House passes infrastructure bill; over $1 billion for local cybersecurity infrastructure included
The House of Representativespassedanearly $1 trillion infrastructurebillearlier this week. The bill now goes to President Biden, who will almostcertainlysign the bill into law. Included in the bills provisions is the largest investmentin local and state-level cybersecurity infrastructure ever. The bill provides over $1 billion forstate, tribal, territorial, and local governmentsandencourages states to invest more incybersecurity. The bill willreleasethe funding yearly, with over $200 million available forstates and countiesin 2022.The billgivesfederal agencies morepowerto respond to cyberattacks,and will increase cooperation between the federal government and state and local agencies affected by cyberattacks.
Chinese state media accuses Indian hackers Evil Flower of shutting down airline records
On November 5, theGlobal Timesreported that Indian hacking outfitEvil Flowerlaunched cyberattacks against Chinese aerospace industries. According to the report, Evil Flowerwhichis also knownasrattlesnakeandis suspected ofoperations againstPakistan, Nepal, and Saudi Arabiaas wellpreviously targeted a traditional Chinese medicine research institute in 2019 and Chinese import and export enterprises in 2020.TheGlobal Timesarticle includes atimelinedisplayinga two-year trend of China-targeted cyberattacks originating from South Asia. Although Chinese cybersecurity firms allege regularly [detected] attacks from foreign state actors, including the U.S.,Chinese state media publicly revealingthe identity of foreign hackers is ararity.After theNew York Timesand othersallegedthatBeijingwas responsible foranattack ontheIndianpower gridduring a border dispute, China is lookingto recast itself as thevictimin cyberspace.
United States arrestsREvilassociates, seizes millions of dollarsin ransomware payments
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The U.S. Justice Departmentannouncedearlier this weekmajor indictments and seizures related to the ransomwareattackon the IT firm Kaseya.UkraniannationalYaroslavVasinskyi, whois accusedof being behind the attack on Kaseya,wasarrestedin Poland last monthand is being held in the country pending extradition hearings.The U.S. also announced the seizure of almost $6.1 million in ransomware paymentsto theREvilgroup.Romania, South Korea, and Kuwait have alsoarrestedsuspects believed to be tied to theREvilgroup, anditslikely that Mr.Vasinskyiis not the last of the group to be arrested.In comments to the press,Deputy National Security Advisor for Cyber and Emerging TechnologyAnneNeuberger,notedthat the arrests were part ofthepublicly visibledisruption activities,butothers[disruptive activities]are less so.We are committed, Neuberger continued,to using every tool we can within theU.S. Governments capabilities . . .to ensure that we address the ransomware activity which is impacting U.S. individuals, businesses, and allies and partners all around the world.
Facebook/Meta announces changes to ad-targeting choices for advertisers
Net Politics
CFR experts investigate the impact of information and communication technologies on security, privacy, and international affairs.2-4 times weekly.
Meta, previously known as Facebook, announced significant changes to itsad-targetingfor advertisers which will take effect on January 19, 2022.The goal of the changes is to preventad-targetingfrom being abused by advertisers and comes after Metas advertising business has increasingly comeunder fire.Advertisers will no longer be able to target consumers based oncategorieslike sexual orientation, race, gender, and political beliefs.The decision is likely to upset advertisers at a time when the companys revenue has alreadyfallensignificantly due to privacy changes made by Apple.Both RepublicanandDemocraticstrategists and campaignershave alreadycriticizedthechange,calling it harmful to nonprofit and public affairs advertisers. Metas changes to advertising are among some of the changes it has made to its business model recently, and it remains tobe seenhow advertisers will react.
TSMC and Sony greenlight $7 billion USD chip factory tobe builtin Japan
On November 9, Taiwanese chipmaker TaiwanSemiconductorManufacturingCompany (TSMC)announced it wouldpartnerwithJapanese electronics giantSony to build a chip factory in Japan. The initial investment of the project will be $7 billion USD, of which Sony will contribute $500 million. Mass production from the completed plantis expectedto start at theend of 2024. The joint venture addresses aglobal semiconductor shortagethat hasimpactedproducers across sectors in major economies. This cooperation between Taiwanese and Japanese tech giantshas already garnered strong support from the Japanese government,which wants toincreaseresiliencein its supply chain. TSMC, which is building a $12 billionfabinArizona,is facing increased pressure from some of its largest customers to build new factories intheir home markets.
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See the article here:
Cyber Week in Review: November 12, 2021 - Council on Foreign Relations
