By design, it does not rise to the level of cyberwar as we define it.
An attack on three “fronts.”
The United
States and China - A Different Kind of Cyberwar
China is Conducting
a Low and Slow Cyberwar, Attempting to Stay Under the Radar and
Maneuver the Global Economy
… The
battle for economic supremacy is primarily if not entirely being
fought in cyber. Given the West’s promise of retaliation for
anything that meets its definition of cyberwarfare, China is largely
avoiding the sort of destructive activity more usually ascribed to
Russia (such as the attack
on France’s TV5Monde and
Ukrainian
power companies),
and North Korea (such as the attack
on Sony,
and WannaCry).
… China
does not wish to provoke open conflict with the U.S.; either cyber or
kinetic. But in order to be stronger than the U.S. economically, it
must first close the gap in both business technology and military
technology. This means that its cyber operations must be
sophisticated, targeted and non-destructive.
There
are three primary targets: people, military, and critical
infrastructure.
People
People
are often defined as the weakest link in security. While this has
traction at a local level, it is peoples’ data that is important at
an international level. Direct access to credentials that don’t
get changed allows easy access to networks. If credentials are not
available, then personal details will often be sufficient to frame
compelling and potentially irresistible spear-phishing attacks.
Military
Military
and associated technology secrets are a traditional target for
international espionage of all categories.
Critical infrastructure
China Inc is unlikely to do anything too overt or
dramatic with U.S. critical
infrastructure – that would interfere with its long-term
strategy. But it would be naïve to think it is doing nothing. “At
a minimum, we must expect that China is seeking to map, model, and
understand how to attack U.S. critical infrastructure. Doing so
requires some level of reconnaissance,” comments TruSTAR’s Kurtz.
(Related)
U.S.
Companies Urged to Protect Against Foreign Government Hackers
The National Counterintelligence and Security
Center began sending out detailed advisories, in brochure and video
forms, to companies around the country to show them how to guard
against cyber-incursions.
How to handle hecklers?
Politicians
cannot block social media foes: U.S. appeals court
A federal appeals court said on Monday a Virginia
politician violated the Constitution by temporarily blocking a critic
from her Facebook page, a decision that could affect President Donald
Trump’s appeal from a similar ruling in New York.
In a 3-0 decision, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals said Phyllis Randall, chair of the Loudoun County Board of
Supervisors, violated the First Amendment free speech rights of Brian
Davison by banning him for 12 hours from her “Chair Phyllis J.
Randall” page.
The ban came after Davison had attended a 2016
town hall meeting, and then under his Facebook profile “Virginia
SGP” accused school board members and their relatives of corruption
and conflicts of interest.
… Circuit Judge James Wynn rejected Randall’s
argument that her Facebook page was a private website, saying the
“interactive component” was a public forum and that she engaged
in illegal viewpoint discrimination.
Giving passengers a choice takes time and effort.
Claiming that “the government made me do it” is much simpler.
Edward Hasbrouck writes:
Buried in the final 500-page PDF file of redacted and munged e-mail messages released by Amtrak in December 2018 in response to a FOIA request we made in 2014, we got the first hint at an answer to one of the questions that originally prompted our request:
What did Amtrak think was its legal basis for requiring passengers to show ID and provide other information, and for handing this data over to DHS components and other police agencies for general law enforcement purposes?
When US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) asked Amtrak to start transmitting passenger data electronically, it described this as a request for “voluntary” cooperation, noting that while the law requires airlines to collect and transmit this data to CBP, “these mandates do not currently extend to land modes of transportation” (as they still don’t today).
Read how Amtrak took “voluntary” cooperation
and somehow morphed it into a federal mandate that was never mandated
– on Papers,
Please!
Should we worry about Jeff Bezos wandering through
our homes? Will their employees/robots look in our refrigerators to
suggest purchases?
Key By
Amazon adds garage and business delivery, new locks and Ring
compatibility
… Key is getting a whole bunch of new features
this week. In addition to the standard home and car delivery, the
company is adding Key for Garage into the mix. Using the Key app,
customers can remotely monitor the door and accept deliveries while
they’re out.
It’s a nice addition to the existing offerings,
for those looking to thwart package thieves or missed deliveries.
Kroger sees this as the future. Microsoft
provides the IT Architecture, Kroger supplies the expertise.
Microsoft
and Kroger to create data-driven connected grocery stores
Microsoft and Kroger are taking a leaf out of
Amazon’s book by building futuristic “connected” grocery
stores.
… What all of this helps generate, of course,
is vast swathes of information — data on products and customer
data. Microsoft’s Azure will take care of all the backend data
storage and processing, but this wealth of data can be used by Kroger
to target ads at the customer as they waltz around the supermarket.
In addition to creating a more sophisticated shopping experience, the
initiative is all about creating additional revenue streams.
… But what is perhaps most interesting about
Kroger’s plans is that it’s packaging this as a
“retail-as-a-service” (RaaS) offering for use by other retailers
— yet another potentially gargantuan revenue stream.
Ford sees this as the future… The near future.
Ford wants
its cars to 'talk' with traffic lights and pedestrians
Ford is building cars that "talk"
with traffic lights, road signs and pedestrians.
At CES
2019 in Las Vegas on Monday, the automaker announced plans to
start selling cars that feature this type of technology in 2022.
The technology, called cellular
vehicle-to-everything (or C-V2X for short), uses wireless signals to
share road data, such as a car's location or the color of a traffic
light, with other vehicles.
… But critics says the cost of installing the
technology will be burdensome for cash-strapped governments. Corinne
Kisner, deputy director of the National Association of City
Transportation Officials, called the expense of installing and
maintaining vehicle-to-everything technology a major concern. Many
municipalities struggle to fill their potholes, let alone install
smart city technology. She also described any
effort to require a pedestrian to carry a smartphone to guarantee
safety as a dangerous paradigm shift.
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