OSIRIS Brief 0.30.0
US charges North Koreans; Facebook nukes news in Australia; SolarWinds remains a problem
Facebook and Australia Fight over Intellectual Property
Facebook started blocking users in Australia from viewing or sharing news on Facebook over the pending media law, but the Australian government is not backing down. The new media law would require social media like Facebook or Google to pay news companies for original content shared on the social media platforms. Google and NewsCorp struck a deal to pay for news but Facebook has dug in its heels, and many see blocking news content as a needless escalation.
From Facebook’s perspective, blocking news is a legitimate response to the proposed law. If Australia wants Facebook to pay for news content, and Facebook doesn’t want to pay, then Facebook should be allowed to block the content. It seems inconsistent with requirements to block undesirable content from Facebook to require Facebook to allow other content and pay for that content. People can go straight to the news sites if they prefer.
On the other hand, Australia’s law attempts to establish an alternate advertising revenue model from what news companies currently use. If sharing news is a reason people use Facebook, then Facebook should not fear sharing some of that revenue.
Since sharing on Facebook can pad Facebook’s revenue and reduce news outlets revenue, the proposed media law simply restructures the relative revenue distribution. Blocking news will only work in the short-term until people figure out other ways to get their news.
US Charges Labyrinth Chollima Members
The DOJ announced that it had filed charges against three North Korean officials involved in Labyrinth Chollima attacks. Labyrinth Chollima, often called Lazarus Group, was responsible for several high-profile attacks over the past decade, including the Sony Pictures attack, and the WannaCry ransomware. Charging hackers by name is an important deterrent tool because it demonstrates that high-profile attacks are not as anonymous as the public seems to assume. The indicted North Koreans are unlikely to ever be arrested, as North Korea is famously isolated, but indictments will constrain their ability to operated internationally.
Biden Admin Plots SolarWinds Response
The Biden administration is reportedly planning administrative action to address the SolarWinds attack. Reportedly, the government intends to improve “information sharing” and “network modernization” to improve responses to such attacks. While proposed moves are important for better information security in general, it is not obvious that the proposals would have affected SolarWinds at all. Amazingly, it was reported last week that many organizations did not secure their informationeven after the attack was revealed. Better communications seem unlikely to fix a “capacity” or “will” problem.
Noteworthy
What the SolarWinds Attack Revealed About Efficacy by Danhieux
7 WhatsApp Alternatives That Won’t Share Your Data With Facebook by Crawford
Now More Than Ever, Companies Need to Proactively Promote Family Online Safety by Sabin
The State of Malware 2021 by MalwareBytes
Cybersecurity Education: The Key to Outsmarting Hackers by Teplow
Slack and Teams Are The Next Big Vectors. Are You Protected? by Fuchs
David Benson is a Professor of Strategy and National Security focusing on cyberstrategy and international relations. You can reach him at dbenson@osiriscodex.com.
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