TODAY'S TOP 5
McCrary Institute for Cyber & Critical Infrastructure Security
Working to protect and advance U.S. interests in the areas of cyber and critical infrastructure security.
NEW CISA PICK: Sean Plankey, who served in cybersecurity roles in the first Trump administration, has been officially nominated to run the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), according to a Monday?posting?of nominations, The Record reports. Plankey’s nomination has been sent to the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee for official consideration. A former acting assistant secretary for the Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security and Emergency Response at the Department of Energy and a director for maritime and Pacific cybersecurity policy at the National Security Council, Plankey served from 2018-2020 in the first Trump administration.
IN DEFENSE OF CIPAC: Business groups told lawmakers Tuesday that they fear cyber threat information sharing could drop off in light of the Trump administration’s move to eliminate a critical infrastructure committee and given the pending expiration of a 2015 law, CyberScoop reports. The Critical Infrastructure Partnership Advisory Council (CIPAC) fell among a swath of government advisory committees that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem?scrapped last week, with Noem saying they had fulfilled their purposes and were now “unnecessary.” Industry witnesses testifying before the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection said CIPAC was, in fact, vital. That’s because it’s not just an advisory committee, they said: The panel is exempt from a law mandating public meetings of federal advisory committees, thereby ensuring government and industry members can exchange sensitive information without fear of disclosure.
RED TEAM PURGE: Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has fired more than a hundred employees working for the U.S. government’s cybersecurity agency CISA, including “red team” staffers, two people affected by the layoffs told TechCrunch.?The people, who asked not to be named, said affected employees were axed immediately when their network access was revoked with no prior warning. Another person affected by the layoffs, who asked to remain anonymous due to fear of government retaliation, told TechCrunch that laid-off employees also include staffers who worked for CISA’s Cyber Incident Response Team (CIRT), which is responsible for penetration testing and vulnerability management of networks belonging to U.S. federal government departments and agencies. “As far as what will happen to those government systems, I have no knowledge,” the person said.?
GAO LINKS ACQUISITIONS WITH CYBER RISKS: Federal agencies' efforts to acquire IT have often cost more than expected, taken longer, and produced systems that failed to perform. IT acquisitions and management has been on the Government Accountability Office’s High Risk List?since 2015. GAO examined 16 IT acquisition programs critical to agency missions — including national security, public health, and more — and that are expected to cost at least $50 billion. Seven of the programs identified significant risks associated with cybersecurity and information privacy. Overall, cybersecurity and privacy risks are escalating as agencies' IT infrastructures continue to age and threats and vulnerabilities become more difficult to defend.
ARMY NETWORK PLAN DROPS: After months of anticipation, the Army has released the second version of its?Unified Network Plan, building off of the 2021 iteration that aimed to collapse its 69 enterprise and tactical networks into a single, shared one by 2027. The?service’s updated plan, also known as AUN 2.0 and released late last week, reiterates the 1.0 version of paving the way for a unified network but creates a clearer focus on preparing the Army for multi-domain operations, Breaking Defense reports. Since the first plan, AUN 2.0 says, “a confluence of emerging technologies and events has transformed the world into a multidomain, persistently contested information environment that demands a far more data-centric approach to harness the power of the Army Network to fight and win.”
CYBER FOCUS PODCAST
NEW: In the latest episode of?Cyber Focus, host Frank Cilluffo sits down with Harry Krejsa, director of studies at Carnegie Mellon University’s Institute for Strategy and Technology. Krejsa, a former Pentagon and White House cyber strategist, discusses his latest report,?"SUN SHIELD:?How Clean Tech & America’s Energy Expansion Can Stop Chinese Cyber Threats," which highlights the intersection of cybersecurity, U.S.-China competition, and grid security. The conversation explores how China's cyber operations exploit technical debt in U.S. critical infrastructure, the cybersecurity risks and opportunities in the energy transition, and how the rapid buildout of AI-driven power demand presents both new challenges and unique opportunities. Krejsa outlines strategic actions the U.S. must take to secure its energy future and broader critical infrastructure against Chinese cyber threats.
