• China syndromeFederal IT, communications technology supply chain vulnerable to Chinese sabotage, espionage

    A new report examines vulnerabilities in the U.S. government information and communications technology (ICT) supply chains posed by China. The report issues a warning about the extent to which China has penetrated the technology supply chain, and calls on the U.S. government and industry to develop a comprehensive strategy for securing their technology and products from foreign sabotage and espionage.

  • CybersecurityWorld’s biggest DDoS-for-hire service taken down

    The administrators of the DDoS marketplace webstresser.org were arrested on 24 April 2018 as a result of Operation Power Off, a complex investigation led by the Dutch Police and the UK’s National Crime Agency with the support of Europol and a dozen law enforcement agencies from around the world. The webstresser.org was considered the world’s biggest marketplace to hire Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) services, with over 136 000 registered users and 4 million attacks measured by April 2018.

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  • FBIThe curious case of the twice-fired FBI analyst

    By Topher Sanders

    Said Barodi, a Muslim American, had been deemed an “excellent” employee over a decade of work with the bureau before he was fired after a run-in at an airport. He won his appeal to get his job back, only to be fired again. He says his heritage made him a target. “I was the enemy within,” he says.

  • Chemical weaponsFuture of testing and treating chlorine gas attacks

    As experts sort through questions around recent chemical attacks in Syria, future answers to quickly testing and treating those who may have been exposed to chlorine gas may lie in chlorinated lipids, says a scientist.

  • Domestic violenceExposure to domestic violence costs U.S. government $55 billion each year

    The federal government spends an estimated $55 billion annually on dealing with the effects of childhood exposure to domestic violence, according to new research. The results of a study on the national economic impact of exposure to domestic violence showed higher health-care costs, higher crime rates and lower productivity in children as they aged.

  • The Big OneNext California's Big One could kill hundreds, cause $100 billion in losses, trap 20,000 in elevators

    What will happen when the next big earthquake hits northern California? Researchers say that if a tremor similar in magnitude to the 1906 San Francisco earthquake were to hit today, it could kill 800 people, cause more than $100 billion in economic losses from the shaking and subsequent fires, and trap roughly 20,000 people in elevators across northern California.

  • Extreme weatherCalifornia suffering: Severe climate future for the state

    California is headed for a future of precipitation extremes. Researchers say that the state will experience a much greater number of extremely wet and extremely dry weather seasons — especially wet — by the end of the century. The authors also predict that there will be a major increase in the likelihood of severe flooding events, and that there will be many more quick changes from one weather extreme to the other.

  • Climate threatsLawmakers question Pruitt’s proposal to limit EPA’s use of science

    The EPA has announced new policy-making rules which, critics say, are aimed to reduce the role of science in the agency’s decisions. EPA’s proposal would limit the scientific information used in rulemaking, allow the agency to ignore scientific studies where the underlying data has not been made public, and force the agency to only use scientific data that can be reproduced. Lawmakers yesterday sent a detailed letter to EPA administrator Scott Pruitt, requesting more information on his proposal.

  • Our picksLessons from a public health catastrophe; ray guns vs trucks; Long Island hurricane barrier, and more

    · Lessons from a public health catastrophe

    · California’s deadly 1862 flood likely to repeat within 50 years, study says

    · The politics of hating (and loving) France

    · Can cities make water affordable? Detroit offers hope, and disappointment

    · The Pentagon is making a ray gun to stop truck attacks

    · Parkland shooter researched Columbine as he planned attack, state commission reveals

    · Long Islanders tour new Bedford hurricane barrier as example of flood prevention

    · How Rwanda made an astonishing recovery from genocide

  • The Russia watchA different kind of propaganda; beating Moscow at its main game; Facebook’s Russian business model, and more

    · “A different kind of propaganda”: Has America lost the information war?

    · John Bolton presided over anti-Muslim think tank

    · Who believes Russia’s fake news about ‘fake’ Syria chemical attack?

    · The Douma chemical attack – fake news about fake news on Russia’s fake news

    · ‘Enough is enough’: G7 ministers agree to call Russia out on ‘malign’ behavior

    · Beating Moscow at its main game: Espionage

    · Russia likely targeted all 50 states in 2016, but has yet to try again, DHS cyber chief says

    · Facebook’s Russian business model

    · UK warns of cyberattacks from “hostile” Russia that could target transport

  • TerrorismHamas drone maker killed in Malaysia

    A Palestinian engineer whom Hamas claimed worked for them, was shot and killed by unknown assailants in Malaysia where he taught. Hamas, the terrorist organization that exercises complete political and military control over the Gaza Strip blamed Israel for killing Fadi al-Batsh, who was described by the terrorist group’s leader, Ismail Haniyeh, as a member of Hamas with “an honorable reputation in science.”

