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Trump Signs Executive Order On Cybersecurity (techcrunch.com)

President Trump on Thursday signed a long-delayed executive order on cybersecurity that "makes clear that agency heads will be held accountable for protecting their networks, and calls on government and industry to reduce the threat from automated attacks on the internet," reports The Washington Post. From the report: Picking up on themes advanced by the Obama administration, Trump's order also requires agency heads to use Commerce Department guidelines to manage risk to their systems. It commissions reports to assess the country's ability to withstand an attack on the electric grid and to spell out the strategic options for deterring adversaries in cyberspace. [Thomas Bossert, Trump's homeland security adviser] said the order was not, however, prompted by Russia's targeting of electoral systems last year. In fact, the order is silent on addressing the security of electoral systems or cyber-enabled operations to influence elections, which became a significant area of concern during last year's presidential campaign. The Department of Homeland Security in January declared election systems "critical infrastructure." The executive order also does not address offensive cyber operations, which are generally classified. This is an area in which the Trump administration is expected to be more forward-leaning than its predecessor. Nor does it spell out what type of cyberattack would constitute an "act of war" or what response the attack would invite. "We're not going to draw a red line," Bossert said, adding that the White House does not "want to telegraph our punches." The order places the defense secretary and the head of the intelligence community in charge of protecting "national security" systems that operate classified and military networks. But the secretary of homeland security will continue to be at the center of the national plan for protecting critical infrastructure, such as the electric grid and financial sector.

19 of 173 comments (clear)

  1. Cyber by DonaId+Trump · · Score: 5, Funny

    We're going to have tremendous cyber, folks. You and me, we'll have the best cyber. We're going to have so much cyber, you're going to say "Please, Mr. President, I'm so tired of cybering!" It's going to be some very great cyber, believe me.

    1. Re:Cyber by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Didn't you invent "Cybering" just this past week? I'm sure you did, you said it, so it must be that Cybering was invented by you. No wonder it will be best.

      So best, people will ask for more and more of the Cybering. Through the series of Tubes in a Wide Stance, because it is morning in America in this decade.

  2. Much security. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    I feel safer already!

  3. Distracted yet? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Handy timing, obvious to distract from Comey's sacking, the subpoena, etc.

    But can I point out just one of the more obscure stuff recent you may have missed?

    Kushner corp trying to raise $150 million from Chinese investors for a 15% stake in some project that magically costs $1 billion, 1 Journal Square:
    http://money.cnn.com/2017/05/06/news/jared-kushner-nicole-family-event/index.html

    Except it doesn't cost $1 billion, the land cost $27 million, and $1 billion would put it in the top 10 most expensive skyscrapers, for a basic 79 story tower.

    Why do billionaires not have enough equity or cash to fund this $150 million? Why expensive investors from china?... Because their projects are all in negative equity and they need to keep finding more investors to keep the company going.

    This is how Kusher and Trump corp both work: They do a project, perhaps it costs $300 million. They borrow from the banks, who take the documents as collatoral, and lend a portion of the money , e.g. $200m. Outside investors are told the project costs e.g. $600 million, and $150 million/25% is up for sale to them. In reality their $150 million is buying $25 million of equity, but they don't know the full picture because the details are kept secret.

    Money is scraped off the deal, in licensing fees, management fees etc. This is the profit for Kushers and Trumps, it's what keep their company going, and lets them pay the interest on their portion of bank loans.

    Their property empire requires a constant stream of new investors buying into a false valuation of a project. Threats of lawsuits keep dissent down, and the books are kept secret so nobody can see. This is why the press was barred from the Kushner China investor meeting, because you don't want anyone connecting the dots.

    1. Re:Distracted yet? by Mal-2 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      So it's a Ponzi scheme, only one that can be floated for years or decades rather than falling apart in months. It's not legal, but due to the secrecy, nobody has yet figured out it's not legal. And now that the people running the scheme are in charge, it will become legal.

      Steal enough, and you can buy legitimacy.

      --
      How is the Riemann zeta function like Trump rallies? Both have an endless number of trivial zeros.
    2. Re:Distracted yet? by JustNiz · · Score: 3, Informative

      Its not a Ponzi scheme and it is legal.

