Category Archives: congress

DHS official briefs senators on state ransomware threats in classified meeting

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The head of the Department of Homeland Security’s cybersecurity division on Wednesday provided senators with a classified briefing on ransomware attacks, the latest indication of the threat the file-locking malware poses to state and local governments. Chris Krebs, director of DHS’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), briefed the Senate Cybersecurity Caucus, a bipartisan group of lawmakers led by Sens. Mark Warner, D-Va., and Cory Gardner, R-Colo. The newest member of the caucus, Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., confirmed the briefing in a statement. “From ransomware attacks on local hospitals to a hack of federal government records, cyberattacks pose a serious threat to our communities and national security,” Hassan said. In the last few years, poorly secured U.S. businesses, schools, and local governments have lost millions of dollars after ransomware infections. Over 100 public-sector ransomware attacks have been reported in 2019 alone, double the amount in 2018. This classified briefing followed an unprecedented, closed-door summit held by […]

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Citing security concerns, senators call on White House to appoint coordinator for 5G issues

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A bipartisan group of senators wants the Trump administration to appoint a top official to coordinate policy for issues related to 5G communications, saying the current marketplace for the technology poses an “unprecedented security challenge” to the U.S. and its allies. “China’s leadership [in 5G], combined with the United States’ increased reliance on high-speed, reliable telecommunications services to facilitate both commerce and defense, poses a strategic risk for the country,” the senators wrote Tuesday to White House national security adviser Robert O’Brien, advising him to tap a senior official to coordinate 5G policy across federal agencies. The chairman and ranking member of Senate committees dealing with intelligence, foreign relations, defense and homeland security all signed the letter. U.S. officials have long fretted that Chinese telecommunications companies like Huawei are in prime position to shape 5G deployments around the world. Those networks, which promise must faster connectivity, would be ripe for Chinese […]

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Mozilla says ISPs are lying to Congress about encrypted DNS

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Mozilla on Friday posted a letter urging Congress to take the broadband industry’s lobbying against encrypted DNS within Firefox and Chrome with a grain of salt. Continue reading Mozilla says ISPs are lying to Congress about encrypted DNS→

With workforce in mind, bipartisan bill proposes incentives for cybersecurity education, and more

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The HACKED Act is actually about making sure people don’t get hacked. The bipartisan bill — with the full title “The Harvesting American Cybersecurity Knowledge through Education Act” — was introduced Tuesday by four senators who say it would boost cybersecurity education and expand workforce training. The legislation comes as the Trump administration, Congress and industry have all taken steps to boost the cybersecurity workforce through training, recruitment and retention. “America is facing serious cyberthreats every day in today’s increasingly connected world, yet there is a serious shortage of workers needed to confront this urgent challenge,” Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., one of the cosponsors and the Commerce Committee’s ranking member, said in a statement. “The bipartisan HACKED Act of 2019 would help address this by training cybersecurity educators and skilling American workers to do these jobs, as well as increasing coordination on these issues throughout the government.” The bill includes proposals to incentivize recruitment of […]

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Republican congressman warns of mobile threats following SCIF storming

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After Republican lawmakers stormed a closed-door impeachment inquiry hearing Wednesday, one of their colleagues warned against bringing mobile devices anywhere near secure briefing rooms on Capitol Hill. In general, “if anybody brings a phone in, that’s a problem,” Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., told reporters Thursday, adding that such an action would “absolutely” be a security concern. Several House Republicans barged into a Sensitive Compartmented Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF) on Wednesday, reportedly with their cell phones, disrupting an impeachment inquiry hearing on the Trump administration’s handling of aide to Ukraine. SCIFs allow lawmakers to review classified material in a secure setting, and any introduction of outside devices could leave the rooms susceptible to eavesdropping. In this case, one lawmaker said on Twitter that he was inside the secure facility, where outside phones are prohibited, though his staff later said it posted the tweet. Another congressman later made a phone call from the SCIF. The facility had to be […]

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DHS asks Congress for subpoena authority to contact vulnerable asset owners

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The Department of Homeland Security has asked lawmakers for subpoena authority in order to directly contact organizations vulnerable to hacking rather than having to rely on outside parties to communicate with the private sector. The move is an attempt to speed up the process by which DHS’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) interacts with critical infrastructure companies on the front lines of state-sponsored hacking threats. Right now, DHS officials say, they have IP addresses of vulnerable systems in the private sector, but can’t obtain the contact information for equipment owners through internet service providers. And so DHS is seeking “administrative” subpoena authority, which would compel an ISP to turn over that information and allow the department to contact those potential hacking victims directly. “Over many years, we have tried many methods to be able to contact these entities,” said Jeanette Manfra, CISA’s assistant director for cybersecurity and communications. “The […]

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Security clearance background checks should take three days, Rep. Will Hurd says

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Rep. Will Hurd, who recently announced he is leaving Congress after his current term is up, has something to get off his chest. The Texas Republican has previously said he thinks the federal government should be able to issue security clearances in one week — but now he says it can be done in three days. “I never thought I would have to work on such a basic issue as this: [Getting a security clearance] shouldn’t take 9 months,” Hurd said Thursday at the Dell Technologies Forum. “I think we can do it in three days.” Currently, the federal government is currently working on overhauling the security clearance process as part of an overhaul known as Trusted Workforce 2.0 — and already in the last several months the government has made some progress on the backlog of applications. Hurd — a former CIA officer — has had a front-row seat for the process […]

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With Will Hurd’s retirement, Congress loses a key cybersecurity advocate

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When Rep. Will Hurd made news Thursday night, just as the cybersecurity community was preparing to descend on Las Vegas for a week of events, it wasn’t about Hurd’s rescinded offer to speak at the Black Hat conference. The Texas Republican announced he will not seek re-election in 2020, becoming the sixth GOP representative and the third Texan in the past 10 days to announce retirement. Hurd, a former CIA officer, had distinguished himself among lawmakers for his attention to cybersecurity issues, including a support for encryption. He was slated to deliver a keynote address at the Black Hat cybersecurity conference next week until organizers canceled his invitation following a TechCrunch article that questioned the congressman’s voting records on women’s rights issues. In a statement on his website, Hurd said that he “made the decision to not seek reelection for the 23rd Congressional District of Texas in order to pursue opportunities outside the halls […]

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Pentagon cyber contractor charged for allegedly threatening to kill member of Congress

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A Department of Defense cybersecurity contractor has been charged with threatening to kill a member of Congress over a bill that would require children in public schools to receive vaccinations, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court earlier this month. Darryl Albert Varnum allegedly left a voicemail at the office of the member of Congress on June 26 saying he would “f—ing come down and kill your f—ing ass” if “you do that bill,” according to an affidavit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland. He is charged with threatening an official. Minutes after the phone call, on his Facebook page, Varnum allegedly posted about a bill, The Vaccinate All Children Act of 2019, introduced in May in the U.S. House of Representatives. The sponsor of the vaccination bill is Frederica Wilson, D-Fla., who also is the subject of the threat, according to The Daily Beast. The affidavit did not […]

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