Cyber Round Up: Brenner and MIT’s Report; Germany emerging as cyber leader; FCC has flaw in communications infrastructure

Posted by user on March 30, 2017 0 Comments

Former NSA Inspector General Releases Cybersecurity Recommendations For Trump (WBUR Boston): A recent article summarized an MIT report that recommended eight ways for President Trump to secure critical infrastructure. The article said that the report featured guest writing from former NSA IG Joel Brenner, and advocated for including the private sector. The article contains some quotes from Brenner where he explains the key components of the report. The full report is included in this post, and the article can be read here.

Germany steps up leadership in cybersecurity (Microsoft Secure): Recent commentary on a Microsoft blog highlighted how Germany has emerged as leader in the cyber world. The article notes that this is significant not just because Germany is a top five world economy, but that it has major influence in the EU. The article discusses numerous metrics and different reports produced by Microsoft, but emphasized Germany’s ability to develop fruitful public-private partnerships. The post explains how Germany’s recent cyber strategy builds on a couple year old cyber law. The in depth post can be found here.
What Is SS7? Legislators Ask FCC To Examine Security Flaw In Communications Infrastructure (International Business Times): An article earlier this week discussed a request from two Democratic Congressmen to the FCC to address a known vulnerability with cell phone security. Signaling System 7 (SS7) is an international communications standard, the article explained. That standard has weaknesses that allow hackers to read texts, listen to calls, and track locations. The vulnerability was discovered in 2014, but the U.S. lawmakers believe that the industry has not done enough to remedy the weakness. One of their solutions, the article says, is encryption. The full article can be read here.