Short Takes – 3-15-25

Measles is spreading. Here’s what experts say you should know. ScienceNews.org article. Pull quote: “Still, the number of deaths “suggests that the outbreak is much bigger than the official number,” says infectious diseases physician Peter Chin-Hong of the University of California, San Francisco. Based on the expected fatality rate of 1 to 2 people per 1,000 infections, he says, the real number of cases may be closer to the high hundreds if not over 1,000.”

Rocket Lab’s Pioneer Spacecraft Successfully Deployed to Orbit, Powering Varda Space Industries' Third In-Space Manufacturing Mission. RocketLabUSA.com article. Pull quote: ““It's remarkable that we have been able to launch our third mission in such rapid succession after the reentry of our second. High cadence launch and return will soon be commonplace, and reentry of materials from space to Earth will go from being novel to being normal," said Wendy Shimata, VP of Autonomous Systems at Varda.”

Can AI help DOGE slash government budgets? It’s complex. TechnologyReview.com article. Pull quote: “The other caveat is this: Unless DOGE articulates where and how it's focusing its efforts, our insight into its intentions is limited. How much is Musk identifying evidence-based opportunities to reduce fraud, versus just slashing what he considers “woke” spending in an effort to drastically reduce the size of the government? It’s not clear DOGE makes a distinction.” Some interesting ideas on how AI could be used.

H5N1's Growing Threat: Risks to Humans and Wildlife Are Increasing. MedPageToday.com commentary. Pull quote: “On the other hand, I will just say when you do the math of it, there have been something close to 70 confirmed human cases in the U.S. but with serology, these antibody studies, we know it's got to be 10 times more than that, and maybe even more. And so by now, if it were truly, even in a young population, if you had 1,000 people with COVID in 2020, you'd see hospitalizations. And that's not the case with this.”

Gulf of America Renaming. Federal Register Coast Guard final rule. Summary: “n keeping with Presidential directive, the Coast Guard is amending its regulations to update the name of the “Gulf of Mexico” to the “Gulf of America.”” Effective Date: March 17^th, 2025.

CISA Cuts $10M in ISAC Funding & 100s of Employees. DarkReading.com article. Pull quote: “He concludes, "As has been a common concern for other areas, while there are merits to cutting expenses and to reprioritizing limited budgets to areas of perceived greater need, the big issue is the lack of clarity on what happens next. Will the budget be repurposed such that municipalities and states can fund their own security measures? Will there be a nationwide contract for a private sector alternative? Are the changes seasonal, to be rekindled during the next election cycle?”” Includes very unflattering photo of Secretary Noem, looks like a pouting teenager.

Fortifying OT/ICS: Building Resilience and Business Continuity in a Cyber Threat Era. GuidePointSecurity.com blog post. Pull quote: “The democratization of advanced hacking tools, once the domain of state-sponsored actors, is troubling. Organized criminal groups now have access to sophisticated techniques and tools. The U.S. National Cybersecurity Strategy highlights this issue, warning that such capabilities are increasingly used to target critical infrastructure. This shift demands that CISOs prioritize technology investments and governance and risk management frameworks to stay ahead of attackers.”