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Daily Archives: February 3, 2020

Iowa unveils its new election security feature: Pieces of paper

Vox – The Iowa caucuses are our first look at new security measures for the 2020 election cycle. “On Monday, Iowans will have a chance to vote for their preferred presidential candidate in the state’s caucus — our first indication of who will ultimately win the Democratic Party nomination. It will also be our first look at how states are upping their presidential election cybersecurity game since 2016, when Russia attempted to hack US voting machines — and which it is likely to attempt again this election cycle, and with four more years of experience. But don’t worry, Iowa’s Democratic Party is instituting a revolutionary new tool that no computer hacker can possibly defeat: a 2,200-year-old technology called “paper.”
In the wake of the problematic punch-card ballots that might have decided the outcome of the 2000 presidential election, electronic voting machines were seen as a way to improve accuracy and make elections more accessible. But after years of issues with the machines and fears that they could be hacked — culminating in the 2016 presidential election — many states dialed back their march toward a paperless future, returning to paper voting machines and paper backups. The Iowa caucus doesn’t rely on voting machines at all; rather, caucusgoers meet at various precincts across the state and (in the case of Democratic caucuses, that is — Republicans have a different system), literally, vote with their feet. They stand in different sections of the room depending on who their presidential nominee of choice is. It’s not the most scientific process, but, as the first presidential nominating contest in the country, the result gives the winning candidate momentum heading into presidential primary season. The Iowa caucus has predicted the correct Democratic nominee in 7 out of 10 contested caucuses since it began in 1972. It hasn’t gotten it wrong since 1992…”

Every single stat you need to know about the internet

TheNextWeb – “Our new Digital 2020 reports – published in partnership with We Are Social and Hootsuite – show that digital, mobile, and social media have become an indispensable part of everyday life for people all over the world. More than 4.5 billion people now use the internet, while social media users have passed the 3.8… Continue Reading

State of Cybersecurity at Top 100 Global Airports

ImmuniWeb – 97 out of 100 of the world’s largest airports have security risks related to vulnerable web and mobile applications, misconfigured public cloud, Dark Web exposure or code repositories leaks. ” The 2020 annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) urged the consideration of emerging cybersecurity challenges in the aviation industry, as addressed… Continue Reading

Firefox now shows what telemetry data it’s collecting about you

ZDNet: “There is now a special page in the Firefox browser where users can see what telemetry data Mozilla is collecting from their browser. Accessible by typing about:telemetry in the browser’s URL address bar, this new section is a recent addition to Firefox. The page shows deeply technical information about browser settings, installed add-ons, OS/hardware… Continue Reading

Microsoft Teams goes down after Microsoft forgot to renew a certificate

The Verge – “Microsoft Teams went down this morning [February 3, 2020] for nearly three hours after Microsoft forgot to renew a critical security certificate. Users of Microsoft’s Slack competitor were met with error messages attempting to sign into the service on Monday morning, with the app noting it had failed to establish an HTTPS… Continue Reading

How YouTube supports elections

Official YouTube Blog –  How YouTube supports elections – “As the 2020 election season kicks into high gear in the United States, people will visit YouTube to learn about the candidates and watch the election season unfold. Over the last few years, we’ve increased our efforts to make YouTube a more reliable source for news… Continue Reading

GAO – Insolvency Dates for Federal Trust Funds

Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget – “Last week, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report on the financial health of the nation’s federal trust funds. Requested by Senate Budget Committee Chairman Mike Enzi (R-WY) and Senator Mike Braun (R-IN), the report shows that insolvency dates for major trust funds are fast approaching and… Continue Reading