Local Governments Should Augment Cyber Resilience to Mitigate Cyberattacks

by  Eric Marchewitz

Cities can plan to contain and recover quickly from malicious activity.

When it comes to preparing for a cyberattack, local governments often want to go backward before they go forward. So, prior to acquiring any cyberdefense technology, counties and cities might conduct a gap analysis and establish an incident response plan to see where they are and how they can best mitigate attacks.

A gap analysis should result in a documented framework. With an incident response plan comes with standard operating procedures that define who handles what during a security breach. Being prepared for a security breach may save a city significant cash and time.

 Read full story at StateTech…

FCC Pushes ISPs to Fix Security Flaws in Internet Routing

by  Jon Brodkin

Chair: Addressing BGP flaws will “help make our Internet routing more secure.”

The Federal Communications Commission wants to verify that Internet service providers are strengthening their networks against attacks that take advantage of vulnerabilities in Border Gateway Protocol (BGP).

The FCC today unanimously approved a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would require ISPs to prepare confidential reports "detail[ing] their progress and plans for implementing BGP security measures that utilize the Resource Public Key Infrastructure (RPKI), a critical component of BGP security."

“Today, we begin a rulemaking to help make our Internet routing more secure,” FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said. “We propose that all providers of broadband Internet access service prepare and update confidential BGP security risk management plans. … ”

 Read full story at arsTechnica…

Illinois Paid IT Training Program Sees Overwhelming Demand

by  Nikki Davidson

The Illinois IT Trainee Program, offering full-time paid training and a competitive salary, has snagged the attention of aspiring tech professionals, with thousands of people vying for a handful of positions.

The Illinois IT Trainee Program, an experiment to grow a pipeline of tech talent within the state government by hiring candidates first and then paying them to undergo career development has drawn an overwhelming response.

Applications for the program have far exceeded expectations, with the first cohort in Chicago attracting about 1,500 applicants — a staggering 75 candidates for each of the cohort's 20 positions. The second cohort, based in Springfield, also saw significant interest, receiving approximately 500 applications, five times the amount program coordinators anticipated.

 Read full story at GovTech…

Adobe Is Updating Its Terms of Service Following a Backlash Over Recent Changes

by  Steve Dent

“You own your content” and “we don't train generative AI on customer content,” it wrote.

Following customer outrage over its latest terms of service (ToS), Adobe is making updates to add more detail around areas like of AI and content ownership, the company said in a blog post. “Your content is yours and will never be used to train any generative AI tool,” wrote head of product Scott Belsky and VP of legal and policy Dana Rao.

Subscribers using products like Photoshop, Premiere Pro and Lightroom were incensed by new, vague language they interpreted to mean that Adobe could freely use their work to train the company's generative AI models. In other words, creators thought that Adobe could use AI to effectively rip off their work and then resell it.

Other language was thought to mean that the company could actually take ownership of users' copyrighted material (understandably so, when you see it).

 Read full story at Engadget…

Nasty Bug With Very Simple Exploit Hits PHP Just in Time for the Weekend

by  Dan Goodin

With PoC code available and active Internet scans, speed is of the essence.

A critical vulnerability in the PHP programming language can be trivially exploited to execute malicious code on Windows devices, security researchers warned as they urged those affected to take action before the weekend starts.

Within 24 hours of the vulnerability and accompanying patch being published, researchers from the nonprofit security organization Shadowserver reported Internet scans designed to identify servers that are susceptible to attacks. That. combined with (1) the ease of exploitation, (2) the availability of proof-of-concept attack code, (3) the severity of remotely executing code on vulnerable machines, and (4) the widely used XAMPP platform being vulnerable by default — has prompted security practitioners to urge admins check to see if their PHP servers are affected before starting the weekend.

 Read full story at atsechnica…

WWDC: Apple Intelligence, New Smarter Siri and Lots More

by  Kim Komando

WWDC is Apple's annual conference during which they talk about all things software.

Come this fall, you'll see … a new Passwords app that works across your Apple devices, better iPhone customization options, easier texting with your Android pals, and the ability to reply to all texts and iMessages with emojis. (Can't wait to reply to Barry with an eye roll. Sorry, honey.)

OK, those are neat upgrades, but the real changes are all about AI.

Introducing AI

Not artificial intelligence — Apple Intelligence. No joke, that's what they're calling it. Personalization and making your life easier are the big focuses. Some of the highlights:

 Read full story at Kim Komando…

Utilities, Once Represented by UARG, Now Part of the 'Electric Generators for a Sensible Transition' in Their Suit Against the EPA

by  Matt Kasper

A new ad hoc coalition of electric utilities has sued the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over its newly proposed rules to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from existing coal and new gas plants

The coalition, called the “Electric Generators for a Sensible Transition,” is represented by the same attorneys who represented a previous, seemingly similar ad hoc utility litigation coalition, the Utility Air Regulatory Group (UARG), which disbanded amid Congressional oversight investigations in 2019.

“Electric Generators for a Sensible Transition” is the latest in a long line of ad hoc groups formed by utilities as vehicles for their efforts to legally challenge clean air and water rules. McGuireWoods lawyers Allison D. Wood, Makram B. Jaber, and Aaron M. Flynn are representing the Electric Generators for a Sensible Transition. Wood, Jaber and Flynn previously worked for years at the firm Hunton Andrews Kurth, formerly known as Hunton & Williams.

 Read full story at Energy & Policy Institute…

As NVIDIA, IBM and Others Apply AI to Boost Utilities, Regulatory and Data Privacy Obstacles Abound

by  Herman K. Trabish

The “move fast and break things” business model of the technology sector is meeting the regulated spending and reliability imperatives of the utility sector.

Digital technology providers have long been frustrated with what they see as utilities' innovation-impeding focus on reliability. But rapid load growth and potential artificial intelligence solutions are inspiring collaboration, particularly on ways to use and share power system data.

Utilities have seen the data on significant projected load growth from transportation, manufacturing, building electrification and data centers. And tech companies like NVIDIA, Microsoft, IBM and Schneider Electric are beginning to understand the regulatory barriers holding utilities back from transitioning to advanced AI computing strategies, executives said.

 Read full story at UtilityDive…

City Council Rejects Power San Diego Proposal

by  Jaime Chamber

The push by a voter initiative to assume control of the power responsibilities of San Diego Gas & Electric collected over 30,000 signatures.�

This compelled the city council to deliberate on whether San Diego voters would have the opportunity to terminate their SDG&E contract in favor of a nonprofit city-run utility which sparked a spirited debate.

“Every single city in California that has engaged in a hostile government takeover of their grid pays less than we do, every single one has higher satisfaction than we do,” voiced an anti-SDG&E activist.

 Read full story at Fox5 News…