SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
For nearly three weeks, Baltimore has struggled with a cyberattack by digital extortionists that has frozen thousands of computers, shut down email and disrupted real estate sales, water bills, health alerts and many other services.
But here is what frustrated city employees and residents do not know: A key component of the malware that cybercriminals used in the attack was developed at taxpayer expense a short drive down the Baltimore-Washington Parkway at the National Security Agency, according to security experts briefed on the case.
Since 2017, when the N.S.A. lost control of the tool, EternalBlue, it has been picked up by state hackers in North Korea, Russia and, more recently, China, to cut a path of destruction around the world, leaving billions of dollars in damage. But over the past year, the cyberweapon has boomeranged back and is now showing up in the N.S.A.’s own backyard.
It is not just in Baltimore. Security experts say EternalBlue attacks have reached a high, and cybercriminals are zeroing in on vulnerable American towns and cities, from Pennsylvania to Texas, paralyzing local governments and driving up costs.
The N.S.A. connection to the attacks on American cities has not been previously reported, in part because the agency has refused to discuss or even acknowledge the loss of its cyberweapon, dumped online in April 2017 by a still-unidentified group calling itself the Shadow Brokers. Years later, the agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation still do not know whether the Shadow Brokers are foreign spies or disgruntled insiders.
Thomas Rid, a cybersecurity expert at Johns Hopkins University, called the Shadow Brokers episode “the most destructive and costly N.S.A. breach in history,” more damaging than the better-known leak in 2013 from Edward Snowden, the former N.S.A. contractor.
“The government has refused to take responsibility, or even to answer the most basic questions,” Mr. Rid said. “Congressional oversight appears to be failing. The American people deserve an answer.”
(Score: 2) by Mykl on Wednesday May 29 2019, @01:48AM (3 children)
It's worth reminding people that the USA is not a democracy.
"The people" don't vote for the President - that's the job of the Electoral College, who only vote in line with the general election results by long-standing convention. They have absolutely no obligation to vote the same way as the public, so in effect the President really is selected by only 538 people.
I believe that the US political system is broken beyond repair due to the entrenched self-interest of the two parties who, for the purposes of their supporters, may as well be football teams.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Acabatag on Wednesday May 29 2019, @02:04AM
The States elect the President. Because we are a nation that is made up out of United States. Not all power resides at the Federal level, nor should it. It's perfectly appropriate that different states have different ways of picking their delegates to choose the President. That's called keeping democracy close to the people.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Wednesday May 29 2019, @02:06AM
To be fair, not directly electing the President doesn't make any real difference as to whether your country is a democracy or not.
We don't directly elect our Prime Minister either, but if the parties play fast and loose with what the people have voted for they get punished hard at the next election. And they know it
You guys don't have that outlet, so why would your two parties care what you want? If the electoral college decided to go against the wishes of the electorate what could you do about it? Nothing.
At least in my country we can vote political parties out of existence, and we have. Several times.
(Score: 4, Informative) by AthanasiusKircher on Wednesday May 29 2019, @02:16AM
Well, in a majority of states it is actually illegal for electors to vote for a candidate other than the one they have been pledged to vote for (decided by the results of the popular vote). So, it's a little more than "long-standing convention." SCOTUS has ruled the requiring electors to pledge is Constitutional, though there never have rulings on the legality of punishing an elector for a wayward vote.
Also, it's notable that the U.S. has always elected the House directly, and the Senate for roughly a century. I agree the U.S. was never designed to be a democracy (as the Founders were deathly afraid of mob rule), though it has become much more democratic over the centuries.
Finally, note that the Presidency was explicitly designed by the Founders to be a very weak executive compared to other rulers of other nations at the time, heading a federal government that was also supposed to be very weak.
The U.S. was mostly supposed to be governed at the state and local levels, where democracy made a little more sense. It's only the broad reading of Constitutional powers for the President and federal government in the last 75 years or so that have endowed the office with such power (aside from a few historical outliers like Lincoln).