Tag: Islands | SpinSafe

Visit by Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Vivian Balakrishnan to the Cook Islands for the 52nd Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting, 9 to 11 November 2023

November 11, 2023/in Internet Security

Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Vivian Balakrishnan visited Cook Islands from 9 to 11 November 2023 to attend the 52^nd Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) Leaders Meeting, marking the first time that Singapore participated in the PIF Leaders Meeting as a Dialogue Partner.

Minister Balakrishnan delivered remarks at the 2050 Pacific Prosperity High-Level Thematic Dialogue on 10 November 2023. He highlighted that Singapore viewed relations with the PIF as strategic. As fellow Small Island Developing States, Singapore and the Pacific Islands share a commitment to tackling global challenges, particularly the existential issue of climate change. Over the past 30 years, Singapore has shared our development experience with more than 5,800 Pacific officials under the Singapore Cooperation Programme.

Minister Balakrishnan announced the launch of a three-year customised technical assistance package for the Pacific named the “Singapore-Pacific Resilience and Knowledge Sharing” (SPARKS) package. The SPARKS package comprises courses in climate resilience, cybersecurity and international law. These courses will support the Pacific’s capacity building efforts in priority areas under the PIF’s 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent, the blueprint for charting the region’s future. The transcript of Minister Balakrishnan’s remarks and a factsheet on the SPARKS package are at Annexes A and B.

During his visit, Minister Balakrishnan met several leaders from the Pacific, including PIF Chair and Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown, Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka, French Polynesia President Moetai Brotherson, Kiribati President Taneti Maamau, New Caledonia President Louis Mapou, Tonga Prime Minister Siaosi Sovaleni, Palau Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Gustav Aitaro, Solomon Islands Minister for Foreign Affairs and External Trade Jeremiah Manele, and PIF Secretary General Henry Puna. Minister Balakrishnan had good discussions with these leaders on the Pacific’s priorities as well as how Singapore can work with them both bilaterally and multilaterally.

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MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

SINGAPORE

11 NOVEMBER…

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Will security concerns slow down Rhode Island’s speedy vote count?

November 28, 2022/in Internet Security

A mere hour after polls closed on Election Day, while many states were kicking off days of ballot counting, Rhode Islanders watching closely knew who would win all of the key statewide and federal races, including the ultra-competitive 2nd Congressional District battle.

News organizations were able to call races (and meet deadlines) at hours that a few years ago would have been considered unthinkably early and get a head start formulating their post-vote takeaways.

It hasn’t always been so fast.

A polling site in Newport County on Election Day.

Rhode Island’s rapid election reporting is partly a consequence of its ultra-compact geography and the centralization of its elections bureaucracy compared to larger states where counties play a big role.

And it’s partly because of decisions Rhode Island officials made a few years ago that turned it into the only state in the country where 100% of voting machines transmit results wirelessly.

The vote-scanning machines into which voters feed their ballots, called DS200s, have modems beam results directly from local polling places to the state Board of Elections headquarters in Cranston, where they are then posted for the public.

The modems were hailed as a major technological upgrade when Rhode Island Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea leased the current voting equipment before the 2016 election.

But after Russian interference in that presidential vote alarmed officials throughout the country, they’ve become a potential liability as well.

Any information technology system that is connected to the internet for any period of time theoretically can be infiltrated by cyber criminals or terrorists.

So, after 2016, some states and counties that had connected equipment took them offline and went back to delivering results by phone or in person. (In several states, some counties use modems to transmit results, but it is not done statewide.)

Rhode Island officials also were concerned.

Fearing hackers in the run-up to the 2020 presidential vote, the state Board of Elections investigated the modem question while preparing for a needed upgrade from 3G to 4G. The board asked information technology professionals for advice and the National Guard for help.

Ultimately, they decided not to try to change equipment or…

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China accused of launching ‘cyber war’ over contested islands – FedScoop

August 16, 2016/in Internet Security

FedScoop

China accused of launching 'cyber war' over contested islands
FedScoop
China, in pursuit of its territorial claims in the resource-rich South China Sea, is resorting to low-level cyber warfare against the Philippines and Vietnam — the two nations who recently won an international legal case against the Communist government.

cyber warfare – read more

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