Assume You Are Compromised | The Cities That Feed on the Powerless | Defining Cool

“Most hackers are young because young people tend to be adaptable. As long as you remain adaptable, you can always be a good hacker.” – Emmanuel Goldstein

“Anytime we see such a colossal intrusion go undetected for so long, the ultimate cause is usually a failure to adopt the most important principle in cybersecurity defense that applies to both corporations and consumers: Assume you are compromised.” – Brian Krebs

The Costs of Technological Progress: The borough of Matanuska-Susitna, known as Mat-Su, is a remote Alaskan community with around 100,000 residents. But just like Boston or San Francisco or London, the infrastructure there depends on computers. Starting in July, 2018 the borough’s entire computer system was attacked by a particularly vicious, sophisticated ransomware that brought the community to a digital standstill. In the six months since the incident, over 700 devices including computers and printers had to be checked and scrubbed. Even office phones had to be taken offline. To date the attack’s cost Mat-Su more than $2 million and the recovery effort is still ongoing. Investigators found evidence that the malware had been on the borough’s systems since May. Coincidentally, a borough delegation had visited China on a trade mission that month, and while no official link to the Chinese has been made, there have been allegations of Chinese involvement in other recent cyber-attacks.

Knocking out their modern-day equipment meant the people of Mat-Su had to get busy reinventing the wheel. In the borough’s purchasing department staff filled out forms with pen and ink until someone remembered a couple of old electric typewriters stashed in a cupboard. Dusting those off and using them made international headlines. Curiously, being a largely rural borough about the size of West Virginia, with a population less than Billings, Montana, Mat-Su seems a strange target for a cyber-attack.

The King Of Trolls And Hackers: German police say a 20-year-old man has confessed to being behind a data breach affecting hundreds of high-profile Germans. The young man, who is still in school and living with his parents, published private information about politicians, journalists and celebrities on Twitter. About 1,000 people, including Chancellor Angela Merkel, were affected. The suspect said he acted alone and was motivated out of annoyance by statements made by the public figures he attacked. (BBC)

Brazi’s Gang Violence and Prisons: The state of Ceara, in Brazil, has been battered by gang-violence for over a week, with the most intense destruction occurring in the capital city of Fortaleza, a metropolitan area that is home to more than four million people. Police stations, city government buildings and banks have been attacked with bombs and explosives, and buses, mail trucks and cars set on fire. Authorities say three rival drug gangs are cooperating to carry out more than 160 attacks in retaliation for a proposal to end the practice of separating gang factions inside Brazil’s prisons. Newly-elected president Jair Bolsonaro has deployed 500 national guard troops to the region. (Guardian)

These Quiet Prisons Speak Volumes: China imposed a draconian lockdown on Xinjiang, a region in the far west that is home to Turkic Uighurs and other Muslim minorities. What foreign reporting has been possible has revealed a vast network of internment camps that Beijing calls “reeducation centers”. A State Department official said last month that since April 2017, Chinese authorities have “indefinitely detained at least 800,000 and possibly more than 2 million Uighurs, ethnic Khazaks and other members of Muslim minorities”. President Xi Jinping is determined to cleanse these minorities of their Islamist traditions and practices. (WaPo)

Riddle me this: On 9/11, Osama bin Laden attacked the United States based off his skewed interpretation of Islam. This sparked roughly two decades of US involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq (and this could end up being longer than two decades). During this time the USA diverted its attention from China as a growing international power. China’s power grew in leaps and bounds and is now very likely the country that imprisons the largest number of Muslims globally. To quote Vonnegut: “How complicated and unpredictable the machinery of life really is.”

Are We at Peak Strongman or At the Trough of Disillusionment?: The CIA’s assessment that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the killing of Saudi journalist and US resident Jamal Khashoggi, coupled with continued international condemnation, has been extremely damaging to the prince’s reputation. MbS’s fall from grace since the journalist’s murder last October has been swift. It just might signal that the global surge of authoritarian “strongman” figures, riding waves of reviving nationalism and intolerant, right-wing populist sentiment, could be nearing its high point. (Guardian)

Additional read: “Analysis: At Davos, A Darker Mood Awaits Meeting Of Global Elites.” (NPR)

