Short Takes – 6-27-23

A New Kill Chain Approach to Disrupting Online Threats. LawfareBlog.com post. Pull quote: “To help break down those siloes between investigators in different fields, companies, and institutions, we have developed a framework to analyze, map, and disrupt many different sorts of online threats: a kill chain for online operations. This is by no means the first time the “kill chain” concept—which identifies the sequence of activities attackers go through in their operations and looks for ways to disrupt them—has been applied to the study of internet threats.”

An upcoming 5G deadline could cause airline delays starting July 1^st. TheVerge.com article. Pull quote: “Though airlines aren’t actually required to get the new equipment in place until February 2024, those passenger jets that haven’t been certified for operation around C-band 5G signals by the first of July will not be allowed to land in certain low-visibility situations.”

Armor: Perspectives and Realities. StrategyPage.com article. Pull quote: “Russia has used a lot of anti-personnel and anti-tank mines in Ukraine and the Ukrainian forces have been supplied with equipment and training to find and destroy or disable them. Russia has deployed thousands of these mines in southeast Ukraine to disrupt a Ukrainian offensive. Russia has mapped these minefields in case they are no longer needed and the mines can be removed. If Russia is defeated, those minefield maps are unlikely to be given to the Ukrainians and the mines will be a public hazard for years to come. Ukraine will have to maintain mine-clearing teams and await reports from local civilians about minefield discoveries. Russia and Ukraine have both been using anti-tank mines against each other since 2015.”

Honeywell Forum Tackles Cybersecurity in Process Industries. ChemicalProcessing.com article. “OT organizations don’t necessarily need to add protection solutions that utilize advanced technologies, such as artificial intelligence, to secure their systems, Griswold said. In many cases, OT environments need to begin with basic protections.”

One-Time Informational Reports on Extreme Weather Vulnerability Assessments Climate Change, Extreme Weather, and Electric System Reliability. Federal Register FERC Final Rule. Summary: “The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) is adopting a reporting requirement to direct transmission providers to file one-time informational reports describing their current or planned policies and processes for conducting extreme weather vulnerability assessments. The Commission defines an extreme weather vulnerability assessment as any analysis that identifies where and under what conditions jurisdictional transmission assets and operations are at risk from the impacts of extreme weather events, how those risks will manifest themselves, and what the consequences will be for system operations.” Effective date: September 25^th, 2023.

Notice of the Renewal of the CISA Cybersecurity Advisory Committee Charter. Federal Register CISA Notice. Summary: “The Secretary, Department of Homeland Security has determined that the renewal of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Cybersecurity Advisory Committee (CSAC) is necessary and in the public interest in connection with DHS's performance of its duties. Through this notice, the Department is announcing the charter renewal of the CSAC, a Federal Advisory Committee, for public awareness.”

US gathered detailed intelligence on Wagner chief’s rebellion plans but kept it secret from most allies. CNN.com article. Pull quote: “The secrecy surrounding the intelligence was why some senior European officials and even senior officials across the US government were caught off guard by Prigozhin’s attack on Friday, and the speed with which Wagner forces marched into Rostov-on-Don and up toward Moscow into Saturday morning, the sources said.”

The emergent industrial metaverse. TechnologyReview.com article. Pull quote: “Existing and developing technologies, including digital twins, artificial intelligence and machine learning, extended reality, blockchain, and cloud and edge computing, will be the building blocks of the industrial metaverse. These will converge to create a powerful interface between the real and digital worlds that is greater than the sum of its individual parts.” Report.