America covers cybersecurity incidents, policy, privacy, public services, advisories, and regional developments affecting digital security.
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America covers cybersecurity and information-security developments connected to America, including incidents, policy, privacy, advisories, research, and news affecting organizations, public services, and digital systems in the area.
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Popular video-sharing social network TikTok has officially gone dark in the United States, 2025, as a federal ban on the app comes into effect on January 19, 2025
The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has imposed sanctions against a Chinese cybersecurity company and a Shanghai-based cyber actor for their alleged links to the Salt Typhoon group and the recent compromise of the federal agency
Poland, Israel, Nvidia and Oracle Question Need for RestrictionsA decision by the Biden administration to limit international access to American-made advanced artificial intelligence chips is facing backlash from countries whose purchasing power the rule affects. New export controls seeks to choke the supply of advanced chips to China.
Genshin Impact developer Cognosphere (aka Hoyoverse) has agreed to a $20 million settlement with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over its gacha loot box monetization and is now banned from selling them to teens under the age of sixteen without parental consent. [...]
Plus: Uncle Sam is cross with this one Chinese biz over Salt Typhoon mega-snooping Decades-old legislation requiring American telcos to lock down their systems to prevent foreign snoops from intercepting communications isn't mere decoration on the pages of law books – it actually means carriers need to secure their networks, the FCC has huffed.…
Department of Treasury Imposes SanctionsThe U.S. federal government said Friday it's traced the source of Chinese hacker intrusions into telecom networks to a government contractor located in hacking hotbed Sichuan. The Department of Treasury imposed sanctions on the firm, Sichuan Juxinhe Network Technology.
With Biden reportedly planning to skirt enforcement and kick the can to Trump, this saga might still not be over The US Supreme Court has upheld a law requiring TikTok to either divest from its Chinese parent company ByteDance or face a ban in the United States. The decision eliminates the final legal obstacle to the federal government forcing a shutdown of the platform on January 19.…
The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has sanctioned Yin Kecheng, a Shanghai-based hacker for his role in the recent Treasury breach and a company associated with the Salt Typhoon threat group. [...]
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has ordered U.S. telecommunications carriers to secure their networks following last year's Salt Typhoon security breaches. [...]
The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned two individuals and four entities for their alleged involvement in illicit revenue generation schemes for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) by dispatching IT workers around the world to obtain employment and draw a steady source of income for the regime in violation of international sanctions
Final Cybersecurity Executive Order Unlocks New Powers for Next AdministrationBiden’s final cybersecurity order expands sanctions authorities to better target ransomware hackers and the financial facilitators and infrastructure providers enabling their attacks, a White House official said Thursday, as the administration aims to disrupt the broader cybercrime ecosystem.
Residents across the United States are being inundated with text messages purporting to come from toll road operators like E-ZPass, warning that recipients face fines if a delinquent toll fee remains unpaid. Researchers say the surge in SMS spam coincides with new features added to a popular commercial phishing kit sold in China that makes it simple to set up convincing lures spoofing toll road operators in multiple U.S. states.
Treasury Also Sanctions Chinese Company for Supplying Tech EquipmentThe U.S. federal government targeted for sanctions a network of North Korean front companies and a Chinese supplier that support a Pyongyang program of planting remote IT workers into Western corporations. The front companies are Korea Osong Shipping and Chonsurim Trading Corporation.
The U.S. Treasury Department has sanctioned a network of individuals and front companies linked to North Korea's Ministry of National Defense that have generated revenue via illegal remote IT work schemes. [...]
Days before leaving office, President Joe Biden signed an executive order to shore up the United States' cybersecurity by making it easier to sanction hacking groups targeting federal agencies and the nation's critical infrastructure. [...]
US Cyber Defense Agency Was Not Initially Aware Hackers Were Part of Salt TyphoonThe U.S. federal government's first hint that Chinese hackers penetrated American telecommunications infrastructure came from telemetry on government networks, said Jen Easterly, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
Hackers Repeatedly Compromised GoDaddy's Web Hosting EnvironmentInternet registrar and web host GoDaddy agreed to two decades worth of third-party assessments over its cybersecurity practices in a settlement with the U.S. FTC. GoDaddy in February 2023 attributed a run of hacking incidents that began in 2019 to a "sophisticated threat actor group."
The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) on Tuesday disclosed that a court-authorized operation allowed the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to delete PlugX malware from over 4,250 infected computers as part of a "multi-month law enforcement operation." PlugX, also known as Korplug, is a remote access trojan (RAT) widely used by threat actors associated with the People's Republic of China (PRC
Executive Order Paves Way for Data Centers on Federal Land, Clean Energy ProgressThe U.S. federal government will open up sites to developers of AI frontier models to build gigawatt-scale data centers with clean energy under an executive order signed Tuesday by President Joe Biden. AI applications are expected to drive soaring energy demands well beyond 2030.
National Security and Hacking Worries Underpin Concerns over Supply Chain RiskThe U.S. federal government is telling the automotive industry to stop buying Chinese manufactured hardware and software powering onboard telematics and automated driving systems, warning that the potential for nation-state hacking and espionage poses a national security risk.