Homeland & Cybersecurity
The latest coverage of the Department of Homeland Security and cyber threats around the globe.
A bill to safeguard the privacy of Americans’ data is gaining momentum in the House but faces much steeper challenges in the Senate, where Democratic leaders are not supporting the bipartisan proposal.
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Facebook agreed to stop using a digital advertising tool and change its algorithms in order to settle a lawsuit brought by the Justice Department that alleged violations of the Fair Housing Act.
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Cyberattackers have been holding hostage data and computer systems at American businesses, schools and hospitals until they receive digital payment from their victims, making cryptocurrency a key component of ransomware gangs’ business model.
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By Eric Tucker and Alan Suderman - Associated Press
The FBI thwarted a planned cyberattack on a children’s hospital in Boston that was to have been carried out by hackers sponsored by the Iranian government, FBI Director Christopher A. Wray said Wednesday.
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Associated Press
Parents, caregivers, and teenagers are being warned by the FBI about an increase in sextortion crimes across North Carolina and the country.
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Senate Republicans are demanding details about President Biden’s now-paused disinformation governance board.
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Sen. Marco Rubio, Florida Republican, is urging President Biden to prevent TikTok Shop from fully operating in the U.S. because of concerns that the Chinese platform poses potential threats to Americans’ privacy and national security.
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Congressional lawmakers have proposed legislation to break Google and Facebook’s monopoly over digital advertising, accusing the tech giants of profiteering off their market dominance.
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The Biden administration is warning that information technology workers skilled in developing dating apps and mobile games may actually be North Koreans infiltrating the tech sector to benefit their country’s weapons and missile programs.
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The Department of Homeland Security said Wednesday that it has “paused” its disinformation governance board because the botched rollout and “false attacks” on its mission have become too much of a distraction for the board to move ahead right now.
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Billionaire Elon Musk said Friday that his pending acquisition of Twitter is on hold as he awaited information about the prevalence of fake accounts.
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A federal appeals court is allowing Texas’ new social media law to take effect, undoing a judge’s blockade and escalating the legal fight over digital censorship.
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Robot dogs are finding new homes in Washington’s security establishment, as a Philadelphia-based firm is building new military companions with the goal of keeping service members and other personnel away from danger.
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The State Department is offering a reward of up to $10 million for information that helps identify or locate the leaders of the Conti ransomware gang that has victimized Americans.
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The Biden administration said Monday it has partnered with 20 leading providers to cap internet service at $30 per month for an estimated 48 million households, characterizing high-speed access as essential to life in the 21st century.
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Republicans announced legislation Tuesday to defund the Homeland Security Department’s new disinformation board, calling it an “un-American” attempt to police what people are allowed to say.
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The threat of cyberattack from Russia fueled more than half of the FBI’s 3.39 million warrantless searches of Americans’ data last year, according to a new government report.
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The Biden administration on Thursday defended its cyber security agency’s big budget request — a roughly $300 million or 13% increase from last year — by saying the extra money was for people, processes and partnerships.
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Former Homeland Security Department leaders warned that the Biden administration had unleashed Orwellian thought police on Americans after the department revealed that its “disinformation” board to stop online misinformation is run by a woman who has spread disinformation and questioned First Amendment rights.
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A Republican congressman said Thursday his constituents want Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas impeached for “treason,” and wondered if future parents with the last name of Mayorkas will hesitate to name their children Alejandro.
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A key Republican lawmaker is pressing the Treasury Department to examine the proposed acquisition of Forbes Global Media Holdings by a China-based enterprise that got its initial seed money from an arm of the Communist Party.
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Associated Press
Two explosions in a radio facility close to the Ukrainian border knocked a pair of powerful broadcast antennas out of service in Moldova’s separatist region of Trans-Dniester, local police said.
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A grand jury in the District of Columbia has indicted two men accused of posing as federal agents on false impersonation and weapons charges.
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Sen. Joe Manchin III demanded Tuesday that President Biden keep sanctions in place on Iran as long as Tehran continues to fund terrorism aimed at the U.S. and its citizens.
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The 77,000 Afghans evacuated to the U.S. have all been processed and released from military bases, but not before racking up a striking number of criminal entanglements including violence against women and sexual assaults on children.
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By KEVIN FREKING - Associated Press
A global computer chip shortage has made it harder for consumers to get their hands on cars, computers and other modern-day necessities, so Congress is looking to boost chip manufacturing and research in the United States with billions of dollars from the federal government.
