Today’s Headlines and Commentary

REvil, a Russian-language hacking group behind the ransomware attack on Kaseya, is demanding $70 million in bitcoin to unlock affected computers, according to the Washington Post. Kaseya, a Miami-based firm, produces computing tools for businesses. The company’s CEO, Fred Voccola, estimates that “fewer than 1,500 downstream businesses” had been affected by the attack. REvil had previously launched a ransomware attack on JBS USA Holdings, an American food processing company.

The Department of Defense will no longer pursue a cloud-computing contract called the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, reports the New York Times. The contract was at the center of a legal battle amid claims of interference by the Trump administration. In January, the Pentagon threatened to abandon the contract if a federal judge were to consider the claims that President Trump interfered in the process that awarded the $10 billion contract to Microsoft over Amazon, saying the litigation would lead to untenable delays. The department now says the contract “no longer meets its needs.”

The United States Capitol Police announced plans to expand operations beyond Washington, reports the New York Times. Beginning with offices in California and Florida, the department will use regional field offices to monitor threats against lawmakers across the country. The announcement comes as the Capitol Police presented steps the agency has taken since the Jan. 6 attack on the capitol.

Hong Kong authorities have detained nine individuals under the national security law enacted last year, reports the BBC. The arrests come shortly after the chief executive of Hong Kong, Carrie Lam, warned against the diffusion of “illegal ideas” in the city’s education system. The nine arrested, six of whom are high school students, are accused of renting a hotel room to make bombs and planning an attack on public facilities throughout the city.

The Taliban could present a peace proposal to the Afghan government as soon as next month, according to Reuters. Amid the exit of U.S. and NATO troops from the country and the Taliban’s territorial gains, stalled talks between the Afghan government and the Islamist militants resumed last week, with a Taliban spokesman commenting that the group is “very serious about talks and dialogue.” The talks, taking place in Doha, will provide an opportunity for both sides of the negotiation to share written peace plans.

The Belarus Supreme Court sentenced former Belarusian presidential hopeful Viktor Babariko to 14 years in prison for taking a bribe and money laundering, according to the Washington Post. Babariko, the head of a bank owned by Russian natural gas company Gazprom, had planned to challenge authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko, but he was arrested before the August 2020 election and barred from registering as a candidate. He has dismissed the charges as politically motivated and insisted on his innocence throughout the trial. The decision comes as Belarus authorities are cracking down on dissidents in the nation, sparking sanctions from the United States and European Union.

A plane carrying 28 passengers crashed in far eastern Russia, according to the New York Times. Russian news agencies report that there are not believed to be any survivors. The aircraft, a Soviet-made An-26, had been in use since 1982. The crash was Russia’s third major commercial airline disaster in three and a half years, following fatal incidents in 2018 and 2019 which killed 112 people altogether.

ICYMI: This Weekend on Lawfare

Nicholas Weaver explained REvil’s ransomware attack on Kaseya VSA.

Matt Tait discussed the significance of the ransomware attack on Kaseya as a herald of emergent cybersecurity threats to supply chains.

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