Cybersecurity and Cyberwarfare

After years of debate, Congress is poised to vote on legislation that would cement the Department of Homeland Security’s role as the government’s main civilian cybersecurity authority.  The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Act (HR 3359), which has been in the works since the Obama administration, would give the department a stand-alone cybersecurity agency with the same stature as other DHS units, such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

5G, short for fifth generation, aims to deliver much faster wireless for mobile users and spur new innovation for internet-connected devices. Here are five things to know about the new technology.

The White House has “authorized offensive cyber operations” against US adversaries, in line with a new policy that eases the rules on the use of digital weapons to protect the nation, said National Security Adviser John Bolton. “Our hands are not tied as they were in the Obama administration,” Bolton said when unveiling a new national cyber strategy. He did not elaborate on the nature of the offensive operations or what specific malign behavior they were intended to counter.

A major technology company has been telling senators and their staffers that their personal email accounts were targeted by foreign hackers, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), a senior Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, claimed in a letter to leaders. He used the letter to question why the Senate sergeant-at-arms did not have a clear mandate to help protect the personal accounts and devices of senators and their staffers as well as the official ones. “This approach must change to keep up with changing world realities,” Sen.

AT&T, Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile US, and Sprint unveiled a system that would let them manage your logins across third-party websites and apps. The \system would verify each person's identity with "a multi-factor profile based around the user's personal mobile device," taking into account the user's phone number, account tenure, IP address, phone account type, and SIM card details. The system "combines the carriers' proprietary, network-based authentication capabilities with other methods to verify a user's identity," the carriers say.

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.