While the U.S. government and the private sector are excited about the potential of 5G telecommunications, they also worry about its potential use as a weapon against networks. Among those expressing concern are former Federal Communications Chairman Tom Wheeler, current FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks, and former National Security Council Senior Director for Strategic Planning Robert Spalding. [node:read-more:link]
For the third consecutive year, hackers have confirmed that voting machines still in use across the U.S. remain vulnerable to cyberattack. A Georgetown University professor in Washington says each of more than 100 machines were vulnerable to at least some form of attack. [node:read-more:link]
Guidelines for fighting a growing array of threats to the U.S. technology supply chain have been published by Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Among other things, the agency says multiple legal and policy barriers keep industry and government from adequately sharing information about threats. [node:read-more:link]
The U.S. Air Force is seeking bids on a proposal to spend up to $95 million on cloud services from several companies as part of a Unified Platform. The technology could enable cyberwarfare teams to share information for planning and prosecuting missions. [node:read-more:link]
An appropriations bill which would commit $250 million for improvements to the security of U.S. elections has been endorsed by senior Republican Senator Mitch McConnell, who has opposed the notion. Congress now has to reconcile the Senate bill with a House of Representatives proposal for to spend $600 million on the issue. [node:read-more:link]
Green Party Leader Elizabeth May says intrusions into Canadians’ digital privacy have become a crisis and it’s time to stop companies from data-mining for profit. She says it’s a timely issue to raise during an election campaign because democracy is threatened when data are collected, manipulated and used. [node:read-more:link]
Personal information on potentially every person in Ecuador have been posted online after a massive national data breach. More than 20 million files, including those involving an estimated seven million minors, evidently were exposed. Ecuador’s official population is 16.5 million. [node:read-more:link]
Gen. David Goldfein, the U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff, says the military has much to learn from Apple’s “unleashing” of open-source technologies, which became a core in which other companies were founded and have flourished. He writes that the engineering and business lessons are important for the defence sector which he says has too often procured systems which cannot communicate with each other and are difficult to update. [node:read-more:link]
Decades-old U.S. policies requiring all federal agencies’ Internet traffic flow through a central facility are about to updated to enable them migrate to the cloud while maintaining cybersecurity. The update is being pushed by the Office of Budget Management as part of a broader modernization initiative. [node:read-more:link]
A bipartisan group of Members of Congress wants to identify Chinese companies which might “steal” western technologies for military use. A Chinese embassy spokesperson in Washington dismissed their concerns as groundless, calling the move evidence of a “cold war mentality.” [node:read-more:link]
In an bid to end a western blockade against its 5G technology, Huawei is offering to sell its software to a western company which then could rewrite problematic code. The U.S. has been urging its allies not to permit 5G over concerns that alleged “backdoors” would enable the Chinese government to spy on telecom systems. [node:read-more:link]
Preparing for next year’s presidential election, the U.S. Census Bureau is enlisting the public’s help in protecting its data against misuse. As part of a broader effort by the bureau and the national security community to protect the census from the types of misinformation campaigns that plagued the 2016 election, it has set up a special “rumors” email address for reporting concerns. [node:read-more:link]
With Canada’s 43rd federal general election campaign off to a fast start, a new report uses case studies and other research to underscore the need for heightened vigilance against cyber threats in the run-up to the Oct. 21 vote. Distributed by the Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries, the report lauds Elections Canada’s paced adoption of protective technologies, noting that early adopters have encountered serious challenges. [node:read-more:link]
The fact that some 5.4 million Canadians living in remote areas have at best limited Internet has prompted a suggestion that Huawei technology could be a solution. Despite lingering concerns about security, the Chinese giant is already partnering with two northern companies to expand service to 70 communities. [node:read-more:link]
Google Inc. has agreed to a $170-million fine and to make changes to its YouTube video service to protect children’s privacy. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission and the Attorney General of New York said the company had illegally harvested and used personal information to target children with advertising. [node:read-more:link]
