It was every week of significant cybersecurity incidents and unimpressive responses. As Melanie Teplinsky reminds us, the U.S. authorities has been agitated for months about China’s obvious strategic resolution to carry U.S. infrastructure hostage to cyberattack in a disaster. Now the federal government has struck again at Volt Storm, the Chinese language risk actor pursuing that technique. It claimed lately to have disrupted a Volt Storm botnet by taking up a batch of compromised routers. Andrew Adams explains how the court-ordered takeover was managed. It was a variety of work, and there’s motive to doubt the effectiveness of the trouble. The compromised routers might be re-compromised if they’re turned on and off once more. And the one ones that have been uncompromised by the U.S. seizure are these contained in the U.S., leaving open the potential for DDOS assaults from overseas. Lastly, DDOS assaults on our vital infrastructure should not precisely be an existential risk. All issues thought of, I argue that there is a critical disconnect between the federal government’s hair-on-fire speak about Volt Storm and its business-as-usual response.
Talking of cyberattacks we might be overestimating, Taiwan simply had an election that China cared lots about. In response to one detailed report, the Chinese language threw a variety of cyber at Taiwanese voters—and did not make a lot of an impression. Richard Stiennon and I combine it up over whether or not the Chinese language will do higher attempting to affect the 2024 consequence right here.
Whereas we’re protecting humdrum responses to cyberattacks, Melanie explains U.S. sanctions on Iranian army hackers for his or her hack of U.S. water techniques that have been roughly fish in a barrel.
For comedian aid, Richard lays out the most recent drama across the EU AI Act, now being amended in a sequence of backroom offers and off-the-books guarantees. I predict that the trouble to pile pet-rock provisions on high of anti-American protectionism will finish, not in a GDPR-style triumph for Europe however in a continent-wide AI desert. The EU market is now sufficiently small for AI corporations to bypass Europe solely on the first signal of poisonous regulation.
The U.S. just isn’t the one participant whose response to cyberintrusions is trying insufficient this week. Richard explains Microsoft’s latest disclosure of a Midnight Blizzard assault on the corporate and numerous its clients. The corporate’s obscure rationalization of how its know-how contributed to the assault and, worse, its effort to show the catastrophe into an upsell alternative earned Microsoft a patented Alex Stamos spanking.
Andrew explains the latest Justice Division costs in opposition to three individuals who facilitated the large $400m FTX hack that coincided with the change’s collapse. Does that imply the hack wasn’t an inside job? Not so quick, Andrew cautions. The federal government hasn’t recovered the $400m, and it is not claiming the three SIM-swappers it has charged are the one conspirators.
Melanie explains why we have seen a sudden surge in state privateness laws. It seems that trade has stopped preventing the thought of state privateness legal guidelines and is now promoting a light-touch mannequin regulation that omits issues like a non-public proper of motion.
I give a lick and a promise to a “privacy” regulation now being pursued by CFPB for shopper monetary data. I put privateness in quotes, as a result of it is actually an effort to create an entire new marketplace for private knowledge, one that can guarantee higher knowledge administration whereas undermining the aggressive benefit of massive knowledge holdings. Bruce Schneier likes the thought. So do I, in precept, but it surely means an enormous re-engineering of a giant trade by technocrats who might not be fairly as sensible as they suppose they’re. Bruce, if you wish to come on the podcast to elucidate and debate the entire thing, ship me e mail!
Spies are notoriously nasty, and infrequently petty, however one of many nastiest and pettiest, Joshua Schulte, was sentenced to 40 years in jail final week. Andrew has the main points.
There could also be some excellent news on the ransomware entrance. Extra victims are refusing to pay. Melanie, Richard, and I discover methods to maintain that development going. I urge consideration of a tax on ransom funds.
I additionally flag a couple of new tech regulatory measures more likely to come down the pike within the subsequent few months. The FCC will probably use the TCPA to declare using AI-generated voices in robocalls unlawful. And Amazon is more likely to discover itself held accountable for the protection of merchandise bought by third events on the Amazon platform.
Lastly, a couple of fast hits:
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