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Daily Archives: July 24, 2013

CRS – Cybersecurity: Authoritative Reports and Resources

Cybersecurity: Authoritative Reports and Resources, Rita Tehan, Information Research Specialist. July 18, 2013
“Cybersecurity vulnerabilities challenge governments, businesses, and individuals worldwide. Attacks have been initiated by individuals, as
well as countries. Targets have included government networks, military defenses, companies, or political organizations, depending upon whether the attacker was seeking military intelligence, conducting diplomatic or industrial espionage, or intimidating political activists. In addition, national borders mean little or nothing to cyberattackers, and attributing an attack to a specific location can be difficult, which also makes a response problematic. Congress has been actively involved in cybersecurity issues, holding hearings every year since 2001. There is no shortage of data on this topic: government agencies, academic institutions, think tanks, security consultants, and trade associations have issued hundreds of reports, studies, analyses, and statistics.”

Climate science: Vast costs of Arctic change

Climate science: Vast costs of Arctic change. Gail Whiteman, Chris Hop & Peter Wadhams. Nature 499, 401–403 (25 July 2013) doi:10.1038/499401a “Unlike the loss of sea ice, the vulnerability of polar bears and the rising human population, the economic impacts of a warming Arctic are being ignored. Most economic discussion so far assumes that opening… Continue Reading

SIGTARP Qaurterly Report to Congress, July 24, 2013

Christy Romero, Special Inspector General: “Congress created SIGTARP to combat white collar crime committed by those who view Troubled Asset Relief Program (“TARP”) bailout funds as an opportunity for fraud and other illicit activity. Congress authorized SIGTARP to investigate, search, seize, and arrest. SIGTARP investigations have already resulted in 51 defendants sentenced to prison for… Continue Reading

TRAC – Number of ICE Detainers Drops by 19 Percent

Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse: “Very timely month-by-month data from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) show that the immigration “detainers” issued by the agency are declining, according to information obtained under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University. The detainers are notices issued by ICE and other… Continue Reading

NIST Releases Updates to Digital Signature Standard

“The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has released a revision to the digital standard used to ensure the integrity of electronic documents, as well as the identity of the signer. The new document, Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 186-4, concerns what is commonly known as the digital signature standard. First published in 1994… Continue Reading