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☆ FBI and Justice Department use court order to try to disrupt Chinese hacking targeting key US infrastructure
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-29 | by ( Sean Lyngaas | Evan Perez | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

The court order allows the Justice Department to update vulnerable software used by thousands of devices in the US that are vulnerable to the Chinese hacking, the source said. The Justice Department action is an effort to undercut the Chinese hackers’ ability to communicate with some of the infrastructure used in the hacks. The Justice Department and FBI declined to comment. Rob Joyce, a senior National Security Agency official, has told CNN that the Chinese activity is “unacceptable” because of its potential disruptive effects. “I think the difference here is how brazen it is in scope and scale,” Joyce told CNN last May.

Persons: Rob Joyce, ” Joyce Organizations: CNN, FBI, Justice Department, The, Department, The Justice Department, Reuters, Microsoft, US Marine Corps, National Security Agency, NSA, Chinese Communist Party Locations: Taiwan, Guam, Pacific, China

Much of the furor is directed at Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, the ringleader of the McCarthy rebellion. “I think it’s very sad that this is obviously politically personally motivated,” Murphy said of Gaetz’s push to oust McCarthy. “I don’t think Markwayne Mullin and I have said 20 words to each other on the House floor. Republicans in the group will huddle as a unit next week to decide their next steps, the lawmaker said. “I have no advice to give to House Republicans except one – I hope whoever the next speaker is gets rid of the motion to vacate,” McConnell said.

Persons: Kevin McCarthy, Nancy Mace, McCarthy, Mace, Matt Gaetz, Gaetz, Kelly Armstrong, “, ” Armstrong, ”, Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer, Garret Graves, Mark Schiefelbein, ’ Gaetz, Mike Lawler, Greg Murphy, ” Murphy, Dave Joyce of Ohio, ” Joyce, Graves, Max Miller, hasn’t, Austin Scott, Sen, Markwayne Mullin –, McCarthy –, Markwayne Mullin, Kevin, ” Gaetz, Brian Fitzpatrick, bipartisanship, Hakeem Jeffries, Mitch McConnell, ” McConnell Organizations: CNN, GOP, Republican, Republican Governance Group, Capitol, Florida Rep, Democratic, North Dakota Republican, ‘, House GOP Conference, ” Ohio Republican, Georgia Rep, Oklahoma Republican, Republicans, Democrats, Group, House Republicans Locations: South Carolina, Washington, Louisiana, New York, North Carolina

☆ Chinese hack of Microsoft engineer led to breach of US officials’ emails, company says
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-06 | by ( Sean Lyngaas | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —The Chinese hackers who breached senior US officials’ emails in May and June were able to do so by first stealing sensitive data from a Microsoft engineer, the company revealed Wednesday. Multiple mishaps, including the crash of an internal Microsoft system in April 2021 and the hack of the engineer, gave the Chinese hackers coveted access to a cryptographic key that was later used to break into the US officials’ email accounts, the tech giant said in a blog post. The hackers had breached the email accounts of US Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, in advance of Raimondo’s trip to China. Microsoft has been under scrutiny from US lawmakers and officials who have demanded more information on how the alleged Chinese hackers broke into the email accounts. As CNN previously reported, the Biden administration believes the Chinese hacking gave Beijing insights about US thinking ahead of Blinken’s trip.

Persons: China Nicholas Burns, Gina Raimondo, Don Bacon of Nebraska, Antony Blinken, Biden, Rob Joyce, ” Joyce, “, ” Organizations: CNN, Microsoft, Republican, Department of Homeland Security, State Department, National Security Agency Locations: Washington, China, Beijing

☆ Review: ‘Minx’ Returns, Confident and Fully Exposed
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-20 | by ( James Poniewozik | More About James Poniewozik | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

But this was almost the end of something for “Minx.” HBO Max, which ran the first season in 2022, canceled the show as the second was finishing production, leaving fans holding an empty brown wrapper. Season 1, in which Joyce started Minx with the low-rent pornographer Doug Renetti (Jake Johnson), was a rough ride; its raunchy pop history and sitcommy odd-couple high jinks didn’t completely mesh. But I’d rather watch a show that does an exciting thing inconsistently than one that does a dull thing well. The eight new episodes don’t entirely clean up its freewheeling mess, but they make up for it in verve and enthusiasm. “Minx” is a racy, smart snapshot, and you just have to accept certain blemishes unretouched.

