What I'm Reading 3/9/2020 - Between Wikileaks and Coronavirus I guess we're all doomed

Books -

Network Forensics Tracking Hackers Through Cyberspace

The Ten-Day MBA 4th Ed.: A Step-By-Step Guide To Mastering The Skills Taught In America's Top Business Schools

Wired for War: The Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the 21st Century


Blogs / News -

Fifth Domain - The Pentagon’s first class of cybersecurity auditors is almost here -

 The Pentagon hopes to have the first class of auditors to evaluate contractors’ cybersecurity ready by April, a top Department of Defense official said March 5.

The auditors will be responsible for certifying companies under the new Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC), which is a tiered cybersecurity framework that grades companies on a scale of one to five. A score of one designates basic hygiene and a five represents advanced hygiene.

Help Net Security - Passwords still dominant authentication method, top cause of data breaches -

 Passwords remain the dominant method of authentication and top cause of data breaches, according to MobileIron. A new report also highlighted the importance of a zero trust security strategy that provides context-aware, conditional access to a device or user.

While I agree with the basic sentiments of this article I probably should point out that MobileIron sells a "zero trust solution that provides context aware conditional access to devices"

Endgadget - New York power plant mines Bitcoin using excess energy -

A natural gas power plant can't always send excess energy into the grid, frequently leading to waste as the gas is flared or vented away. However, a plant in Dresden, New York thinks it has a solution: use that surplus to generate some digital cash. Greenidge Generation has revealed that it's using "behind-the-meter" energy at the facility to mine Bitcoin, with 7,000 mining systems producing up to 5.5BTC (about $45,000 as of this writing) per day.

BBC - Max Von Sydow: The Exorcist and Flash Gordon actor dies aged 90 -

His family announced "with a broken heart and infinite sadness" that the Swedish-born actor died on Sunday.

Von Sydow's other film credits included Hannah and Her Sisters, Minority Report and Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

 CNN - Trump administration clashes with airline officials over coronavirus -

In a series of contentious conversations, agency officials and aviation executives have clashed over the administration's demand that airlines collect new kinds of data from passengers to help officials track potential virus carriers.
Airlines say they can't meet that demand right away -- a claim some administration officials say they don't believe, according to several sources who tell CNN the calls have deteriorated so badly that agency officials have issued threats, spat expletives and accused airline executives of lying. It is an "epic battle," said one source familiar with the talks. 

 The Atlantic - The U.S. Isn’t Ready for What’s About to Happen -

Aggressive steps are essential to protecting the public from a deadly virus. Last week, the World Health Organization assessed the fatality rate at a shocking 3.4 percent, much higher than previously believed. Early on, many American medical experts withheld judgment about the limited data coming out of China, but information from around the world has now confirmed how severe COVID-19 is and how rapidly it is spreading. As Dr. Margaret Bordeaux, my colleague at the Security and Global Health Project at Harvard’s Kennedy School, told me, “None of us want to be Chicken Little, but there is too much consistent data to not begin to rattle the cage pretty loudly.”  

Even if the United States were far more ready for COVID-19, the consequences could still be grievous. In my field, adequate preparation means having the plans, money, equipment, and expertise in place to avert all but a tiny percentage of the harms that might otherwise occur. Yet because of the nature of pandemics, even a level of preparation that looks robust to homeland-security experts could still fail to prevent thousands of deaths.

Tech Crunch - Secret document says WikiLeaks cable leaks disrupted tracking of nation-state hackers -

A previously secret document from 2010 warned that classified diplomatic cables published by WikiLeaks would likely result in “observable changes” in the tactics and techniques used by foreign spies, potentially making it easier to avoid detection by U.S. agencies.

...

According to the assessment, the leaked cables “clearly state” that the U.S. government entities at the time “have knowledge” of specific tactics and techniques used by foreign adversaries, including “malware, toolsets, IP addresses, and domains used in intrusion activity.”

It went on to warn that those same adversaries are “expected to modify their current infrastructure and intrusion techniques” to evade U.S. cyber-defenses.

 The Register - Check Point chap: Small firms don't invest in infosec then hope they won't get hacked. Spoiler alert: They get hacked -

Check Point handled 2,000 incidents last year and based on January and February's attack volumes, the incident response director expects that to double.

"Especially," he said, "here in Europe for SMEs, it's very clear that management has not invested in security and is hedging their bets, playing the odds or whatever term you want to use, on not getting breached. The reality is they will get breached. They're not investing in the controls or systems or capabilities to be able to defend themselves."