Questões de Língua Inglesa da CESPE / CEBRASPE

As American federal authorities and cybersecurity experts rush to identify the full scope of the SolarWinds compromise, the list of known targets grows. The fallout from the cyberattack on the Texas-based software company appears to be vast, with a slew of powerful U.S. government agencies and businesses seemingly being infected by hackers who are believed to be affiliated with Russia.

SolarWinds says it has identified 18,000 customers potentially affected by the incident, which saw the culprits hijack software updates for a widely-used IT monitoring tool called "Orion" to spread malware, seemingly with the intention of espionage. The consequences of the brazen cyber-assault, which was first discovered by security firm FireEye after it too was infiltrated by the same group, are yet to be understood. But experts fear the hackers' access could be exploited to steal sensitive information or destroy and falsify government data, and warn it could take years to fix.

While the full list of victims is unclear — and expanding almost daily — Microsoft said its teams had identified more than 40 of its customers the attackers had aimed at "more precisely and compromised through additional and sophisticated measures."

It now seems likely the scope of the victims could be broad. Microsoft said the initial list included security, technology and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) alongside the government targets. It said 80 percent of attacks that it logged were U.S. based. "This is not 'espionage as usual,' even in the digital age. Instead, it represents an act of recklessness that created a serious technological vulnerability for the United States and the world," Brad Smith, president of the U.S. tech giant, wrote on Thursday.

"The attack unfortunately represents a broad and successful espionage-based assault on both the confidential information of the U.S. government and the tech tools used by firms to protect them. The attack is ongoing," the executive continued. Analysis is ongoing to determine which companies were impacted by the hack, as just because an entity used Orion is not evidence that it was actively compromised.

 Internet: <www.newsweek.com> (adapted).

As American federal authorities and cybersecurity experts rush to identify the full scope of the SolarWinds compromise, the list of known targets grows. The fallout from the cyberattack on the Texas-based software company appears to be vast, with a slew of powerful U.S. government agencies and businesses seemingly being infected by hackers who are believed to be affiliated with Russia.

SolarWinds says it has identified 18,000 customers potentially affected by the incident, which saw the culprits hijack software updates for a widely-used IT monitoring tool called "Orion" to spread malware, seemingly with the intention of espionage. The consequences of the brazen cyber-assault, which was first discovered by security firm FireEye after it too was infiltrated by the same group, are yet to be understood. But experts fear the hackers' access could be exploited to steal sensitive information or destroy and falsify government data, and warn it could take years to fix.

While the full list of victims is unclear — and expanding almost daily — Microsoft said its teams had identified more than 40 of its customers the attackers had aimed at "more precisely and compromised through additional and sophisticated measures."

It now seems likely the scope of the victims could be broad. Microsoft said the initial list included security, technology and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) alongside the government targets. It said 80 percent of attacks that it logged were U.S. based. "This is not 'espionage as usual,' even in the digital age. Instead, it represents an act of recklessness that created a serious technological vulnerability for the United States and the world," Brad Smith, president of the U.S. tech giant, wrote on Thursday.

"The attack unfortunately represents a broad and successful espionage-based assault on both the confidential information of the U.S. government and the tech tools used by firms to protect them. The attack is ongoing," the executive continued. Analysis is ongoing to determine which companies were impacted by the hack, as just because an entity used Orion is not evidence that it was actively compromised.

 Internet: <www.newsweek.com> (adapted).

    A deep freeze this week in the Lone Star state, which relies on electricity to heat many homes, is causing power demand to skyrocket. At the same time, natural gas, coal, wind and nuclear facilities in Texas have been knocked offline by the unthinkably low temperatures.

    “The extreme cold is causing the entire system to freeze up,” said Jason Bordoff, director of Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy. “All sources of energy are underperforming in the extreme cold because they’re not designed to handle these unusual conditions.”

     The ripple effects are being felt around the nation as Texas’ prolific oil-and-gas industry stumbles.

     It’s striking that these power outages are happening in a state with abundant energy resources. Texas produces more electricity than any other US state — generating almost twice as much as Florida, the next-closest, according to federal statistics.

     Wind power is also booming in Texas, which produced about 28% of all the US wind-powered electricity in 2019, the EIA said. But the problem is that not only is Texas an energy superpower, it tends to be an above-average temperature state. That means its infrastructure is ill-prepared for the cold spell currently wreaking havoc. And the consequences are being felt by millions.

     Critics of renewable energy have pointed out that wind turbines have frozen or needed to be shut down due to the extreme weather.

     Even though other places with colder weather (like Iowa and Denmark) rely on wind for even larger shares of power, experts said the turbines in Texas were not winterized for the unexpected freeze.

     But this is not just about wind turbines going down. Natural gas and coal-fired power plants need water to stay online. Yet those water facilities froze in the cold temperatures and others lost access to the electricity they require to operate.

     It’s too early to definitively say what went wrong in Texas and how to prevent similar outages. More information will need to be released by state authorities. Still, some experts say the criticism of wind power appears overdone already. “In terms of the blame game, the focus on wind is a red herring. It’s more of a political issue than what is causing the power problems on the grid,” said Dan Cohan, associate professor of environmental engineering at Rice University.

     The energy crisis in Texas raises also questions about the nature of the state’s deregulated and decentralized electric grid. Unlike other states, Texas has made a conscious decision to isolate its grid from the rest of the country.

     That means that when things are running smoothly, Texas can’t export excess power to neighboring states. And in the current crisis, it can’t import power either.

Internet: <www.cnn.com>  (adapted).

    A deep freeze this week in the Lone Star state, which relies on electricity to heat many homes, is causing power demand to skyrocket. At the same time, natural gas, coal, wind and nuclear facilities in Texas have been knocked offline by the unthinkably low temperatures.

    “The extreme cold is causing the entire system to freeze up,” said Jason Bordoff, director of Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy. “All sources of energy are underperforming in the extreme cold because they’re not designed to handle these unusual conditions.”

     The ripple effects are being felt around the nation as Texas’ prolific oil-and-gas industry stumbles.

     It’s striking that these power outages are happening in a state with abundant energy resources. Texas produces more electricity than any other US state — generating almost twice as much as Florida, the next-closest, according to federal statistics.

     Wind power is also booming in Texas, which produced about 28% of all the US wind-powered electricity in 2019, the EIA said. But the problem is that not only is Texas an energy superpower, it tends to be an above-average temperature state. That means its infrastructure is ill-prepared for the cold spell currently wreaking havoc. And the consequences are being felt by millions.

     Critics of renewable energy have pointed out that wind turbines have frozen or needed to be shut down due to the extreme weather.

     Even though other places with colder weather (like Iowa and Denmark) rely on wind for even larger shares of power, experts said the turbines in Texas were not winterized for the unexpected freeze.

     But this is not just about wind turbines going down. Natural gas and coal-fired power plants need water to stay online. Yet those water facilities froze in the cold temperatures and others lost access to the electricity they require to operate.

     It’s too early to definitively say what went wrong in Texas and how to prevent similar outages. More information will need to be released by state authorities. Still, some experts say the criticism of wind power appears overdone already. “In terms of the blame game, the focus on wind is a red herring. It’s more of a political issue than what is causing the power problems on the grid,” said Dan Cohan, associate professor of environmental engineering at Rice University.

     The energy crisis in Texas raises also questions about the nature of the state’s deregulated and decentralized electric grid. Unlike other states, Texas has made a conscious decision to isolate its grid from the rest of the country.

     That means that when things are running smoothly, Texas can’t export excess power to neighboring states. And in the current crisis, it can’t import power either.

Internet: <www.cnn.com>  (adapted).