Security News Bites for the Week Ending July 31, 2020
Many Cyberspace Solarium Commission Recommendations Likely to Become Law
The Cyberspace Solarium Commission was a blue ribbon commission that made recommendations to Congress earlier this year on improving government cybersecurity. It appears that many of their recommendations are being added to the National Defense Authorization Act, which is “must pass” bill to fund the military. President Trump has said that he will veto it because it directs the Pentagon to rename bases named after Confederate Generals. Stay tuned; that sausage is still being made. If they do remain in the bill, that would be a great thing. Credit: CSO Online
Fintech “Dave” Exposed 7.5 Million Customers’ Data
Fintechs, those Internet firms that act as an intermediary between your financial institutions and you, are not regulated in the same way that say, banks are. Fintech Dave (yes, that is their name) exposed data on 7.5 million customers as a result of a breach at one of their vendors. One more time, vendor cyber risk management is an issue and Dave will wind up with the lawsuits and fines. While credit card data was not exposed, passwords, which were very weakly encrypted, were compromised. Credit: Dark Reading
IRS “Recommends” 2FA – Makes it Mandatory Next Year
IRS is “Recommending” Tax Pros Use Multi-factor Authentication, especially when working from home. They say that most of the data thefts reported to the IRS this year by tax pros could have been avoided if they used multi-factor authentication. Starting in 2021, this will be mandatory for all providers of tax software. The IRS seems to recommend two factor apps like Google Authenticator over SMS messages which are easier to hack. Credit: Bleeping Computer
5G is Here – Sort Of
The article says “After years of hype, 5G making progress in the US”. While true, there is less to the statement than most people would like. Last week AT&T joined T-Mobile in claiming that have deployed 5G nationwide. While this is a true statement, they are doing it using the low frequency band. They are doing this because they can cover the country with an order of magnitude less cell sites. Unfortunately, this also means that the speed that you will see after you fork over a thousand bucks for a new 5G phone is basically the same as the speed you currently have with your current phone without spending the money on the new phone and new plan. For details, read the article in USA Today.
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