Archive for August, 2017
Banco de Mexico Governor: Bitcoin is Commodity Rather than Currency
Aug 29th
From: Coin Telegraph
Banco de Mexico (Bank of Mexico) Governor Agustín Carstens thinks the digital currency Bitcoin should be classified as a commodity rather than as a currency. The bank governor argued that Bitcoin does not meet the existing definition of currency because it is not supported by a government or central bank.
According to the report by local Mexican newspaper El Economista, Carstens argued further that since there is nothing to ensure its accounting in a financial system, the virtual currency should be considered as a commodity.
Regulators Concerned About Cyber Attacks on Financial Services
Aug 28th
From: Which-50
Concern is growing among regulators in the Asia-Pacific region that financial services are increasingly at risk of a systemic cyber event. As such events will pose a major threat to the financial system, regulators across the region are moving rapidly to strengthen their regulatory and supervisory capabilities.
According to Deloitte’s Cyber Regulation in Asia-Pacific report, cyber-attacks globally and within Asia-Pacific are increasing in frequency and sophistication. The cost of cybercrime is estimated to reach up to $US575 billion a year, with financial services organisations a key target.
Djibouti and Somalia to share submarine optic fibre
Aug 24th
From: IWebAfrica
The governments of Djibouti and Somalia have reached an agreement on capacity sharing of the submarine optic fibre cable, the Djibouti African Regional Express.
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The agreement also extends to the promotion and strengthening of cooperation in regional interconnection, terrestrial fibre optics, cybersecurity, ICT regulation, cross-border signaling problems, spectrum management and numbering plan.
White House advisory group warns of ‘9/11-level cyber attack’
Aug 23rd
From: FCW
By Mark Rockwell
“We’re in a pre-9/11 moment,” warned Mike Wallace, a member of the National Infrastructure Advisory Council, at an Aug. 22 White House meeting.
The group, which includes corporate executives and former senior government officials, voted up a report recommending that the U.S. establish separate communications networks to support critical systems and take steps to rapidly declassify cybersecurity threat information so that front-line infrastructure operators can use it to defend against attacks.
FBI Warns US Private Sector To Cut Ties With Kaspersky
Aug 21st
From: Slashdot
An anonymous reader quotes CyberScoop:
The FBI has been briefing private sector companies on intelligence claiming to show that the Moscow-based cybersecurity company Kaspersky Lab is an unacceptable threat to national security, current and former senior U.S. officials familiar with the matter tell CyberScoop… The FBI’s goal is to have U.S. firms push Kaspersky out of their systems as soon as possible or refrain from using them in new products or other efforts, the current and former officials say.
Unpatchable Flaw Affects Most of Today’s Modern Cars
Aug 18th
From: Bleeping Computer
A flaw buried deep in the hearts of all modern cars allows an attacker with local or even remote access to a vehicle to shut down various components, including safety systems such as airbags, brakes, parking sensors, and others.
The vulnerability affects the CAN (Controller Area Network) protocol that’s deployed in modern cars and used to manage communications between a vehicle’s internal components.
It will take a new generation of cars to patch the flaw
Is the Shipping Industry on Cybersecurity Autopilot?
Aug 14th
From: The Maritime Executive
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In mid-July, the Coast Guard took its own action. Following its December 2016 addition of cybersecurity to the list of “security” items that are covered by the 2002 Maritime Transportation Security Act (MTSA), the Coast Guard, on July 15, announced a request for public comment its Navigation and Vessel Inspection Circular (NVIC) 05-17: Guidelines for Addressing Cyber Risks at MTSA Regulated Facilities. If promulgated, this NVIC would “begin to lay out a series of policies and procedures” to mitigate the growing cybersecurity risks while ensuring the continued operational capability of the Maritime Transportation System. Essentially, the NVIC would clarify the existing requirements under the 2002 MTSA to incorporate the analysis of computer and cyber risks, and it would set forth guidance for addressing those risks. Additionally, this NVIC would provide guidance on incorporating cybersecurity risks into an effective Facility Security Assessment (FSA), as well as provide additional best practices for policies and procedures that could reduce cyber risk to operators of maritime facilities.
Best practices for passwords updated after original author regrets his advice
Aug 8th
From: The Verge
Fourteen years later, Bill Burr says his tips were misguided
The dangers in Beijing’s bid for cyber sovereignty
Aug 1st
From: Financial Times
Apple move could see China sequestering itself from the global web
“Cyber sovereignty” has been a buzzword among China’s political elite for more than 18 months. Now the world is finding out what it means in practice. Apple, the US tech company, was forced at the weekend to remove from its China App Store popular applications that enable users to bypass the “Great Firewall of China”.
Such applications, called virtual private networks, or VPNs, are routinely used by multinational companies, foreign individuals and many Chinese to access overseas web addresses such as Gmail, Google, Facebook, Twitter and a host of others that are blocked or painfully slow to access.