Archives: September, 2021

Trying to rebound from setbacks during the COVID-19 pandemic, with skills in the electronic security field? The Security Industry Association website can help. It’s providing a link to job listings from the Foundation for Advancing Security Talent (FAST). “FAST”, SIA explains, “is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that connects passionate, innovative professionals with new opportunities in […]

Three seemingly unlikely compilers – the International Republican Institute, the National Democratic Institute and the Stanford Internet Observatory – have joined together to produce a playbook entitled “Combating Information Manipulation: A Playbook for Elections and Beyond“. The playbook “guides readers to understand information manipulation and presents steps to identify, respond, and build resilience against it. […]

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security considers climate change a threat to national security, so much so that it is launching a contest to find ways to keep people cool in overheated settings – total cash prizes offered: $195,000. It’s the DHS “Cooling Solutions Challenge”. “Protecting the public from heat-related illness and death during extreme […]

Perry Carpenter on SecurityInfowatch.com advises on creating a “thoughtful security culture”. “Awareness of the critical importance of data security,” he writes, “has been heightened during the pandemic with high-profile security breaches frequently in the news.” “By understanding their current state,” Carpenter adds, “organizations can take steps to make improvements and close gaps where most needed. […]

The borderline between real and fake on the Internet keeps getting extended. Graham Cluley on Bitdefender reports how Walmart’s name was used in a bogus press release that it would accept the cryptocurrency Litecoin “as a form of payment at its retail stores across America”. The trouble was, it hadn’t done any such thing. “Instead, […]

Cyber security presents a growing risk as employees work from home or elsewhere outside an office. Ian Barker on beta news advises that “Nearly a quarter (24 percent) of office workers have experienced a data breach, yet 12 percent say nothing will make them take cyber security more seriously, and a third won’t take extra […]

The Biden administration is raising the ante against foreign-based cyber attackers, the Associated Press reports in a post on Military.com. “In an interview Sept. 14 with The Associated Press, Gen. Paul Nakasone broadly described ‘an intense focus’ by government specialists to better find and share information about cyberattacks and ‘impose costs when necessary.’ Those costs […]

The Department of Homeland Security’s Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is stiffening its mask requirements for airline travel. “The federal mask mandate for transportation, which was implemented by TSA on February 2, 2021, will remain in effect until January 18, 2022. “The new range of penalties, which take effect Friday, September 10, 2021, will be $500-$1000 […]

Maintaining organizational security during the pandemic has been a continuing challenge. Ian Barker on betanews writes: “A new report from HP Wolf Security reveals that 76 percent of IT teams admit security has taken a backseat to business continuity during the pandemic, while 91 percent feel pressure to compromise security for business continuity. “It also […]

For larger-size organizations, the pressures of keeping ahead of cybersecurity challenges might suggest setting up a Security Operations Center. The GBHackers on Security site shows how that can be done “Today’s Cyber security operations center (CSOC),” Balaji N writes, “should have everything it needs to mount a competent defense of the ever-changing information technology (IT) […]