Author Archive
Jack Gillum
Cybersecurity
America’s drinking water is surprisingly easy to poison
Experts say the sorts of rudimentary vulnerabilities revealed in the cyberbreach at a water treatment plant in Florida -- including the lack of an internet firewall and the use of shared passwords and outdated software -- are common among America’s 151,000 public water systems.
Cybersecurity
The U.S. spent $2.2 million on a cybersecurity system that wasn’t implemented — and might have stopped a major hack
A cybersecurity system called in-toto, which the government paid to develop but never required, might have protected against the SolarWinds hack.
Cybersecurity
Foreign hackers cripple Texas county’s email system, raising election security concerns
The malware attack, which sent fake email replies to voters and businesses, spotlights an overlooked vulnerability in counties that don’t follow best practices for computer security.
Cybersecurity
Some election-related websites still run on vulnerable software older than many high schoolers
Websites in dozens of towns and counties voting on Super Tuesday have security weaknesses. Richmond, Va., still uses software from 2003.
Cybersecurity
The Iowa caucuses app had another problem: It could have been hacked
While there is no evidence hackers intercepted or tampered with the results, a security firm consulted by ProPublica found that the app lacks key safeguards.
Cybersecurity
The overlooked weak link in election security
More than one-third of counties overseeing toss-up congressional elections have email systems that could be vulnerable to hacking, a ProPublica survey finds.
