How
secure was the security that was breached? Why wait so long to take
action.
Exclusive:
Russia carried out a 'stunning' breach of FBI communications system,
escalating the spy game on U.S. soil
On
Dec. 29, 2016, the Obama administration announced that it was giving
nearly three dozen Russian diplomats just 72 hours to leave the
United States and was seizing two rural East Coast estates owned by
the Russian government. As the Russians burned papers and scrambled
to pack their bags, the Kremlin protested the treatment of its
diplomats, and denied that those compounds — sometimes known as the
“dachas” — were anything more than vacation spots for their
personnel.
… Both
compounds, and at least some of the expelled diplomats, played key
roles in a brazen Russian counterintelligence operation that
stretched from the Bay Area to the heart of the nation’s capital,
according to former U.S. officials. The operation, which targeted
FBI communications, hampered the bureau’s ability to track Russian
spies on U.S. soil at a time of increasing tension with Moscow,
forced the FBI and CIA to cease contact with some of their Russian
assets, and prompted tighter security procedures at key U.S. national
security facilities in the Washington area and elsewhere, according
to former U.S. officials. It even raised concerns among some U.S.
officials about a Russian mole within the U.S. intelligence
community.
… American
officials discovered that the Russians had dramatically improved
their ability to decrypt certain types of secure communications and
had successfully tracked devices used by elite FBI surveillance teams
… These
compromises, the full gravity of which became clear to U.S. officials
in 2012, gave
Russian spies in American cities including Washington, New York and
San Francisco key insights into the location of undercover FBI
surveillance teams, and likely the actual substance of FBI
communications, according to former officials. They provided the
Russians opportunities to potentially shake off FBI surveillance and
communicate with sensitive human sources, check on remote recording
devices and even gather intelligence on their FBI pursuers, the
former officials said.
… The
compromise of FBI systems occurred not long after the White House’s
2010 decision to arrest and expose a group of “illegals”
– Russian operatives embedded in American society under deep
non-official cover – and reflected a resurgence of Russian
espionage.
What
does HIPAA say about this?
Millions
of Americans’ Medical Images and Data Are Available on the
Internet. Anyone Can Take a Peek.
Hundreds
of computer servers worldwide that store patient X-rays and MRIs are
so insecure that anyone with a web browser or a few lines of computer
code can view patient records. One expert warned about it for years.
… We
identified 187 servers — computers that are used to store and
retrieve medical data — in the U.S. that were unprotected by
passwords or basic security precautions. The computer systems, from
Florida to California, are used in doctors’ offices,
medical-imaging centers and mobile X-ray services.
… “It’s
not even hacking. It’s walking into an open door,” said Jackie
Singh, a cybersecurity researcher and chief executive of the
consulting firm Spyglass Security.
This
is probably the version that becomes law in January.
California
Legislature Passes CCPA Amendments and Privacy Bills
Last
week, after months of negotiation and speculation, the California
legislature passed bills amending the California Consumer Privacy Act
(“CCPA”). This marked the last round of CCPA amendments before
the legislature adjourned for the year—and before the CCPA takes
effect on January 1, 2020. California Governor Gavin Newsom has
until October 13 to sign the bills into law. Separately, the
Attorney General’s office is expected to release a draft of
proposed CCPA regulations for public input later this Fall.
Target
surveillance is Okay. How do I avoid being a target?
Bulk
surveillance is unlawful, says the High Court of South Africa
Today,
the High Court of South Africa in Pretoria in a
historic decision declared
that bulk interception by the South African National Communications
Centre is unlawful and invalid.
Making
smartphones much smarter.
Apple
is building a machine learning system to rule them alI
This
week, Apple is sponsoring the world’s largest spoken language
processing conference, Interspeech
2019..
… Among
other topics (see
them all here ),
Apple will present papers on etecting
expression/intent
through voice, improving
voice recognition,
developing more accurate tools to understand speech
nuances, using
mirroring to
build relationships between human users and speech assistants and
using tech to optimize
speech enhancement.
A
handy student guide.
The
Constitution Annotated Is Now Easier to Search and Browse
In
Custodia Legis:
“Constitution
Day is
[September 17, 2019], but it’s already off to a great start with
the release of the Congressional
Research Service’s new
version of The
Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and
Interpretation,
better known as the Constitution
Annotated. The
Constitution Annotated allows
you to “read about the Constitution in plain English…providing a
comprehensive overview of Supreme Court decisions interpreting the
United States Constitution.” The
Constitution Annotated is
a Senate
document created
by the Congressional Research Service that makes the Constitution
accessible to all Americans, regardless of their background in law.
In the past, the web version of this document, which is linked from
Congress.gov,
consisted of PDFs that could be challenging to search. With this
release, the document is available in a more accessible and
user-friendly HTML format that is convenient to search and browse…”
Can
Blockchain be explained to politicians?
GAO
Spotlight – Blockchain & Distributed Ledger Technologies
“The
technology that allows Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to function
could
profoundly change the way government and industry do business.
Distributed ledger technology allows the secure transfer of digital
assets without management by a central authority. Instead,
participants share synchronized copies of a ledger that records
assets and transactions. Changes are visible to all participants.
Questions remain about the technology, including where it may be most
useful, how best to regulate it, and how to mitigate its use in
illegal activities.”
- GAO Report and Infographics – How blockchain, a form of distributed ledger technology, acts as a means of payment for cryptocurrencies
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