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Rethinking American Cyber Security

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An employee of Global Cyber Security Company Group-IB develops a computer code in an office in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2017. (Pavel Golovkin/AP Photo)
An employee of Global Cyber Security Company Group-IB develops a computer code in an office in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2017. (Pavel Golovkin/AP Photo)

When Russian Intelligence used a Texas company’s software update to launch a cyberattack against the U.S. last December, it showed just how vulnerable the U.S. is to cyberattacks. We discuss what the U.S. needs to do to protect our digital infrastructure.

Guests

Sen. Angus King, senator from Maine. Co-chair of the Cyberspace Solarium Commission, established in 2019 to develop a strategic approach to defending the U.S. against ‘significant’ cyber-attacks. (@SenAngusKing)

Nicole Perlroth, cybersecurity reporter for the New York Times. Guest lecturer at Stanford Graduate School of Business. Author of "This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends." (@nicoleperlroth)

Dmitri Alperovitch, chairman of Silverado Policy Accelerator, a nonprofit cybersecurity think-tank. (@DAlperovitch)

Book Excerpt

Originally published on Literary Hub. Excerpted from This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyberweapons Arms Race. Used with permission of the publisher, Bloomsbury. Copyright © 2021 by Nicole Perlroth. 

From The Reading List

Washington Post: "Biden administration plans to name former senior NSA officials to White House cyber position and head of CISA" — "The Biden administration on Monday announced its intent to name a former senior National Security Agency official as the first national cyber director and another former NSA official to head the Department of Homeland Security’s cybersecurity agency."

Defense One: "New ODNI Report Sees Growing Cyber Threats, COVID-Related Instability" — "The pandemic will heighten economic and geopolitical insecurity as some countries struggle with the fallout and China and Russia attempt to use it to their geopolitical advantage, according to the new worldwide threat report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence."

Technology Review: "The $1 billion Russian cyber company that the US says hacks for Moscow" — "The hackers at Positive Technologies are undeniably good at what they do. The Russian cybersecurity firm regularly publishes highly-regarded research, looks at cutting edge computer security flaws, and has spotted vulnerabilities in networking equipment, telephone signals, and electric car technology."

New York Times: "Preparing for Retaliation Against Russia, U.S. Confronts Hacking by China" — "Just as it plans to begin retaliating against Russia for the large-scale hacking of American government agencies and corporations discovered late last year, the Biden administration faces a new cyberattack that raises the question of whether it will have to strike back at another major adversary: China."

This program aired on April 23, 2021.

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