Our picksA Vast and Ignored Russian Threat | The Dark Reality of Betting Against QAnon | Protecting the U.S. Food System

As Understanding of Russian Hacking Grows, So Does Alarm(David E. Sanger, Nicole Perlroth and Julian E. Barnes, New York Times)
Those behind the widespread intrusion into government and corporate networks exploited seams in U.S. defenses and gave away nothing to American monitoring of their systems.

Cyberattack on U.S. Government Is Just Part of a Vast and Ignored Russian Threat(Rebekah Koffle, Washington Times)
Russia’s recent mass-scale cyber intelligence operation, targeting multiple government agencies, corporations and think tanks, was a catastrophic event.
The Russians compromised vital U.S. infrastructure, defense and technology industries, and critical government agencies, such as the Departments of Homeland Security, Defense, State, Energy and Treasury. The attackers exhibited highly sophisticated tradecraft, exceptional operational stealth, and extreme patience and determination. 
What very few Americans realize is that this is but a single page out of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war plan for defeating America. The success of this operation resulted from a failure to recognize the systemic Russian threat to the United States and treat it with the seriousness it requires. While the American leadership class is focused on the long-range threat from China and fantasies about Mr. Putin deputizing President Trump as a secret agent, the present and ongoing danger from the Kremlin is frighteningly minimized.

Microsoft Says Russian Hackers Viewed Some of Its Source Code(Nicole Perlroth, New York Times)
The hackers gained more access than the company previously understood, though they were unable to modify code or get into its products and emails.

SolarWinds Hackers Accessed Microsoft Source Code, the Company Says(CNBC)
The hacking group behind the SolarWinds compromise was able to break into Microsoft and access some of its source code, Microsoft said on Thursday, something experts said sent a worrying signal about the spies’ ambition.
Source code — the underlying set of instructions that run a piece of software or operating system— is typically among a technology company’s most closely guarded secrets and Microsoft has historically been particularly careful about protecting it.

Relax: At Least the SolarWinds Hack Tells America It Has a Problem Worth Solving(John E. Dunn, Forbes)
If the great 2020 SolarWinds hack were a disaster movie it’d have a cast of thousands, star roles for The Pentagon, the Department of Homeland Security, the State Department, the US Treasury, and uncomfortable cameos for Microsoft, Cisco, Equifax, and aging starlet, FireEye. And yet despite the shock, don’t be surprised if everything returns to normal quickly after a closing of ranks.  People will quietly apportion blame and vested interests will quickly resurface. It’s in nobody’s interests to linger on the failings that made the attack possible, any more than it was after previous big attacks people have largely forgotten.

Everybody Spies in Cyberspace. The U.S. Must Plan Accordingly.(Amy Zegart, The Atlantic)
Because all countries engage in espionage, intrusions like Russia’s latest data hack are devilishly hard to deter.  

Ghost Town in Playas Provides High-Tech Testing for AFRL(Chris Clark, Loa Alamos Daily Post)
In a dusty ghost town in southern New Mexico, the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) is conducting some of its most important testing. Located in Hidalgo County, Playas was once a bustling “corporate town” built by the Phelps Dodge Corporation to house the workforce of a copper smelter built in 1971. Today, the Playas range provides a complete suburban setting in a 640-acre townsite with a full range of facilities.

Trump Ignores Jobs Data to Extend H-1B Visa and Immigration Bans(Stuart Anderson, Forbes)
Donald Trump ignored the low unemployment rate in computer occupations and other economic data to continue proclamations banning the entry of H-1B visa holders and nearly all categories of immigrants. The extension (until March 31, 2021) of the proclamations issued in April and June 2020 shows the danger of the authority under section 212(f), which critics say has allowed the president to override significant parts of U.S. immigration law based on personal ideology.

The Dark Reality of Betting Against QAnon(Ilana E. Strauss, The Atlantic)
The conspiracy theory has been tied to real-life danger—but before it entered the mainstream, one man stumbled upon Q in a game of political predictions

DHS, Husker Officials Talk Security of Nation’s Food System(Cara Pesek, Fence Post)
David Richardson, assistant secretary for the Department of Homeland Security’s Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office, visited the University of Nebraska–Lincoln to discuss the security and safety of the U.S. food system.