Our picksCyber threat dashboard; unlabeling of an ‘anti-Muslim extremist’; video game & climate change

Published 20 June 2018

  Most major U.S. agencies are now feeding the federal cyber threat dashboard

  North Korea to blame for string of Latin America bank hacks, insiders say

  Will your cell service work if a hurricane rolls through the coast, and will it be enough?

  The unlabeling of an ‘anti-Muslim extremist’

  Could a video game help us solve climate change??

  DHS tried to take 5 legacy IT programs agile. Here’s what happened

  North Korea is following the Saddam Hussein playbook

  Singapore a success? Yes, by mirroring Obama

Most major U.S. agencies are now feeding the federal cyber threat dashboard (Joseph Marks, Defense One)
So far, 20 of 23 major agencies are plugged into the dashboard. The last three should be on by the end of July.

North Korea to blame for string of Latin America bank hacks, insiders say (Chris Bing, Cyberscoop)
A string of devastating bank hacks across Latin America all carry North Korean fingerprints, according to three people with knowledge of the matter. Several high profile incidents that were only recently disclosed, including breaches at Mexico’s Bancomext and Chile’s Bank of Chile, saw the attacker drop destructive malware after attempting to leverage the SWIFT payment system to siphon money through fraudulent transfer requests.

Will your cell service work if a hurricane rolls through the coast, and will it be enough? (Jeff Clark, The Sun Herald)
For many Coast residents, cellphone service was spotty, at best, in the days and weeks after Hurricane Katrina. And internet service for phones was practically nonexistent.

The unlabelling of an ‘anti-Muslim extremist’ (David A. Graham, The Atlantic)
The Southern Poverty Law Center misstepped by including Maajid Nawaz on a 2016 list. But in trying to correct that mistake, it just made a new one.

Could a video game help us solve climate change? (Jesse Nichols, The Grist)
There’s a game for just about everything, from plumbers playing golf to LEGOs recreating sci-fi movies. But when it comes to climate change — arguably the greatest crisis to humanity — the playing field is pretty sparse. There’s one scientist trying to change that. Dargan Frierson runs Earth Games, a University of Washington lab designing games about climate change and environmental science. He believes a climate game might just be the solution we’ve been waiting for. But what does it take to make a game about climate change that’s also fun? Watch our video to find out!

DHS tried to take 5 legacy IT programs agile. Here’s what happened (Lauren C. Williams, FCW)
When it comes to IT acquisition, the Department of Homeland Security wants what most every agency wants: to get things done faster, cheaper and with more oversight.

North Korea is following the Saddam Hussein playbook (James Traub, Foreign Policy)
The big question for the world is whether the United States will now follow its old Iraq playbook, too.

Singapore a success? Yes, by mirroring Obama (James Jeffrey, Cipher Brief)
Ironically, Trump’s approach to stopping the most dangerous behavior of an opponent closely mirrors Obama’s approach to Iran: threats of military action coupled with strong economic sanctions and supported by an international coalition, risky direct presidential engagement (Trump at Singapore, Obama’s post-inauguration letters to the Supreme Leader), all for a limited, immediate goal (blocking North Korea’s acquisition of a viable nuclear threat to the US; and delaying Iran’s imminent acquisition of a nuclear device). While broader denuclearization is given lower priority, the two regimes’ other objectionable behaviors were dealt with vaguely, and desirable regime openings led  to immediate results. President Trump, perhaps, could have earned more credit for his Singapore accomplishments had he not raised the bar with rhetoric against his predecessor’s achievement.  There is an important part of success which comes from building on the work of those who came before us.  That, perhaps, was a relevant, contextual lesson, lost in the rhetoric.