Author Archive

Justin Katz

Cybersecurity Reporter

Justin Katz is a former staff writer at FCW.

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Biden's cyber nominees face Senate in wake of cyberattacks

Jen Easterly, selected to head the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and Chris Inglis, the former National Security Agency deputy director picked to fill the new national cyber director role, faced lawmakers concerned about the spike in ransomware attacks.

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White House warns industry on ransomware threat

Deputy National Security Advisor Anne Neuberger on Thursday warned industry leaders to view ransomware as a threat to their core business operations, not just a risk of data theft.

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SolarWinds hackers launch phishing attack

In some cases, the attackers disguised their phishing emails to look as though they came from the U.S. Agency for International Development.

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DHS to issue new pipeline security regulations after Colonial attack

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said the new guidance for pipeline security will be issued in the coming days.

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CISA chief: cyber order will 'stretch the system'

The executive order, which was published Wednesday night, contains deadlines for CISA, the Department of Homeland Security, the Office of Management and Budget and other agencies to begin reworking the government's cybersecurity with some timelines as short as 30 days from its signing.

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Biden's cyber order lays foundation for securing government

The Biden administration’s long-anticipated cybersecurity executive order lays the groundwork for modernizing cyber defenses and protecting critical services from attack by improving incident response and information sharing between the public and private sectors.

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DOE 'totally focused' on cyber, says Energy secretary

The Energy secretary said DOE is committed to getting industry partners the tools, the intelligence and cyber response they need to address today's threats.

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Homeland Security begins aggressive cyber workforce expansion

Department of Homeland Security launched its 60-day workforce sprint with an aggressive campaign to hire 200 cyber personnel by July 1.

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Pipeline ransomware attack renews infrastructure concerns

Senior administration officials say multiple government agencies are working to distribute information to industry about the ransomware attack that led to the shutdown of a key natural gas pipeline for the East Coast.

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DHS, White House turn spotlight on ransomware

The Department of Homeland Security and the White House are putting the spotlight on combatting ransomware, actively developing plans to confront the issue.

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CISA issues warning on exploited VPN flaw

A Chinese hacking campaign is using known flaws in a virtual private network application to breach entity networks and implant the SUPERNOVA malware.

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Russian operations targeting cloud and email, advisory warns

A new advisory describes how organizations can counter tactics and techniques used by Russia’s SVR foreign intelligence service, the attackers behind the intrusion involving SolarWinds.

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Russia sanctioned over SolarWinds, election interference -- even as cyber espionage continues

The White House announced a range of sanctions against Russia, and security agencies warned of software vulnerabilities that Russian intelligence services are actively exploiting.

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Nakasone deflects senators' invitations to seek domestic spying powers

Lawmakers have continued to prod the NSA chief to request new surveillance authorities that might prevent another SolarWinds-type breach.

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White House stands down SolarWinds, Microsoft Exchange cyber response groups

The White House is suspending the two interagency groups tasked with managing the government's response to the cybersecurity incidents involving SolarWinds and Microsoft Exchange, citing improving trends in patching.

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Biden taps Inglis, Easterly for top cyber jobs

National Security Agency veterans will serve as first national cyber director and lead the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

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IC warns that U.S. adversaries are ramping up cyber attacks

The worldwide threat assessment by the U.S. intelligence community comes one day before the heads of several agencies are scheduled to testify during open and closed session to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

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Microsoft patches new Exchange CVEs, credits NSA with discovery

The new vulnerabilities found in Exchange servers running on-premises are separate from zero-day exploits discovered and announced in March.

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Former CISA chief cautions on push for national cyber director

The former CISA chief expressed confidence in Deputy National Security Advisor Anne Neuberger to help the White House confront the multiple cybersecurity incidents it is facing.

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NIST issues draft election security framework

The National Institute of Standards and Technology has published a draft framework that takes NIST's pre-existing cybersecurity best practices and applies them to the voting equipment and information systems supporting elections.