Category Archives: Donald Trump

Ex-DHS official on PPD-20 repeal: Consider potential blowback to private sector

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The U.S. government’s new and reportedly more muscular approach to conducting offensive cyber-operations must carefully consider the potential blowback of such actions to the private sector, a former senior Department of Homeland Security official has warned. “DHS needs to be part of the discussion around the cost-benefit analysis to bring the private sector point of view because we know the private sector often bears the brunt of the retaliation that comes in the wake of more aggressive activity,” Suzanne Spaulding said Wednesday at the Atlantic Council. Asked what public indication there would that those concerns are being addressed, Spaulding, who served as a DHS undersecretary under President Barack Obama, said the answer lies in the private sector. Private companies will have a sense of “whether their equities were adequately considered” before a U.S. government decision to conduct offensive operations, Spaulding said during a panel discussion. “And my guess is they’ll […]

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Smashing Security #100: One flippin’ hundred

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Yes, it’s the 100th edition of the “Smashing Security” podcast.
There’s a little celebration at both ends of this week’s podcast – but the meat of the sandwich is our normal look at the security stories of the last week – including an alarming IoT fail… Continue reading Smashing Security #100: One flippin’ hundred→

DerbyCon, Russians, and Next Story – Paul’s Security Weekly #578

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New Apple and Microsoft security flaws at Black Hat Europe, CCTV makers leaves at least 9 million cameras public, upset Google+ users are sueing Google, US weapons systems apparently can be easily hacked, not all multifactor authentication is created e… Continue reading DerbyCon, Russians, and Next Story – Paul’s Security Weekly #578→

Trump’s executive order designed to ‘counter the visuals of Helsinki’

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A top State Department official says President Donald Trump’s new executive order to combat foreign election-meddling is an inter-agency check on the optics of the Helsinki Summit in July, where Trump questioned whether the Russian government interfered in the 2016 U.S. election. “The president can always decide ‘no,’” – meaning sanctions won’t be imposed — “but [the executive order] is designed to have these assessments come up from the bottom and be presented with the notion that there should in fact be a consequence to bad behavior,” Michele Markoff, the State Department’s deputy coordinator for cyber issues, said Wednesday at an Atlantic Council panel discussion in Washington, D.C. The executive order, signed by Trump Wednesday, allows for “automatic sanctions” to kick in when U.S. officials find evidence of foreign interference in the electoral process. That automaticity “was designed to counter the visuals of Helsinki,” Markoff said. “All policy is going […]

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Executive order creates system for ‘automatic’ sanctions on foreigners interfering with U.S. elections

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President Donald Trump has signed an executive order authorizing sanctions against foreign individual, entity or country attempting to interfere in U.S. elections, the White House announced Wednesday. The order is not public yet, so the exact details remain unknown. The text was outlined by the White House in a phone call with reporters on Wednesday morning. Some sanctions would be “automatic” in cases where federal investigators identify meddling, White House officials said. “It’s a further effort among several that the administration has made,” national security adviser John Bolton said. “It includes not just interference against election or campaign infrastructure, but it also covers the distribution of propaganda and disinformation.” The executive order requires the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) to make regular assessments about potential foreign interference in the election. It also asks for reports by the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security in cases interference with election […]

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