Cybersecurity and Cyberwarfare

President Donald Trump issued a new order authorizing additional sanctions against countries or individuals for interfering in upcoming US elections, but lawmakers of both parties immediately said the effort does not go far enough. The order would allow President Trump to sanction foreigners who interfere in the midterm elections to be held in less than two months.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai provided details to Congress on the commission’s effort to overhaul its much-maligned online commenting system. “The Commission is moving forward with the procurement steps for this project,” Chairman Pai wrote in an Aug. 31 letter responding to lawmaker questions.

The House passed a slew of tech and cyber bills the week of Sept 3, ranging from imposing automatic sanctions on foreign hackers to creating a new chief data officer position at the Homeland Security Department. With a tight legislative calendar before this Congress turns into a pumpkin in January, however, the Senate will have to work fast if any of those bills are going to become law.

House Republicans withdrew from negotiations with Democrats over a pact that would have effectively barred both parties from using hacked or stolen material on the campaign trail in the fall of 2018.

Innovative technologies such as the “internet of things” (IoT) and artificial intelligence enhance convenience, efficiency and economic growth. At the same time, these and other technologies increasingly require complex networking environments and use detailed data about individuals that can make protecting their privacy harder.

State attorneys general (AGs), for better or worse, are increasingly important actors in tech policy. The internet is a greenfield regulatory opportunity, and in the tech policy realm, AGs are flexing their muscle on online privacy, net neutrality, and data security.

President Donald Trump tweeted that China was behind a hack of Hillary Clinton's emails, in an apparent reference to an article published by the conservative Daily Caller website. China denied the allegation. "Hillary Clinton’s Emails, many of which are Classified Information, got hacked by China.

GOP lawmakers on the House Commerce Committee are urging the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to improve a platform listing common cyber vulnerabilities. Committee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR), Communications Subcommittee Chairman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Rep Gregg Harper (R-MS), and Rep Rob Latta (R-OH), wrote a letter to Homeland Security Sec Kirstjen Nielsen suggesting that the program is granted a line item in the DHS budget instead of receiving uneven funding through contracts.

The FBI is asking a federal judge in CA to force Facebook to break the encryption on its Messenger app so investigators can listen in on an alleged MS-13 gang member's voice conversations. The case, which remains under seal, raises some of the same privacy concerns as the FBI’s unsuccessful effort to force Apple to engineer a way into the encrypted iPhone of one of the San Bernardino (CA) mass shooters. But the FBI’s request in the Facebook case could have a broader impact, since the bureau reportedly wants to intercept communications in real time.