Tag Archive for: NPR

The White House Announces Additional Steps To Combat Ransomware : NPR

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The big meatpacker JBS faced a ransomware attack in early June. JBS paid a ransom of $11 million to cyberattackers.

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The big meatpacker JBS faced a ransomware attack in early June. JBS paid a ransom of $11 million to cyberattackers.

Chet Strange/Getty Images

The Biden administration on Thursday announced new initiatives meant to combat growing domestic and foreign cyber threats.

The White House has launched a ransomware task force to help coordinate its efforts, a senior administration official told reporters Wednesday evening.

The federal government will also launch stopransomware.gov, a website of preventative resources geared at assisting businesses and state and local governments with cybersecurity-related issues.

And the Biden administration will begin what it’s calling a Rewards for Justice program, a State Department effort offering up to $10 million for information that leads to the identification of state-sanctioned cyber activity against key infrastructure.

The additional steps come two months after President Biden signed an executive order focused on increasing federal cybersecurity protections.

And they come in the wake of multiple large-scale cyberattacks, including to SolarWinds, Colonial Pipeline and JBS, a meat processor.

The steps from the White House also follow a major Russian-linked ransomware group reportedly going offline this week. The cause of the entity’s going offline is unknown.

The departments of State and Treasury also plan to work on increased regulation of virtual currency and focus on its role in spreading ransomware attacks, the administration official said.

NPR’s Franco Ordoñez contributed to this report.

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The Food Supply Chain May Be Vulnerable To Cyberattacks : NPR

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Workers prep poultry at the meatpacking company JBS in the Brazilian state of Paraná in 2017. A recent ransomware attack against JBS is raising concerns about cybersecurity at food companies.

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Workers prep poultry at the meatpacking company JBS in the Brazilian state of Paraná in 2017. A recent ransomware attack against JBS is raising concerns about cybersecurity at food companies.

Eraldo Peres/AP

A recent ransomware attack on the world’s biggest meatpacker is raising questions about cybersecurity in the food industry and about whether the industry is so concentrated in a few hands it is more vulnerable to sudden shocks.

The company, Brazil-based JBS, is a giant in the meat industry, with operations all over the world. The attack forced it to shut down several plants in the U.S. and Australia, which briefly rattled beef markets. But the plants soon came back online, and JBS downplayed the impact, saying it lost less than a day’s worth of production. The company admitted it had paid $11 million in ransom to the hackers.

But according to John Hoffman, a senior research fellow at the Food Protection and Defense Institute at the University of Minnesota, the attack has continued to reverberate. Hoffman says he’s receiving a wave of inquiries about cybersecurity from industry executives who previously were inclined to disregard his warnings.

Hacks Are Prompting Calls For A Cyber Agreement, But Reaching One Would Be Tough

“People just didn’t accept that it was that big of a risk,” he says. “I think that’s changed today. I’ve already heard from folks in government [that] it’s changed. People are looking at this and saying, ‘OK, we’ve got to do something.’ “

According to Hoffman, many food companies’ computer systems are vulnerable. “If you go…

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After A Major Hack, U.S. Looks To Fix A Cyber ‘Blind Spot’ : NPR

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Army Gen. Paul Nakasone, director of the National Security Agency, says the U.S. has a ‘blind spot’ when it comes to foreign intelligence services that effectively carry out cyber spying from inside the U.S. He testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee on March 25.

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Anna Moneymaker/New York Times via AP

Army Gen. Paul Nakasone, director of the National Security Agency, says the U.S. has a ‘blind spot’ when it comes to foreign intelligence services that effectively carry out cyber spying from inside the U.S. He testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee on March 25.

Anna Moneymaker/New York Times via AP

The National Security Agency considers itself the world’s most formidable cyber power, with an army of computer warriors who constantly scan the wired world. Yet by law, the NSA collects intelligence abroad, and not inside the U.S.

U.S. rivals like Russia are aware of this blind spot and know how to exploit it, as the NSA director, Army Gen. Paul Nakasone, explained recently to the Senate Armed Services Committee.

“We may see what’s occurring outside of the United States, but when it comes into the United States, our adversaries are moving very quickly,” Nakasone testified on March 25. “They understand the laws and the policies that we have within our nation, and so they’re utilizing our own infrastructure, our own Internet service providers, to create these intrusions.”

U.S. Cyber Weapons Were Leaked — And Are Now Being Used Against Us, Reporter Says

In a major breach last year, hackers widely believed to be from Russia’s foreign intelligence service, the SVR, stealthily placed malware on a software update produced by the Texas company Solar Winds.

No one had reason to be suspicious, or the legal authority to…

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High-Profile Figures In Jordan Arrested For ‘Security Reasons’ : NPR

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Jordan’s Prince Hamzah Bin Al-Hussein, the half-brother of King Abdullah II, said Saturday that he’s been placed under house arrest, a claim disputed by authorities.

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Jordan’s Prince Hamzah Bin Al-Hussein, the half-brother of King Abdullah II, said Saturday that he’s been placed under house arrest, a claim disputed by authorities.

Khalil Mazraawi/AFP via Getty Images

Jordan government officials arrested high-profile members of the Kingdom on Saturday, citing the nation’s “security and stability” amid ongoing investigations.

Petra, the official state news agency, reported that Sharif Hassan bin Zaid, a member of the royal family, and Basem Ibrahim Awadallah, a former head of the royal court who formerly served as finance minister and planning minister, are among those detained “for security reasons.” As well, Prince Hamzah bin Hussein, the half-brother of King Abduullah II and former crown prince, said he’s been placed under house arrest — a claim disputed by authorities.

In a video statement sent to the BBC later on Saturday, Hamzah had strong words for the security officials who he said had detained him at his home as “a warning.” In it, the prince says the country’s military chief told him not to interact or communicate with other people. The former crown prince said his security detail was removed and that his cell phone and internet services were disabled. He said that satellite internet, his remaining mode of communication, was also under threat.

He said that Jordan’s crackdown on any sort of criticism has stoked fear in the country.

“Even to criticize a small aspect of a policy leads to arrest and abuse by security services and it’s reached a point where no one is able to speak or express…

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