Our picksDisinformation for Hire | Time for Covidnomics | Al Qaeda Is Back, and more

Published 2 August 2021

·  Disinformation for Hire, a Shadow Industry, Is Quietly Booming

·  Justice Department Says Russians Hacked U.S. Federal Prosecutors

·  Time for Covidnomics

·  Cyber Risk in Food, Ag Sector Is Growing

·  Why a Major Alaska Earthquake Triggered Warnings but No Major Damage

·  Anjem Choudary: Islamist Hate Preacher Banned from Twitter

·  Al Qaeda Launches 1st Public Campaign in 4 Years to Encourage Lone Wolf Terrorist Attacks

·  Central Bank Digital Currencies May Pose a National Security Risk if the U.S. Waits to Lead

·  The Anti-vaccine Con Job Is Becoming Untenable

·  The Most Influential Spreader of Coronavirus Misinformation Online

Disinformation for Hire, a Shadow Industry, Is Quietly Booming  (Max Fisher, New York Times)
Back-alley firms meddle in elections and promote falsehoods on behalf of clients who can claim deniability, escalating our era of unreality.

Justice Department Says Russians Hacked U.S. Federal Prosecutors  (RFER/RL)
The U.S. Justice Department says the Russian hackers behind the massive SolarWinds cyberespionage campaign broke into the email accounts of some of the most prominent federal prosecutors’ offices in the United States during 2020.
The Justice Department said 80 percent of the Microsoft e-mail accounts used by employees in the four U.S. attorney offices in New York were breached.

Time for Covidnomics  (David Frum, The Atlantic)
Government has done what it can. Now we need to use the power of free markets to fight the pandemic.

Cyber Risk in Food, Ag Sector Is Growing  (Jennifer Whitlock, Texas Farm Bureau)
During a recent hearing before the U.S. House Agriculture Committee Subcommittee on Livestock and Foreign Agriculture, a food security and supply chain analyst told legislators advances in the food and agriculture sector have made them more susceptible to cyberattacks.
“Cyber risk is not new to the food and ag sector, but the risk of significant business disruption and national security threats from cyberattacks are growing. And evolving cyber risk in the food and ag sector is the growing dependence upon cyber-based information and operational technology systems,” Dr. Jennifer van de Ligt said. “These operational technology systems manage the most critical aspects of food production, typically have the lowest level of integrated cyber security protections and are often omitted from enterprise cybersecurity plans, protections and training.”

Why a Major Alaska Earthquake Triggered Warnings but No Major Damage  (Casey Grove, Alaska Public Media)
The magnitude 8.2 earthquake that struck off Alaska’s southwest coast Wednesday night gave nearby residents a good shake and triggered tsunami warnings, but there were no large waves or any immediate reports of major damage or injuries.
Still, it was the largest earthquake in the United States in 50 years, a classic Alaska subduction zone earthquake, where the tectonic plate beneath the Pacific Ocean is subducting — sliding under — the North American plate upon which Alaska sits.