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Cyber Round Up: Prepping for Cyber with ISIL; Trump says Computers Can’t Be Secured; Law Firms and Cyber Security

Military weighs expanded use of cyber, space weapons against ISIL (USA Today):  The battle against ISIS could potentially turn to cyber, a recent article says.  The report says that military leaders have been preparing options for President-elect Trump in both cyber and space that could change the nature of the battle against the terrorist group.   One major concern, according to the article, is how far down the chain of command the authority to utilize cyber weapons will be.  While the extent of the U.S. military’s cyber capabilities are generally unknown, the article explains that operating in cyberspace can have unintended consequences that hurt more than just the original target.   The rest of the article, which can be found here. describes current and future strategies for fighting ISIL in more traditional ways.

Trump questions quest for cybersecurity: ‘No computer is safe’ (Washington Post):  President-elect Trump has addressed cybersecurity matters repeatedly the last several days.  In addition to questioning Russian involvement in the election hacks and President Obama’s response,  Trump also spoke on the extensive, and perhaps infinite, vulnerabilities with computers, according to one article.   The report includes quotes from Trump stating that no computer is ever safe, and the only secure way to deliver messages is the old fashioned way.  The article goes on to discuss the Trump team’s criticism of how Obama handled the alleged Russian meddling.  The full text of the article can be found here.

Law Firms and the Front Lines of Cyber Security (Tech.co):  An article yesterday analyzed why law firms are prime targets for hackers and what their vulnerabilities and solutions are.   Why firms are targets is fairly obvious, as they have large amounts of confidential information on file.  The vulnerabilities are not quite as obvious, the article suggests, as law firms have placed a low priority on cybersecurity while many struggle financially.   The report claims that firms are targeted by state sponsored actors because of the high number of devices used, as well as the quality of the information regarding business deals such as mergers and acquisitions.   The answer, according to the article, is part legislative and part technological.  The full text can be found here.

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