Issue 2
December 6, 2023
1 Florida Water Management District Hacked
2 IBM unveils quantum supercomputer
3 Gaza conflict previews future of information warfare
4 Pentagon fails sixth audit in a row
5 US jobs market cooling
1865: 13th Amendment abolishing slavery ratified
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1 Florida Water Management District Hacked
A Florida water management district has confirmed it detected “suspicious activity” in its IT environment last week, adding that successful containment measures have been carried out. While the St. Johns River Water Management District does not have direct control over water utility technology, it does oversee long-term drinking water supplies in the state and works closely with utilities on water supply issues. A ransomware gang reported Friday that it had attacked the district agency, and posted samples of what it described as stolen information. A spokesperson for the district said the agency is monitoring IT systems “to ensure there is no ongoing, malicious persistence.” The reported intrusion comes on the heels of cyberattacks against water systems in Pennsylvania and Texas. On Friday, CISA, the FBI, NSA, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Israel National Cyber Directorate (INCD) released an advisory warning that a hacking group known as CyberAv3ngers is connected to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and is “actively targeting and compromising Israeli-made Unitronics Vision Series programmable logic controllers (PLCs).” The Record
2 IBM unveils quantum supercomputer
Unlike classical computers that rely on bits, which can represent either 0 or 1, quantum computers utilize qubits that can exist in a superposition of both 0 and 1 simultaneously. This unique property allows quantum computers to perform computations exponentially faster than classical computers for specific problems. Quantum computing can be used to solve mathematical problems too complex for classical computing, such as creating new chemical combinations in materials engineering or pharmaceuticals. Quantum key distribution and quantum cryptography can be used in cybersecurity. (TechRepublic, Forbes)
3 Gaza conflict previews future of information warfare
The Israel-Hamas war began in the early hours of Saturday, October 7, when Hamas militants and their affiliates stole over the Gazan-Israeli border by tunnel, truck, and hang glider, killed 1,200 people, and abducted over 200 more. Within minutes, graphic imagery and bombastic propaganda began to flood social media platforms. Each shocking video or post from the ground drew new pairs of eyes, sparked horrified reactions around the world, and created demand for more. A second front in the war had been opened online, transforming physical battles covering a few square miles into a globe-spanning information conflict.
In the days that followed, Israel launched its own bloody retaliation against Hamas; its bombardment of cities in the Gaza Strip killed more than 10,000 Palestinians in the first month. With a ground invasion in late October, Israeli forces began to take control of Gazan territory. The virtual battle lines, meanwhile, only became more firmly entrenched. Digital partisans clashed across Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok, YouTube, Telegram, and other social media platforms, each side battling to be the only one heard and believed, unshakably committed to the righteousness of its own cause. (Foreign Affairs)
4 Pentagon fails sixth audit in a row
According to the Government Accountability Office, “auditors were unable to obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a basis for an audit opinion.”
the Pentagon keeps failing audits is because it can’t keep track of its property. Last year, the Pentagon couldn’t properly account for a whopping 61% of its $3.5 trillion in assets. That figure increased this year, with the department insufficiently documenting 63% of its now $3.8 trillion in assets. Military contractors possess many of these assets, but to an extent unbeknownst to the Pentagon.
The GAO has flagged this issue for the department since at least 1981. (Responsible Statecraft)
5 US jobs market cooling
The U.S. labor market is rebalancing from pandemic-era extremes with minimal pain for workers, while inflation edges closer to the Fed's 2% target. Employer demand for new workers is easing, even as firms still, for the most part, retain existing staff.
The number of job vacancies plunged in October. That drop in job openings has not been accompanied by widespread layoffs — an outcome few traditional economic models would predict. In October, for instance, layoffs changed little from the prior month. The number of job openings fell by 617,000, while the number of people employers hired was little changed — and layoffs remained low. In October, there were 8.7 million job openings — the lowest since March 2021 and far below the peak of 12 million in March 2022. That means there were about 1.3 open jobs for each unemployed worker, compared to the 1.2 open jobs before the pandemic. (Axios)
This day in history
1865: 13th Amendment abolishing slavery ratified
