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Android apps used by troops in combat contained vulnerabilities
Two Android apps used by the US military in live combat situations contained severe vulnerabilities that could have allowed attackers to gain access to troops' information, a Navy Inspector General report revealed. The mobile apps offered real-time messaging to coordinate with other military branches, displayed mission objectives and goals, showed satellite images of surroundings and highlighted locations of nearby enemy and friendly forces.
Lawmakers ask Ajit Pai about false DDoS claims
A handful of Democratic lawmakers have some questions for FCC Chairman Ajit Pai regarding claims of a DDoS attack that the Inspector General recently concluded were false. Specifically, they want to know when Pai became aware that disruption to the agency's net neutrality comment system may not have been due to a DDoS attack and why the agency didn't correct its public statements alleging a DDoS attack before now. "It is troubling that you allowed the public myth created by the FCC to persist and your misrepresentations to remain uncorrected for over a year," they wrote in a letter to Pai today. The letter was signed by Representatives Frank Pallone Jr. (NJ), Mike Doyle (PA), Jerry McNerney (CA) and Debbie Dingell (MI).
FCC admits its comment system never suffered DDoS attack
If you didn't buy the FCC's claims that its comment system fell prone to a DDoS attack when it was soliciting net neutrality comments, investigators have just validated your suspicions. An imminent report from the agency's Inspector General has revealed that there's no evidence of such an attack. To put it another way, the comment system's problems were more likely due to large-scale opposition to the net neutrality repeal (helped by Last Week Tonight's John Oliver), not an untimely hacking campaign.
DOJ: FBI prematurely took Apple to court over San Bernardino iPhone
In 2016, the debate over whether manufacturers should aid law enforcement officials in unlocking criminals' phones became very heated as the FBI took Apple to court over its refusal to unlock the San Bernardino shooter's iPhone. At the time, the agency said Apple was its only shot at getting access to whatever was stored on Syed Farook's iPhone 5c but it later used an outside vendor to crack the phone and get to its data. Now, the Justice Department's Office of the Inspector General has released a report that says the FBI didn't do everything it could to find a solution before seeking a court order against Apple.
Federal employees stole data from Homeland Security
Three employees of the inspector general's office for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) are accused of stealing a computer system that contained around 246,000 employees' personal data. That information included names, social security numbers and dates of birth, USA Today reports, and one of the suspects is also said to have had in their possession around 159,000 agency case files. The data breach was reported to DHS officials in May and acting DHS Secretary Elaine Duke decided in August to notify the employees whose information was included in the stolen data.
