Security News Bites for June 20, 2025
Car Production in US Could Shut Down in Weeks Due to China Rare Earth Magnet Ban
The president says he has worked this out with China – we will see how much of a squeeze China wants to put him in. Xi, as a master deal maker, could choose to squeeze the hell out of the president and the president really has no alternate source. — Global car production could shut down in the near future as experts warn that a shortage of rare-earth magnets from China could force the closure of factories. The bosses at General Motors, Toyota, Volkswagen, Hyundai and others warned the President’s administration. China did allow a trickle of rare earth elements out after two days of talks in London, but they could shut it down instantly if the US president doesn’t do what they want. Call it extortion, which it is, but it is a very effective way to blackmail the president. Credit: MSN
UPDATE: FORD SAYS RARE EARTHS SHORTAGE FORCED IT TO HALT PRODUCTION
Ford CEO Jim Farley said that a rare earth minerals shortage caused the automaker to temporarily shut down one of its plants last month, according to an interview with Bloomberg TV. Farley said the slowing flow of the critical minerals into the U.S. has presented a challenge for Ford. “It’s day to day,” he told Bloomberg TV Friday. “We have had to shut down factories. It’s hand-to-mouth right now.” Credit: MSN
OpenAI Wins $200 Million Defense Contract
ChatGPT-maker OpenAI was awarded a $200 million contract to provide the DoD with AI tools. This comes as several Silicon Valley executives got sworn into the Army reserves as senior advisors of “Detachment 201”. The goal is for them to guide rapid and scalable tech solutions to complex problems. Credit: Cybernews
As AI Proliferates You May Need to Change Your Website Blocking Rules
Many companies, as a way to control spam, block access from anything that looks like a bot. That may not be a good idea in the future. As companies use AI bots, AKA agents, AKA agentic AI, what may be coming to your website in the future may be a bot working on behalf of a potential customer. Probably today leaving those blocking rules in place is okay, but in the future as AI expands its role, users may ask a custom bot to surf the web on their behalf and present the results. If you block your potential customers’ digital assistants, they will no longer find you. This means that you have to come up with a new strategy for filtering out the riffraff. If you need help with that, please contact our Chief AI Officer. (Podcast). Credit: A16z
DoJ Plans to Use Civil Forfeiture Rules to Claw Back $225 Mil of Stolen Crypto
Justice is trying to claw back $225 million in stolen cryptocurrency from confidence and romance schemes. The money belongs to 430 victims in Texas, Arizona and other states. The feds were contacted by a crypto exchange who thought the accounts were sketchy, so it is not like the feds figured this one out. They did follow up on it and figured out, forensically, where the money came from. The exchange is located in California so even though the scammers are in places like the Philippines and Vietnam so it should be straight forward, especially since the exchange is cooperating, to getting the money back. Credit: The Record
Finland Could Charge 3 Russians Over Undersea Cable Sabotage
We are getting different reports as to whether a ship’s anchor, which was dragged on the ocean floor for 62 miles and snagged and broke multiple underwater cables was an accident. I don’t think so. Armed Finnish commandos boarded the ship by rappelling from a helicopter. The ship was freed in March but 3 senior officers are still in jail. While some other EU governments said it was an accident, Finland is not so sure. They say the investigation is over, but a decision to prosecute has not been made. Credit: The Record
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