Finders Keepers, Losers Weepers: In 2018 thieves stole some $3 billion worth of gas from Pemex pipelines, Mexico’s state-owned oil company. New president Andrés Manuel López Obrador has thwarted that illegal activity by shifting transport of fuel to tanker trucks and rail cars, away from pipelines. That’s good news. Unfortunately it’s left many ordinary Mexicans struggling to find gas. Major fuel shortages have been reported in at least six Mexican states over the past several days and people are lined up at gas stations, empty canisters in hand. (NPR)

– “‘Most extraordinary millennial’ – why does China focus on Kim Jong-un’s age?: Mixed messages of welcome greet North Korean leader on three-day trip to Beijing” (Guardian)

– “Rescued Migrants, at Sea for Weeks, Struggle to Reach a New Life” (NYT)

– “Britain’s latest ‘fatberg,’ a mass of grease and wet wipes in a sewer, is longer than 6 double-decker buses” (WaPo)

– “Indian Science Congress Speakers Say Newton Was Wrong, Ancient Demon-King Had Planes” (NPR)

– “U.S. special envoy working on Persian Gulf disputes steps down: Anthony Zinni has become the latest senior military officer to leave the Trump administration, resigning his position as special envoy to help resolve disputes in the Persian Gulf and build a strategic U.S. military alliance with Arab governments in the region.” (WaPo)

The Cities That Feed on the Powerless: Three Supreme Court opinions in the 1970s and 1980s held that jailing poor defendants who cannot pay fines is unconstitutional. Yet judges in Mississippi, Georgia, Michigan, Louisiana, Ohio and Washington State still incarcerate people who cannot come up with court fines and administrative fees, often resulting from extremely minor infractions. One expert says “the mechanisms vary depending on the region [but what these courts have in common is] they use the justice system to wring revenue out of the poorest Americans….” Aside from taxes, “criminal justice debt is now a de facto way of funding a lot of American cities.” (NYT)

Additional lyrics: “I don’t mind stealing bread from the mouths of decadence,

But I can’t feed on the powerless when my cup’s already overfilled…I’m going hungry.” Temple of the Dog, Hunger Strike. Perhaps (and we think) the best grunge rock song ever.

The Environmental Protection Small Team: The government shutdown means 13,000 employees at the Environmental Protection Agency are not at work. The inability to conduct environmental testing and inspections is prompting a warning that as the shutdown drags on, Americans’ health is being put at increasing risk. A senior director at the Environmental Defense Fund said the situation at the EPA means “communities across the country are forced to stand by while water and soil go untested, air is fouled, science is suspended, and looming threats from climate change grow more perilous,” adding “An extended shutdown only increases the risks to the American people.” (Guardian)

– “Shutdown hits American farmers already hurt by China trade war:Closure of agriculture department offices could not have come at a worse time for farmers awaiting emergency federal aid” (Guardian)

– “‘I’m Scared’: TSA Families Fear Falling Behind On Bills, Losing Their Homes: ‘Our rent is due, the electric bill is due, our cellphones are now past due,’” (NPR)

– “Attorney General Nominee Visits Hill; Rosenstein’s Exit Expected After Confirmation” (NPR)

– “California man arrested for stealing roommate’s $10m lottery ticket:Police believe Adul Saosongyang bought a second scratch-off ticket and swapped it with the winning one” (Guardian)

– “Police Seek Male Staffers’ DNA At Center Where Patient In Vegetative State Gave Birth” (NPR)

– “Who Decides What Is Cool?: The most powerful tastemakers are rebellious and idealistic. Cameron Laux on the arbiters who influence what we wear and how we live.” (BBC)

– “The Eternal Treadmill of Fitness Trends: From Hot Pants to Hot Mess: In the early 1980s, instructors had become celebrities by virtue of their ability to bark exhortations that could be heard over the chorus of ‘It’s Raining Men.’” (NYT)

– “Amazon boss Jeff Bezos and wife MacKenzie to divorce” (Guardian)

– “It Takes A CEO Just Days To Earn Your Annual Wage: Even a few days into the year, most CEOs have earned more than the average worker’s annual salary. Here’s how it looks around the world.” (BBC)

– “Why the Dow has spiked 2,000 points since Christmas Eve” (CNN)

– “Naked lunch: why diners couldn’t stomach the Paris nudist restaurant:O’naturel’s eating in the buff failed to catch on and it’s closing after 15 months. Is this the end for novelty dining experiences?” (Guardian)

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