Protecting critical infrastructure from ransomware attacks

Clear Oppenheimer | Remembering Burns | Bulletin app

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June 28, 2021

J. Robert Oppenheimer. Credit: James Vaughn. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0. Accessed via Flickr.

NUCLEAR RISK
Senators: Clear Oppenheimer
Four senators have asked President Joe Biden to issue an executive order vacating the 1954 decision that took away J. Robert Oppenheimer’s security clearance. Read more.

NUCLEAR RISK
Remembering Maj. Gen. William F. Burns
In a political world of large egos and bitter infighting, Maj. Gen. William F. Burns was, as close associates in nuclear negotiations recall, “extraordinarily quiet and modest, but he figured out how to make that mode of operation extraordinarily effective.” He died in June at the age of 88. Read more.

A screenshot of the Petya ransomware that began spreading in 2016. In recent years, ransomware attacks have wrought havoc on important digital infrastructure, like gas pipelines and city governments. Typically, affected users are asked to pay their attackers to regain access to their systems. Image via Wikimedia Commons.

DISRUPTIVE TECHNOLOGIES
Protecting critical infrastructure from ransomware attacks
The recent ransomware attack on the Colonial Pipeline exposed faults in the US government’s security standards. Here’s what two cybersecurity researchers say should be done to prevent future strikes. Read more.

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QUOTE OF THE DAY
“As long as we’ve been communicating, we’ve been mis- and disinformed.”

— Laura Lindenfeld, executive director of the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science, “Media accountability in a world of disinformation.” ​​​​​​​​

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