Crossroads Blog | Institute National Security and Counterterrorism

China, cyber attack, Cybersecurity, dyn, podesta

Cyber Round Up: Advice for security in wake of cyber attack; Podesta a cybersecurity poster child; Chinese Computer Gear Poses Cyber Spy Threat

  • Companies urged to use multiple vendors in wake of cyber attack (Reuters): An article from Reuters provides advice for companies following Friday’s DDoS attacks that crippled several websites throughout the U.S.   The article quotes one official from Dyn, the New Hampshire DNS company that was hacked, said that the company has advocated for redundancy in infrastructure for many years.  The article reports that companies who followed these procedures fared much better during the attacks, but doing so can be financially costly.  An official from Akamai Technologies, who aided in Dyn’s recovery Friday, stressed that diversity needs to be geographic and architectural.   The Reuters piece also suggests that this is the new norm for internet attacks.  The full text of the article can be found here.
  • How Podesta became a cybersecurity poster child (Politico):  A report late last week casts Clinton campaign Chairman John Podesta as representative of the extensive flaws with cyber security in Washington, D.C. and throughout government.  The article says that Podesta’s problems started with the simple mistake of having an assistant email him his iCloud password.  An official from cyber firm LastPass said Podesta made every common mistake in the book, including a weak password, emailing the password, and using the same password for multiple sites.    While the average American makes these mistakes all the time, the article says, the stakes are higher with high ranking officials, and they need more guidance and support to eliminate vulnerabilities.  The full text of the article can be found here.
  • Military Warns Chinese Computer Gear Poses Cyber Spy Threat (Washington Free Beacon):  A recent article addresses a Joint Staff Intelligence (J2) report about concerns of Chinese technology.   The Free Beacon article says that computers from Lenovo could include spyware.  The company’s technology has been linked to multiple attempts to gain access to Pentagon networks, the article says.   The report discusses how supply chain issues are a major concern in cybersecurity, and quotes some officials who believe no Chinese companies should be operating in the U.S. in light of recent hacks. The J2 report was not available at this time, but the full text of the article can be found here.

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