Persons: ” Joyce Prigger, Ophelia Lovibond, “, HBO Max, Joyce, Minx, Doug Renetti, Jake Johnson Organizations: HBO, Starz, verve Locations: America

☆ Joyce Carol Oates Figured Out the Secret to Immortality
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-16 | by ( ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +8 min

Talk Joyce Carol Oates Figured Out the Secret to Immortality“I have,” Joyce Carol Oates says, “so many ideas.” That’s putting it mildly. “The one I’m doing now, the reader’s going to be surprised.”Joyce Carol Oates in 1970. I don’t think about it too much. I thought, Wow, it’s so funny and weird and wonderful, and I don’t think there’s almost any readership for that. There’s Emily Dickinson over here, there’s Faulkner, there’s Cormac McCarthy, and I feel I’m in that territory.

Persons: Joyce Carol Oates, ” Joyce Carol Oates, “, ”, Oates, you’ll, ” Oates, Bettmann, what’s, Philip Roth, Philip, Bernard Malamud, I’m, John Updike’s, John Updike, Barack Obama, Jim Watson, Stickum, doesn’t, Nabokov, Ana de Armas, Marilyn Monroe, Cormac McCarthy, It’s, you’re, Monet, Van Gogh, there’s Hieronymus Bosch, he’s, Crumb, there’s Picasso, Emily Dickinson, there’s Faulkner, there’s Cormac McCarthy, David Marchese, Emma Chamberlain, Walter Mosley Organizations: Oates, Agence France, Presse, Getty, The New York, Twitter, Netflix, YouTube, Cal Newport Locations: America

☆ Joyce Carol Oates Examines a Dystopian Future
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-23 | by ( Antonia Hitchens | Photography Miranda Barnes For Wsj. Magazine | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

“Whenever you are writing, it seems like it’s the first time,” says Oates, whose forthcoming book ‘Zero-Sum’ attends to the sinister undercurrents of home life. “I have so many ideas, and I have so many notes here at my study. I just won’t live to write them all,” Joyce Carol Oates said recently. Her oeuvre spans novels, novellas, short stories, plays, poetry, nonfiction and, occasionally, viral tweets, not to mention a Substack. When it comes to her books, the 85-year-old author has often taken on the sinister and the tragic, as with 2022’s Babysitter, a novel about a serial killer in Detroit who chases children, and Blonde (2000), a fictionalized memoir of Marilyn Monroe, which last year was adapted into a film of the same name.

Persons: ”, Oates, ’, “, ” Joyce Carol Oates, Marilyn Monroe Locations: Detroit

☆ Titan submersible: Search crews heard banging sounds while scouring the Atlantic for manned craft now running out of oxygen
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-21 | by ( Nouran Salahieh Ray Sanchez Priscilla Alvarez | Nouran Salahieh | Ray Sanchez | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +17 min

The banging on Tuesday first came every 30 minutes and was heard again four hours later, according to an internal government memo update on the search. The search for the missing submersible Titan has broadened to an area about two times the size of Connecticut. It was unclear when exactly the banging was heard Tuesday or how long it lasted, based on the memo. We have to keep working until we find the submersible,” Joyce Murray, minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, told reporters Wednesday. If the submersible is intact, the passengers would be dealing with dwindling oxygen levels and fighting cold, he told CNN.

