As American families dined on turkey and stuffing, China’s Central Military Commission (CMC) was hard at work in Beijing hammering out military reforms. These reforms were then announced to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) by President Xi Jinping, who also serves as the CMC chairman. The proposed organizational changes may make this round of reform…
Category: Communications
Merry Christmas America! Congress secretly Slips CISA into Budget Bill
Update 12/18/2015 12pm: The House and Senate have now passed the omnibus bill, including the new version of CISA. Privacy advocates were aghast in October when the Senate passed the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act by a vote of 74 to 21, leaving intact portions of the law they say make it more amenable…
Iran: A Rising Cyber-Power?
“A Brown Water Navy” Through a series of attacks over the last three years, Iran has revealed a limited offensive cyber capability but a willingness to use it to meet its geopolitical goals. In testimony calling out Iran for attacks on Sands Casinos, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper put Iranian cyber capability in the…
Computer Security: Email Hygiene Tips
Anti-phishing and Email Hygiene Journalists and newsrooms are increasingly the victims of hacking and malware, and often hackers target them through their email. Virtually every “sophisticated” hack of an individual reporter or entire newsroom starts with a relatively simple attack: phishing and spear phishing. Phishing is a social-engineering attack where an adversary crafts an email…
Where Americans Can Be Tracked Without A Warrant
Since the Paris attacks, there is a growing concern by DHS and the FBI that ISIS are able to communicate via “Dark Comms” or communications that are so highly encrypted they cannot tracked or monitored, common sense would tell you that authorities are going to start casting the “Surveillance” net wider to compensate, meaning more…
“Hamland” Security: Amateur Radio’s Place in Securing the Homeland
During times of disaster, homeland security resources at all levels of government are often stretched to capacity. The whole-of-government approach involving local, county, state and federal agencies is sometimes not enough, especially in the realm of communications. That is where a dedicated group of private hobbyists, known as amateur radio operators, or “hams” as they…