Attorney General Bill Barr, along with officials from the United Kingdom and Australia, is set to publish an open letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg asking the company to delay plans for end-to-end encryption across its messaging services until it can guarantee the added privacy does not reduce public safety. From a report: A draft of the letter, dated Oct. 4,…
Tag: Homeland Security
Government Plans To Collect DNA From Detained Immigrants
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The New York Times: The Trump administration is moving to begin collecting DNA samples from hundreds of thousands of people booked into federal immigration custody each year for entry into a national criminal database, an immense expansion of the use of technology to enforce the nation’s immigration laws. Senior officials at the Department of…
281 Alleged Email Scammers Arrested In Massive Global Sweep
The Department of Justice today announced the arrest of 281 suspects in connection with email scams and wire transfer fraud. The action is the biggest of its kind yet against this type of digital scammer, and is a strong symbol of law enforcement’s sense of urgency in trying to contain a rapidly growing threat. Wired reports: You’re familiar with crimes like…
COBOL Turns 60. Why It Will Outlive Us All
ZDNet remembers when the only programming languages “were machine and assembler,” until Burroughs Corporation programmer Mary Hawes proposed a vendor-neutral language with an English-like vocabulary. (Grace Hopper suggested they approach the Department of Defense, leading to a summit of 41 computer users and manufacturers at the Pentagon in 1959.) But ZDNet argues that 60 years later, COBOL isn’t done yet. In…
US To Collect Social Media Profiles From Immigrants, Asylum Seekers, and Refugees
The Department of Homeland Security plans to expand its social media profile collection program from US visa applicants to also include data from immigrants, asylum seekers, and refugees. From a report: The DHS published a notice on the federal registry describing its future data collection practice this week. The agency plans to ask immigrants, asylum seekers, and refugees to provide usernames…
US Officials Fear Ransomware Attack Against 2020 Election
The U.S. government plans to launch a program in roughly one month that narrowly focuses on protecting voter registration databases and systems ahead of the 2020 presidential election. From a report: These systems, which are widely used to validate the eligibility of voters before they cast ballots, were compromised in 2016 by Russian hackers seeking to collect information. Intelligence officials are…
It Was Sensitive Data From a US Anti-Terror Program — and Terrorists Could Have Gotten To It For Years, Records Show
The Department of Homeland Security stored sensitive data from the nation’s bioterrorism defense program on an insecure website where it was vulnerable to attacks by hackers for over a decade, according to government documents reviewed by The Times. From a report: The data included the locations of at least some BioWatch air samplers, which are installed at subway stations and other…
Lawmakers, Intelligence Officials Welcomed To This Year’s Def Con Conference
“Multiple members of congress, dozens of congressional staffers and members of the intelligence community are gathering in Las Vegas this weekend to rub shoulders with hackers at Def Con,” reports CNN: Washington’s embrace of the hacking community comes amid heightened awareness of the threat of cyber attacks in the wake of the 2016 US presidential election and lawmakers realizing they need…
Louisiana Governor Declares State Emergency After Local Ransomware Outbreak
Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards has activated a state-wide state of emergency in response to a wave of ransomware infections that have hit multiple school districts. ZDNet reports: The ransomware infections took place this week and have impacted the school districts of three North Louisiana parishes — Sabine, Morehouse, and Ouachita. IT networks are down at all three school districts, and…
‘We’re Not Being Paranoid’: US Warns Of Spy Dangers Of Chinese-Made Drones
Drones have become an increasingly popular tool for industry and government. But the Department of Homeland Security is warning that drones manufactured by Chinese companies could pose security risks, including that the data they gather could be stolen. From a report: The department sent out an alert on the subject on May 20, and a video on its website notes that…