Lifeboat Foundation

The United States Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has issued an alert that strongly urges users and administrators alike to update a VPN with long-since disclosed critical vulnerabilities. “Affected organizations that have not applied the software patch to fix a remote code execution (RCE) vulnerability,” the CISA alert warns, “can become compromised in an attack.” What has dictated the need for this level of Government agency interest and the urgency of the language used? The simple answer is the ongoing Travelex foreign currency exchange cyber-attack, thought to have been facilitated by no less than seven VPN servers that were late in being patched against this critical vulnerability. The vulnerability in question is CVE-2019–11510, first disclosed way back in April 2019 when Pulse Secure VPN also released a patch to fix it.

Critical VPN security vulnerability timeline

The CISA alert provides a telling timeline that outlines how the Pulse Secure VPN critical vulnerability, CVE-2019–11510, became such a hot security potato. Pulse Secure first released an advisory regarding the vulnerabilities in the VPN on April 24, 2019. “Multiple vulnerabilities were discovered and have been resolved in Pulse Connect Secure (PCS) and Pulse Policy Secure (PPS),” that advisory warned, “this includes an authentication by-pass vulnerability that can allow an unauthenticated user to perform a remote arbitrary file access on the Pulse Connect Secure gateway.” An upgrade patch to fix the problem, which had been rated as critical, was made available at the same time. Warning users that the vulnerabilities posed a “significant risk to your deployment,” Pulse Secure recommended patching as soon as possible.

SET-listed satellite service provider Thaicom is in talks with three foreign companies on partnership deals to operate ground stations for satellite data transmission as the government works towards opening the satellite industry to private operators through a licensing regime.

The ground stations, known as satellite gateways, are responsible for transmitting data to and from the satellite to the local area network. The antennas and equipment for converting the radio frequency signal to an internet protocol signal for terrestrial connectivity are already installed.

The deals are expected to be concluded this year, with operations kicking off next year, according to Thaicom chief executive Anant Kaewruamgvongs.

Guardian of the Amazon! — Come hear the recent ideaXme (http://radioideaxme.com/) episode where we are joined by Ms. Nemonte Nenquimo, President of the Waorani Pastaza Organization, CONCONAWEP (Coordinating Council of the Waorani Nationality of Ecuador), following their recent landmark legal victory against the Ecuadorian government, leading to 500,000 acres of Amazon rainforest protected from oil drilling and timber companies (English voice over — Spanish audio link to be posted soon) — #Ideaxme #Amazon #Rainforest #Jungle #Ecuador #Waorani #Huaorani #Amerindian #Environment #Trees #Herbal #EthnoMedicine #Sustainability #Ayahuasca #ClimateChange #GretaThunberg #Health #Wellness #Longevity #Aging #IraPastor #Bioquark #Regenerage

Ira Pastor, ideaXme exponential health ambassador, interviews Ms. Nemonte Nenquimo, President of the Waorani Pastaza Organization (CONCONAWEP — Coordinating Council of the Waorani Nationality of Ecuador). This is an English language voice over of Ms Nenquimo’s audio interview.

Continue reading “Guardian of The Amazon: Ms Nenquimo protects environment and health for her people and the world” »

Dunwoody officials said Thursday that no data was compromised during the ransomware attack, which was detected on Christmas Eve and is now under investigation by the FBI. The intrusion was quickly identified by staff, which worked with the city’s computer security contractors at InterDev to shut down servers and disconnect computers in order to limit the impact of the attack.

“As soon as we detected a problem, we took immediate steps to protect the city’s infrastructure,” Ashley Smith, InterDev’s director of government services, said in a news release. “Data back-ups were used to fully restore systems with no loss.”

Dunwoody police Chief Billy Grogan said the attackers demanded a ransom be paid in bitcoin, a digital currency. He declined to reveal the amount requested but said the city did not pay.

“Now we have a situation that is unique in modern history when they are trying to catch up to us,” he said. “Not a single country has hypersonic weapons, let alone hypersonic weapons of intercontinental range.”

The Pentagon and the U.S. military services have been working on the development of hypersonic weapons in recent years, and Defense Secretary Mark Esper said in August that he believes “it’s probably a matter of a couple of years” before the U.S. has one. He has called it a priority as the military works to develop new long-range fire capabilities.

The U.S. also has repeatedly warned Congress about hypersonic missiles being developed by Russia and China that will be harder to track and defeat. U.S. officials have talked about putting a layer of sensors in space to more quickly detect enemy missiles, particularly the more advanced hypersonic threats. The administration also plans to study the idea of basing interceptors in space, so the U.S. can strike incoming enemy missiles during the first minutes of flight when the booster engines are still burning.

The US government has placed software designed to train neural networks to analyse satellite images under new export controls in a bid to prevent foreign adversaries using said code.

The decision, made by Uncle Sam’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), is effective today. Vendors shipping software subject to the controls – in that the applications help machine learning systems annotate satellite images in a particular way – will have to apply for a license to sell their products to customers outside of the US and Canada.

“Items warrant control for export because the items may provide a significant military or intelligence advantage to the United States or because foreign policy reasons justify control,” the BIS said.

The first U.S. government website has been hacked post the killing of Qassem Suleimani, exposing the true nature of the short-term threat.

Foreign ministry officials believe another country may be responsible.

Starfleet Begins

Steven L. Kwast is a retired Air Force general and former commander of the Air Education and Training Command at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph. A graduate of the United States Air Force Academy with a degree in astronautical engineering, he holds a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. He is a past president of the Air Force’s Air University in Montgomery, Alabama, and a former fighter pilot with extensive combat and command experience. He is the author of the study, “Fast Space: Leveraging Ultra Low-Cost Space Access for 21st Century Challenges.”

Continue reading “Steven Kwast | The Urgent Need for a U.S. Space Force” »