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FROM McCRARY EXPERTS
Security Industry Association announces 2025 SIA Women in Security Forum Power 100 honorees
McCrary senior fellow Katherine Ledesma, vice president for public policy and government affairs at Dragos, was named a 2025 honoree for the?Security Industry Association (SIA) Women in Security Forum (WISF) Power 100. The list honors 100 women in the security industry each year whose outstanding accomplishments and success stories are breaking barriers, redefining the faces of leadership and showcasing the innovative contributions women bring to the industry. (SECURITYINDUSTRY.ORG)
CYBER AND CI UPDATES
ATTACKS AND INCIDENTS
Breaches
95% of data breaches tied to human error in 2024
Human error contributed to 95% of data breaches in 2024, driven by?insider threats, credential misuse and user-driven errors, according to a new study by Mimecast. A small fraction of employees contributed disproportionately to these security incidents, with just 8% of staff accounting for 80% of incidents. The report highlighted several high-profile incidents in the past year that were linked to human error. This included the Change Healthcare ransomware attack, in which an employee’s?credentials were compromised through a phishing email, enabling the threat actors to gain access to the network. (INFOSECURITY-MAGAZINE.COM)
Rackspace files allegedly published by Cl0p ransom gang
The Cl0p ransomware gang on Monday claims to have published a slew of files belonging to US-based cloud storage company Rackspace Technology. The Russian-linked ransomware group began uploading the supposed Rackspace cache on its dark leak site sometime Monday evening, claiming the multi-cloud computing company had been contacted by the threat group, but chose to ignore its demands. “DEAR COMPANIES. Below you can find a list of companies that were notified but ignored and did not contact us,” Cl0p posted, along with three separate email addresses for victims to contact them. (CYBERNEWS.COM)
Tata Technologies’ data leaked by ransomware gang
A ransomware group called Hunters International has published some of the data it claims to have stolen from Tata Technologies, just over a month after the Indian company confirmed a ransomware attack?that resulted in the suspension of some services. The leaked data, published on the gang’s dark web leak site —?which TechCrunch has seen — includes personal details about some current and former employees at Tata Technologies, as well as confidential information, including purchase orders and the company’s contracts with customers in India and the United States. (TECHCRUNCH.COM)
Hackers claim cyber attack on Trump winery, golf courses
The DieNet threat operation claimed a cyber attack on Trump Winery, a 1,300-acre winery in Charlottesville, Va. The threat actors claimed to have disabled the website and then posted proof of the site suffering outages. While it did not comment directly on its motive within the post, in another claim made regarding a Snapchat outage it allegedly caused, DieNet makes it clear that these are in protest against Trump. (CYBERDAILY.AU)
Critical infrastructure
Canadian man sentenced to 25 years for destruction of energy facilities in North and South Dakota
Cameron Smith pleaded guilty to the two offenses where he admitted to damaging the Wheelock Substation, located near Ray, North Dakota, in an amount exceeding $100,000, in May 2023. The Wheelock substation is operated by Mountrail-Williams Electric Cooperative and Basin Electric Power Cooperative. Smith also admitted to damaging a transformer and pumpstation of the Keystone Pipeline located near Carpenter, South Dakota, in an amount exceeding $100,000, in July 2022. Smith damaged the Wheelock substation and the Keystone Pipeline equipment by firing multiple rounds from a high-power rifle into the equipment resulting in disruption of electric services to the North Dakota customers and resulting in disruption of the Keystone Pipeline in South Dakota. (JUSTICE.GOV)
Cybercrime
Alleged co-founder of Garantex arrested in India
Authorities in India arrested the alleged co-founder of?Garantex, a cryptocurrency exchange sanctioned by the U.S. government in 2022 for facilitating tens of billions of dollars in money laundering by transnational criminal and cybercriminal organizations. Sources close to the investigation told KrebsOnSecurity the Lithuanian national?Aleksej Besciokov, 46, was apprehended while vacationing on the coast of India with his family. On March 7, the?U.S. Department of Justice?(DOJ) unsealed?an indictment?against Besciokov and the other alleged co-founder of Garantex,?Aleksandr Mira Serda, 40, a Russian national living in the United Arab Emirates. (KREBSONSECURITY.COM)
DDoS
What really happened with the DDoS attacks that took down X
Elon Musk claimed in an interview on Fox Business Network that the attacks had come from Ukrainian IP addresses. Web traffic analysis experts who tracked the incident on Monday were quick to emphasize that the type of attacks X seemed to face — distributed denial-of-service, or DDoS, attacks — are launched by a coordinated army of computers, or a “botnet,” pummeling a target with junk traffic in an attempt to overwhelm and take down its systems. Botnets are typically dispersed around the world, generating traffic with geographically diverse IP addresses, and they can include mechanisms that make it harder to determine where they are controlled from. (WIRED.COM)
