Tag Archive for: Lost

America Is Lost in a Dark Forest, But There’s a Path Out

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Sadly, in these not-so-United States, we have found our way deep into a dark forest, and the question before us is how do we find the path out of this dangerous thicket into which we have wandered? Our dire internal divisions are quite extraordinary and worrisome. And here I’m talking to you wherever you are on the political spectrum from MSNBC to Fox News. If you get up in the morning watching Morning Joe and you wrap it up with Rachel Maddow at night; or you start on the white couch over at Fox and you finish up with Sean Hannity—wherever you are on that spectrum, you ought to be concerned about the plummeting nature of our discourse with each other.

That division is the dark forest into which we have wandered, and the real challenge is that the world is not going to wait for us while we figure out how to escape. The world does not see us standing coherently together and facing the challenges and turbulence that roil the globe. This weakens us dramatically.

Consider the challenges: an ongoing global pandemic, a broken withdrawal from Afghanistan, Vladimir Putin rattling the saber of nuclear weapons, failing cyber security, fierce competition with Beijing, Iran moving apace toward a nuclear weapon, Kim Jong-un taunting with ballistic missile launches, terrorism still smoldering in many places, a damaged environment, on and on. The dangers are real, and the world will not wait while we figure out how to face these challenges together as a nation.

We must find practical ways to think through these problems and challenges or face dire consequences both internationally and here at home.

If I’ve brought you this far, you’re probably asking, “Well what do you think, Admiral? What can we do to find a path out of this Dark Forest? What are the tools we need? What should we do?

Counterintuitively, we should start by taking stock of some good news, even as we appropriately wring our hands and worry about all these external challenges and above all about our internal divisions. It’s good from time to time to step back and…

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‘Only matter of time before lives are lost’

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Another fire in another long-time vacant building in Cork City has prompted fresh calls for a joint Garda-council approach to tackle vacancy and dereliction.

There are also warnings that it is only a matter of time before lives are lost.

It has also been established that the owners of vacant or derelict properties where fires break out are not billed for the cost of extinguishing the fire — the cost falls on the taxpayer as part of the routine funding of the fire service.

It follows the latest blaze in an old vacant office building on Cork’s south docks in November, which had been secured, emptied of anything of salvageable value, and in an area which was being patrolled by security contractors.

Five units of the Cork CIty Fire Brigade responded to the blaze in the former R+H Hall offices. Picture: Cork City Fire Brigade Twitter
Five units of the Cork CIty Fire Brigade responded to the blaze in the former R+H Hall offices. Picture: Cork City Fire Brigade Twitter

Sinn Féin TD Thomas Gould, who has seen several vacant homes in his constituency damaged by suspicious fires, has now written to city council officials, calling for an urgent meeting between the local authority, gardaí and the fire service to address the issue.

“I am very concerned that a failure to secure these sites, and indeed their vacancy, is adding to the pressure of the emergency services and ultimately putting lives at risk,” he said.

“I am formally requesting that Cork City Council convene a meeting with An Garda Síochána and the fire brigade to identify potentially dangerous derelict sites and put in place an action plan to quickly secure these but also to resolve dangerous dereliction across Cork City.” 

Mr Gould also pointed out that the estimated €3m owed in outstanding derelict sites levies could, if collected, be used to acquire some of these what are in many cases dangerous sites through compulsory purchase order powers, in the hope to transform them.

Suspected arson

It comes as gardaí continue their investigation into the latest fire in a vacant property in the city, which is believed to have been started deliberately.

While in some cases, the fires have been started by people who gain unauthorised access to the properties in a bid to find shelter and keep warm, in other cases, arson is suspected.

Just after 2am on Wednesday,…

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‘Portugal’s army lost NATO documents in a hack’

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The Portuguese Armed Forces General Staff Agency (EMGFA) reportedly fell victim to a hack that resulted in the theft of sensitive NATO papers, which are currently being sold on the dark web.

EMGFA is the governmental agency responsible for controlling, planning and operating Portugal’s armed forces. The agency only discovered it had been hacked after hackers uploaded samples of the stolen data on the dark web, claiming they would sell the files to prospective buyers.

US cyber intelligence operatives discovered the sale of stolen records and notified the US embassy in Lisbon, which informed Portuguese authorities of the data breach.

The documents are extremely sensitive

A group of specialists from the National Security Office (GNS) and Portugal’s national cybersecurity center was quickly dispatched to EMGFA to thoroughly examine the organization’s network.

The revelation was first reported by Diario de Noticias, a local news outlet that claims to have validated the accuracy of the information through anonymous individuals involved in the investigations.

According to these sources, the stolen documents are of extreme importance. Their distribution might jeopardize the country’s reputation in the NATO.

Air-gapped but vulnerable

EMGFA’s computers are air-gapped, but the data breach was reportedly caused by non-secure links. The investigation’s initial finding is that the senior military authority violated its operational security standards at some point in time.

At the time of writing, the Portuguese government has made no official statement on the subject. However, the political opposition is increasing pressure for a briefing in response to the reports.

Many parliamentary representatives expressed amazement after learning that sensitive military documents were being auctioned on the internet and the country’s intelligence services had failed to identify such a significant breach.

Tip: Data privacy: from necessary security step to competitive advantage

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Sebi files FIR in cyber security incident; no sensitive data lost

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Capital markets regulator Sebi on Saturday said it has lodged a complaint against a cyber security incident noticed on its e-mail system but maintained that no sensitive data was lost.


Recently, a cyber security incident has been noticed on the e-mail system of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) which was undergoing a system upgrade and accordingly an FIR (First Information Report) as per the relevant provisions of law has been filed, the regulator said in a statement.


It, further, said that various mitigation measures were immediately taken in response to that cyber security incident including, informing CERT-IN as per the standard operating procedure, and strengthening the required security configuration of the system among others.


CERT-In is the national nodal agency for responding to computer security incidents as and when they occur.


An official spokesperson said, “It was a small incident. CERT-IN is fully in the loop. No sensitive data was lost. Root cause has been diagnosed and fixed. Prevention for future has been fully implemented”.


Sebi said that it constantly monitors its detection and prevention systems and has taken additional measures post-incident to tighten the security procedures for the implementation and migration activities.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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