hulton Archive

This year, the board stacked a few more "disruptive" technologies on the scales—genetic engineering, synthetic biology, the mass collection of health and genomic data and their potential use in developing biological weapons among them. Concerns over AI-based weaponry and the incorporation of artificial intelligence into nuclear command and control systems—something harkening back to the 1982 film WarGames—were also cited. Russia field-tested an AI-based field command and control system last year, but there's no particular evidence that any state or non-state actor is doing any of these things. Still, the board members are spooked by the possibility.

Then there's the push for hypersonic weapons. Programs like the US Department of Defense's Prompt Global Strike effort, the Air Force's Advanced Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW), and Hypersonic Conventional Strike Weapon (HCSW)—"Arrow" and "Hacksaw"—and Russian and Chinese efforts to develop strategic and tactical hypersonic weapons are intended to create weapons that can't be countered by current defenses and hit targets with great precision. These weapons "will severely limit response times available to targeted nations and create a dangerous degree of ambiguity and uncertainty, at least in part because of their likely ability to carry either nuclear or conventional warheads," the board members noted.

That uncertainty could lead to quick escalation from conventional to nuclear conflict, they warned. "At a minimum, these weapons are highly destabilizing and presage a new arms race." Combined with concerns about the militarization of space and the further automation of weapons and sensor systems "and the new, more aggressive military doctrines asserted by the most heavily armed countries," they wrote, "could result in global catastrophe."

Man in the loop

Certainly, these systems have contributed to an arms race of sorts. But none of them has been deployed. And older, less sophisticated systems pose just as great a threat given the level of current tensions in the world, as demonstrated by the downing of a Ukrainian airliner by an aging automated air defense system in Iran. The problem is not so much the technology as the people putting it to use.

Which is to say, the only thing that has really changed to push the countdown to Armageddon forward in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists' estimation is the current world political situation. This situation is one of inaction and increased belligerence, and it has existed in one form or another (with a short "end of history" break in the early 1990s) since the first atomic weapon was detonated. The only difference from a year ago is that we've had more time to process the scope of the impact of social media campaigns and the fragmentation of consensus on topics of global importance.

As someone who served in the military during the Cold War—bobbing around the world's seas with what I can neither confirm nor deny were nuclear land-attack cruise missiles in armored boxes about 100 feet away from my bed through a series of regional crises—I can say that we are a lot further away from a nuclear doomsday than we were in 1982.

Unfortunately, the lessons that the United States and Soviet Union learned from the precipice they gazed over in the early 1980s has not been effectively passed down to current world leadership in regards to arms control—or in regards to other existential threats. So perhaps it's useful that the Doomsday Clock has been advanced 20 seconds—if only to remind us that the people in a position to do the most about things do not have an eye on the clock.

The US withdrawal from the Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty, the failure to renew the New START treaty or enter into other arms-control negotiations, the apparent collapse of the agreement to constrain Iranian nuclear research, and the derailing of negotiations with North Korea have all eroded the stability of the nuclear equation we were finally getting right when Reagan and Gorbachev blinked.

Iran cyberattack risk is up after missile strike on Iraq bases

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Americans should be on heightened alert for cyberattacks after Iran fired more than a dozen missiles at two military bases in Iraq where U.S. troops are stationed late Tuesday.

The FBI said Wednesday that the bureau is “aware of the continued possibility that retaliatory actions could be taken against the United States and its interests abroad.”

“While there is no specific or credible threat to the homeland at this time, we urge the public to be vigilant and report any suspicious activity to law enforcement,” the FBI said.

On Monday Homeland Security urged cybersecurity teams to “enhance monitoring of network and email traffic,” including for email phishing attempts.

Iran, which has been linked to cyber attacks against Saudi Arabia and the Sands Las Vegas casino owned by Sheldon Adelson, could target private businesses and government infrastructure to avenge last week’s killing of its top military commander as tensions between Tehran and Washington reach one of their highest points since the 1979 Iranian revolution, security researchers say.

In retaliation for the U.S. drone strike that killed Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad, Iran could go after the power and electricity you use, the smart devices you carry or your bank account, they say. 

