What I'm Reading 4/9/2020 - New ICS Education Portal

Threatgen - COMING SOON… ThreatGEN Academy, the Industrial Cybersecurity Education and Community Portal -

What will you find in the ThreatGEN Academy portal?

• ThreatGEN ICS Cybersecurity Courses (On-Demand, Instructor-Lead, and Live-Online)
• Access to ThreatGEN’s Red vs. Blue Cybersecurity Gamification Training
• Additional On-Demand Course Bundles (Cybersecurity, Programming, PLC Programming, and more)
• Live Monthly Ask the Expert and Mentoring Sessions
• ICS Cybersecurity Discussion Forums
• ThreatGEN ISAC (Vetted Access Only)
• Collaboration with Other Portal Members Through Chat, Direct Messages, and Forums
• Access to Virtual ICS Labs
• Beta Access to All ThreatGEN Games & Labs
• A Comprehensive ICS Cybersecurity Resource Library
• Access to Live Event Recordings
• Industry Job Boards
• Industry RFP/RFQ Clearinghouse
• Portal Gamification (Badges, Leaderboards, Competitions, and more)
• Mobile App Version

Full Disclosure:  I know the guys who run Threatgen.  I don't work for or with them but I know and like them and therefore am invested in their success. (Plus, I think they put out good product with a lot of knowledge behind it)

Gizmodo - How to Make a Face Mask From a T-Shirt or Coffee Filter and Bandanna -

Following new guidance issued last week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that people in the U.S. wear masks in public settings to mitigate the spread of covid-19 between individuals who may be asymptomatic—and as available masks are desperately needed by health workers on the front lines of the global coronavirus pandemic—the agency has now issued a guide for do-it-yourself masks from a coffee filter or T-shirt.

 Reuters - U.S. senators question Amazon CEO about firing of warehouse protest leader -

Five Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday wrote Amazon.com Inc to raise concern about its firing of a worker who protested warehouse operations during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a copy of the letter seen by Reuters. 

The letter, addressed to Chief Executive Jeff Bezos, adds to public scrutiny Amazon is facing over the dismissal, at a time when the company is racing to update safety protocols, keep warehouses open and ship essential goods to shoppers who are shut indoors.  

 Reuters - Trump says would like to reopen U.S. economy with a 'big bang' -

Trump did not give a timeframe on when he would like to reopen the economy, but his chief economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, said on Tuesday it was possible this could happen in four to eight weeks. 

ZDNet - Google's new free software security book: 'Wi-Fi password reset crippled one of our systems' -

(T)he new book also reveals how its site-reliability engineering and security teams cooperate to protect key Google systems, from Android to Chrome, Gmail, Search, and Google Cloud.

Few companies in the world operate at Google's scale, but nonetheless there may be lessons to learn from Google's book, which comes as the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic makes it more important than ever for online systems to remain reliable, available, and secure.

HackRead - A billion-dollar US firm caught exposing highly sensitive database online -

Another day, another data breach – this time, database of an American company named Rigup has surfaced online containing highly sensitive data.

The company is known for providing services to energy companies across the United States along with hosting a labor marketplace.

Bloomberg - Japan to Fund Firms to Shift Production Out of China -

Japan has earmarked $2.2 billion of its record economic stimulus package to help its manufacturers shift production out of China as the coronavirus disrupts supply chains between the major trading partners.

HelpNet Security - Third-party risk is broken, businesses unprepared for supply chain disruptions -

As a result, there are real consequences including loss of revenue, loss of productivity, and loss of reputation – all of which can jeopardize resiliency and are amplified given today’s supply chain concerns related to COVID-19.

“Organizations are starting to ask the question about what happens to them if their supply chain partners go out of business. Sadly, most companies don’t have the risk visibility into their supply chains to answer that question,” stated Brenda Ferraro, VP of third-party risk at Prevalent.