Category: national security

US slashes federal interest rates in response to the coronavirus pandemic

The Trump administration has slashed federal interest rates as part of an effort to stabilize the economy following a rocky week on the financial markets. The U.S. Federal Reserve cut interest rates to near-zero, the second time that the central bank has cut interest rates in as many weeks. The…

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Senate bill seeks to ban Chinese app TikTok from government work phones

On Thursday, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) and Rick Scott (R-FL) introduced legislation to further restrict the use of the popular viral video app TikTok on government devices. The bill seeks to expand existing federal guidance prohibiting use of TikTok to encompass any U.S. government-issued device. The legislation is the most…

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Secret document says WikiLeaks cable leaks disrupted tracking of nation-state hackers

A previously secret document from 2010 warned that classified diplomatic cables published by WikiLeaks would likely result in “observable changes” in the tactics and techniques used by foreign spies, potentially making it easier to avoid detection by U.S. agencies. The document, recently declassified through a Freedom of Information request by…

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A US House candidate says she was hacked — now she’s warning others

“I cannot think of a reason not to share this with the public,” Brianna Wu tweeted. “Two of my non-campaign Google accounts were compromised by someone in Russia,” she said. Wu isn’t just any other target. As a Democratic candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in Massachusetts’ 8th District,…

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ACLU says it’ll fight DHS efforts to use app locations for deportations

The American Civil Liberties Union plans to fight newly revealed practices by the Department of Homeland Security which used commercially available cell phone location data to track suspected illegal immigrants. “DHS should not be accessing our location information without a warrant, regardless whether they obtain it by paying or for…

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