Tag Archive for: Baseless

Baseless fraud claims are hurting election security in this Michigan town

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Welcome to The Cybersecurity 202! Cybersecurity Awareness Month is officially over. Thanks for sticking with this newsletter as we enter National Fun with Fondue Month. 

Below: An Iran-linked hacking group is threatening to out those using an Israeli LGBT dating app, and Microsoft won a big NSA cloud-computing contract. 

Trump-backed conspiracy theories are endangering election security in another small town



(Amanda Voisard/for The Washington Post)

© Amanda Voisard/for The Washington Post
(Amanda Voisard/for The Washington Post)

A second local election official who parroted former president Donald Trump’s baseless election fraud claims is now under police investigation for how she handled voting equipment.

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Stephanie Scott (R), clerk of tiny Adams Township in Michigan, potentially made her township’s election equipment more vulnerable to hacking when she allegedly removed a tablet from an election machine that counts votes from paper ballots and may have tampered with it before police recovered it, the Associated Press reported.

Whaaaat?

A few days earlier, state officials barred Scott from running her township’s elections after she resisted signing off on state-required logic and accuracy testing for election equipment. Scott has echoed conspiracy theories from Trump, saying she doesn’t trust the election equipment and suggested the testing may have been cover for state officials to rig vote tabulators. 

“The county clerk’s office and now Secretary of State are demanding I drop off my machine for unfettered access, and God only knows doing what to it,” she told the nonprofit news organization Michigan Bridge. “When you have the fox guarding the hen house, somebody’s got to stand up and guard those hens.”

Scott also blocked a contractor from performing preventive maintenance on voting equipment. 

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson (D) ordered the clerk in neighboring Hillsdale County to supervise Adams Township elections after Scott was stripped of the responsibility. 

“The secretary will continue fighting to hold accountable anyone who threatens the integrity or security of Michigan elections,” a Benson spokeswoman said. 

Facts

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BlackBerry Prevails Against MobileIron’s Baseless Extortion Claims

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BlackBerry Limited (NYSE: BB; TSX: BB) today announced that earlier this week, a California federal court approved a stipulation submitted by MobileIron dismissing with prejudice claims MobileIron filed earlier this year alleging that BlackBerry attempted to “extort” MobileIron into entering a patent licensing agreement. As a result, MobileIron will have to pay BlackBerry’s costs and attorney’s fees in defending against those claims.

In its complaint filed earlier this year, MobileIron claimed that BlackBerry attempted “civil extortion” by sending MobileIron notices of patent infringement.  But as BlackBerry maintained throughout the suit, BlackBerry’s efforts to enforce its patent rights were at all times proper, and MobileIron’s claims to the contrary were both “abusive” and “meritless.” The dismissal of MobileIron’s claims vindicates BlackBerry’s position and the propriety of BlackBerry’s licensing practices.

“BlackBerry is a pioneer in mobile security and enterprise software and has always stood behind its technologies and licensing practices,” said Steve Rai , Chief Financial Officer, BlackBerry. “We are gratified that these meritless claims have been definitively put to rest and will continue to vigorously defend BlackBerry’s position. We appreciate the change in direction that Ivanti, MobileIron’s new owner, has taken with respect to this suit and look forward to working with them to reconcile the remaining open items.”

BlackBerry’s portfolio consists of approximately 38,000 worldwide patents and applications covering a wide array of technologies including wireless communications, networking infrastructure, acoustics, messaging, enterprise software, operating systems, virtualization and cybersecurity.

About BlackBerry
BlackBerry (NYSE: BB; TSX: BB) provides intelligent security software and services to enterprises and governments around the world. The company secures more than 500M endpoints including over 175M cars on the road today.  Based in Waterloo, Ontario , the company leverages AI and machine learning to deliver innovative solutions in the areas of cybersecurity, safety and data privacy solutions,…

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