‘Script kiddie’ hackers behind Dark Storm cyberattack on Musk's X, security researcher says
A French security researcher on Tuesday claims to have uncovered the identity of the Dark Storm hacker behind the hours-long DDoS cyberattack on Elon Musk’s X social media platform – and it looks as if an Egyptian college student was behind the entire operation. Baptiste Robert, the CEO of the OSINT investigations firm Predicta Labs, said after performing a deep web dive to find more about the hacktivist group Dark Storm, has found the individual?–?an alleged script kiddie?–?responsible for the rolling outages that impacted tens of thousands of X users on Monday. (CYBERNEWS.COM)
Transportation
D.C. plane crash: NTSB calls for immediate changes at Reagan airport
The National Transportation Safety Board on Tuesday called for immediate changes at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, saying the current helicopter routes around the busy airport "pose an intolerable risk to aviation safety" in?the wake of January's collision?that killed 67 people. The NTSB is recommending that the Federal Aviation Administration permanently ban helicopter operations near Reagan when runways 15 and 33 are in use and designate an alternative helicopter route for pilots, Chairman Jennifer Homendy said during a news conference. (ABCNEWS.COM)
Trends
France recorded significant rise in cyberattacks linked to Paris Olympics
France's National Agency for the Security of Information Systems (Anssi) reported 4,386 "security events" on computer systems in 2024, an increase of 15 percent from the previous year, according to data revealed on Tuesday. During the Paris Olympic Games and the rest of the year, 2024 was marked by a "large number of destabilization attacks", noted Anssi in its report entitled?Panorama de la cybermenace?(Panorama of Cyberthreats), published on Tuesday. Anssi's director Vincent Strubel, told France Inter radio that for example, a pro-Russian group "threatened to attack sewage treatment plants, to pollute the Seine during the Olympic Games.” (RFI VIA CA.NEWS.YAHOO.COM)
THREATS
Artificial intelligence
Sony removes 75,000 deepfake items, highlighting a growing problem
According to The Financial Times, some of the material that Sony removed mimicked such popular artists as Harry Styles and Beyonce. The company submitted the information to UK government officials, telling them that the growing problem of deepfake songs cause “direct commercial harm to legitimate recording artists” and that the 75,000-plus items taken down were a small portion of AI-generated content. Sony submitted the information amid reports that the UK government is considering softening restrictions on AI technologies, hoping that the massive amount of deepfake material may influence lawmakers’ decisions. (SECURITYBOULEVARD.COM)
MINJA sneak attack poisons AI models for other chatbot users
AI models with memory aim to enhance user interactions by recalling past engagements. However, this feature opens the door to manipulation. This hasn't been much of a problem for chatbots that rely on AI models because administrative access to the model's backend infrastructure would be required in previously proposed threat scenarios. However, researchers affiliated with Michigan State University and the University of Georgia in the US, and Singapore Management University, have devised an attack that muddles AI model memory via client-side interaction. (THEREGISTER.COM)
Cryptocurrency
MassJacker malware uses 778,000 wallets to steal cryptocurrency
A newly discovered clipboard hijacking operation dubbed 'MassJacker' uses at least 778,531 cryptocurrency wallet addresses to steal digital assets from compromised computers. According to?CyberArk, who discovered the MassJacker campaign, roughly 423 wallets linked to the operation contained $95,300 at the time of the analysis, but historical data suggests more significant transactions. Also, there's a single Solana wallet that the threat actors appear to use as a central money-receiving hub, which has amassed over $300,000 in transactions so far. (BLEEPINGCOMPUTER.COM)
Elections
South Dakota pushes labels for political deepfake videos ahead of elections
People or groups who try to use unlabeled deepfakes to influence voters in South Dakota during election season could soon face criminal and civil penalties under legislation that state lawmakers approved this week. The deepfake bill, which received final passage from the GOP-controlled state Legislature on Monday, now heads to Gov. Larry Rhoden (R) for his signature. The?legislation applies?to “deepfakes” defined as digitally altered images, video or audio that are “so realistic, a reasonable person would believe it depicts the speech or conduct of an actual individual who did not in fact engage in the speech or conduct” and are circulated within 90 days of elections in the state. (THEHILL.COM)
Vulnerabilities
