Tag Archive for: Courts

Czech Republic courts young African leaders with maiden ‘Cool Czechia’ study trip

/in


Between 1948 and 1989, Czechoslovakia – as it was then known – was under communist rule. For decades, there was an absence of opposition while restrictions were in place to prevent Czechs and Slovaks from travelling to non-communist countries.

But in November 1989, a hunger for change and an end to the status quo spread across the country like wildfire. Although sparked by peaceful demonstrations organised by students, renowned dissidents such as the iconic Vaclav Havel would eventually inspire the movement to grow into a clamour for political restructuring and an end to communist leadership.

By November 28 of that year, the agitation yielded fruit as the federal assembly removed the provision in the constitution which regarded the Communist Party as the controlling authority in the country. The movement would later be coined the Velvet Revolution, acclaimed as a remarkable non-violent transition of power.

Given its experience with oppression and subjugation, it is perhaps no surprise that Czechia opened its doors to the Ukrainians following the Russian invasion of the country in February 2022. Since the outbreak of the war, the country has admitted more than half a million refugees from Ukraine, with over 100,000 fully employed across different parts of Czech.

The 18-month-old war and its ripple effects have seen many Western nations realigning and restrategising their partnerships across the world.

The African allure

As Africa improves its economic and geopolitical outlook, many foreign nations are looking to boost their alliances and gain the continent’s support in multilateral fora. The Czech Republic is not left out.

Through a multi-faceted strategy, Czech is looking to expand its partnership with Africa while creating a long-lasting positive impact on the continent.

And what better demographic to forge a relationship with than young Africans on track to become important voices in their respective countries?

Enters ‘Cool Czechia: Young African Leaders Study Trip’ – an initiative conceptualised by the ministry of foreign affairs of the Czech Republic.

From July 26 to August 3, several young African leaders were invited to history-rich Prague –…

Source…

Leak probe highlights U.S. Supreme Court’s problems protecting information

/in


WASHINGTON, Jan 20 (Reuters) – The investigation into the leak of a draft of last year’s Supreme Court ruling overturning the national right to abortion laid bare a persistent problem at the top U.S. judicial body and the broader federal judiciary – creaky tech systems and lax security protocols for handling sensitive documents.

The inquiry, detailed in a 20-page report released on Thursday, failed to uncover who leaked the draft authored by Justice Samuel Alito to the news outlet Politico last May, a month before the ruling was formally issued – in part due to information technology record-keeping deficiencies.

The investigation, ordered by Chief Justice John Roberts and headed by the court’s chief security official Gail Curley, found that “technical limitations” made it “impossible” to rule out whether any employees emailed the draft to anyone else and said the court lacked the ability to identify those who printed it out.

Investigators could not search and analyze many event logs maintained by the court’s operating system because, the report said, “at the time the system lacked substantial logging and search functions.”

The report said 34 court employees – out of the 97 interviewed – acknowledged printing out the draft. The investigators found few confirmed print jobs because several printers at the court had little ability to log print jobs and many were not part of its centralized network.

Cybersecurity expert Mark Lanterman, who has conducted training at the Supreme Court, said it appeared the court could stand to bolster controls to guard against leaks but noted that even highly secure networks can remain vulnerable to bad actors.

“People – we’re the weakest link,” said Lanterman, chief technology officer at the firm Computer Forensic Services. “They could invest millions of dollars in the federal judiciary’s cybersecurity, but all it takes is one person with a motive to leak.”

Carrie Severino, a former clerk to Justice Clarence Thomas who now heads the conservative Judicial Crisis Network, said Roberts bears much of the responsibility for creating an environment where “security measures were so inadequate.”

“It’s never going be possible to perfectly protect against leaking,”…

Source…

When Cyber Criminals Come for the Courts

/in


Serious cyber incidents struck state courts in Alaska, Georgia and Texas in the past couple years, with one leaving Alaska’s courts a month without Internet and four months without connection to the executive branch.

During the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) eCourts conference in Las Vegas this week, court administrators and CIOs explained what went wrong and the lessons they learned about recovery and prevention.

HOW TEXAS GOT HIT

In May 2020 a ransomware attack hit Texas courts in the early morning hours, while IT staff were asleep. It affected servers at each of the state’s two high courts and at its 14 intermediate appellate courts, explained Casey Kennedy, CIO for Texas’ Office of Court Administration.

Hackers likely used a phishing campaign to take over a regular user email account, then used a zero-day exploit to grant the account administrator-level privileges. From there, they moved laterally to find a juicier target.

“We could watch them jump from server to server until they found our domain controller … the machine that stores all your usernames and all your passwords,” Kennedy said.

Attackers then attempted to introduce a variety of viruses, but the anti-virus thwarted most attempts — until perpetrators switched to a more subtle, living-off-the-land style attack.

Attackers opened the Notepad application and suspended the application from memory to stop it running. They next wrote a virus into Notepad in memory and then unsuspended it, Kennedy said. This tricked the system into thinking it was just running a legitimate program — Notepad — when in truth it was now running a virus. Perpetrators were able to then deploy the virus throughout computers on the network.

THE POST-INCIDENT WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY

There was one silver lining, though. Following a cyber incident, the non-IT sides of government tend to become newly receptive to cybersecurity proposals, and abandon complaints about defense measures causing frictions. That mindset lasts about six months, Kennedy said, and is an opportunity to push through policies like strong password requirements, mandatory multifactor…

Source…

Porter County school records hacked; Social Security and other employee data targeted, officials say | Crime and Courts

/in




Duneland School Corp.

Chesterton High School is shown. Employees of the Duneland School Corp. have been notified that their Social Security numbers, dates of birth and other personal information may have been accessed during a recent computer hacking.



Doug Ross, File, The Times


CHESTERTON — Employees of the Duneland School Corp. have been notified that their Social Security numbers, dates of birth and other personal information may have been accessed during a recent computer hacking.

“We recommend that all current and former employees, and the beneficiaries and dependents of those employees, remain vigilant for signs of unauthorized activity by reviewing any statements that they receive relating to their health insurance,” the school system said. “If they identify any charges or activity that they did not authorize, please contact the insured or provider immediately.”

This episode of the “Riding Shotgun with NWI Cops” series takes viewers into the midst of flames and smoke with Region firefighters.






School officials said they were tipped off to the hacking when on Oct. 27, they discovered that certain systems within their computer network were unavailable.

“We immediately began to investigate, contacted law enforcement, a cybersecurity firm was engaged and steps were taken to address the incident and restore operations,” the school corporation said. “We also implemented additional safeguards and technical security measures, including multi-factor authentication for all…

Source…