November 11 2022

This Week in Washington 

• Associated Press: No instances of digital interference are known to have affected the counting of the midterm vote after a tense Election Day in which officials were closely monitoring domestic and foreign threats.
• FedScoop: The National Institute of Standards and Technology wants feedback on a proposed project that would pilot solutions to common cybersecurity risks faced by water and wastewater plants.
• Axios: U.S. efforts to crack down on ransomware and mandate companies report cyber incidents could end up being a “credit positive” next year, according to Moody’s 2023 cyber outlook.
• Nextgov: Software suppliers have unique responsibilities maintaining efficient delivery of their products while considering security risks, according to guidance the National Security Agency recently released, together with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
• Reuters: The Biden administration said Wednesday it plans to announce by June 30 how it intends to allocate more than $42 billion in broadband infrastructure grants to states and territories.

Article Summary

• New York Times: An inside look at the turmoil within Twitter in the first two weeks since Elon Musk’s takeover as Mr. Musk ordered immediate layoffs, fired executives by email, laid down product deadlines and transformed the company.
• Government Technology: A new California privacy law might fundamentally change how kids and teens use the Internet — not only in California but also across the country. The first-in-the-nation legislation, which goes into effect in 2024, imposes sweeping restrictions on Internet companies that serve minors, requiring that they design their platforms with children’s “well-being” in mind and barring eight common data-collection practices.
• GCN: In a challenge to the Federal Communication Commission’s broadband map, New York submitted more than 31,000 addresses that state officials said are unserved or underserved by high-speed internet or missing information and need to be included in the FCC’s broadband map.
• NBC News: Ransomware has become one of the toughest problems in cybersecurity and a threat to industries around the world, but it can be especially damaging when it hits hospital chains, causing trickle-down damage to patient care across the country.
• StateScoop: By increasing awareness of how technology can support Native communities, as well as supporting the education and training of individuals interested in pursuing tech careers, the Natives in Tech collective wants to create a pipeline of Native software engineers, networking and cybersecurity experts and other technologists.
• Roll Call: The health care sector faces increasing pressure from cyberattacks targeting hospitals and other medical facilities while it deals with old equipment and systems that weren’t designed with cybersecurity in mind, warns a policy paper from the office of Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va.
• WIBW: On Friday, Nov. 4, Kansas Governor Laura Kelly announced that $15.7 million will be awarded to seven providers that bring high-speed broadband services to underserved, economically distressed and low-population areas in the Sunflower State.

Tech Highlight

Microsoft on the Issues

• Microsoft Digital Defense Report
  During the past year, cyberattacks targeting critical infrastructure jumped from comprising 20% of all nation-state attacks Microsoft detected to 40%. This spike was due, in large part, to Russia’s goal of damaging Ukrainian infrastructure, and aggressive espionage targeting Ukraine’s allies, including the United States. Russia also accelerated its attempts to compromise IT firms as a way to disrupt or gain intelligence from those firms’ government agency customers in NATO member countries. 90% of Russian attacks we detected over the past year targeted NATO member states, and 48% of these attacks targeted IT firms based in NATO countries. (Nation-state cyberattacks become more brazen as authoritarian leaders ramp up aggression – November 4, 2022)