At a glance.
- NIST wants you to see yourself in cyber.
- CISA releases manual for TLP update.
- Doreen Bogdan-Martin elected UN’s new ITU Secretary-General.
- Lawmakers call for crackdown on foreign spyware.
NIST wants you to see yourself in cyber.
The US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is kicking off Cybersecurity Awareness Month by announcing this year’s theme: “See Yourself in Cyber.” NIST will publish a series of weekly blogs with a focus on spreading awareness about the complexities of cybersecurity and promoting safe online behaviors. Topics will include enabling multi-factor authentication, adopting strong password hygiene, keeping software up-to-date, and knowing how to spot phishing scams in the wild. As well, yesterday NIST launched its 50th Anniversary of Cybersecurity History Timeline, which details the significant events that shaped today’s cybersecurity landscape.
CISA releases manual for TLP update.
Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) yesterday announced the publication of “Traffic Light Protocol 2.0 User Guide and Traffic Light Protocol: Moving to Version 2.0 fact sheet,” a user guide to prepare for the November 1 transition from Traffic Light Protocol (TLP) Version 1.0 to TLP 2.0. As defined by the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams, TLP is a system of markings that indicates information sharing permissions in order "to facilitate greater sharing of potentially sensitive information and more effective collaboration.” The new version will update and redefine some of the permissions levels, though CISA’s Automated Indicator Sharing (AIS) capability will not transition from TLP 1.0 to TLP 2.0 until March 2023.
Doreen Bogdan-Martin elected UN’s new ITU Secretary-General.
As we noted earlier this week, the United Nations has been preparing to select a new leader for the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the body responsible for establishing international standards for telecoms and tech infrastructure. With the US’s Doreen Bogdan-Martin facing off against Russia’s Rashid Ismailov, Politico explains, the election posed Western ideals of a more open, free internet against authoritarian countries' desires for more government control. After a 139-25 vote, Bogdan-Martin won the responsibility of leading the ITU for the next four years, and as Computing notes, Bogdan-Martin will be the first woman to lead the ITU since it was established 157 years ago. After her landslide victory, the new Secretary-General stated, “The world is facing significant challenges – escalating conflicts, a climate crisis, food security, gender inequalities, and 2.7 billion people with no access to the Internet. I believe we, the ITU and our members, have an opportunity to make a transformational contribution.” Bogdan-Martin has over twenty years of experience working in executive roles in international telecommunications policy, and after joining ITU's Development Bureau in 1993, she became bureau director in 2019. Her platform stresses the importance of using digital transformation as a force to overcome disparity, with economic prosperity, job creation, gender equality, skills development, and socio-economic inclusion among her main goals.
Lawmakers call for crackdown on foreign spyware.
Members of the US House Intelligence Committee submitted a letter urging the Departments of State and Commerce to be more aggressive when it comes to fighting foreign commercial spyware. The letter calls for a ban on the use of such surveillance software in democratic countries and stricter measures to ensure companies aren’t evading existing US prohibitions. The document comes in the wake of recent revelations that nations across the globe, including democracies and US allies, have been using surveillance software to spy on their citizens.
Representative Jim Himes, who spearheaded the letter, told the Washington Post, “The impetus behind the letter … is that it's one thing to argue with the Chinese or the Iranians or the Russians — our traditional antagonists, if you will — about the use of technology like this.” But it’s another thing, he said, “to have our purported allies, or those who are substantial recipients of U.S. aid, to use this technology in an inappropriate way.” Among the letter’s requests, the lawmakers want regular updates to the Commerce Department’s “entity list” of companies banned from receiving US tech, tighter monitoring of potential abuses by those companies, and stronger pressure on foreign governments, especially those that receive US aid, to fight the abuse of spyware.