Our picksChina a “Safe Haven” for Cybercriminals | Challenging New H-1B Visa Rules | Biometrics Systems on Amazon Cloud, and more

Published 21 October 2020

·  DHS Led the Way on Past Health Crises, but It Has Been Less Visible During the Coronavirus Outbreak

·  Cyberspace Solarium Commission Proposes Strategy to Create Trusted ICT Supply Chains

·  Pentagon Will Move Primary Biometrics Systems to Amazon Cloud

·  Business Groups, Universities File Lawsuit over New Rules Targeting H-1B Visas

·  ICAM, CDM Put Identity-Based Security Front and Center

·  Facing a Deluge of Misinformation, Colorado Takes the Offensive Against It

·  Justice Department Official Accuses China of Acting as “Safe Haven” for Cybercriminals

·  Justice Department Official Accuses China of Acting as “Safe Haven” for Cybercriminals

·  Security Pros’ Vital Role in Thwarting Election Disinformation

DHS Led the Way on Past Health Crises, but It Has Been Less Visible During the Coronavirus Outbreak (Maria Sacchetti, Washington Post)
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has a history of helping to lead the U.S. response to public-health threats such as swine flu and Ebola, standing with the nation’s top medical experts to emphasize that the threat to the nation is severe. But during the months-long coronavirus pandemic that has affected much of American society, one of the country’s largest federal agencies has been absent.

Cyberspace Solarium Commission Proposes Strategy to Create Trusted ICT Supply Chains (Jane Edwards, GovConWire)
The Cyberspace Solarium Commission has released a white paper that presents a five-pillar strategy to establish trusted supply chains for critical information and communications technologies.
The strategy calls for the U.S. to identify key technologies and equipment through public-private partnerships and government assessments; ensure minimum viable manufacturing capacity; protect supply chain from compromise through information sharing, product testing and better intelligence; stimulate a domestic market via targeted infrastructure investment; and ensure global competitiveness.

Pentagon Will Move Primary Biometrics Systems to Amazon Cloud (Aaron Boyd, Nextgov)
The move means at least two of the government’s biggest biometrics databases will live in AWS clouds.

Business Groups, Universities File Lawsuit over New Rules Targeting H-1B Visas (Alex Gangitano, The Hill)
Several top business groups and universities teamed up to file a lawsuit on Monday against the Trump administration over additional immigration reforms aimed at making it more difficult for skilled foreign workers to acquire visas. 
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), National Retail Federation (NRF), American Association of International Healthcare Recruitment, Cornell University, and the University of Southern California, among others, filed the complaint against the acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf and Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia.

ICAM, CDM Put Identity-Based Security Front and Center (Craig McCullough, Nextgov)
Agencies must be able to identify, monitor and manage all people, applications and devices that access government resources.

Facing a Deluge of Misinformation, Colorado Takes the Offensive Against It (Nick Corasaniti and Davey Alba, New York Times)
The state will combat false information on social media and even buy Google ads against it. But few states are following suit.

Justice Department Official Accuses China of Acting as “Safe Haven” for Cybercriminals (Sean Lyngaas, Cyberscoop)
China is increasingly tolerant of criminal hackers on its soil if they are willing to hack on behalf of the Chinese government, a senior U.S. Justice Department official has alleged.
Recent U.S. indictments of accused Chinese hackers indicate that the country “has become a safe haven for cybercriminals as long as they’re also doing work on behalf of the state,” John Demers, the assistant attorney general for national security, alleged in an interview for CyberTalks, the annual summit produced by Scoop News Group. “That’s very worrisome…because now you’ve got a country that’s giving free rein to criminal hackers.”

Security Pros’ Vital Role in Thwarting Election Disinformation (Mark Weatherford, Governing)
There is much that they can do to support what state and local election officials are doing to counter efforts by those who would weaken our democratic institutions through distrust and suspicion.