New —> @elonmusk told SpaceX engineers to cut off Ukrainian submarine drones’ access to Starlink satellites as the Ukrainians prepared a sneak attack on Crimea last yr, per new Musk biography by Walter Isaacson. Musk feared a Russian retaliation via nukes.cnn.com/2023/09/07/pol…
“How am I in this war?” Musk asks Isaacson. “Starlink was not meant to be involved in wars. It was so people can watch Netflix and chill and get online for school and do good peaceful things, not drone strikes.”
SpaceX told the Pentagon last year that the company wouldn’t continue to foot the bill for sending satellite gear, to Ukraine, as @MarquardtA first reported. cnn.com/2022/10/13/pol…
After the CNN story, Musk reversed course and tweeted "the hell with it … we’ll just keep funding Ukraine govt for free.” The about-face incensed Gwynne Shotwell, Musk's president at SpaceX, according to the new Isaacson book.
"The Pentagon had a $145 million check ready to hand to me, literally,” Isaacson quotes Shotwell as saying. “Then Elon succumbed to the bullshit on Twitter and to the haters at the Pentagon who leaked the story.”
New --> Chinese state-backed hacking group has breached local government agencies in at least 6 US states, investigators say: cnn.com/2022/03/08/pol…
"The wide range of state agencies targeted include 'health, transportation, labor (including unemployment benefit systems), higher education, agriculture, and court networks and systems,' according to an FBI/CISA advisory to states obtained by CNN.
"The revelation shows how difficult it can be to keep state-backed hackers from accessing US networks — even when US officials are sounding the alarm about a potential threat. ...
From @ODNIgov's testimony for the annual worldwide threat assessment hearing: "We assess that China presents the broadest, most active, and persistent cyber espionage threat to U.S. Government and private sector networks."
"Russia is particularly focused on improving its ability to target critical infrastructure, incl. underwater cables & industrial control systems, in the US [as well as allies] b/c compromising such infrastructure ... [shows] its ability to damage infrastructure during a crisis."
Now, more than ever, journalists are in the sights of Russian and Chinese state hacking teams, according to US intelligence:
Echoing what other analysts have said, Google's @ShaneHuntley confirms that Ghostwriter, "a Belarusian threat actor, has conducted credential phishing campaigns over the past week against Polish and Ukrainian government and military organizations." blog.google/threat-analysi…
There's also this: Fancy Bear "has conducted several large credential phishing campaigns" targeting users at a Ukrainian media company. blog.google/threat-analysi…
Interesting details in the indictment on the origins of the "TrickBot Group," after Russian authorities reportedly arrested the operators of a different type of malware. justice.gov/opa/press-rele…
New --> A deep dive into ransomware incidents in the manufacturing sector, including new details on Honeywell's handling of its recent hacking incident based on internal emails and sources. cyberscoop.com/honeywell-hack…
We revisit the 2019 ransomware-induced disruption of Norsk Hydro, the aluminum giant that shared in vivid detail how its factories were hampered: cyberscoop.com/honeywell-hack…
We also take a hard look at the economic costs of hacking incidents to the manufacturing sector. At what point will cybersecurity be seen as having a role in protecting manufacturing jobs, a pet topic for many a politician? cyberscoop.com/honeywell-hack…
“Our government got hacked last year and we didn’t know about it for months," @SecMayorkas says bluntly at an RSA event. Cites that as an urgent need to "modernize" the way the federal government approaches cybersecurity.
Mayorkas vows that the federal government will improve in just about every aspect of cybersecurity, from detection to incident response to information sharing.
Mayorkas says DHS is working on a “cyber response and recovery fund” that will help CISA’s ability to support state and local governments in the face of hacking.