Adam Janofsky
Editorial Director, The Record by Recorded Future
Articles By This Author
Biden’s Pick for Acting CIA Director Has a Lot To Say About Ransomware and Cybercrime
Cohen will lead the CIA as the U.S. confronts what experts say is one of the most significant cybersecurity incidents to ever target the government. Russia was recently blamed for an attack that affects potentially thousands of companies and government agencies, and cybersecurity experts say it might have been carried out by the country’s Foreign Intelligence Service, which has similar objectives to the CIA….
“Nothing in Cybersecurity Is Satisfactory:” Former Swedish PM Carl Bildt on the Need for Norms in Cyberspace
In February 1994, Carl Bildt, who was at the time serving as Prime Minister of Sweden, typed a brief two-paragraph email addressed to then-U.S. President Bill Clinton. The note congratulated Clinton on his decision to end a trade embargo on Vietnam, but also marked a historic event for the internet: It was the first known email sent between heads of government. “Sweden is—as you know—one of the leading countries in the world in the field of telecommunications, and it is only appropriate that we should be among the first to use the Internet also for political contacts and communications around the globe,” the message read.
I talked to Bildt recently about how global leaders should think about cybersecurity, and which policies and practices can help keep people safe online. To Bildt, we are often our own worst enemy: “The greatest threat is ignorance,” he said…
Hacker’s Early Release Gets Sidetracked After Federal Prosecutors Say He Continued Crimes From Prison
In a surprise twist to a drawn-out legal saga, a foreign hacker who was scheduled to be imminently released from federal prison and deported was charged Tuesday evening with allegedly continuing his fraudulent schemes from behind bars. Ardit Ferizi, a Kosovo citizen who was arrested in 2015 in Malaysia and later extradited to the U.S., was granted a compassionate release by a federal judge last month due to the coronavirus outbreak….
NSA Opens Up About Its Cybersecurity Operations in First-Ever Yearly Review
As the intelligence agency tasked with deciphering coded communications and carrying out a range of other clandestine surveillance operations, the National Security Agency has been shrouded in secrecy since its inception. But in a series of steps taken over the last year, the NSA has changed its approach—at least a little—by being more forthcoming about its cybersecurity operations…
How Cybersecurity Will Change in 2021
We’re going to be powering up machines that have been touched for a year. Organizations might want to think twice before putting out a big PR release that they’re going back to the office on a certain date. Figuring out how to get machines patched and inoculating employees against phishing before returning to the office is going to be important…
The Year of the Teenage Hacker
The year 2020 was full of high-profile cyberattacks launched by criminal gangs and state-sponsored hackers. But dozens of headline-grabbing cybersecurity incidents and arrests this year involved teenagers—some of whom haven’t even graduated high school yet. As the coronavirus pandemic forced schools across the country to adopt distance learning programs and change the way they operate, some students—likely pent up at home with a lot of time and little to do that doesn’t involve a Wi-Fi connection—seem to have used it as an opportunity to hone their hacking skills…
The Record Is Hiring a Cybersecurity Reporter
The Record by Recorded Future is seeking a reporter to cover the ins and outs of the cybersecurity news beat. We are looking for a talented writer who feels at home reporting quick scoops on the latest cybersecurity stories, contributing to weekly newsletters and podcasts, and can write in-depth analysis on broader industry trends. The ideal candidate should be comfortable with building relationships with a wide range of sources, including government officials, cybersecurity executives, and academic researchers….
Former Israeli CERT Chief: ‘A Cheap Incident Response Costs A Lot’
As the executive director of Israel’s National Computer Emergency Response Center, or CERT, Lavy Shtokhamer dealt with more cyberattacks in a week than many information security professionals would see in a year. The Center acted as a hub for information sharing and response in the country, with victims constantly informing Shtokhamer and his team of new incidents, which would then be anonymized and relayed to other companies and government organizations to help protect them from the similar attacks. Last week, I caught up with Shtokhamer via video conference—he will be taking on a new role in the coming days, and was open to talking about his experience in the Israeli government…
Scammers Are Trying To Capitalize on the Race To Deliver COVID-19 Vaccines
In March and April, when fear and uncertainty about the coronavirus pandemic reached a high point in the U.S., hackers and scammers started incorporating language about COVID-19 into phishing attacks and new web domains to trick anxious victims into downloading malware, a U.S. cybersecurity agency warned. New research suggests that scammers are now pivoting their efforts—as governments and healthcare organizations race to deliver inoculations, hackers are embracing vaccine-related phishing lures…
Ridding Hackers From Government Networks Will Be “Highly Complex and Challenging,” CISA Warns
The Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency on Thursday issued its most urgent and detailed alert yet about the hacking campaign that has rocked government agencies and technology firms in recent days, saying that it “poses a grave risk” to federal and state governments, critical infrastructure entities, and private sector organizations. Additionally, CISA said it has evidence of additional attack vectors other than the SolarWinds Orion platform. CISA said it is still investigating the additional attack vectors, and that the attacker is likely using tactics, techniques, and procedures that have not yet been discovered…