Our picksSecuring the U.S. Water Supply | Anti-Vaxxer Parents | Antifa Arsonist Gets Four Years in Prison, and more

Published 5 May 2021

·  DHS to Suspend New Fingerprint Requirement for Spouses of H-1B Visa Holders

·  CISA: Patch Issued for Critical Pulse Secure VPN Flaw Under Active Attack

·  143 US Lawmakers Support Doubling Religious Institution Security Grants

·  Cyberspace Solarium Commissioners Concerned Over Security of Nation’s Water Supply

·  The Real Obstacle to a New Normal? Anti-Vaxxer Parents.

·  Former Leader of Neo-Nazi Atomwaffen Group Sentenced for Swatting

·  Minnesota Man Is Second Boogaloo Member to Plead to Federal Terror Charges

·  Antifa Arsonist Gets Four Years in Prison for Burning Minneapolis Police Station

·  Biden Administration Likely Retaining Trump Doctrine on Cybersecurity in Space

DHS to Suspend New Fingerprint Requirement for Spouses of H-1B Visa Holders  (Michelle Hackman, Wall Street Journal)
Delays due to visa-processing change, compounded by pandemic, left many, mostly professional Indian women, out of work.

CISA: Patch Issued for Critical Pulse Secure VPN Flaw Under Active Attack  (Jessica Davis, Health IT Security)
Ivanti released a patch for a critical zero-day authentication bypass flaw found in its Pulse Secure VPN, which CISA previously warned was under active attack.

143 US Lawmakers Support Doubling Religious Institution Security Grants  (Omri Nahmias, Jerusalem Post)
Several Jewish organizations advocated in the past two years to increase the project’s funding in light of antisemitic attacks in several states across the US.

Cyberspace Solarium Commissioners Concerned Over Security of Nation’s Water Supply  (Mariam Baksh, Nextgov)
Having succeeded in passing a number of their recommendations through the last National Defense Authorization Act, the commissioners plan to embrace an oversight role as they push for more new laws.

The Real Obstacle to a New Normal? Anti-Vaxxer Parents.  (David Axe, Daily Beast)
Vaccine skeptics have marred the rollout of safe and effective shots from the jump. Now things may get truly ugly.

Former Leader of Neo-Nazi Atomwaffen Group Sentenced for Swatting  (Rachel Weiner, Washington Post)
A former leader in a violent neo-Nazi group was sentenced Tuesday to 41 months in prison for harassing journalists who reported on his activities and others. John Cameron Denton, 27, was the Texas leader of the Atomwaffen Division when he took part in what Assistant U.S. Attorney Carina Cuellar called “the most widespread swatting conspiracy in the country” known to federal law enforcement. Swatting is the practice of making fake bomb and hostage threats to provoke an overwhelming law enforcement response. “The fear and anxiety you created in all these victims . . . will remain in their memory for far too long,”U.S. District Judge Liam O’Grady said in federal court in Alexandria. “All for you and this group to get your jollies off? It’s incomprehensible.” Atomwaffen, which calls for acts of random violence in hopes of starting a race war, was founded in 2015 on the neo-Nazi website Iron March and has been linked to several killings. One founder is now facing trial in Florida where he is accused of murdering his two roommates; the other is in prison for possession of explosives. While much of its activity occurred online, members also met for “hate camps” and traveled abroad to meet like-minded extremists in Europe.

Minnesota Man Is Second Boogaloo Member to Plead to Federal Terror Charges  (Stephen Montemayor, Star Tribune)
A second member of the antigovernment Boogaloo Bois extremist group pleaded guilty to Minnesota terrorism charges Tuesday, telling a judge that the group sought to leverage unrest after George Floyd’s police killing to raise money for its movement. Michael Robert Solomon, 31, of New Brighton, admitted Tuesday to selling silencers and other firearm components last year to people be believed were members of the Hamas terror group but who turned out to be FBI informants. “Honestly, the money was if nothing else more just to keep prepping, to purchase more firearms, more ammunition, more body armor just to prepare for what … we always called the ‘[expletive] hitting the fan,’ “ Solomon told U.S. District Judge Michael Davis in court. Solomon entered his plea in person in a St. Paul federal courtroom Tuesday. He is one of four men charged since last September to have been identified as members of the Boogaloo Bois, an armed anti-government group that rose in prominence amid the 2020 protests over COVID-19 shutdowns and police brutality. Solomon’s guilty plea comes with the possibility of a 20-year sentence. It follows a December plea from co-defendant Benjamin Ryan Teeter, a 22-year-old who traveled from North Carolina in response to a Facebook post from Solomon calling for fellow Boogaloo Bois members to join him in participating in the protests after Floyd’s death.

Antifa Arsonist Gets Four Years in Prison for Burning Minneapolis Police Station  (Opindia)
An Antifa rioter, who threw a Molotov cocktail inside a Minneapolis police station in an attempt to burn it down, has now been convicted to four years in prison. Dylan Shakespeare Robinson, aged 23, was also ordered to pay $12 million in restitution for the damage caused to the Minneapolis police station during rioting which occurred on May 28, 2020. The riot was one of the many riots and protests in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death.

Biden Administration Likely Retaining Trump Doctrine on Cybersecurity in Space  (Mariam Baksh, Nextgov)
Vice President Kamala Harris is prioritizing cybersecurity as chair of the National Space Council, an official said.