EuroWire May 2018

Transatlantic cable

hacks and cyberattacks are not going to give up. David Emm, principal security researcher at Kaspersky Lab, further observed to ZDNet : “Cybercriminals won’t be worrying about Brexit.” Kaspersky Lab is one of many cybersecurity firms involved with Europol’s No More Ransom initiative, which looks to help halt the spread of ransomware with multilateral cooperation and free decryption tools. It is headquartered in Russia and operated by a holding company in the United Kingdom.

government’s ability to coordinate an effective response among several private utilities, state and local officials, and industry regulators.” The DHS disclosures prompted mounting calls from USA lawmakers to step up protection of the nation’s electric grid. † Last year, Senator Maria Cantwell from Washington state, the top minority member of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, pushed for a cyberthreat assessment of the grid to better defend the infrastructure against potential attacks. This year, in a 15 th March email to Bloomberg , Ms Cantwell wrote: “I hope today’s belated response is the first step in a robust and aggressive strategy to protect our critical infrastructure.”

Automotive

A test of eight electric vehicles in German winter weather conditions yields strikingly different performance results The outcome of a test set up by Hamburg-based Auto Bild indicates wide variances in the efficiency of electric vehicles (EVs) in cold weather. The site chosen by the auto magazine for evaluating eight EVs was a forested area around Delmenhorst, in Lower Saxony. The drivers were to cover 88 miles in mixed city and highway conditions at speeds up to 80 miles per hour. Mark Stevenson of Green Car Reports laid out the particulars. The test vehicles were all rated for at least 100 miles on a single charge. All were given a full charge; had their cabins pre-heated; and were kept at 21ºC (70ºF). Seat heaters, if available, could be used for up to 20 minutes. The cars would be driven in Normal mode, with low beams on. Mr Stevenson also put the test in human terms: “It’s 41ºF outside. Your electric car, rated for 100 miles, has been charging all night in the cold. Ahead of you lies an 80-mile drive.” (“German Magazine Compares Real-World Electric-Car Ranges, Efficiencies in ColdWeather,” 9 th January) Mr Stevenson’s hypothetical driver was likely to suffer some disappointment. Of the eight-car lineup, three did not complete the course. Those that stayed the course performed unevenly. Pedro Lima, proprietor of the website pushevs.com, commented: “Results were not surprising, nevertheless they were interesting.” Those interested in identifying the test vehicles and comparing their performances may visit pushevs.com and access the article “Auto Bild Tested the Range of 8 Electric Cars,” (9 th December 2017). In the meantime, Mr Lima offered a pertinent comment: “[Something] that became apparent was the importance of a heat pump in cold weather.” “At the Geneva auto-show media days, starting with events in the evening of 5 th March and continuing through the next two days, the messages about the future of diesel were decidedly mixed.” John Voelcker, the editor of Green Car Reports , went on to note the unexpectedly upbeat assertion by CEO Matthias Müller of Volkswagen AG that diesel engines are due for a renaissance in the not-too-distant future. This, despite the fact that the Volkswagen diesel-emissions scandal that broke in September 2015 exposed the German company to civil and criminal penalties and cost it $25 billion or more in buyback costs in the USA alone. “Once the knowledge that diesels are eco-friendly firms up in people’s minds,”Mr Müller told reporters on the eve of the Geneva International Motor Show 2018, “then for me there’s no reason not to buy one.” The confident VW chief envisions a new cohort of car buyers coming to the realisation that diesels provide a “very comfortable” way to drive long distances. Meanwhile, these prospective diesel buyers are bombarded Whither diesel-engine cars? The CEO of a newly energised Volkswagen Group sees ‘no reason not to buy one’

Cybersecurity and Brexit

What protections will still be available to British companies when the UK and the EU come to a parting of the ways?

“Brexit means Brexit, according to [Prime Minister Theresa May], but with little more than a year until 29 th March, 2019 – the date the UK is due to depart the European Union – there are still many questions to be answered for cybersecurity professionals.” Recently Danny Palmer, a London-based senior reporter at ZDNet , a site for information technology (IT) professionals, considered some of the challenges that lie ahead in the fight against cybercrime. (“Cybersecurity and Brexit: What Does It Mean for the Fight Against Hackers?,” 8 th March) Mr Palmer confirmed that the upcoming General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will still apply to the UK after Brexit. But, that certainty aside, the cybersecurity industry and the wider technology sector in Britain have many concerns, notably the probability of an exodus of skilled tech workers. Also looming is the issue of what happens if Brexit means the UK is no longer part of Europol, the EU law enforcement agency that fosters cooperation among agencies across Europe in the fight against crime. The UK currently leads Europol’s cybercrime initiatives. The agency’s outgoing chief, Rob Wainwright, told ZDNet that he is “positive” about the prospects of the UK and EU reaching “significant agreement” on security. But, in an interview with the BBC, Mr Wainright acknowledged that the UK’s influence post-Brexit is likely to be “less direct, less pronounced and probably less successful than [it is] now.” Even so, he perceives what he termed “a common understanding” about the seriousness of current threats in Europe, especially in relation to terrorism and cybercrime, and of the need for the closest possible cooperation between all European countries as the best means by which to counter these threats. This view was seconded by a spokesperson for the Department for Exiting the European Union, who told ZDNet : “[The UK has] always led from the front when it comes to the security of Europe, and we want this cooperation to continue after we leave the EU.” † For now, wrote Mr Palmer, it’s business as usual for the authorities, currently operating under the same regulations and conventions as always. “We’ve not seen any particular impact on operations, but it’s too early to say if Brexit is going to make a big impact or not,” said Paul Edmunds, head of technology at the National Crime Agency’s National Cyber Crime Unit (NCCU), speaking at the recent TEISS 2018 security conference in London. † Irrespective of what agreements the UK and the EU come to over Brexit, and how these may affect working relationships around cybersecurity, Mr Palmer noted that those plotting

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May 2018