Send Link mailing list submissions to
[email protected]
To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
https://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link
or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
[email protected]
You can reach the person managing the list at
[email protected]
When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
than "Re: Contents of Link digest..."
Today's Topics:
1. Dismantled: Cyber Safety Review Board investigating Salt
Typhoon hack. (Stephen Loosley)
2. Re: O/t: The universe is expanding too fast to fit theories:
Hubble tension in crisis (David)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Fri, 24 Jan 2025 00:10:28 +1030
From: Stephen Loosley <[email protected]>
To: "link" <[email protected]>
Subject: [LINK] Dismantled: Cyber Safety Review Board investigating
Salt Typhoon hack.
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
You're all fired
Trump admin fires security board investigating Chinese hack of large ISPs
Dismantled Cyber Safety Review Board was investigating Salt Typhoon telecom
hack.
By Jon Brodkin ? Jan 23, 2025 7:08 AM
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/01/trump-admin-fires-homeland-security-advisory-boards-blaming-agendas/
The Department of Homeland Security has terminated all members of advisory
committees, including one that has been investigating a major Chinese hack of
large US telecom firms.
"The Cyber Safety Review Board?a Department of Homeland Security investigatory
body stood up under a Biden-era cybersecurity executive order to probe major
cybersecurity incidents?has been cleared of non-government members as part of a
DHS-wide push to cut costs under the Trump administration, according to three
people familiar with the matter," NextGov/FCW reported yesterday.
A memo sent Monday by DHS Acting Secretary Benjamine Huffman said that in order
to "eliminate[e] the misuse of resources and ensur[e] that DHS activities
prioritize our national security, I am directing the termination of all current
memberships on advisory committees within DHS, effective immediately.
Future committee activities will be focused solely on advancing our critical
mission to protect the homeland and support DHS's strategic priorities."
The memo said advisory board members terminated this week "are welcome to
reapply." The Cyber Safety Review Board's list of members included security
experts from the private sector and lead cybersecurity officials from multiple
government agencies.
The review board previously investigated a 2023 hack of Microsoft Exchange
Online, producing a report that called out "a cascade of security failures at
Microsoft." More recently, it has been investigating how the Chinese hacking
group called Salt Typhoon infiltrated major telecom providers such as Verizon
and AT&T.
DHS said advisory boards ?push agendas?
Salt Typhoon attackers stole call records for many telecom customers and
reportedly accessed calls and messages for Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and
other government officials.
US Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) was quoted by Reuters as saying that "disbanding the
Cyber Safety Review Board while it's in the middle of investigating the most
damaging breach of America's phone system in recent memory is a massive gift to
the Chinese spies who targeted Trump, JD Vance and other top political figures."
We contacted the Department of Homeland Security today, asking whether the
Cyber Safety Review Board will be reconstituted and whether its work on Salt
Typhoon will continue. The agency's public relations team didn't answer those
questions but sent us a statement it attributed to an unnamed DHS senior
official.
"Effective immediately, the Department of Homeland Security will no longer
tolerate any advisory committee[s] which push agendas that attempt to undermine
its national security mission, the President's agenda or Constitutional rights
of Americans," the DHS statement said.
The Cyber Safety Review Board operates under the DHS's Cybersecurity and
Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), which has been criticized by Republican
lawmakers for allegedly trying to "surveil and censor Americans' speech on
social media."
Democrat: Board will be stacked with Trump loyalists
A Democratic lawmaker said that Trump appears ready to stack the Cyber Safety
Review Board with "loyalists." House Committee on Homeland Security Ranking
Member Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) made the criticism in his opening statement at
a hearing today.
"Before I close, I would also like to express my concern regarding the
dismissal of the non-government members of advisory committees inside the
Department, including the Cyber Safety Review Board and the CISA Advisory
Committee," Thompson's statement reads.
"The CSRB is in the process of investigating the Salt Typhoon hack of nine
major telecommunications companies, and it is a national security imperative
that the investigation be completed expeditiously. I am troubled that the
President's attempt to stack the CSRB with loyalists may cause its important
work on the Salt Typhoon campaign to be delayed."
Thompson said Republicans have been trying to shut down CISA over "false
allegations and conspiracy theories." The conservative Heritage Foundation's
Project 2025 alleged that "CISA has devolved into an unconstitutional censoring
and election engineering apparatus of the political Left."
The DHS memo dismissing board members was published yesterday by freelance
cybersecurity reporter Eric Geller, who quoted an anonymous source as saying
the Cyber Safety Review Board's review of Salt Typhoon is "dead."
Geller wrote that other advisory boards affected by the mass dismissal include
the Artificial Intelligence Safety and Security Board, the Critical
Infrastructure Partnership Advisory Council, the National Security
Telecommunications Advisory Committee, the National Infrastructure Advisory
Council, and the Secret Service's Cyber Investigations Advisory Board.
"The CSRB was 'less than halfway' done with its Salt Typhoon investigation,
according to a now-former member," Geller wrote. The former member was also
quoted as saying, "There are still professional staff for the CSRB and I hope
they will continue some of the work in the interim."
House Committee on Homeland Security Chairman Mark Green (R-Tenn.) told
Nextgov/FCW that "President Trump's new DHS leadership should have the
opportunity to decide the future of the Board. This could include appointing
new members, reviewing its structure, or deciding if the Board is the best way
to examine cyber intrusions."
Jon Brodkin Senior IT Reporter
Jon is a Senior IT Reporter for Ars Technica. He covers the telecom industry,
Federal Communications Commission rulemakings, broadband consumer affairs,
court cases, and government regulation of the tech industry.
119 Comments
--
------------------------------
Message: 2
Date: Fri, 24 Jan 2025 09:47:35 +1100
From: David <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Subject: [LINK] Re: O/t: The universe is expanding too fast to fit
theories: Hubble tension in crisis
Message-ID: <4763090.vXUDI8C0e8@ulysses>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Very good, Tom!!!
_DavidL._
On Wednesday, 22 January 2025 8:58:31 AM AEDT Tom Worthington wrote:
> On 1/20/25 22:00, Stephen Loosley wrote:
>
> > The universe is expanding too fast to fit theories: Hubble tension in crisis
> > Source: Duke University &
> > https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/01/250117161235.htm
>
> A few years ago I overheard two people in a uni bar, looking at someone
> on the other side of the room. One said [...]
>
------------------------------
Subject: Digest Footer
_______________________________________________
Link mailing list
[email protected]
https://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link
------------------------------
End of Link Digest, Vol 386, Issue 11
*************************************
