Business

U.S President to raise cyber security with Putin

Published

8 months ago

June 3, 2021

Just days after a crippling cyber hack on global meat producer JBS, President Joe Biden is preparing to discuss the matter directly with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin.

Biden is reviewing the threat posed by ransomware attacks and will discuss the issue of harboring such hackers with Putin this month.

The leaders will meet in Geneva on June 16, amid sharp disagreements over election interference and human rights.

This week, the hack of Brazilian meatpacker JBS in the United States, became the third such ransomware hack in the country since January.

JBS told the White House this week it originated from a criminal organization likely based in Russia.

The FBI is now investigating.

President Biden was asked about the hack at the end of his news conference.

What threat will this incident have on food security with operations being impacted?

The cyber attack on JBS comes as the latest threat to global food supply chains.

The attack focused on the Brazilian company’s computer networks, impacting the five biggest beef plants in the US, all up handling 22 thousand 500 cattle a day.

It shut JBS’ Australian and North American computer networks and sidelined two shifts. This further halted processing at one of Canada’s largest meatpacking plants, but that beef facility has since resumed production.

Australian Operations were also down, whereas operations in Mexico and the U.K. were not affected.

Australia’s federal government took action to minimise impact on supply chain, Federal Agriculture Minister David said the technology and “systems they [JBS] use, go to the heart of the quality assurance of the beef that they process.”

“So we need to make sure that we can get that up and going to give confidence, not just to consumers here in Australia, but also to our export markets,” he said on Tuesday.

Despite the impact, the company was able to ship product from nearly all of its facilities to its customers.

Tenable’s Vice President of Operational Technology Security, Marty Edwards, says companies part of the food supply chain are ‘fairly resilient”

Concerns after cyber attack on U.S pipeline impacted gas supply

JBS has 47 facilities across Australia and operates the largest network of production facilities and feedlots in the country.

Hackers have the commodities complex in their crosshairs, with the JBS attack coming just three weeks after Darkside targeted the biggest US gasoline pipeline.

The Colonial Pipeline experienced a cyberattack that shut down its nationwide network on 7 May. As such, millions of barrels of petrol, diesel and jet fuel stopped flowing.

The hackers are from Russia’s “DarkSide”, who allegedly steal from larger corporations and give the ransom funds to charity.

After the cyberattack, President Joe Biden signed an executive order to strengthen cybersecurity defences across the US.

Related Topics:biden cyber cyber attack JBS putin supply chain

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Business

IRS to require facial recognition in order to file and pay taxes

Published

4 days ago

January 20, 2022

Anthony Lucas

A major shake-up is coming to the way US citizens file their taxes

Citizens that file their taxes online tax will soon be required to submit a selfie to a third-party identity verification company using facial recognition tech in order to file their taxes or make IRS payments online.

According to Gizmodo, from this summer, online users with an IRS.gov account will no longer be able to log in with a simple username and password.

The new process will instead involve facial recognition. Users will need to provide a government identification document, a selfie, and copies of their bills to Virginian-based identity verification firm ID.me to confirm who they are.

That change, first noticed by Krebs on Security, marks a major shift for the IRS which previously allowed users to file their taxes without submitting personal biometric data.

Gizmodo reports that a statement from an IRS spokesperson said users can still receive basic information from the IRS website without logging in, however the representative added they would need to sign in through ID.me to make and view payments, access tax records, view or create payment plans, manage communications preference, or view tax authorisations.

Users attempting to log in to their accounts using ID.me will have to create an account with the company by uploading either a driver’s license, passport, or passport card.

Business

The international airlines suspending US flights

Published

6 days ago

January 19, 2022

Brittany Coles

Emirates has announced that it is suspending a majority of flights to the United States due to the planned launch of 5G

Flights are suspended to all destinations in the United States, except major cities including Los Angeles, New York and Washington.

Due to operational concerns associated with the planned deployment of 5G mobile network services in the US at certain airports
EMIRATES SAID in a memo to employees

Air India, All Nippon Airways, and Japan Airlines, have all suspended most routes to the United States as well.

This follows the world’s largest telecommunications company AT&T announcing it will delay the implementation of its 5G service at some airports in the United States.

This is all in response to CEOs of America’s largest airlines warning of a major disruption to travel and shipping if the service is rolled out.

In an open letter, the executives call for 5G technology to be limited near US airports.

In the statement, the CEOs are requesting a limit on 5G within 2 miles of airport runways as defined by the FAA

It says “Immediate intervention is needed to avoid significant operational disruption to air passengers, shippers, supply chain and delivery of needed medical supplies”.

Business

Airline CEOs warn of major 5G disruption near airports

Published

7 days ago

January 18, 2022

ticker NEWS

CEO’s of America’s largest airlines are warning of a major disruption to travel and shipping

They’re calling for 5G technology to be limited near U.S airports

In an open letter also signed by shipping giants FedEec and UPS, the CEO’s wrote with urgency to request a limit on 5G within 2 miles of airport runways as defined by the FAA

The say that “Immediate intervention is needed to avoid significant operational disruption to air passengers, shippers, supply chain and delivery of needed medical supplies”