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A Mexican governor promised Wednesday to deploy his own police to secure the U.S.-Mexico border and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said he’ll cancel some of the enhanced commercial traffic inspections that had clogged the ports of entry into the state.
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Apple CEO Tim Cook on Tuesday bashed federal efforts to lessen his App Store’s dominance of e-commerce, saying it will leave iPhone users more vulnerable to cyberattackers.
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Federal officials are probing potential Pakistani and Iranian intelligence services links to two men that prosecutors allege posed as U.S. federal agents and lavished members of the U.S. Secret Service with gifts.
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Microsoft said it disrupted the actions of a Moscow-linked cyberattacker targeting Ukraine, the U.S. and Europe.
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The hacking group Anonymous claims that they will release 35,000 files containing “secret agreements” after hacking the Central Bank of Russia.
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Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas broke the law when he wrote new rules limiting which illegal immigrants can be arrested or deported, a federal judge ruled Tuesday, slapping an injunction on ICE that will limit its ability to pick and choose whom to target.
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President Biden telling the private sector it is responsible for its own defense against Russian cyberattacks has drawn critics who counter that fighting off a hostile nation is the federal government’s job.
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The White House on Monday echoed its warnings that Russia could launch a cyberattack on American companies and infrastructure in retaliation for economic sanctions imposed by the U.S. over Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
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Congress is reviewing rules to manage the nation’s electromagnetic spectrum resources to avoid falling behind China on both 5G deployment and future 6G wireless technology.
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The number of migrants caught crossing the southern border illegally rose in February as single adult Mexicans poured into the country at their highest rate in years, according to new Homeland Security data released Tuesday.
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A bipartisan group of 22 senators urged the Department of Homeland Security to provide details about the government’s preparedness for cyberattacks from Russia, as its invasion of Ukraine has American lawmakers on edge.
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The top Republicans on four House committees are questioning the Biden administration’s decision to “prematurely release” a Russian cybercriminal, raising concerns that “he may now be working against U.S. interests.”
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The Senate Intelligence Committee chairman said Monday the U.S. government cannot fully explain why Russia has not launched a catastrophic cyberattack accompanying its invasion of Ukraine.
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A key Iranian dissident group is calling on the Biden administration not to remove Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) from the U.S. Foreign Terrorist Organizations list, amid reports that Tehran is demanding the delisting as a condition for participating in nuclear talks.
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LVIV, Ukraine — From an apartment on a quiet street in Lviv in the still-unscathed western reaches of Ukraine, two childhood friends now in their early 20s have been waging their own quiet invasion deep within Russia’s borders.
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A proposed multibillion-dollar transaction by Google announced on Tuesday is the latest indication that America’s largest technology companies’ growth plans are not deterred by antitrust scrutiny.
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China-sponsored hackers compromised at least six U.S. state government networks and stole personally identifiable information, according to cybersecurity firm Mandiant.
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Elon Musk’s SpaceX is shifting its focus toward cyber as Russian signal jamming and security concerns have disrupted the satellite internet services the company is working to provide to Ukraine.
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Concerns that your phone is snooping on you and sharing the info with advertisers have created cause for Congress to ban surveillance ads, the company DuckDuckGo told lawmakers on Tuesday.
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Ukraine has received equipment to use Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet service to back up the country’s communications capabilities while fighting against Russian invaders, according to Ukrainian digital transformation minister Mykhailo Federov.
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Cybersecurity company Symantec’s researchers discovered a China-linked cyber espionage tool and worked with the Biden administration to sound the alarm to targets.
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Anti-Kremlin hackers are escalating their cyberwar against the supporters of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his government, including leaks of personal information and knocking more pro-Russian websites offline.
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Russia slapped limits on its citizens’ access to Facebook after the social media giant refused to stop fact-checking the country’s state-run media, according to Facebook.
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The hacking group Anonymous is fighting the Russian government in cyberspace and is taking credit for knocking down the website for RT, the Russian-controlled news network, as the Russian military attacks Ukraine.
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Destructive cyberattacks against Ukraine this week ahead of Russia’s invasion were made possible by digital intrusions starting last year, according to cybersecurity company Symantec. The company said ransomware is used as a decoy in such attacks.
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Government websites going dark in Ukraine on Wednesday spread fear that an escalating conflict with Russia in cyberspace is headed to America, a cyberwar that experts say is already underway and for which the U.S. is unprepared.
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Several Ukrainian government websites were inaccessible Wednesday as Russian troops advanced on the country.
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America’s top cyber official is proposing to overhaul the government’s relationship with industry to stop hackers capable of holding critical infrastructure hostage.
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