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What to Expect with Cyber Surprise
The cyber domain has three critical characteristics which differentiate it from the kinetic domain: it is connected across the globe; it is pervasive in the economic life-blood of the world; and it is asymmetric in its ability to enable power projection. What, then, can we expect from a strategic surprise which we expect Russia to launch as part of its campaign in Ukraine? “We are about to see what war in the cyber era really looks like and, truthfully, nobody can tell you what will happen next,” Paul Rosenzweig writes.
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There Is No Cyber “Shock and Awe”: Plausible Threats in the Ukraine Conflict
People are talking about cyberwar again. Claims are made that any Russian military action in Ukraine will be preceded, accompanied by, and followed by devastating cyberattacks aimed at Ukraine and countries assisting Ukraine. Lennart Maschmeyer and Nadita Kostyuk write that “Cyber operations are not strategically irrelevant, nor are surprise cyber strikes of strategic relevance impossible. Rather, in assessing their threat we should distinguish what is possible in theory from what is feasible, and thus probable, in practice.”
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Cultivating Media Literacy in the Age of Deepfakes
People turn to digital media for news at high rates, but at the same time algorithms for manipulating media continue to grow more powerful. Online course from the MIT Center for Advanced Virtuality seeks to empower students and educators to critically engage with media.
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New Cybersecurity Advisory: Protecting Cleared Defense Contractor Networks Against Russian Hackers
Over the last two years, CISA, FBI and NSA continue observing regular targeting of both large and small Cleared Defense Contractors and subcontractors. Agencies strongly encourage organizations to apply recommended mitigation steps to reduce risk of compromise.
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Possible Russian Cyberattacks Could Reverberate Globally: U.S., Allies
The United States and its Western allies are bracing for the possibility that a Russian invasion of Ukraine would have a ripple effect in cyberspace, even if Western entities are not initially the intended target.
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The Three Leading Cyber Risks: Misinformation, Disinformation, and Fake News
The risks associated with misleading information can have a profoundly negative impact. A study aims to provide recommendations on responding to the new digital age challenges.
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New Cybersecurity Advisory: Protecting Cleared Defense Contractor Networks Against Russian Hackers
Over the last two years, CISA, FBI and NSA continue observing regular targeting of both large and small Cleared Defense Contractors and subcontractors. Agencies strongly encourage organizations to apply recommended mitigation steps to reduce risk of compromise.
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Getting Better at Telling Misinformation from Reliable Expert Consensus
Psychology researchers have shown how to better communicate key messages and avoid misinformation.
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China Suspected of Targeting U.S. Organizations with Cyberattacks
Media giant News Corp is investigating a cyberattack that has accessed the email and documents of some of its employees and journalists. “Mandiant assesses that those behind this activity have a China nexus, and we believe they are likely involved in espionage activities to collect intelligence to benefit China’s interests,” Dave Wong, Mandiant vice president and incident responder, said.
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CISA Supports Inaugural U.S. Cyber Games
CISA last week announces its founding sponsorship of the first-ever US Cyber Team, which will compete, as part of the US Cyber Games, in the International Cybersecurity Challenge (ICC) June 14-17, 2022 in Athens, Greece. “Cyber competitions are a fundamental element of developing the next generation of cybersecurity talent. Games help motivate the future workforce, and keep the current workforce sharp, maintaining a thriving community of cybersecurity professionals,” noted CISA Director Jen Easterly.
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The U.S. Warning of a Fake Russian Video Isn’t Alex Jones Territory
The U.S. claim that Russia was planning to release a fake film showing a Ukrainian attack, which the Kremlin would then use to justify further invading the country. The accusation is consistent with Russia’s current disinformation campaigns and its past use of fabricated evidence. Calling out the potential fake video also limits Moscow’s ability to credibly rationalize war based on similar lies.
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Africa embraces Huawei technology despite security concerns
Shunned in the Global North due to privacy and security issues, Huawei is a front-runner in Africa. But the Chinese giant’s data collection methods may also appeal to authoritarian regimes as a way to cling to power.
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Blocking Microgrid Cyberattacks to Keep Power Flowing
Detection methods that identify the weaknesses in smart power grids will prevent cyberattacks from disrupting supply to critical infrastructure.
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U.S. Mired in “Heightened Threat Environment”: DHS
DHS, in its updated National Terrorism Advisory System bulletin released Monday, says that the prevalence of conspiracy theories and bad or misleading information, online and in social media forums, is keeping the United States in a state of heightened alert when it comes to possible terror attacks. DHS warns that while many of the top threat streams have changed little over the past year, almost all of them are being amplified by the information environment.
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Battling Disinformation
Counterspeech is a strategy to oppose hate speech and falsehoods online. It works by flooding a post that is hateful or misleading with comments that are positive or that reinforce the facts. Citizens are the drivers of counterspeech and can even form special groups to coordinate their efforts.
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More headlines
The long view
States Rush to Combat AI Threat to Elections
This year’s presidential election will be the first since generative AI became widely available. That’s raising fears that millions of voters could be deceived by a barrage of political deepfakes. Congress has done little to address the issue, but states are moving aggressively to respond — though questions remain about how effective any new measures to combat AI-created disinformation will be.
Ransomware Attacks: Death Threats, Endangered Patients and Millions of Dollars in Damages
A ransomware attack on Change Healthcare, a company that processes 15 billion health care transactions annually and deals with 1 in 3 patient records in the United States, is continuing to cause massive disruptions nearly three weeks later. The incident, which started on February 21, has been called the “most significant cyberattack on the U.S. health care system” by the American Hospital Association. It is just the latest example of an increasing trend.
Chinese Government Hackers Targeted Critics of China, U.S. Businesses and Politicians
An indictment was unsealed Monday charging seven nationals of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) with conspiracy to commit computer intrusions and conspiracy to commit wire fraud for their involvement in a PRC-based hacking group that spent approximately 14 years targeting U.S. and foreign critics, businesses, and political officials in furtherance of the PRC’s economic espionage and foreign intelligence objectives.
Autonomous Vehicle Technology Vulnerable to Road Object Spoofing and Vanishing Attacks
Researchers have demonstrated the potentially hazardous vulnerabilities associated with the technology called LiDAR, or Light Detection and Ranging, many autonomous vehicles use to navigate streets, roads and highways. The researchers have shown how to use lasers to fool LiDAR into “seeing” objects that are not present and missing those that are – deficiencies that can cause unwarranted and unsafe braking or collisions.
Tantalizing Method to Study Cyberdeterrence
Tantalus is unlike most war games because it is experimental instead of experiential — the immersive game differs by overlapping scientific rigor and quantitative assessment methods with the experimental sciences, and experimental war gaming provides insightful data for real-world cyberattacks.