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Alan W. Dowd is a Senior Fellow with the American Security Council Foundation, where he writes on the full range of topics relating to national defense, foreign policy and international security. Dowd’s commentaries and essays have appeared in Policy Review, Parameters, Military Officer, The American Legion Magazine, The Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations, The Claremont Review of Books, World Politics Review, The Wall Street Journal Europe, The Jerusalem Post, The Financial Times Deutschland, The Washington Times, The Baltimore Sun, The Washington Examiner, The Detroit News, The Sacramento Bee, The Vancouver Sun, The National Post, The Landing Zone, Current, The World & I, The American Enterprise, Fraser Forum, American Outlook, The American and the online editions of Weekly Standard, National Review and American Interest. Beyond his work in opinion journalism, Dowd has served as an adjunct professor and university lecturer; congressional aide; and administrator, researcher and writer at leading think tanks, including the Hudson Institute, Sagamore Institute and Fraser Institute. An award-winning writer, Dowd has been interviewed by Fox News Channel, Cox News Service, The Washington Times, The National Post, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and numerous radio programs across North America. In addition, his work has been quoted by and/or reprinted in The Guardian, CBS News, BBC News and the Council on Foreign Relations. Dowd holds degrees from Butler University and Indiana University. Follow him at twitter.com/alanwdowd.

ASCF News

Scott Tilley is a Senior Fellow at the American Security Council Foundation, where he writes the “Technical Power” column, focusing on the societal and national security implications of advanced technology in cybersecurity, space, and foreign relations.

He is an emeritus professor at the Florida Institute of Technology. Previously, he was with the University of California, Riverside, Carnegie Mellon University’s Software Engineering Institute, and IBM. His research and teaching were in the areas of computer science, software & systems engineering, educational technology, the design of communication, and business information systems.

He is president and founder of the Center for Technology & Society, president and co-founder of Big Data Florida, past president of INCOSE Space Coast, and a Space Coast Writers’ Guild Fellow.

He has authored over 150 academic papers and has published 28 books (technical and non-technical), most recently Systems Analysis & Design (Cengage, 2020), SPACE (Anthology Alliance, 2019), and Technical Justice (CTS Press, 2019). He wrote the “Technology Today” column for FLORIDA TODAY from 2010 to 2018.

He is a popular public speaker, having delivered numerous keynote presentations and “Tech Talks” for a general audience. Recent examples include the role of big data in the space program, a four-part series on machine learning, and a four-part series on fake news.

He holds a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Victoria (1995).

Contact him at stilley@cts.today.

White House Vows To ‘Take Action’ Against Russia-Based Cybercriminals if Kremlin Doesn’t

Wednesday, July 7, 2021

Categories: ASCF News Cyber Security

Comments: 0

Source: https://www.theepochtimes.com/white-house-vows-to-take-action-against-russia-based-cybercriminals-if-kremlin-doesnt_3890528.html

President Joe Biden (L) meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) at the 'Villa la Grange' in Geneva, Switzerland, on June 16, 2021. (Denis Balibouse/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

A White House spokesperson said on Tuesday that while the U.S. intelligence community has not yet fully determined whether Russia is behind the recent ransomware attack targeting Miami-based software firm Kaseya, the Biden administration believes Russian authorities “have a responsibility” to crack down on cybercriminals operating from within their country and, if Moscow doesn’t, Washington will “take action.”

“As the president made clear to President Putin when they met, if the Russian government cannot or will not take action against criminal actors residing in Russia, we will take action or reserve the right to take action on our own,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said at a briefing.

The Russia-based REvil ransomware gang, also known as Sodnokibi, has taken credit for the attack on Miami-based software firm Kaseya, in a message posted on their dark web blog, according to The Record. The group said it had infected over a million systems and is demanding $70 million to publish a decryption tool that will allow the victims to recover from the attack.

Huntress Labs has attributed the attack to REvil, saying in an analysis that, “based on the forensic patterns, ransomware notes and the TOR URL, we strongly believe a REvil/Sodinokibi RaaS affiliate is behind these intrusions.”

REvil was behind the ransomware attack that disrupted operations at JBS Foods in May, according to the FBI.

At the White House briefing, a reporter asked Psaki, “If this is attributed to REvil and they decide that it’s based in Russia, is the president’s view that the response will be proportional to just taking that actor offline or actually direct it at the Russian state instead for harboring?”

Psaki responded by saying it is the Biden administration’s view that even if it is just criminal entities “without the engagement of the Russian government” that are behind the attack, Russian authorities “still have a responsibility.”

“The intelligence community has not yet attributed the attack,” Psaki continued, adding, “the cybersecurity community agrees that REvil operates out of Russia with affiliates around the world, so we will continue to allow that assessment to continue.”

President Joe Biden said over the weekend that “initial thinking was it was not the Russian government, but we’re not sure yet.” He added that the intelligence community was investigating, and if they determine that “it is either with the knowledge of and/or a consequence of Russia,” then “we will respond.”

Psaki said that talks on cybersecurity between the U.S. government and Russian officials have continued since Biden met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Switzerland several weeks ago, and that an expert-level meeting between the two sides on ransomware issues is planned for next week.

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