  • The Russia connectionDeterring foreign interference in U.S. elections

    A new study analyzes five million political ads on hot-button issues which ran on Facebook in the run-up to the 2016 election. Voters in swing states like Wisconsin and Pennsylvania were disproportionately targeted with ads featuring divisive issues like guns, immigration, and race relations. The divisive ads were purchased by 228 groups – 121 of these groups had no publicly trackable information.

  • CybersecurityBitcoin more vulnerable to attack than expected

    Calculations by researchers show that Bitcoin is more vulnerable to attack than people had always assumed. If some Bitcoin users were to form a group that controls 20 percent of the currency’s computing power, they could launch an attack and, within a few days, force all other users to accept a new standard for Bitcoin.

  • CybersecurityHow cybercriminal spend their illicit gains

    A new study, drawing on first hand interviews with convicted cybercriminals, data from international law enforcement agencies, financial institutions, and covert observations conducted across the Dark Web, reveals the socio-economic and spending differences among cybercriminals. Annual earning level of successful cybercriminals push them into some of the higher income brackets.

  • SurveillanceBritain’s mass surveillance regime is directly opposing human rights

    By Matthew White

    In light of the Facebook data scandal more people are beginning to challenge the web’s pervasive surveillance culture. But few British citizens seem to be aware of the government’s own online surveillance regime – significant parts of which have been deemed unlawful.

  • Nuclear weaponsFor nuclear weapons reduction, a way to verify without revealing

    By David L. Chandler

    In past negotiations aimed at reducing the arsenals of the world’s nuclear superpowers, chiefly the U.S. and Russia, a major sticking point has been the verification process: How do you prove that real bombs and nuclear devices — not just replicas — have been destroyed, without revealing closely held secrets about the design of those weapons? New isotope-detection method could prove compliance but avoid divulging secrets.

  • In the trenchesMaking combat vehicles lighter

    The military spends several billion dollars each year on fuel consumption, which could be reduced by lessening the weight of ships, aircraft, ground vehicles, and cargo. Researchers have developed and successfully tested a novel process — called Friction Stir Dovetailing — that joins thick plates of aluminum to steel. The new process will be used to make lighter-weight military vehicles that are more agile and fuel efficient.

  • Mad camel disease“Mad camel” disease? New prion infection raises alarm

    Italian and Algerian researchers released new evidence of prion disease in three dromedary camels found in an Algerian slaughterhouse. Prion diseases can affect both humans and animals, and though inter-species transmission is rare, it can happen, as it did most famously during the bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, or “mad cow”) epidemic, which started in the late 1980s in the United Kingdom.

  • Our picksCollective cyber-defense; multibillion-dollar cloud; military AI, and more

    · DHS floats ‘collective defense’ model for cybersecurity

    · Flood of U.S. citizenship applications increases wait times, anxiety

    · Defense Department is pursuing another multibillion-dollar cloud

    · Climate change will make California’s drought-flood cycle more volatile, study finds

    · Report: Many feds don’t believe the hype about emerging tech

    · The promise and peril of military applications of artificial intelligence

    · CIA releases Morell memo clearing Haspel on destroyed tapes

  • The Russia watchRussia’s best allies: Conspiracy theorists; Russia’s MH17’s fake stories; Russia smears black activists, and more

    · How an obscure British blogger became Russia’s key witness against the White Helmets

    · Desperate for dirt on Western intelligence agencies, Russia just makes it up

    · Public radio station smears black activists: Another symptom of Russia panic

    · Troll farm takes aim at American audiences in new web campaign

    · Nobody knows who was behind half of the divisive ads on Facebook ahead of the 2016 election

    · Hackers leak Russia’s fake stories on MH17 disaster

    · European Commission Vice President Andrus Ansip warns of Russian campaign to weaponize information

    · Does the U.S. have a secret germ warfare lab on Russia’s doorstep?

    · The DNC v. Russia: The question of foreign sovereign immunity

    · U.S. government weighing sanctions against Kaspersky Lab

  • Terrorism2015 Paris attack mastermind sentenced in Belgium

    Salah Abdeslam, the mastermind of the 13 November 2015 Paris terrorist attacks, has been found guilty of attempted terrorist murder in a separate trial in Brussels, and sentenced to twenty years in prison. The Brussels trial revolved around the 15 March 2016 shootout in Brussels, which capped a 5-month search for Abdeslam. Abdeslam is to stand trial in France for his involvement in the attacks in Paris.

  • Privacy at the borderHearing Monday in lawsuit over border searches of laptops, smartphones

    The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) will appear in federal court in Boston Monday, fighting the U.S. government’s attempts to block their lawsuit over illegal laptop and smartphone searches at the country’s borders.