- Obama met with Putin, Says Hackers Shouldn’t Create a Cyber “Wild, Wild West” (ABC News): President Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin met for 90 minutes at the G20, discussing cybersecurity among other things, an ABC News article says. Speaking after the meeting, President Obama urged hackers not to turn cyberspace into the “Wild, Wild West.” The President also commented that nations have enough to worry about in handling threats from non-state actors, and don’t need the added burden of escalation from other nations, the article said. In a similar article from UPI, President Obama is quoted as boasting of U.S. cyber capabilities in comparison to other nations, including Russia. The article said that while the President would not address current investigations into alleged recent hacks by Russia, he commented that the U.S. had significant offensive and defensive capabilities in the cyber realm. A full list of topics addressed at the G20 Summit, including the cybersecurity issues, can be found in this White House Fact Sheet. Full texts of the ABC article can be found here, as well as UPI’s summary of the meeting here.
- New suggestions of Russian ties to U.S. Election System Hacks (McClatchy DC): While Obama and Putin discussed cybersecurity at the G20 as chronicled above, a private report linked Russia to the recent hacks into state election systems that this blog has recently covered. The McClatchy DC article said that in addition to attempting to undermine democratic processes in the U.S., the Russian internet nodes have also been connected to recent penetrations in Turkey, the Ukraine, and Germany. The private firm ThreatConnect conducted a deeper investigation into the election hacks, and while they were unable to attribute this series of intrusions to any specific nation, they reported that all the activity from these nodes are indicative of state-sponsored action as opposed to criminal activity. ThreatConnect’s entire report on the matter can be found here. The full text of the McClatchy article can be found here.
- Chamber: China’s Cybersecurity Laws could Cost Trillions (The Hill): A recent article by The Hill
summarizes a U.S. Chamber of Commerce report on the potential economic effects of China’s restriction to technology. In what is generally seen as a response to the Snowden leaks, China has tried to increase regulatory measures on information, both by adding hurdles for foreign companies and by requiring domestic companies to hold data within China’s borders. The Hill reports that several countries, including the U.S., have considered implementing measures without regard for their global impact. China’s decreased access to technology could cost anywhere from $200 billion in the near future, to over $3 trillion by 2025, the Chamber of Commerce report found. The full article by The Hill can be found here, and the full Chamber report can be seen on the right.
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