The tech, law enforcement, and privacy worlds are abuzz with the recent decision by Apple to refuse to help the FBI crack the security on an iPhone, even though the iPhone in question belonged to an alleged terrorist/mass murderer. As fascinating and important as that story is, I was even more interested in another cybersecurity story, about a hospital paying ransom to hackers in order to regain access to its own computer systems. This was not the first such occurrence, and it won't be the last.
cybersecurity
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Smart Meters Highlighted In Updated NIST Smart Grid Standards
Over the past few years, the federal government has devoted billions of dollars to help improve the nation’s energy grid. As we move toward an interoperable smart grid, the grid’s standards are changing as rapidly as its associated technology...
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So...Is Paying Ransom What Bitcoin Is For?
Somebody, Probably Anonymous, Hacked The Fed During The Super Bowl
Two days after Anonymous bragged about its latest government website breach and data dump, the United States Federal Reserve admitted that it had been hacked and robbed. "The Federal Reserve system is aware that information was obtained by exploiting a temporary vulnerability in a website vendor product," a Fed spokesperson told Reuters... Read More »
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State CIOs Eye Enterprise IT, More Federal Flexibility
Interoperability, IT funding and the yet-to-be-built public safety broadband network are a few of the national issues weighing heavy on the minds of state CIOs in these early days of 2013. Read More »
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Storming the Government Castle
Open source software seems like a perfect fit for government IT projects. Developers can take advantage of existing code bases and, it's hoped, mold that code to their needs quickly and at less cost than developing code from scratch. Over the last few years, governments in the U.S. and abroad have been more closely embracing open source. However, agencies at all levels of U.S. government are still wary of open source and can be reluctant to adopt it. It's still not easy for government projects to use open source or for developers employed in the public sector to contribute their work to open source project...
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Strengthening Protection of Patient Medical Data
Americans seeking medical care expect a certain level of privacy. Indeed, the need for patient privacy is a principle dating back to antiquity, and is codified in U.S. law, most notably the Privacy Rule of the 1996 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which establishes standards that work toward protecting patient health information. But the world of information is rapidly changing, and in this environment, U.S. rules fall precariously short in protecting our medical data...
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Successful Hacker Attack Could Cripple U.S. Infrastructure, Experts Say
A report tying the Chinese military to computer attacks against American interests has sent a chill through cyber-security experts, who worry that the very lifelines of the United States — its energy pipelines, its water supply, its banks — are increasingly at risk. Read More »
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Sure Strategies for Improving Health and Education: 2020 and Beyond
Our paths cross as we enter a new decade and consider the next ten years can lead to marked improvements in healthcare delivery - something sorely needed but doable. To that end, we've identified three key developments that can and should be implemented. These are not the only needed improvements and avenues to be pursued; that would take a book or a longer article. So, we've focused on what are, for us, three of the most innovative possibilities. One added word: some of the three innovations or aspects of them may strike readers as fanciful or imaginary or over-the-proverbial-top. But, the speed with which technology is changing, the pressing need for solutions and our capacities to consider new paradigms for solving old problems are converging.
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The Age of Hacking Brings a Return to the Physical Key
With all the news about Yahoo accounts being hacked and other breaches of digital security, it’s easy to wonder if there’s any real way to keep unauthorized users out of our email and social media accounts. Everyone knows not to use the same username and password combination for every account – though many people still do. But if they follow that advice, people end up with another problem: way too many passwords to remember – 27 on average, according to a recent survey. That can lead to stress about password security, and even cause people to give up secure passwords altogether. It’s an ominous feeling, and a dangerous situation...
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The Biggest Cyberthreat To Companies Could Come From The Inside
A recent attack against Morgan Stanley that exposed hundreds of thousands of customer accounts was an inside job, a threat experts say is nearly impossible to stop...
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The CISPA-Zombie Won’t Die. Instead, It Changed Its Name To CISA And It’s Here To Violate Your Privacy.
On Tuesday, the Senate Intelligence Committee met in secret and approved the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2014 (CISA)(S. 2588). The bill started out in bad shape, and privacy advocates across the country spoke out about our concerns...
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The Medicare Machine: Patient Details of 'Any Australian' for Sale on Darknet
A darknet trader is illegally selling the Medicare patient details of any Australian on request by “exploiting a vulnerability” in a government system, raising concerns that a health agency may be seriously compromised. An investigation by Guardian Australia can reveal that a darknet vendor on a popular auction site for illegal products claims to have access to any Australian’s Medicare card details and can supply them on request...
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The New Bioterrorism? The Hacked Medical Device
A time-and-technology challenged FDA, proliferation of software-controlled medical devices in and outside of hospitals, and growth of hackers have resulted in medical technology that’s riddled with malware. Furthermore, lack of security built into the devices makes them ripe for hacking and malfeasance. Read More »
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The Racial Reality That Makes Online Security Bills So Scary
The Internet’s been ablaze this week with news about CISPA, a new cybersecurity bill that’s set to be introduced on the House floor next week. Vocal critics have likened it to SOPA, the doomed anti-piracy bill that caused widespread outrage and protests earlier this year. Even though the two bills are markedly different, they both touch on very sensitive topics for people: just how public is the private information we share? And who has the right to share it?
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The Ultimate Goal Of The NSA Is Total Population Control
At least 80% of all audio calls, not just metadata, are recorded and stored in the US, says whistleblower William Binney – that's a 'totalitarian mentality'...
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