Cyber Round Up: Japan Hosting “White Hat” Hackers to Test Security Systems; US Government Slow to Upgrade Cybersecurity Protections; US Assisting Ukraine Investigate Electrical Grid Hack
Japan Hosting “White Hat” Hackers to Test Security Systems (The Asahi Shimbun): Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (“METI”) will be testing the security systems of the nation’s utilities industry including electricity, gas, and water, according to The Asahi Shimbun. METI will be inviting hackers to find vulnerabilities and penetrate the security systems of the target companies that provide utilities to the public, the article continued. According to the article, the hackers will utilize several methods of infiltration, one of which involves the hackers acting as co-workers of current company employees and “dispatching emails” containing malware. METI plans to use the results from the simulation to develop guidelines for electronic devices and improve the cybersecurity of companies operating public infrastructure, the article explained. The full article can be found here.
US Government Slow to Upgrade Cybersecurity Protections — Report Reveals (FedTech Magazine): Cisco’s new report revealed that government agencies, especially those in the federal sector, are upgrading their cybersecurity infrastructure less frequently than companies in the financial, pharmaceutical, and transportation sectors, according to an article in FedTech Magazine. Although these agencies are “generally” better equipped to address cyber threats, the article explained, they tend to upgrade their security infrastructure regularly as opposed to private sector companies that upgrade “constantly”. As a result, the article continued, the government’s “security infrastructure and maturity levels” lags behind the private sector’ s. The full article can be found here.
US Assisting Ukraine Investigate Electrical Grid Hack (Reuters): The US Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) is assisting Ukraine investigate the “apparent attack” targeting the nation’s power grid that caused major blackouts in December 2015, according to Reuters. The incident is being classified by experts as a “cyber attack”, the article continued. Meanwhile, a US cyber firm linked the incident to “Sandworm”, a known Russian hacking group, the article explained. Further, according to the article, DHS reported that there are links between the December 2015 blackout and a malicious code found in the SCADA systems of US critical infrastructure in 2014. The full article can be found here.
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