Cybersecurity: Biden Cyber Officials Back Breach Incident Reporting Mandate

The head of the U.S. cybersecurity enforcement agency “is a huge supporter” of bipartisan legislation to mandate that operators of critical infrastructure report data breaches to the government.

Jen Easterly, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, said she backs draft legislation from the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee to require certain private companies, federal agencies and government contractors to report cyberattacks to the agency.

The proposed legislation is partly in response to a surge of major cyberattacks that targeted government agencies and critical industries, including Colonial Pipeline Co. and meat producer JBS SA. The hacks increased pressure on the Biden administration to bolster U.S. cyber defenses and fueled calls for federal legislation to require companies to share incidents with the federal government to assist in response and recovery. 

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CISA, FBI, AND NSA RELEASE CONTI RANSOMWARE ADVISORY TO HELP ORGANIZATIONS REDUCE RISK OF ATTACK

WASHINGTON – The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and National Security Agency (NSA) published a cybersecurity advisory today regarding increased Conti ransomware cyberattacks. The advisory includes technical details on the threat and mitigation steps that public and private sector organizations can take to reduce their risk to this ransomware.

CISA and the FBI have observed over 400 attacks using Conti ransomware against U.S. and international organizations to steal files, encrypt servers and workstations, and demand a ransom payment to return stolen sensitive data. While Conti is considered a ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) model ransomware variant, there is variation in its structure that differentiates it from a typical affiliate model. It is likely that Conti developers pay the deployers of the ransomware a wage rather than a percentage of the proceeds from a successful attack..

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Americans Have No Idea What the Supply Chain Really Is

At this point, the maddeningly unpredictable Delta variant has changed the expected course of the coronavirus pandemic so much that it can be hard to know exactly what you’re waiting for, or if you should continue waiting at all. Is something like before-times normalcy still coming, or will Americans have to negotiate a permanently changed reality? Will we recognize that new normal when it gets here, or will it be clear only in hindsight? And how long will it be before you can buy a new couch and have it delivered in a timely manner?

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How the Covid-19 pandemic has affected, and will affect, operations and supply chain management research and practice

The Covid-19 pandemic has caused significant impacts at all levels – societal, organizational and personal. At the time of writing, there has been a significant death toll worldwide with many nations still gripped by restrictions put in place to mitigate the impact of the virus. Some countries are beginning to recover, although the impacts will be felt for many years. Rather than writing a reflection piece on the EurOMA conference that was held virtually in 2020, we thought it best to consider how the pandemic has impacted research and practice in operations and supply chain management (OSCM).

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USG Warns Of ‘Critical’ Vulnerability That Poses ‘Serious Risk’ To Defense Contractors, Others

WASHINGTON: The US government issued a joint advisory Thursday warning of the ongoing “active exploitation” of a “critical” vulnerability in a popular password management solution, which “poses a serious risk to critical infrastructure companies, US-cleared defense contractors, academic institutions, and other entities that use the software.”

A Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) official told Breaking Defense after this report’s original publication, “As exploitation of this product can lead to full identity compromise, CISA is taking this vulnerability very seriously and requests information from any organizations that may have been impacted.”

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Cyber Supply Chain Risk Management C-SCRM Software and Supply Chain Assurance Forum

Forums are held several times a year and are FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC; registration is required.

Our next SSCA Forum Virtual Event will be held on Wednesday, September 22nd at 10:30 am to 1:00 pm Eastern Time.  We have a great line-up of speakers and you will not want to miss this Forum.  Our first two sessions feature talks from officials from the Israeli and United Kingdom Governments, respectively.  This will be followed by two sessions focused on the telecommunications sector.  The agenda, below, provides additional details about the speakers and their topics.  We hope you can join us! 

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Sen. Peters Calls for Resilient Supply Chains Amid Chip Shortage

Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, said on Sept. 15 that the United States’ supply chains are not resilient, and strengthening those supply chains is going to be critical for U.S. competitiveness going forward.

During a Politico event on Sept. 15, Sen. Peters described how the shortage of semiconductor chips and the overreliance on foreign manufacturers for critical supplies poses a huge concern for the United States.

“Although we have highly efficient supply chains, they are not resilient, and they’re not resilient to disruptions,” Sen. Peters said during the event. “We’ve got to create more resilience in our supply chains and particularly critical equipment, whether it’s medical supplies or as was mentioned, chips, which are basically in all of our products.”

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House E&C Directs $10B for Supply Chain Security in Reconciliation Print

The House Energy and Commerce Committee was still in the process late Monday of marking up its portion of the $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation bill working its way through the House, but at our deadline was making a big splash with $10 billion of proposed funding for supply chain security.

The E&C committee’s portion of the legislation features billions of proposed spending for supply chains, distance learning, and more.

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DoD Forms New Task Force To Shore Up Supply Chain

WASHINGTON: The Defense Department has created a new task force dedicated to addressing ongoing challenges with its supply chain visibility and resiliency, including ways to mitigate risk.

Gregory Kausner, who is currently handling the duties of under secretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, stood up the Supply Chain Resiliency Working Group on Aug. 30, the Pentagon said last week.

“A comprehensive strategic approach will take time, dedicated attention, and resources,” Kausner said in a Department release announcing the task force. “Effective implementation begins with understanding our vulnerabilities and the necessary responses, so we can focus our efforts to build greater resiliency across critical supply chains.”

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