The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) rare public alert last week about a large-scale Russian cyber campaign targeting U.S. infrastructure raised a piercing alarm about vulnerabilities in the nation’s power grid, and underscored what officials have meant when talking about the need for a whole-of-government and whole-of-nation approach to cyber defense.
About five years ago, many law enforcement officials wondered if the cloud was safe enough to hold their data. Now the FBI, the nation’s top law enforcement agency, is considering a move to a large-scale, commercial software cloud provider.
North Korea’s persistent efforts on nuclear weapons development and some loose talk about red buttons have raised new fears internationally about the possibilities of nuclear conflict. At home, government agencies also are addressing the questions about what to do in the case of a nuclear detonation. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), for example, will hold one of its Public Health Grand Round teaching sessions Jan. 16 on how medical professionals should respond–and although the event has been planned for months, it’s timing suddenly seems to be on the mark.
The Department of Homeland Security met with the Election Infrastructure Coordinating Council to discuss risk management tactics for election cybersecurity. The council is working to build partnerships to keep election systems secure.
The United States needs to invest more resources in the security of election systems, Cook County (Ill.) Director of Elections Noah Praetz told the Election Assistance Commission.
The Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology First Responders Group is working with the Lower Colorado River Authority in Texas to develop Internet of Things sensors and geo-targeting alerts that will enable faster reporting of flood conditions so that first responders can better respond to problem areas.
The Investigator General of the Department of Homeland Security investigated a claim that the agency hacked into the state of Georgia’s voter registration database and found that the access consisted of “normal and automatic message exchanges” from Microsoft applications.
Designating state election systems to the nation’s critical infrastructure was a misstep on behalf of the Department of Homeland Security, according to William Gardner, New Hampshire’s secretary of state.
