Cybersecurity and Cyberwarfare

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai said he shares the concerns of lawmakers about espionage threats from Chinese smartphone maker Huawei Technologies and plans to take “proactive steps” to ensure the integrity of the US communications supply chain. In a March 20 letter to lawmakers, Chairman Pai offered no specifics on his future actions. He said the FCC does not purchase or use Huawei or ZTE products or equipment, “and I do not expect that would change if a major US communications company partnered with Huawei.”

Apparently, the Federal Communications Commission is considering a new rule to further curb the US business of Huawei Technologies, making it harder for small and rural carriers to purchase gear from Chinese telecom-equipment makers. Such a move would further escalate the government’s recent campaign against the cellular-technology giant and its Chinese peers over what the Trump administration says are national-security concerns.

The Trump administration announced sanctions and criminal indictments against an Iranian hacker network it said was involved in “one of the largest state-sponsored hacking campaigns” ever prosecuted by the United States, targeting hundreds of US and foreign universities, as well as dozens of US companies and government agencies, and the United Nations. None of the alleged hackers were direct employees of the Iranian government, but all worked at the behest of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, officials said.

The Trump administration imposed fresh financial sanctions on Russian government hackers and spy agencies to punish Moscow for interfering in the 2016 presidential election, and for a cyberattack against Ukraine and other countries that officials have characterized as “the most destructive and costly” in history. Sanctions also were imposed on individuals known as “trolls” and the Russian organizations that supported their efforts to undermine the election. Additionally, the administration alerted the public that Russia is targeting the U.S.

The House Communications Subcommittee held a hearing continuing its oversight role of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). Chairman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) spoke to the need to maintain America’s status as a global leader in wireless technologies. In his opening remarks, full Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) stressed the importance of accurate broadband mapping in efforts to expand broadband internet access. David Redl, Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information, NTIA, U.S.

For all the fire and fury over network neutrality, the debate is increasingly irrelevant. No matter how it is resolved—if it is ever resolved—it will have little real-world impact. Because while we are mired in an intractable squabble, technology and the issues we must face are swiftly moving on. Net neutrality policy does not remotely address the issues companies and consumers are facing today and likely will face in the future.

A new technique that abuses poorly secured servers is fueling record-breaking denial-of-service attacks, along with notes demanding the targets pay hefty ransoms for the debilitating flood of junk traffic to stop. Memcached, a database caching system for speeding up websites and networks, lets DDoS vandals amplify their attacks by an unprecedented factor of 51,000. That means a single home computer with a 100 megabit-per-second upload capacity from its ISP is capable of bombarding a target with a once-unimaginable 5 terabits per second of traffic, at least in theory.

National Security Agency Director Mike Rogers said that the United States hasn’t done enough to deter Russian meddling in national politics, even as he acknowledged that President Donald Trump hasn’t directed cybersecurity officials to take more aggressive offensive actions against Moscow.  “I believe that President Putin has clearly come to the conclusion that, there’s little price to pay here and therefore I can continue this activity,” Rogers told the Senate Armed Services Committee.  Rogers’ testimony was a reminder of the gap between the president, who has downplayed Russian interferen

Russian military spies hacked several hundred computers used by authorities at the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in South Korea, according to US intelligence. They did so while trying to make it appear as though the intrusion was conducted by North Korea, what is known as a “false-flag” operation. Analysts surmise the disruption was retaliation against the International Olympic Committee for banning the Russian team from the Winter Games due to doping violations. As of early February, the Russian military agency GRU had access to as many as 300 Olympic-related computers, according to an intelli

In recent weeks, former Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler has pontificated about the current Commission’s lack of action on the issue of Internet network security. At the risk of engaging, I find it necessary to call out the gibberish in his recent writings.