Ivanti EPM vulnerabilities actively exploited in the wild, CISA warns
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security agency has added three vulnerabilities in Ivanti Endpoint Manager (EPM) to its?known exploited vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog?signaling they’ve seen in-the-wild exploitation. The flaws received patches in January after being reported privately to Ivanti by the researcher who found them. The three vulnerabilities, tracked as CVE-2024-13159, CVE-2024-13160, and CVE-2024-13161 are described by Ivanti as absolute path traversals and were part of?a larger patch that addressed four critical and 12 high-severity flaws. The company noted at the time it had no evidence of these flaws being exploited in the wild. (CSOONLINE.COM)
Microsoft flags six active zero-days, patches 57 flaws
Redmond’s security response team slapped “exploitation detected” tags on six of the 57 security vulnerabilities patched this month and pushed Windows admins to prioritize another large batch of code execution flaws. The latest exploited zero-days were addressed in the?Microsoft Management Console, Windows NTFS, the Fast FAT File System Driver, and the Win32 Kernel Subsystem. According to Microsoft documentation, the exploited bugs allow security features bypass, remote code execution, privilege escalate via memory corruption issues. (SECURITYWEEK.COM)
Ballista botnet exploits unpatched TP-Link vulnerability, infects over 6,000 devices
CVE-2023-1389?is a high-severity security flaw impacting TP-Link Archer AX-21 routers that could lead to command injection, which could then pave the way for remote code execution. The?earliest evidence?of active exploitation of the flaw dates back to April 2023, with unidentified threat actors using it to drop Mirai botnet malware. Since then, it has also been abused to propagate other malware families like?Condi?and?AndroxGh0st. (THEHACKERNEWS.COM)
Apple ships iOS 18.3.2 to fix already exploited WebKit flaw
Apple on Tuesday released a new iOS with an urgent fix for a WebKit flaw that’s already been exploited on older versions of the mobile operating system. The zero-day, tagged as?CVE-2025-24201, allows attackers to break out of the Web Content sandbox and Cupertino warns that it “may have been exploited in an extremely sophisticated attack against specific targeted individuals” on versions of iOS before iOS 17.2. “This is a supplementary fix for an attack that was blocked in iOS 17.2,” the company said in a barebones bulletin. (SECURITYWEEK.COM)
Moxa issues fix for critical authentication bypass vulnerability in PT switches
Taiwanese company Moxa has released a security update to address a critical security flaw impacting its PT switches that could permit an attacker to bypass authentication guarantees. The vulnerability, tracked as?CVE-2024-12297, has been assigned a CVSS v4 score of 9.2 out of a maximum of 10.0. "Multiple Moxa PT switches are vulnerable to an authentication bypass because of flaws in their authorization mechanism," the company?said?in an advisory released last week. (THEHACKERNEWS.COM)
ADVERSARIES
North Korea
North Korean Lazarus hackers infect hundreds via npm packages
Six malicious packages have been identified on npm (Node?package manager) linked to the notorious North Korean hacking group Lazarus. The packages, which have been downloaded 330 times, are designed to steal account credentials, deploy backdoors on compromised systems, and extract sensitive cryptocurrency information. The Socket Research Team discovered the campaign, which linked it to previously known Lazarus supply chain operations. (BLEEPINGCOMPUTER.COM)
Russia
20% of cyberattacks fall on Ukraine: Russia has intensified hybrid warfare
Russia continues to improve its methods, involving cybercriminals and using artificial intelligence to carry out targeted attacks. This was announced by Serhiy Prokopenko, head of the Department of Support for the National Cybersecurity Commission, at the International Cybersecurity Forum. According to Prokopenko, the current seventh stage of cyberwar is marked by high-quality phishing campaigns targeting specific individuals of interest to Russia. Attacks are carried out not only on computers, but also on mobile devices of Ukrainian military and high-ranking officials. This allows access to critically important data. (DEV.UA)
GOVERNMENT AND INDUSTRY
Artificial intelligence
Canada, allies play a key role in some military AI experiments
Doing such tasks more quickly and accurately with multiple partners requires years of work and cooperation to ensure everyone’s systems and forces can operate together. Because of that challenge, the exercise “places special emphasis on reducing barriers to interoperability and information sharing between the United States, Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom,” said Lt. Col. Wesley Schultz of the U.S. Air Force’s 805th Combat Training Squadron. “Unified intelligence and battle management awareness is critical to success in these environments.” (DEFENSEONE.COM)
Energy
DOE will prioritize fossil fuels, but it still expects strong growth from storage, solar, Wright says
