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Confused about which VPN is right, US senator asks the NSA for guidance
Senator Ron Wyden asked the NSA to update public guidance on VPN configurations, questioning single-hop designs and services like Tor.
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) sent a letter Wednesday to NSA director Gen. Joshua Rudd requesting updated public guidance on VPN best practices for Americans facing advanced foreign threats, including government personnel, contractors, and journalists. The letter highlights limitations such as decrypted traffic at single-hop termination servers, metadata like timestamps enabling nation-state profiling, and asks the NSA to assess multi-hop architectures, random delays, cryptographic padding, and specific services including Apple Private Relay, Nym, and Tor.
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Wyden seeks upgraded NSA security guidance on commercial VPN use
Senator Ron Wyden asked the NSA to update public guidance on commercial VPN security risks and answer questions about foreign surveillance threats against single-hop VPNs.
Sen. Ron Wyden sent a letter to NSA Director Gen. Joshua Rudd urging the agency to revise public guidance on commercial VPNs, following earlier letters to federal agencies in March and July. He argues single-hop VPNs offer little protection against sophisticated adversaries able to compel or compromise the single provider, citing a Congressional Research Service paper favoring multi-hop and mixnet architectures. The letter references a September NSA advisory on a China-sponsored campaign against telecom, government and military networks and asks unclassified questions about multi-hop systems such as Apple Private Relay, Tor and Nym versus mixnets.
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A Secretive DHS ‘Predictive Policing’ Unit is Analyzing Americans’ Financial Habits and Pulling Them Over
404 Media reveals DHS Border Patrol's secretive Predictive Intelligence Targeting Teams (PITT) analyzing Americans' financial activity and feeding intelligence to local police for traffic stops.
404 Media identified Predictive Intelligence Targeting Teams (PITT) in the Spokane Sector (Washington) and Laredo Sector (Texas), which review law enforcement-sensitive databases including Americans' financial activity and pass intelligence to local police. In one case, a PITT analyst flagged financial patterns associated with narcotics activity, leading Montana Highway Patrol to stop a driver for an obstructed license plate and charge him with DUI and possession with intent to distribute. CBP declined to say what financial data is monitored or whether warrants are obtained; the program extends AP's earlier reporting on ALPR-based predictive policing.
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Trump Targets Foreign Technology in New U.S. Power Grid Security Order
Trump's Executive Order 14420 declares a national emergency to restrict foreign-made bulk-power grid equipment over cyber, sabotage and supply-chain risks.
Executive Order 14420, signed August 26, declares a national emergency regarding the foreign supply of bulk-power system electric equipment to the United States. It empowers the Energy Secretary to restrict transactions with designated Covered Foreign Entities involving equipment, software, firmware, digital services, maintenance services, and remote-access capabilities. Covered equipment includes transformers, generators, inverters, RTUs, PLCs, intelligent electronic devices, and protective relays, with transmission rated 69 kV or higher in scope while local distribution is excluded. Already-installed foreign equipment may be subject to identification, isolation, monitoring, or replacement requirements, with phased compliance and pre-qualified vendor exemptions permitted.
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