“As these escalations continue to play out and definitely in wake of Soleimani’s death, America needs to be prepared for retaliation,” said Graham Brookie, director of the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab. “Are we being attacked online? No, not that we can prove and not that is having an impact that is blatant or at scale or moving the needle on public conversation or crippling any infrastructure.”

Cyberwar with Iran: How vulnerable is America?

A cyber conflict has been silently raging for years. Even if no attack from Iran occurs in coming weeks, “the danger zone will extend for years,” warned Steven Bellovin, a computer science professor at Columbia University School of Engineering. 

For nearly a decade, Iran has been building up its cyber arsenal and is now considered among the major nation-state threats to the security of the U.S.

“The Iranian regime has demonstrated greater appetite towards destructive or disruptive cyber-attacks in peacetime than any other nation,” say Ed Parsons and George Michael, who research cyber threats to the private sector.

Coffins of Gen. Qassem Soleimani and others who were killed in Iraq by a U.S. drone strike, are carried on a truck surrounded by mourners during a funeral procession, in the city of Kerman, Iran, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2020. (Photo: Erfan Kouchari, AP)

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo acknowledged last week that Iran could unleash cyberattacks.

“The Iranians have a deep and complex cyber capability, to be sure,” Pompeo said on Fox News. “Know that we have certainly considered that risk.”

On Saturday, the Department of Homeland Security warned Americans that Iran is capable of launching cyberattacks with “temporary disruptive effects” against critical U.S. infrastructure, though it had “no information indicating a specific, credible threat to the Homeland.” 

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The National Terrorism System advisory recommended that Americans take precautions by backing up data and using two-factor authentication for sensitive accounts.

Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf tweeted that the bulletin was intended to “inform & reassure the American public, state/local governments & private partners that DHS is actively monitoring & preparing for any specific, credible threat, should one arise.”

On Sunday, a federal website went offline after a hacker uploaded photos to the site that included an Iranian flag and an image depicting a bloodied President Donald Trump being punched in the face.

The images appeared on the Federal Depository Library Program program’s website late Saturday before the site was taken offline. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, a division of the Department of Homeland Security, said it was monitoring the situation.

 (Photo: Getty Images)

“We are aware the website of the Federal Depository Library Program was defaced with pro-Iranian, anti-US messaging,” the cybersecurity agency said in a statement. “At this time, there is no confirmation that this was the action of Iranian state-sponsored actors. The website was taken offline and is no longer accessible.”

The statement added that “in these times of increased threats” all organizations should increase cyber monitoring, back up IT systems, implement secure authentication and have an incident response plan ready should a hack take place.

CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity firm that warned of increasing cyberattacks by Iran earlier this year, said Monday that industries such as oil and gas and electricity could be targets.

“CrowdStrike Intelligence believes that Iranian adversaries are likely to leverage a broad range of means, including cyber operations, against U.S. and allied interests,” the company said. “Our current assessment is that organizations in the financial, defense, government, and oil and gas sectors are the most likely targets for retaliation activity.”

What we know: US military bases attacked by Iran have hosted Trump and Pence, damage unclear

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CrowdStrike said it was monitoring for denial of service and ransomware attacks, tools frequently deployed by Iranian hackers.

Iran intensified its cyber warfare capabilities after the Stuxnet computer worm, a program believed to have been run by the United States and Israel, was uncovered. The worm destroyed nuclear centrifuges at the Natanz uranium enrichment plant.

“Stuxnet caused Iran to really wake up: ‘Hey this cyber stuff is really powerful. We can do this, too.’ And unlike nuclear weapons, it doesn’t take a huge industrial infrastructure,” Bellovin said.

“Iran’s abilities have gotten noticeably stronger over the last 10 years,” with hackers targeting major U.S. financial institutions, universities and companies, he said.

Bellovin warns that it could take years for Iran to launch a cyberattack. American companies should shore up their defenses accordingly, he said.

“I worry about companies letting down their guard,” Bellovin said. “If people get an alert and then after three weeks revert to business as usual, two years from now they may find themselves hit badly.”

Contributing: Kevin Johnson

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cnnbrk (January 08, 2020 at 08:14PM)

The FBI and Department of Homeland Security warn of the cyber threats Iran poses to the US in an intelligence bulletin sent to law enforcement https://t.co/s8JwRSXcYk https://t.co/MxM1kbXwv0 - From Twitter