This Week in Critical Infrastructure we bring stories on essential infrastructure for future expansion of the electric vehicle market, the latest news surrounding recent cyber attacks at Yahoo and the NSA, as well as recommendations from experts at McAfee and Arizona State University on cyber hygiene and coastal resilience.
Here’s the Electric Car Charging Infrastructure Needed to Support 7 Million EVs, Study Says
In this report from Electrek writer Fred Lambert, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), a U.S. Department of Energy research lab, has released a study on the electric charging infrastructure necessary to support a large deployment of electric vehicles. The study is especially notable for its focus on the needs of long-distance travel, which has been seen as a primary hurdle to wider adoption of electric vehicle technology.
How To Secure Our Most Critical Infrastructure Today
In this article from Forbes Community Voice, McAfee’s Brandie Claborn writes on some basic communications security precautions that can be used to guard against the theft of sensitive information. With many of the most impactful breaches of recent years resulting from lapses in basic security practice, the importance of these basic secure communications practices and essential cyber hygiene cannot be overstated.
How to Help Coastal Communities Build Weather Resilience
In this piece from Emma Greguska published by Phys.org, Sian Mooney from Arizona State University shares insights on coastal resilience following her time in Cuba at a tri-national workshop on the theme: “Enhancing Resilience of Coastal Caribbean Communities.”
Russian Government Hackers Used Antivirus Software to Steal U.S. Cyber Capabilities
In a story original reported by The Wall Street Journal, Ellen Nakashima and Jack Gillum write for The Washington Post on an alleged 2015 theft of National Security Agency data by the Russian government achieved via anti-virus software sold by Kaspersky Labs. This follows calls by U.S. government officials in recent weeks to ban use of Kaspersky Labs products on federal systems due to ties between the firm and the Russian intelligence community.
So, Uh, That Billion-Account Yahoo Breach Was Actually 3 Billion
From Wired, Lily Hay Newman writes on updates disclosed this week by Yahoo that revise earlier disclosures from December regarding a massive breach of user accounts. Original announcements put the number of breached accounts at about 1 billion; Yahoo has since revised that estimate, now estimating that all user accounts were potentially compromised, which brings the total breach to around 3 billion user accounts.