Security News
The Federal Communications Commission added Russian cybersecurity firm Kaspersky to its Covered List, saying it poses unacceptable risks to U.S. national security. Kaspersky services covered by this decision include information security products, solutions, and services supplied by Kaspersky or any linked companies, including subsidiaries or affiliates.
In this interview with Help Net Security, Rowland Corr, Director of National Security Intelligence at AdaptiveMobile Security, explains how mobile networks can be leveraged as part of a cyber warfare strategy, why is this a growing national concern, and how to implement defences against such sophisticated attacks. Where nations face the threat of overt military attack, mobile telecom networks can potentially be used by an attacker to further amplify advantage in offensive military operations as a force multiplier by enhancing real-time targeting capabilities.
The United States' National Security Division will wind up its "China Initiative" - an effort to combat what then-attorney general Jeff Sessions described in 2018 as "Systematic and calculated threats" posed by Beijing-backed economic espionage. "We have heard concerns from the civil rights community that the 'China Initiative' fueled a narrative of intolerance and bias," Olsen stated in a speech delivered at the National Security Institute and George Mason University.
The Federal Communications Commission has revoked China Unicom Americas' license, one of the world's largest mobile service providers, over "Serious national security concerns." China Unicom Americas is the largest foreign subsidiary of China Unicom, a Chinese state-owned telecom company.
President Joe Biden signed a national security memorandum on Wednesday to increase the security of national security systems part of critical US government networks used in military and intelligence activities when storing or transferring classified info. "Modernizing our cybersecurity defenses and protecting all federal networks is a priority for the Biden Administration, and this National Security Memorandum raises the bar for the cybersecurity of our most sensitive systems," the White House said.
Discussions on this topic took place during the Open Source Software Security Summit convened by the Biden administration on Thursday. Participants focused on three topics: preventing security defects and vulnerabilities in open source software, improving the process for finding security flaws and fixing them, and shrinking the time needed to deliver and deploy fixes.
China Telecom Americas is the largest foreign subsidiary of China Telecom Corporation, China's state-owned telecom company. "Indeed, the FCC's own review found that China Telecom Americas poses significant national security concerns due to its control and ownership by the Chinese government, including its susceptibility to complying with communist China's intelligence and cybersecurity laws that are contrary to the interests of the United States."
Zoom's ties to China are at the center of a US government investigation into the video-conferencing giant's $15bn plan to take over Five9, a California call-center-in-the-cloud. The FCC was reviewing an application [PDF] by Zoom and Five9 as part of the takeover bid until the regulator was asked by Justice Department official David Plotinsky to hold off until the committee had finished scrutinizing the overall deal.
Ultimately, the issue of national security hangs in the balance, and the best way to ensure we stay ahead of the curve is by using the cloud to "Digitally overmatch" our opponents and unlock the full potential of digital transformation. The cloud offers the ability to hyperscale in real time.
MITRE named Dana Jackson as senior vice president and general manager, MITRE National Security Sector, where he will serve as a catalyst for accelerating change in how our nation addresses its greatest national security challenges and drive solutions of national impact. He is responsible for the strategic growth and execution of MITRE's national security programs, including support to the U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. Department of Justice, and the Intelligence Community, including leading the National Security Engineering Center.