Security News for the Week Ending June 18, 2021

Security Company Founder Charged with Hacking Georgia Hospital

An indictment unsealed this week in a Northern District of Georgia court accuses Vikas Singla, 45, with 18 separate counts of aiding and abetting a 2018 cyber attack against the Gwinnett Medical Center in Georgia. According to his LinkedIn profile, he is (or maybe now was) the COO of Atlanta based Securolytics. It is not clear what he did, but the feds say that he aided and abetted the attack. Credit: SC Magazine

Energy Secretary Says Adversaries Have Ability to Shut down US Power Grid with Cyberattacks

Maybe this story is a no-big-deal in light of the Colonial Pipeline attack, but Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said that US adversaries already are capable of using cyber intrusions to shut down the US power grid. This is something that security professionals have been saying for a long time and in light of the almost half dozen attacks on water, oil and support infrastructure in the last couple of months, this is not a big surprise. Credit: Fox8

China Crackdown Continues

The FCC approved a plan this week to ban approvals for Chinese telecom equipment from companies deemed a threat to US national security. This includes, potentially, revoking the approval of equipment and apps already in use. This continues the pressure on China started in the last administration. Credit: Verdict

Apple Not Happy With Proposed Requirement for Competition

Europe is trying to force some competition in the Apple app store and, given the amount of money that represents to Apple, they are not happy. They say that it would harm consumer’s privacy. Informed consumers could make a choice under those circumstances. Would a consumer be willing to trade some personal data in exchange for getting an app for free or at a reduced cost? Apple thinks it is their job to answer that question for their customers; the EU disagrees. Actually, Apple thinks it is their job to be a monopoly. Stay tuned. Credit: The Register

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