Cybersecurity and Cyberwar

Subscribe to Cybersecurity and Cyberwar

Just one week of antitrust litigation news shows how much turbulence Facebook and Google are encountering. Michael Weiner gives us a remarkably compact summary of the many issues, from deeply historical (Facebook’s purchase of Instagram) to cutting edge tech (complaints about Oculus self-preferencing). In all, he brings us current on two state AG…

Federal district judge Robert Pitman has enjoined enforcement of Texas’s law regulating social media censorship.  The ruling sparks a fight between me and Nate Jones that ranges from how much weight should be given to the speech rights of social media to the Kyle Rittenhouse verdict imposed by Facebook when it decided he…

Among the many problems with the current social media enthusiasm for deplatforming is this question: What do you do with all the data generated by people you deplatformed?

Facebook’s answer, as you’d expect, is that Facebook can do what it wants with the data, which mostly means deleting it. Even if it’s evidence of…

We’re joined for this episode by Scott Shapiro, long-time listener and first-time panelist, not to mention our first philosopher. He breaks down the Biden administration sanctions on four offensive cyber firms, most notable the Israeli company, NSO. Imposing Commerce Department “entity list” sanctions on companies from friendly countries for human rights abuses is…

We begin the episode with Michael Ellis taking a close look at the takedown of the ransomware gang. It’s a good story for the good guys, as REvil seems to have been brought down by the same tactic it used against so many of its victims – malware that lingered in the backups…

In this episode, we welcome Nick Weaver back for a special appearance thanks to the time-shifting powers of podcast software. He does a sack dance over cryptocurrency, flagging both China’s ban on cryptocurrency transactions and the U.S. Treasury’s sanctioning of the SUEX crypto exchange.

Maury Shenk explains the plans that the Biden administration and…

Jordan Schneider rejoins us after too long an absence to summarize the tech policy coming out of Beijing today: Any Chinese government agency with a beef against a tech company has carte blanche to at least try it out. From Didi and others being told to stop taking on subscribers to an end to…

The district court has ruled in the lawsuit between Epic and Apple over access to the Apple app store. Apple is claiming victory and Epic is appealing. But Apple’s victory is not complete, and may have a worm at its core. Jamil Jaffer explains.

Surprised that ransomware gangs REvil and Groove are back –…

The Biden administration’s effort to counter ransomware may not be especially creative, but it is comprehensive. The administration is pushing all the standard buttons on the interagency dashboard, including the usual high-level task force and a $10 million reward program (but not including hackback authority for victims, despite headlines suggesting otherwise. And all the…

We begin the episode with the Biden administration’s options for responding to continued Russian ransomware outrages. Dmitri Alperovitch reprises his advice in the Washington Post that Putin will only respond to strength and U.S. pressure. I agree but raise the question whether the U.S. has the tools to enforce another set of alleged red…