Security News Bites for February 14, 2025
Anyone Can Push Updates to the DOGE.Gov Website
The web site pulls from a database that anyone can edit. The ultimate definition of full transparency, I guess. It is also not hosted on a government server.
Credit: 404 Media
VP Calls for Less AI Regulation at Summit
The Veep spoke at the Paris AI Action Summit and told the people there that Europe needs to view developments in AI with optimism. He said that Europe’s tendency to over-regulate US tech companies is costing American businesses billions of dollars. Likely true. Whether it is good or bad is up for debate. He said that the regulation has some US companies block EU traffic. Clearly, he doesn’t understand that Europe considers that a desirable outcome. The EU AI Act can cost (US) companies fines of up to 7 percent of their revenue. It is unclear what Europe’s response to his suggestion will be, but I have not seen them cancelling any laws yet. Credit: Data Breach Today
Congress Wants DNI to Oppose UK’s Order for Apple Backdoor
US lawmakers want newly minted Director of National Intelligence Gabbard to oppose the unconfirmed but widely reported secret UK order requiring Apple to give unlimited access to the data of all Apple users worldwide. The Congress critters say “If Apple is forced to build a backdoor in its products, that backdoor will end up … undermining the security of Americans’ data, as well as of the countless federal, state and local government agencies that entrust sensitive data to Apple products.” Assuming Gabbard uses an iPhone, as most bureaucrats seem to, that would allow the UK to see all of her data as the DNI. The critters suggest that if the UK does not reverse the order that the US should stop sharing intelligence with them. They used her own words from her confirmation hearing about backdoors being bad against her. Stay tuned. Credit: The Register
Trump Trades Russian Money Launderer Who Pleaded Guilty to Stealing $120 Million for Jailed US Teacher
US teacher Marc Fogel has been in prison in Russia for 3 years now, convicted, like basketball player Brittney Griner, of having a small amount of medical THC. The Russian who was traded is Alexander Vinnik, who pleaded guilty to money laundering after allowing his customers to trade billions in Bitcoin, mostly by criminals. It is unclear how much he stole out of the billions, but as part of the trade, he agreed to a US requested bribe of $100 million out of the money that he stole (the rest he/Russia keeps). It is unclear if the president plans to keep that money or give it back to the victims. The US has a history of trading Russian hackers, spies and assassins in exchange for Americans in Russia. My opinion is that if Americans go to Russia for any reason they should expect to be harassed and jailed as a means for Russia to ransom Russian criminals jailed in the US. Secretary of State Rubio said we didn’t trade anyone for Fogel’s release; the Kremlin corrected him. Credit: The Record and MSN
President Nominates Political Operative with No Cyber Experience as National Cyber Director
Sean Cairncross is a former RNC executive with no cybersecurity or cyber warfare background who has been nominated to be the next national cyber director. This is a sharp departure from former NCDs who had deep experience in the area. No matter who is ordained for this position, given the number of senior cyber folks across the government leaving, either voluntarily or otherwise, I would not take that job for any amount of money. I suspect that China and other adversaries are looking for opportunities to clobber us. Credit: Data Breach Today
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