Jamie MacColl

We have extended the deadline to submit abstracts for a book of papers on offensive cyber operations. We’re particularly keen for more submissions from the private sector so if you’re sitting on research and want to write a paper rather than give a conference presentation format then submit it here!

Jaguar Land Rover: Some suppliers 'face bankruptcy' due to hack crisis The government has been urged to

It's gonna be interesting to see how this one plays out. There's louder calls coming in to the UK gov to bail out JLR's supplies, as they've started laying off staff after JLR's ransomware/extortion incident.

But JLR made £2.5bn in profit last year.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

UK Cyber Effects Network Launches RUSI and the National Cyber Force are launching a new initiative to develop a UK community of interest on offensive cyber and other cyber effects operations.

🚨We're excited to launch a new initiative to build a UK community focused on offensive cyber operations. The goal is to generate new ideas and develop the next generation of experts in this field. Learn more, including how to get involved, below.

A Crossroads for UK Cyber Strategy UK cyber strategy is struggling to achieve its resilience objectives – the next iteration of the National Cyber Strategy needs to set out a compelling vision for change.

Good piece by @jamiemaccoll.bsky.social of @rusi.bsky.social on the UK’s cyber security challenges

www.rusi.org/explore-our-...

It’s not just the public sector, it’s also privately operated CNI.

Businesses banned from paying hackers’ ransoms to target cybercrime New laws mark some of the strictest in the world to target hackers, requiring the private sector to seek government permission before paying cybercriminals

"I can’t see most cybercriminals taking a limited UK payment ban into account for their operating models. It would probably take a full payment ban to make the criminals sit up and take notice" notes RUSI's @jamiemaccoll.bsky.social to @thetimes.com.
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UK moves forward with plans for mandatory reporting of ransomware attacks Britain's Home Office wants public feedback on several anti-ransomware proposals, including a requirement for all victims to report attacks to law enforcement.

The British government’s proposals to overhaul its ransomware strategy reached a minor milestone on Tuesday as the Home Office published its formal response to a consultation on amending the law, but questions remain regarding how effective the measures will be...

I’m finding this to be very true in public policy in the UK. Cyber security isn’t the shiny new toy anymore.

Thank you, CIA DA, for yet a seventh (?) analytic review of the 2017 ICA on Russian interference that agrees with its conclusions and endorses the sources on which it was based.

www.cia.gov/static/Trade...

It’s time to move the ransomware conversation past big game hunting Presenting ransomware as targeted instead of opportunistic leaves organisations that may not consider themselves prime targets at risk.

In their latest for Binding Hook, the @nca-uk.bsky.social’s William Lyne and @rusi.bsky.social’s @jamiemaccoll.bsky.social discuss the problems with media and cyber industry descriptions of #ransomware groups’ #biggamehunting: bindinghook.com/articles-bin...

The event will be followed by a drinks reception — we’re bringing Monday drinking back!

How Teenage Hackers Hijack the Internet The BBC’s Cyber Correspondent, Joe Tidy, and a panel of experts discuss the rise of teenage hackers and the consequences for society.

On 7 July, 1700-1830 I’ll be moderating a discussion about @joetidy.bsky.social’s new book “Ctrl+Alt+Chaos” at RUSI. We’ll be discussing why teenage hackers have become so dangerous what we can do about the problem. Joe will also be selling and signing books: my.rusi.org/events/how-t...

Where is this from?

Cyber and the Strategic Defence Review: All Pervasive But Light on Details The SDR outlines a series of sensible steps to improve the coherence of defence in the cyber domain. But it leaves a lot of details to be developed in implementation, particularly about how the UK sho...

The SDR outlines sensible steps to improve defence in the cyber domain. But it leaves details to be developed, particularly about how the UK should operate in cyberspace, writes @joedevanny.bsky.social.

I would argue that this chaos is what made the charts so much fun: trash cheek by jowl with treasure. Contrast the slow-moving homogeneity of the current Top 40. It's not that it was always good — it's that it was always interesting.

Very good

The private sector often maligns the public sector as bloated and wasteful. Is it? He describes colleagues and prison officers on the frontline as working “incredibly hard”. "In business, there is one point: to make money... Prisons, we've got to punish people, protect the public, and we've got to make sure when they leave, they don't come back... It's more complex.”

An observation by James Timpson on the fundamental difference between private business and public services. Timpson is the model of businessperson in Government we should be focused on, not Musk.

Whats in the news atm currently focused on SF and the triples. However, 4 years later, my interpreter and his family are still stuck in hiding in Afghanistan. Home Office do not care about his plight - I've seen the emails - and HMG couldn't care less.

a man wearing glasses and a turtleneck is holding something in his hand . ALT: a man wearing glasses and a turtleneck is holding something in his hand .

And yet the conclusion of many involved seems to be ‘regulation isn’t the answer’

This reminds me of my favourite Chatham House rule story 🧵

Way back in the pre-crash boom period, Gordon Brown as Chancellor hosted one of his big global investment conferences at the QEII in London.

Muggins here, a junior Treasury official, had a cheap seat as one of the organisers…1/

Gareth Mott of @rusi.bsky.social highlights just how impactful the Legal Aid Agency breach could be, especially for victims of domestic violence. These crimes have a real world impact on some of the most vulnerable, and that's far too easy to forget.

Full story here: therecord.media/uk-legal-aid...

Cyber Insurance and the Ransomware Challenge A study examining the role of cyber insurance in addressing the threats posed by ransomware.

The news that M&S is likely to use all of its £100 million of cyber insurance coverage underscores the challenges ransomware poses to both organisations and the insurance industry. Revisit our study that contributes to this discussion by examining the role of insurance in combating ransomware.

We are excited to launch a new program in the Netherlands. The goal is to give students hands-on experience in cybersecurity, with courses like malware reverse engineering, digital forensics, and ransomware economics.

No wonder it all feels abstract to the general public and politicians

It’s such a failure of the security industry that I’ve spent the last few days trying to have serious conversations with journalists and non-experts about ransomware and we have to refer to a network of destructive criminals as ‘scattered spider’ — totally undermines the gravity of the situation

As another wave of ransomware attacks hits prominent UK organisations, I am again returning to @alexmartin.bsky.social's piece from last summer about why ransomware/cyber security doesn't cut through politically. I think @tcstvns.bsky.social nailed it on the head therecord.media/uk-election-...

Patients left in the dark months after cybercriminals leak testing lab data It's been almost a year since the Qilin cybercrime group breached sensitive data from U.K. pathology services company Synnovis, and its patient information page is still short on details about what wa...

Eleven months on from the ransomware attack against Synnovis, the company has still not informed patients about the sensitive medical data that the cybercriminals published online.

All these retail cyber attacks - or actions to prevent cyber attacks - are being pegged to Scattered Spider also known as Starfraud, UNC3944, Scatter Swine, and (my personal favourite nickname) Muddled Libra. But does anyone have any solid evidence for this? Please get in touch!

New UN report on pig butchering / crypto scamming is a comprehensive and very sad look at this multibillion dollar business. Includes analysis of human trafficking enabling these crimes, work with global organized crime, and how this threat is expanding from SE Asia.

www.unodc.org/roseap/uploa...