Persons: Jamie Frederick, ”, Frederick, Stone, ” Joyce Murray, “, Ray Scott “ Chip ” McCord, ” Scott, David Hiscock, we’ve, John Mauger, ” Carl Hartsfield, John Cabot –, Hamish Harding, Shahzada Dawood, Sulaiman Dawood, Paul, Henri Nargeolet, ” David Gallo, John’s, Gallo, ” Gallo, Joe MacInnis, who’s, Frederick didn’t, Mauger, David Lochridge, Lochridge, OceanGate, Oceangate, ” OceanGate, Suleman Dawood, Stockton Rush, J, Van Gurley, Gabe Cohen, ” Cohen, Aaron Newman, ” John “ Danny ” Olivas, ” Olivas, CNN’s Victor Blackwell Organizations: CNN, US Coast Guard, Coast Guard, Fisheries, Canadian Coast Guard, OceanGate Expeditions, Canadian Armed Forces, New York Air National Guard, U.S . Air Force, “ CBS, Naval, Oceanographic Systems Laboratory, USCG, National Oceanic, Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, Stockton Rush, Strategic Initiatives, Daylight, Horizon Services, US Navy, Facebook, OceanGate, Titan, Manned, Vehicles, Marine Technology Society, New York Times, Times, Stockton, Polar Prince, Navy, KOMO, CBS Locations: Connecticut, Canadian, Everest, NewfoundlandSaturday, Cape Cod , Massachusetts, OceanGate, Rush, Titan

☆ Analysis: There is now some public evidence that China viewed TikTok data
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Multiple security experts told CNN that this appears to be the first reported instance of the CCP accessing actual TikTok user data. TikTok announced its withdrawal from Hong Kong in 2020 after China imposed a national security law there. There have been isolated reports of improper access to TikTok data in the past. The improper access, company officials have said, was a misguided attempt at identifying the source of leaks to the press. TikTok has also said it is implementing a plan to store US user data on third-party US-based servers, with access to that data controlled by US employees.

Persons: Yintao Yu, Yu, ByteDance, —, ” Yu, ’, Yu’s, Flipagram, “, TikTok, James Lewis, John Scott, Rob Joyce, ” Joyce, ”, Shou Chew, Chew Organizations: CNN, Chinese Communist Party, Hong Kong, Wall Street, Flipagram, CCP, Center for Strategic, International Studies, University of Toronto’s, National Security Locations: TikTok’s Beijing, Hong Kong, California, Beijing, Hong, China

☆ Australia’s popular Fraser Island has reverted to its traditional name of K’gari
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-07 | by ( Amarachi Orie | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

The world’s largest sand island is now officially known by its traditional name, K’gari, the government of the Australian state of Queensland announced Wednesday. The name change formally recognizes the connection of the indigenous Butchulla people to the UNESCO World Heritage site on Australia’s east coast. “In our creation stories, our stories handed down by generations, it has always been K’gari and always will be,” Gayle Minniecon, chairperson of Butchulla Aboriginal Corporation, said in a press release. It’s what we call home,” Joyce Bonner, Butchulla Aboriginal Corporation Language and Cultural coordinator, said in a statement ahead of the reinstatement. K’gari means “paradise” in the Butchulla language and is pronounced “GUR-rie” or “Gurri,” according to the Queensland government.

Persons: CNN —, ” Gayle Minniecon, “, ” Joyce Bonner, GUR, rie ”, Reuben Nutt, K’gari, ”, Patricia O’Callaghan Organizations: CNN, Queensland, UNESCO, Aboriginal Australians, Aboriginal Corporation, Butchulla, Tourism, “ Locations: “, Queensland, Fraser

Hudson will be one of the few female executives leading a major company in Australia, although rival carrier Virgin Australia also has a woman as its CEO, Jayne Hrdlicka. "I come with an understanding of this organization that is very deep," Hudson told reporters in her first news conference as CEO designate. "Vanessa has been market-facing as CFO since October 2019, which will have prepared her well for the very public role as Qantas CEO," RBC Capital Markets analyst Owen Birrell said in a note. Though men still account for far more top executive roles in Australian-listed companies, a growing number of high-profile CEO roles are occupied by women, including at the No. Qantas said Hudson would continue in her current role until taking over as Qantas' 13th CEO at the 2023 annual general meeting.