U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Monday that the Trump administration will focus on increasing domestic fossil fuel production, and he dismissed the Biden administration’s policy of focusing on renewable energy – though he said solar, storage and electric vehicles have their place in the Trump administration’s energy policy approach. In a?keynote address?at S&P Global’s CERAWeek, Wright –?the former CEO of Liberty Energy –?singled out natural gas as particularly versatile and beneficial, in his view, saying, “there is simply no physical way that wind, solar and batteries could replace the myriad uses of natural gas.” (UTILITYDIVE.COM)
Intelligence
U.S. agrees to resume military aid, intel sharing with Ukraine
The U.S. is?resuming security?and?intelligence aid?to Ukraine after talks between the two countries in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, ending a weeklong standoff that threatened to strengthen Russia’s battlefield position. In a joint statement published soon after the talks ended, the U.S. and Ukraine agreed to an “immediate, interim 30-day ceasefire,” which could be extended but first hinges on Russia’s acceptance. “The ball is now in their court,” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said of the Kremlin. (DEFENSENEWS.COM)
Policy
GSA reverses lease terminations for some GAO offices doing national security work
The General Services Administration walked back terminations of some privately-owned buildings leased to the Government Accountability Office where employees conduct oversight of sensitive national security programs, according to an email obtained by?Nextgov/FCW. The GAO’s Atlanta, Huntsville and Norfolk field offices have been removed from the termination list, reversing a move made last week that would have?canceled the leases?of those buildings later this year. GAO has been informed of the offices' removal from that list, an agency spokesperson told?Nextgov/FCW,?adding that the office remains committed to its mission of supporting Congress in carrying out its constitutional duties. (NEXTGOV.COM)?
Quantum
NIST selects HQC as fifth algorithm for post-quantum encryption
Last year, NIST?standardized a set of encryption algorithms?that can keep data secure from a cyberattack by a future quantum computer. Now, NIST has?selected a backup algorithm?that can provide a second line of defense for the task of general encryption, which safeguards internet traffic and stored data alike. Encryption protects sensitive electronic information, including internet traffic and medical and financial records, as well as corporate and national security secrets. But a sufficiently powerful quantum computer, if one is ever built, would be able to break that defense. NIST has been working for more than eight years on encryption algorithms that even a quantum computer cannot break. (NIST.GOV)
Resilience
Security operations centers are fundamental to cybersecurity — here’s how to build one
Finding the right balance of these SOC components is challenging for most organizations. The effectiveness of a SOC depends on several factors, including whether an organization invests in high-capex solutions requiring significant technology investments but lower personnel costs or opts for open-source solutions, which reduce upfront expenses but demand a larger, more skilled workforce to operate efficiently. (CSOONLINE.COM)
Space
Space Systems Command reviewing expensive legacy programs for possible commercial shift
The Space Force’s primary acquisition command is reviewing a number of its high-dollar legacy programs to consider whether there are now alternative commercial options for achieving the missions — starting with a new satellite constellation for keeping tabs on the heavens, according to a senior?Space Systems Command (SSC)?official. Maj. Gen. Stephen Purdy, military deputy at the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Space Acquisition and Integration, told the?Washington Space Business Roundtable?today that he signed off last week on an “acquisition decision memorandum (ADM)” instructing a team to undertake an analysis of commercial options for obtaining new space situational awareness capabilities to monitor geosynchronous orbit (GEO). (BREAKINGDEFENSE.COM)
Supply chain
UK government report calls for stronger open source supply chain security practices
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) report finds weaknesses in current practices and makes recommendations on how to improve things. The weaknesses include a lack of industry-specific practices (affecting both sector and company size), no consensus on managing OSS components, no formal process for judging OSS component trustworthiness, and the outsized influence of large tech companies on the OSS ecosphere. (SECURITYWEEK.COM)
Companies are drowning in high-risk software security debt — and the breach outlook is getting worse
According to application security vendor Veracode’s latest?State of Software Security report, the average fix time for security flaws has increased from 171 days to 252 days over the past five years. Moreover, half (50%) of organizations now carry high-risk security debt, defined as accumulated flaws left open for longer than a year. The majority of these flaws originate from third-party code and the software supply chain — an?ongoing source of considerable risk?despite increasing attention. (CSOONLINE.COM)
