SM Online February 2017

​BOTNETS

The Mirai botnet has been used to launch Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks with widespread ramifications. Made up of at least 500,000 Internet of Things devices, including Internet-enabled digital video recorders, surveillance cameras, and other embedded devices, the botnet serves as the basis of an ongoing DDoS-for-hire service, which allows attackers to pay a fee to use the botnet to attack the ta​rget of their choice. Higher concentrations of Mirai nodes were observed in China, Hong Kong, Macau, Vietnam, Taiwan, South Korea, Thailand, Indonesia, Brazil, and Spain, according to a threat intelligence report by Arbor Networks.​

DRIVERLESS CARS​

In hopes of jumpstarting the development of driverless cars—known as highly automated vehicles (HAVs) in industry parlance—U.S. officials have released new guidelines ​for operating the vehicles safely and securely. 

FACIAL RECOGNITION

The U.S. Government Accountability Office​ reports on the privacy and accuracy of two FBI programs that use facial recognition technology to search a database of 64 million Americans’ images and fingerprints.

CYBERSECURITY

China passed a controversial cybersecurity bill​ that effectively makes it illegal for users to go online anonymously, among other provisions. The law requires companies to verify users’ identities by collecting users’ real names and personal information. 

INAUGURATION

Listen to a special Security Management podcast about the U.S. Presidential Inauguration.

RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS

Researchers from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) went undercover and were able to buy radioactive material through a fake company, revealing weaknesses in nuclear material regulations. A 2012 GAO report​ found weaknesses in the way medical facilities handled radioactive material; these findings led to changes in the way this material is handled.

SURVEILLANCE

The United Kingdom enacted legislation dubbed the “Snooper’s Charter”​ that gives the government widespread powers to spy on citizens and limit the use of encryption.

MONITORING

A U.S. appellate court decided that a rule requiring electronic logging devices to monitor truck driver compliance doesn’t violate the Fourth Amendment.