ThreatsRecent Congressional Testimony: Worldwide Threats to the Homeland By Stevie Kiesel Published 2 November 2020 Two weeks ago, FBI Director Christopher Wray testified about “Worldwide Threats to the Homeland” to the House Committee on Homeland Security. Wray acknowledges the “unique and unprecedented challenges” brought about by COVID-19, as well as important “aggressive and sophisticated threats

CybersecurityFour Years Since the Mirai-Dyn Attack: Is the Internet Safer? Published 2 November 2020 On 21 October 2016, millions of household IoT devices were infected with the malware Mirai and instructed to send data requests to Dyn, a widely used Domain Name Server (DNS) that acts like a switchboard for the Internet. This tidal wave

SupercomputersSafeguarding the Nation’s Supercomputers Published 2 November 2020 Researchers have developed a system to ferret out questionable use of high-performance computing (HPC) systems within the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). As HPC systems become more powerful—arguably the most sophisticated and largest systems in the world—they are under potential threat by attackers seeking to run malicious software.

Climate challengesMost Surprising Thing about a New Report Showing Climate Change Imperils the U.S. Financial System Is That the Report Even Exists By Jeffrey Dukes Published 2 November 2020 As an expert on the impacts of climate change, I contributed to a recent report that examined what climate change means for the U.S. financial system.

PandemicsEscaping the “Era of Pandemics”: Reducing Risks of Worse Crises to Come Published 31 October 2020 Future pandemics will emerge more often, spread more rapidly, do more damage to the world economy and kill more people than COVID-19 unless there is a transformative change in the global approach to dealing with infectious diseases, warns a

PandemicsU.S. at “Critical Point” as COVID-19 Cases up Nationwide, Crossing the 9 Million Mark By Lisa Schnirring Published 31 October 2020 The COVID-19 pandemic in the United States is setting new records as infections continue to spike in the Midwest and other parts of the country. A member of the White House coronavirus task force

Election securityU.S. Bracing for Attacks Before and After Election Day By Jeff Seldin Published 31 October 2020 U.S. intelligence officials have already confirmed attacks on the election have been underway for some time, with Russia, China and Iran all waging operations designed to influence the way voters cast their ballots. And more recently, intelligence officials

Election securityRansomware Can Interfere with Elections and Fuel Disinformation – Basic Cybersecurity Precautions Are Key to Minimizing the Damage By Richard Forno Published 31 October 2020 Government computer systems in Hall County, Georgia, including a voter signature database, were hit by a ransomware attack earlier this fall in the first known ransomware attack on election

Election securityElection Cyber Program Targets Foreign Threats Published 31 October 2020 Following two alerts from the Department of Homeland Security, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) regarding Iranian and Russian threats to election systems, the University of Chicago’s Election Cyber Surge (ECS) program mobilized its cyber volunteers to help. Following two alerts from the Department of

PandemicsEscaping the “Era of Pandemics”: Reducing Risks of Worse Crises to Come Published 30 October 2020 Future pandemics will emerge more often, spread more rapidly, do more damage to the world economy and kill more people than COVID-19 unless there is a transformative change in the global approach to dealing with infectious diseases, warns a