    3. Re:Distracted yet? by GLMDesigns · · Score: 2

      Are you stupid? And who the eff found this "Insightful." What is possibly wrong with this?

      You raise money because up front costs are a worry and you share the burden. Land costs are trivial compared to construction costs.

      For instance:

      Building costs in the NYC area is $200/square foot for very basic construction. Kitchens and bathrooms and radiant heating, and wood floors add tremendously to the cost. And that's not including elevators and balconies and roof gardens.

      Construction costs easily reach $5-700/square foot. Sale prices of luxury apartments are easily $2000 / square foot with many reaching far, FAR more. Therefore one 2000 square foot apartment would be 4 million dollars+.

      Again what possibly is corrupt about a builder getting investors? It would be unusual to find a construction project of this magnitude that does not have investors. And investors, for the most part are NOT stupid. They are very careful and there is a considerable amount of due diligence.

      Again - what is wrong with a real estate / construction company building? This is what they do. This is going to be one more building in Jersey City.

      New York City (along with LA, San Francisco, Vancouver, Sidney) has sold lots of apartments to Chinese people wanting to diversify their portfolio and provide an exit strategy for them and their families in case things go south.

      Again. What's the effing problem?

      --
      If you're scared of your govt then you need to further restrict its powers
      Vote 3rd Party in 2016 and beyond
  4. Re:What does held accountable mean? by TheOuterLinux · · Score: 4, Insightful

    What this means is Trump and supporters will ultimately have the power to decide who will be held accountable and who will not, influencing industry because these "cyber attacks" are only going to get worse and more selective if you know what I'm saying. He is at heart a business man after all.

  5. The Property makes it legal by rsilvergun · · Score: 4, Insightful

    because it's overvalued. As an investor if I misjudge the value of a property that's on me. There's all sorts of laws & rules about stating the value of a property and on paper Trump & Co follow those rules. That's what they're good at, running legal ponzi schemes. Similar to the crap Bane & Mitt Romney used to do. That's really what high end biz schools are for. They teach the very rich how to rob us all blind and get away with it.

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
  6. Nice try by LeftCoastThinker · · Score: 3, Insightful

    "Picking up on themes advanced by the Obama administration"

    Yeah no, but nice try. The Obama administration has the worst cyber security record of any administration, especially when you consider both public and private hacks where the government should have stepped in (i.e. hacks by other countries against US companies or government contractors). Remember the Chinese OPM hack? Yah, that was under Obamas watch. 21 million plus personal records exposed. Remember when the Chinese hacked and stole plans for stealth drones and other military aircraft? That was Obama too. Remember the DNC hacks? Yah, that was on Obamas watch as well (sorry, Trump wasn't even elected yet). There is a list as long as my arm proving that the Obama administration was absolute shit at cyber security and he basically just shrugged and did nothing besides blabber.

    It remains to be seen if Trump can get the federal government IT and contractors to get their shit together on this issue, but dont piss down my back and say it is raining. If he starts firing department heads or charging federal employees with criminal negligence where appropriate, we might see the epidemic of hacking fall off somewhat as industry standard measures get adopted and enforced across the federal government.

    --
    If you disagree, please post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like
    1. Re:Nice try by ausekilis · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Yes, the government has a shit record for cybersecurity, but putting the blame squarely on Obama isn't really fair. Hindsight is always 20/20 and computer security has always been much more reactive than proactive. I'd argue the blame is Congress, the environment, and the government structure.

      1) Congress controls the purse and laws. They're the ones that make sure all agencies have the funding to do what they need to do. These asshats in the big white daycare on capital hill haven't managed to agree on a budget before October in over a decade. That means most agencies get a fraction of the money they plan for.

      2) The internet has changed in the past 10 years (as of 2012). We've gone from the beginnings of broadband to gigabit connections. From a millions users to billions.

      3) The Fed as a whole is woefully slow to move on to new technology. They typically move to a new OS after it has been out for at least 3 years, which means they may get around to Windows 10 sometime in 2018 or 2019. Even those "best of the best" agencies are subject to this. I helped a migration to Windows 7 2.5 years ago, after it had been in the wild for 5 years.

