Cybersecurity has been a hot topic in America over the past year. With more and more hacks going public, what role does the government play in creating regulation? Megan Stifel, Senior Fellow at Atlantic Council and former Cybersecurity Policy Adviser at the White House National Security Council joins Cheddar to discuss the relationship between Washington DC and cybersecurity.
In her experience, Stifel says the government's effort to create regulations hasn't gone according to plan. She believes it's better suited to act as a convener, not as the end-all-be-all of regulation. The government can require that standards exist within industries, but shouldn't be setting the specific standards themselves.
Plus, 240 bills and resolutions related to cybersecurity were introduced across 42 states in 2017. So will the states have a major influence on the government's regulation decisions? Stifel says it's likely we'll see federal data breach requirements coming out of the sitting congress in the next year or so. Overall though, she says there is a shortage in cybersecurity experts and more research needs to go into this sector.
The end of 2025 is almost upon us. And it’s time to unpack Spotify Wrapped. On Wednesday, the music streaming giant delivered its annual recap — giving its hundreds of millions of users worldwide a look at the top songs, artists, podcasts and other audio they listened to over the past year. Spotify isn’t the only platform to roll out a yearly glimpse of data collected from consumers’ online lives. But since its launch about a decade ago, Wrapped has become one of the most anticipated. And Spotify is billing the 2025 edition to be the biggest yet, with a host of new features it hopes may also address some disappointments users had last year.
Elon Musk’s X unveiled a feature that lets users see where an account is based. Online sleuths and experts quickly found that many popular accounts, often posting in support of the U.S. MAGA movement with thousands or hundreds of thousands of followers, are based outside the U.S. This raises concerns about foreign influence in U.S. politics.
The Enhanced Games is going public in two ways — with a new listing on the Nadsaq stock exchange and also by offering a direct-to-consumer business focused on performance products.
Real estate software company RealPage has agreed to stop sharing nonpublic information between landlords as part of a settlement with the Department of Justice.
2025’s top Black Friday tech deals from smart speakers to wearables. Tom’s Guide editor Kate Kozuch shares expert picks and tips for smart holiday shopping.