Your daily round-up of some of the other security stories in the news
DC cameras hit by ransomware ahead of inauguration
Most of the storage devices that record footage from Washington DC’s police surveillance cameras were infected with ransomware just eight days before President Trump’s inauguration, police said.
Hackers managed to plant the ransomware on 123 of the city’s network of 187 video recorders, each of which controls up to four CCTV cameras. They were unable to record any video between January 12 and January 15, the Washington Post reported.
The city’s CTO, Archana Vemalapalli, said that no ransom was paid and that the attack didn’t go any further than those devices.
Trump ‘not ready to deal with Russian cyberattacks’
Donald Trump’s administration has neither a policy nor a strategy for dealing with Russian cyberwarfare, Senator John McCain has warned Republicans.
Speaking at the GOP’s congressional retreat in Philadelphia, McCain said that the administration is not prepared to respond to Russian attempts “to influence elections in France and European countries in the coming months”.
McCain’s warning comes as France prepares for its first round of presidential elections in April, where the rightwing populist Marine Le Pen is doing well in the polls. Le Pen supported Russia’s 2014 invasion of Crimea, and last year she asked for a $30m loan to help fund her campaign from a bank close to Vladimir Putin.
Lawmakers probe fake news
British MPs are launching an inquiry into whether the rise of “fake news” is a threat to democracy. The House of Commons culture, media and sport select committee will examine what impact “fake news” has on “public understanding of the world” and the point at which “biased but legitimate commentary shades into propaganda and lies”.
The role of social media platforms and search engines will come under scrutiny, with the MPs examining what their responsibilities should be, and if how advertising is sold and placed has had an impact.
Damian Collins MP, the chair of the committee, said: “The growing phenomenon of fake news is a threat to democracy and undermines confidence in the media in general.”
Catch up with all of today’s stories on Naked Security
Tom
I’m sure President Trump will come up with a really great cyber security plan, he’s like a really smart guy.
Daniels
It should at least be better than the prior administration where virtually every US Government office/department was hacked and data stolen.
Leroy
An interesting thought about “fake” news is that it used to be called propaganda.
It’s just that anyone with an internet connection can now spout their version of it.
Rick
Would the first person or organization without bias please stand up and identify themselves.
“The growing phenomenon of fake news is a threat to democracy and undermines confidence in the media in general.” Great case study can be found in the American ‘main stream media’, especially over the past 8 years, but more particularly the past 18 months.
Daniels
Ideology (either sub-consciously or intentionally, but usually intentionally) gets in the way of any person or organization trying to be “neutral”.
Mahhn
McCain understanding technology? Maybe should quote someone else, even light switches confuse him.