      Could these things have been changed by Obama? Not hardly. It would have been tricky even if Congress was willing to work with him. With a Congress too busy fighting with itself to make any progress about anything? Damned near impossible.

  7. Re:TRUMP IS OUT by Opportunist · · Score: 2

    Of all the things he did, THIS makes you think that?

    All I see here is that he's yet another politician with zero idea what the internet is really like. Well, he's at least one step ahead of the rest, he knows what Twitter is.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  8. Re:What do you mean? by sudon't · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'm always a little amazed at the people who find the Clinton's use of their influence, to get money for a charity that does actual charity, more appalling than Trump's phony charity, which only benefits Trump. Is it really so awful to strong-arm rich people into giving money to do good work? Or are you simply blind to, or ignorant of, the illegal shenanigans of the Trump Foundation?

    --
    -- sudon't

    Air-ride Equipped

  9. Ironic given recent news by UnknowingFool · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Just after firing Comey, Trump met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Now this was not bad just for the optics. No American press was allowed but Russian press was allowed. No that's not worst part. The Russian press was allowed to bring in their equipment to take photos in the Oval Office. That's the worst part: Trump allowed foreign officials to bring in electronic equipment into a sensitive area of the White House. Many security experts are dismayed that was allowed to happen. Former security officers have noted that it was standing policy that no one was allowed to bring in their phone/cameras into the Oval Office.

    --
    Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
  10. Re:What do you mean? by DickBreath · · Score: 4, Funny

    Trump would never rig the elections. He will modernize elections for the 21st century. A contractor will be selected based on the highest price, lowest quality work, to set up an HTTP only website that looks like it was designed in the 90's. Citizens will vote using this web site. In order for your vote to be accepted, you will have to check several boxes.

    [x] I am a Citizen of the United States
    [x] I have not previously submitted a vote in this election
    [x] I am a white, rich, christian, heterosexual male
    [x] I promise I am telling the truth and that the previous statements are equally truthful to this statement

    --

    I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
  11. Re:More fake news from WaPo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Um, no.
    Putin is not on par with Stalin (killed tens of millions), Mussolini (tried and failed at genocide, killed hundreds of thousands), or Hitler (killed million, tried genocide, kicked off WWII). He is a distinctly petty evil.

    He's more like Francis II - reactionary ruler of an old fading power, that doesn't know how to deal with all the change in the world or the diminishment of his power. Putin flails around, which sucks for the Ukraine or Georgia, but he can't invade Europe. He assassinates journalists because that is the limit of Russia's capabilities! He just isn't a real threat. There will be no millions dead because of him.

    Unless you mean from Russians that die from drinking too much.

  12. Business vs. Government by s.petry · · Score: 2, Interesting

    President Trump wants people to be accountable. Isn't that exactly what we have been demanding for.. oh I don't know... longer than I have been alive? Comey had numerous problems, and up until he was fired both sides of the aisle voiced opinions of "incompetent", "abused his power", and "usurped Constitutional authority". Republicans were upset for numerous reasons, but primarily for making himself the Judge and Jury for the Hillary email crimes. Democrats because they feel he impacted the election of the same. All of those were from actions _BEFORE_ President Trump took office.

    I'm pretty happy with some of President Trumps actions. The ban on lobbying for appointees is exceptional, and this one is just as good.

    Which side is actually perpetuating the distraction here, the Dems who suddenly claim that the incompetent Comey is the greatest American since John Wayne, or the Republicans who let the incompetent claims stand and dismissed him since he had no support from the Deputy AG (whom Comey would report to)? The hypocrisy from the Dems is beyond palpable, and more and more people are simply dismissing them.

    --

    -The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.

  13. Re:What do you mean? by SmokeyRobot · · Score: 2, Funny

    Since so many news sources have reported that it happened, all thinking people know it did despite the lack of evidence.

    That word, thinking. To quote Inigo Montoya, I do not think it means what you think it means.
    Thinking people do not just regurgitate things reported in the news.

  14. Re:What do you mean? by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 2

    Oh, no. It'll be even better than that. They'll use the newfangled 'AI deep learning algorithm' to predict your vote and vote for you. After all automation is the New Shiny Thing, it'll make everyones' life better! No more wasting time with silly old manual 'voting', that's so Luddite and Last Thursday!