LEGISLATIVE UPDATES
House passes GOP funding bill, sending it to Senate before shutdown deadline
The House narrowly approved a stopgap measure Tuesday to keep the government funded through September, with Speaker Mike Johnson managing to largely keep his GOP conference united and pass the measure days ahead of a?possible government shutdown.?The House passed the bill in a 217 to 213 vote, with one Republican opposing it and one Democrat supporting it. Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky was the sole Republican "no" vote, while Rep. Jared Golden of Maine was the lone Democratic "yes." (CBSNEWS.COM)
SPACE: Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Ranking Member Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), and Sens. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), and Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) introduced the NASA Transition Authorization Act of 2025, which sets clear near-term priorities for National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) programs, advances American leadership in deep space exploration, prevents a gap in low Earth orbit leadership and capability, and upholds scientific ingenuity. The bipartisan bill also equips NASA with the support it needs to continue critical science and exploration missions that will lead to breakthrough discoveries across our solar system. (COMMERCE.SENATE.GOV)
HEARINGS
AVIATION: The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Subcommittee on Aviation, Space, and Innovation will hold a March 27 hearing to examine the National Transportation Safety Board preliminary report focusing on the DCA midair collision.
EVENTS
GOVERNANCE: On March 12, FDD’s Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation (CCTI) hosts a virtual conversation with former National Cyber Director?Chris Inglis?and?John Costello, senior advisor to CSC 2.0, an initiative housed at FDD to continue the work of the congressionally mandated Cyberspace Solarium Commission. The conversation is moderated by?RADM (Ret.) Mark Montgomery, senior director of CCTI and former executive director of the Cyberspace Solarium Commission.
AI@AU: Four artificial intelligence experts from industry and academia will offer deeper insight into the emerging technology and its best practices through a lecture series, presented by Auburn University’s AI@AU initiative. The “Spring 2025 AI@AU Forum” will be March 14, April 11 and April 25 (all Fridays at 10 a.m.) in Lowder Hall, Room 127, or can be viewed live via Zoom. Recorded lectures will also be available.
CYBER SUMMIT: The Billington State and Local CyberSecurity Summit will be held March 10-12 at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, D.C. On?Monday, March 10, Billington CyberSecurity will partner with StateRAMP in hosting the 2025 StateRAMP Symposium on Cybersecurity Framework Harmonization.?The State and Local CyberSecurity Summit’s programming and exhibit hall conversations take place on?Tuesday, March 11, and Wednesday, March 12.?
NUCLEAR: Registration for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s 37th annual Regulatory Information Conference is open. The RIC will be held March 11-13 in North Bethesda, Maryland, and online.
CYBER CHALLENGE: The Atlantic Council’s Cyber Statecraft Initiative, in partnership with?American University’s School of International Service and Washington College of Law, will hold the fourteenth annual?Cyber 9/12 Strategy Challenge?in Washington, DC?on?March 14-15. This event will be held in a hybrid format, meaning teams are welcome to attend either virtually via Zoom, or in-person at?American University’s Washington College of Law. The agenda and format will look very similar to past Cyber 9/12 Challenges, except that it will be held in a hybrid format. Plenary sessions will be livestreamed via Zoom.
DATA CENTERS: The AEI Center for Technology, Science, and Energy?Environmental and Energy Economics will hold the March 25 event “The Energy Demands of the Data-Driven Future: Challenges and Solutions” to draw on the expertise of practitioners from different sectors to dissect the issue posed by data centers’ energy usage.
AI FAILS: By some estimates, more than 80 percent of AI projects fail. That’s twice the rate of failure for IT projects that don't involve AI. RAND's James Ryseff talked to experienced data scientists and machine learning engineers to uncover five root causes that lead to AI failures—and what can be done to minimize these issues. He’ll discuss the findings in a March 26 webinar.?
DEFENSE TECH: On?March 27?the Atlantic Council’s?Forward?Defense?Program will publicly launch the final report of the?Commission on Software-Defined Warfare.?This new report presents a software-defined warfare approach, offering recommendations for the DoD to adopt modern software practices and seamlessly integrate them into existing platforms to enhance and strengthen defense strategies. Speakers will include former Defense Secretary Mark Esper and former Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Ellen Lord.?
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