U.S. cyber chief warns tech companies to curb unsafe practices

The director of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), Jen Easterly, issued a dire warning Monday, urging tech companies such as Microsoft and Twitter to curb their use of poorly designed software and unsafe practices that facilitate ransomware attacks. 

The attacks threaten to undermine U.S. critical infrastructure, including energy and water supply, oil and gas production, food manufacturing, hospitals and schools. 

Easterly called the current threat of cyber intrusions "far more dangerous" than the Chinese surveillance balloon that attracted so much attention earlier this month.