At a glance.
- Governments strain to provide online services.
- Cyber espionage spearphishing uses COVID-19 themes.
- Russian disinformation against US science?
- Contact-tracking and privacy.
- Telework comes to the courts.
- Zoom security remains an issue.
- Cyber criminals phish in healthcare and medical research organizations.
As public services in the US have been driven online, the Wall Street Journal reports that state agencies involved in providing services to citizens—especially those that administer unemployment claims—are struggling to maintain (or achieve) enough capacity to handle demand.
According to USA Today, the US Department of Defense is seeing a surge in spearphishing directed against cleared personnel. The Pentagon points to the usual suspects as the source of the attempts: Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran.
The New York Times claims that Russia has been running a long campaign aimed at undermining the authority of US scientific consensus on, especially, health-related and biomedical research.
A number of companies and governments are interested in developing and using contact-tracking tools to help follow and contain the transmission of the coronavirus. Questions about both efficacy and privacy persist.
Law360 says the US Supreme Court will begin hearing oral arguments via teleconferencing, and the New York Law Journal reports that New York State courts will expand their use of “virtual courts.”
Zoom is placed off-limits by government agencies concerned about security. The company continues to work to fix security holes as it copes with greatly increased demand for its services.
And, of course, cyber criminals haven't shown their promised (or naively hoped for) public-spirited restraint, even during the global emergency. See today's COVID-19 cybersecurity wrap-up for more.