☆ Catastrophic drought that’s pushed millions into crisis made 100 times more likely by climate change, analysis finds
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Laura Paddison | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —The unrelenting drought that has devastated the Horn of Africa and left more than 20 million people facing acute food insecurity would not have been possible without climate change, a new analysis has found. In a world without human-caused climate change, this devastating drought would not have happened. The organization is made up of a team of international scientists who, in the immediate aftermath of extreme weather events, analyze data and climate models to establish what role climate change played. The scientists also looked at whether climate change was to blame for the lack of rain, but concluded there was no overall impact. “The country continues to pay the price of global warming and climate change,” he added.

☆ Everyone in Washington is talking about a TikTok ban. But is it really a national security threat?
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +16 min

However, more than two years after the Trump administration first issued a similar threat to TikTok, evidence remains unclear about whether the app is a national security threat. “Regarding privacy, we also did not see the TikTok app exhibiting any behaviors similar to malware.”TikTok has cited Lin’s research as part of its defense. He also repeatedly noted that TikTok does not collect more user data than most of its peers in the industry. TikTok later confirmed the incident and ByteDance fired several employees who had improperly accessed the TikTok data of two journalists. “And governments around the world are ignoring their duty to protect citizens’ private information, allowing big tech companies to exploit user information for gain.

☆ Lawmakers say TikTok is a national security threat, but evidence remains unclear
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +13 min

If there’s a risk, it’s primarily concentrated in the relationship between TikTok’s Chinese parent, ByteDance, and Beijing. TikTok has been erecting technical and organizational barriers that it says will keep US user data safe from unauthorized access. “Regarding privacy, we also did not see the TikTok app exhibiting any behaviors similar to malware.”Are there other security concerns? TikTok later confirmed the incident and ByteDance fired several employees who had improperly accessed the TikTok data of two journalists. “And governments around the world are ignoring their duty to protect citizens’ private information, allowing big tech companies to exploit user information for gain.

☆ NSA chief worries TikTok could censor videos for 'large population of listeners' as part of Chinese influence operations
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Sean Lyngaas | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

TikTok’s collection of data and its control over the algorithm that serves user content are also concerning, Nakasone said. US officials have for years accused TikTok – and its Chinese parent firm ByteDance – of collecting data that could enable surveillance by the Chinese government. A TikTok spokesperson said that the company has been working with the US government to address national security concerns. We will continue to do our part to deliver a comprehensive national security plan for the American people,” Brooke Oberwetter from TikTok said in statement. “I characterize it much more as a loaded gun.”“I would not expect individualized targeting through [TikTok] to do malicious things,” Joyce said.

☆ Joan Didion’s Life in Objects
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( Anna Kodé | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +15 min

(Ms. Didion’s death was the result of complications from Parkinson’s disease.) Ms. Didion’s stylish Corvette Stingray isn’t in the sale, but the photos that made it famous are. Quintana eventually pulled through, but died in 2005 at 39, a few months before Ms. Didion’s 2005 book, “The Year of Magical Thinking,” was published. In the book, Ms. Didion wrote about the heartbreak and challenges of that era of her life: “I learned to find equal meaning in the repeated rituals of domestic life. Following Ms. Didion’s passing, Ms. Smith, an artist and singer known as the “godmother of punk,” posted a tribute on Instagram, articulating what many felt.

☆ A professor falsely accused of spying for China describes the toll it's taken on his family
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-20 | by ( Kimmy Yam | Kimmy Yam Is A Reporter For Nbc Asian America. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +9 min

The Department of Justice had accused Xi of sharing schematics for a pocket heater with peers in his research community in China. “It’s also important for the community in general, because of all the Chinese scientists and scientists of Chinese descent — many of them are being falsely charged. His arrest, Xi claimed, was discriminatory. The arrest, Joyce added, altered the family’s lives in unmeasurable ways. Several other scholars who have been falsely accused of spying struggle to recount the emotional toll the incidents took on their families.

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