The FBI, Secret Service and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency should fortify their collaboration to fight the rising incidents of ransomware attacks on public and government institutions, the Government Accountability Office has instructed.

In a study published Wednesday, the GAO cited gaps in processes for assisting state, local, tribal, and territorial government organizations vulnerable to ransomware that put operations and services at greater risk.

Based on data from the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center, SLTTs reported approximately 2,800 ransomware attacks from Jan. 2017 to March 2021, the federal watchdog noted. It emphasized the importance of addressing such crimes in the government’s commitment to cybersecurity resilience.

To improve cyber ransom prevention and response, GAO recommended that FBI, CISA and the Secret Service bolster interagency coordination, and review the challenges identified by SLTTs in accessing federal assistance.

GAO also suggested the establishment of a coordinating council involving the Department of Education, K-12 schools, CISA and other concerned federal agencies. The recommendation is in light of research data showing that between 2018 and 2021, more than 1 million children were estimated to have been affected by cyber ransom threats, and took an average of two to nine months to recover from the incidents.

FBI Director Christopher Wray said the Chinese government could potentially exploit social media platform TikTok to gain control over the collection of users’ information, The Record reported Tuesday.

“We do have national security concerns from the FBI’s end about TikTok,” Wray said in response to a question by Rep. Diana Harshbarger, R-Tenn., during a House Homeland Security Committee hearing on global threats Tuesday.

“They include the possibility that the Chinese government could use it to control data collection on millions of users or control the recommendation algorithm, which could be used for influence operations if they so choose, or to control software on millions of devices which gives the opportunity to potentially technically compromise personal devices,” he added.

The Department of the Treasury’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. is conducting a review of TikTok over national security issues as the video app negotiates to continue its operations in the U.S. Wray said the bureau’s foreign investment unit is collaborating with CFIUS on the review.

Alejandro Mayorkas, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security and a previous Wash100 awardee, and National Counterterrorism Center Director Christine Abizaid joined Wray during the hearing. Mayorkas fielded questions from lawmakers over cybersecurity.

A team of researchers led by Sandia National Laboratories found various vulnerabilities in electric vehicle charging that could be exploited by hackers and other cyber threats.

Sandia said Tuesday that it collaborated with national laboratories including Argonne, Idaho, Pacific Northwest and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory to conduct the four-year survey.

Security flaws in EV charging ranged from simple credit card hacking during payments to possible interference in grid operations, according to the survey. It showed that not all EV chargers are equipped with firewalls to protect users’ private information and reflected that some of them were easy to corrupt with malicious firmware updates.

To address the weaknesses, the team published recommended solutions such as employing plug-and-charge public key infrastructure to enhance EV owner authentication. They also created a best practices document and started developing a platform that uses cyber-physical data to shield EV charging infrastructure from attacks.

“By conducting this survey … we can prioritize recommendations to policymakers and notify them of what security improvements are needed by the industry,” said Jay Johnson, electrical engineer at Sandia and one of the study’s researchers. He stated that organization hopes the review encourages states to tighten their implementation of physical and virtual security strategies, and “help the federal government standardize best practices and mandate minimum security levels for electric vehicle chargers in the future.”

The Biden administration has concluded a nationwide cybersecurity apprenticeship sprint that resulted in the hiring of more than 7,000 apprentices and the creation of new programs and cybersecurity-related positions by participating partners.

Program sponsors, including CompTIA and IBM, and federal agencies have added 120 cybersecurity-related jobs to pre-existing and new Registered Apprenticeship programs, the White House said Tuesday.

CompTIA has created 5 cybersecurity-focused occupations for a new career pathway program, dubbed CompTIA Apprenticeships for Tech while IBM has expanded its existing Apprenticeship Program with the addition of 30 new roles in areas such as data science, design and cybersecurity.

Cisco has become a new national Registered Apprenticeship sponsor and will use its Networking Academy program to connect work-ready apprentices with public and private businesses looking to hire for key technology positions.

The 120-day apprenticeship sprint was initiated in July by the Biden administration and its collaborators with the aim of strengthening the nation’s cybersecurity workforce.