Thursday, January 20, 2022

Oh, the horror! You could lose your Internet connection!

https://gizmodo.com/senate-weighs-bill-to-protect-satellites-from-getting-h-1848384237

Senators Introduce Bill to Protect Satellites From Getting Hacked

A newly proposed law would enhance cybersecurity for commercial satellites—a move designed to protect them from criminal hacking, which is, apparently, a real threat we need to worry about now.

The Satellite Cybersecurity Act, introduced by Senators Gary Peters (D-Michigan) and John Cornyn (R-Texas), would empower the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) to develop “voluntary satellite cybersecurity recommendations” for the private sector, essentially providing a list of “best practices” for how to keep systems secure.



Apparently there is not yet a “Best Practice” model for legislation.

https://www.databreaches.net/pa-senate-passes-bills-aimed-at-ransomware-data-breaches/

PA Senate passes bills aimed at ransomware, data breaches

AP reports:

Pennsylvania’s state Senate passed a package of legislation on Wednesday aimed at preventing data security breaches and requiring victims and law enforcement officials to be notified when they do happen.
The bills’ passage comes barely two weeks after the state’s unemployment compensation system acknowledged that hackers changed bank account information in some recipients’ accounts, so that payments went to the hackers instead.

Read more at New Canaan Advertiser.

[From the article:

One bill would require the state to develop a strategy to prevent and respond to ransomware attacks. It also would bar state and local governments from using public money to pay for an extortion attempt during a ransomware attack.

It includes an exception for the governor to allow it while a disaster emergency declaration is in force.

The bill, however, does allow state agencies to buy insurance coverage for ransomware attacks. The bill also sets criminal penalties for perpetrators and allows victims to sue for damages.



Will this require the NSA to look at domestic targets?

https://www.wsj.com/articles/biden-to-expand-national-security-agency-role-in-government-cybersecurity-11642604412?mod=djemalertNEWS

Biden to Expand National Security Agency Role in Government Cybersecurity

President Biden on Wednesday expanded the National Security Agency’s role in protecting the U.S. government’s most sensitive computer networks, issuing a directive intended to bolster cybersecurity within the Defense Department and intelligence agencies.

It effectively aligns the cybersecurity standards imposed on national security agencies with those previously established for civilian agencies under an executive order Mr. Biden signed last May.



Your government loves to see your face.

https://krebsonsecurity.com/2022/01/irs-will-soon-require-selfies-for-online-access/

IRS Will Soon Require Selfies for Online Access

If you created an online account to manage your tax records with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS), those login credentials will cease to work later this year. The agency says that by the summer of 2022, the only way to log in to irs.gov will be through ID.me, an online identity verification service that requires applicants to submit copies of bills and identity documents, as well as a live video feed of their faces via a mobile device.

Some 27 states already use ID.me to screen for identity thieves applying for benefits in someone else’s name, and now the IRS is joining them. The service requires applicants to supply a great deal more information than typically requested for online verification schemes, such as scans of their driver’s license or other government-issued ID, copies of utility or insurance bills, and details about their mobile phone service.

When an applicant doesn’t have one or more of the above — or if something about their application triggers potential fraud flags — ID.me may require a recorded, live video chat with the person applying for benefits.



Perspective. I guess I missed the law requiring surveillance of plants.

https://hightimes.com/sponsored/cloudastructures-artificial-intelligence-is-revolutionizing-cannabis-surveillance/

Cloudastructure’s Artificial Intelligence is Revolutionizing Cannabis Surveillance

State and federal laws require that businesses keep their daily operations under constant video surveillance so criminality and malpractice can be stopped in their tracks.

Cloudastructure’s cloud-based AI video surveillance platform means footage is uploaded via a secure Cloud Video Recorder (CVR) that is inaccessible to the outside world. Once the data is secured in the cloud, a multi-tiered permissions system enables credentialed staff to download the footage from their mobile phone or any device with internet access within minutes. The software is intuitively designed and user-friendly, and Cloudastructure’s employees are ready to help with both the installation and any queries. The company even offers turnkey solutions that ensure the cameras not only meet even the most obscure compliance guidelines, but ensure the cameras maximize their usefulness in detecting crime.

Best of all is Cloudastructure’s Artificial Intelligence (AI), which the company has integrated in such a way so that cannabis entrepreneurs can monitor everything that goes on at their facilities, from dispensaries to farms and warehouses. Their rapid search capabilities include facial recognition, advanced license plate recognition, “elastic searches” which combine those powers, and much more. Thanks to their advanced AI algorithms, Cloudastructure’s surveillance systems can do things their competitors struggle to offer: identifying and tracking suspicious or after-hours visitors, and notifying you immediately of a breach of your facility.

Cloudastructure’s surveillance not only tells you who is on your property, but also how many people there are at any given time. The cameras are trained to pick up on other important details as well, such as a person’s age and gender.



Old does not mean out of touch, but it might mean we need translators.

https://www.bespacific.com/what-the-kids-are-reading/

What the Kids Are Reading

Paul Musgrave – Engaging with the new generation and its media consumption: “…The idea that today’s college students are digital natives who can seamlessly navigate the online world is, well, doubtful. But even more dubious is the unthinking presumption a lot of faculty and institutions fall into of assuming that they were familiar with the now-vanished world of three broadcast networks and Time magazine. The students are fluent in a different world that has nothing to do with the world that we olds were inducted into, and little to do with the digital world that we middle-olds inhabit. And it’s an open question about what world we should be helping students join—or whether we even know much about their world to begin with. When I say the generations live in different worlds, I mean it seriously. Here’s a pair of graphs from recent polls showing two ways of measuring preferences for news sources by generation. Senior citizens live in a world of cable television and even print. Middles live in a world of transition. Yutes live in a post-TV, post-print world of digital sources…”



Does simple law require simple lawyers?

https://www.bespacific.com/legal-simplification-and-ai/

Legal Simplification and AI

Eliot, Lance, Legal Simplification and AI (November 3, 2021). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3955411 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3955411

“Many advocates are urging that our existing laws are overly complex and need to be simplified. Interestingly, the advent of AI in the law can readily enter into this same discourse. It might be easier to intertwine AI and the law if the law was simplified, and/or the act of intertwining AI with the law could spur the simplification of the law. Tradeoffs though must be considered.”



Tools & Techniques. Follow your favorite Twit?

https://www.bespacific.com/how-to-search-twitter-with-r/

How to search Twitter with R

YouTube – “See how to search, filter, and sort tweets using R and the rtweet package. It’s a great way to follow conference hashtags. If you want to follow along with the optional code for creating clickable URL links, make sure to install the purrr package if it’s not already on your system.


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