| | | | |  | | By Maggie Miller | Presented by App Security Project | With help from Eric Geller
| | | — The recent movement of almost a dozen federal cybersecurity bills is highlighting greater interest in cybersecurity following a spree of high-profile attacks. — Russian President Vladimir Putin's call for strengthening cybersecurity after a series of retaliatory cyberattacks could be a screen to cover up further Russian cyber aggression. — A new joint ransomware task force could help bring together U.S. government efforts to tackle ransomware attacks. Welcome to Morning Cybersecurity! I'm your host, Maggie Miller, standing in for Sam Sabin this week. I'm a native Texan, and usually Washington, D.C. summers pale in comparison, but this past weekend in the nation's capital gave Texas a run for its money. Have any tips and secrets to share with MC? Or thoughts on what we should track down next? Send what you've got to mmiller@politico.com and egeller@politico.com. Follow along at @POLITICOPro and @MorningCybersec. Full team contact info below. Let's get to it.
| | | | A message from App Security Project, an initiative of the Taxpayers Protection Alliance Foundation: Former national security officials are sounding alarms on current antitrust proposals being considered by Congress. Key leaders from the defense, intelligence and homeland security communities are warning that current proposals could open countless doors for cybercriminals and foreign adversaries to gain access to Americans' private data. President Biden is asking Americans to "shield up" to fight cyber attacks, and Congress needs to take his lead and protect American consumers. | | | | | | CYBER BILLS ON CAPITOL HILL: The passage of a flurry of standalone cybersecurity bills in the House in recent weeks is highlighting how interest in cybersecurity has sharpened on Capitol Hill after a difficult year of attacks. — Action on cyber: President Joe Biden signed into law the Better Cybercrime Metrics Act and the National Cybersecurity Preparedness Consortium Act earlier this month, and the House passed around half a dozen cyber-related bills in the last two weeks including measures to providing cyber funding to state and local governments and to strengthen the federal cyber workforce. The pace is no accident, following a series of incidents including the ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline and the fallout from the SolarWinds hack. Prior to these attacks, the vast majority of cybersecurity bills were included in larger pieces of legislation, such as defense and appropriations packages. But after the chaos in 2021, cyber bills have been pushed into the spotlight for independent votes. "We are having a bit of a spurt of independent bills independently passed in the House and Senate," said Mark Montgomery, the director of CSC 2.0 and a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. "This is fantastic, this is the congressional process maturing to handle cybersecurity provisions alone, and I think overall it's a very good thing." Montgomery noted that "good governance" bills are more likely to get standalone votes, particularly if there is not an obvious larger legislative effort to attach them to. "I think there will be some cybersecurity in the fiscal year NDAA, and then there will be a handful more independent cybersecurity bills…any bills that are broader sweeping will probably be in the NDAA," he predicted. — Coming soon: Several of the bills approved by the House were previously passed by the Senate, and await Biden's signature, including the State and Local Government Cybersecurity Act, which would help increase cybersecurity coordination between all levels of government. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee will try to push forward additional legislation later this week, when the committee marks up the Intragovernmental Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act. The bill, which has bipartisan support on the panel, would require DHS to enter into cyber information sharing agreements with the House and Senate. Committee ranking member Rob Portman (R-Ohio), the lead sponsor of the bipartisan bill, told your MC host that moving forward on cybersecurity efforts was vital to defend the country. "We've got to realize that in the 21st century, this is part of warfare as well, it's not just the criminal attacks that are obviously happening, it's also state-sponsored attacks from Russia and China," Portman said. "We need to do more in terms of understanding what is going on."
| | | | A message from App Security Project, an initiative of the Taxpayers Protection Alliance Foundation:   | | | | | | GUARD THE GRID: Recent comments by Russian President Vladimir Putin about cyberattacks against Russia could serve as justification for further cyber aggression as the war in Ukraine continues. —Vlad's mad: Putin brought up his concerns Friday while chairing a meeting of the Russian Federation Security Council, saying that since the invasion of Ukraine, "Russia has essentially become the target of aggression, of an information war," including through cyberattacks against Russian government websites and critical infrastructure. "The hackers attack from different countries in a well-coordinated effort," Putin said. "These attacks are conducted by state-run structures, and we know that the armies of some countries officially include cyber troops." — Pot calling the kettle black: His comments came after months of the Kremlin using cyberattacks against Ukraine as part of its invasion tactics. The U.S., the United Kingdom and the European Union this month attributed an attack in February on Ukrainian satellite provider Viasat to Russia, an incident that disrupted Ukrainian networks, while Ukrainian officials blamed Russia for an unsuccessful cyberattack against the nation's energy infrastructure in April. In response, a worldwide army of hacktivists have sprung up to defend Ukraine and target Russia. The Washington Post reported earlier this month that more sensitive data from Russia was uploaded to the worldwide web in March than from any other country. —Potential smokescreen: As Russia flounders on the battlefield, Putin may use the attacks against his own country to justify hitting back in more damaging ways. "I am concerned that the Kremlin could be legitimizing a future escalation with statements like this," said John Hultquist, the vice president of intelligence analysis at cybersecurity group Mandiant. "Even if the incidents Putin refers to are not being carried out by state actors, they may suspect as much, especially given their habit of impersonating hacktivists themselves." —Hacktivism could be a problem: Biden warned in March that "evolving intelligence" pointed to Putin considering directing cyberattacks against U.S. critical infrastructure. During Biden and Putin's face-to-face meeting in Switzerland last year, Biden urged him to take action against Russian hackers attacking U.S. organizations, and warned of consequences if Russian-linked attacks continued. But as Western-linked hacktivists take aim at Russia, the script has flipped.
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| | | NEW TASK FORCE ALERT: A new task force announced last week could help to streamline federal efforts on combating ransomware attacks. The task force, which is co-chaired by CISA and the FBI, was required as part of the cyber incident reporting legislation signed into law by President Biden earlier this year. It was formally announced by CISA Director Jen Easterly at an event hosted by the Institute for Security and Technology on Friday. — Details: Easterly said that White House National Cyber Director Chris Inglis was working with CISA and the FBI to "bring in the rest of the federal government." Eric Goldstein, the executive assistant director for cybersecurity at CISA, and Bryan Vorndran, the assistant director of the FBI's Cyber Division, will lead the task force. Easterly noted its first meeting will take place "in the next few months." The task force was announced a year after the separate Ransomware Task Force released a report detailing ways to fight back against ransomware attacks, which became a worldwide headache in 2021 after multiple key groups were hit, including Colonial Pipeline. The establishment of a task force within the federal government to address ransomware attacks was a key recommendation of the report in order to establish a "whole of government" response and "break down the stovepipe structure." "The problem is too important for interagency wrangling to slow things down," said Chris Painter, the former State Department cybersecurity coordinator under both Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump and a co-chair of the Ransomware Task Force working groups. "It should work to leverage federal and private sector capability to disrupt the major ransomware actors in any way possible. Establishing the new task force signals that this issue continues to be a priority and is a recognition that combating ransomware will take a sustained, long term effort." — DOJ weighs in: Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco spoke at the same IST event on Friday, pointing to the department's work to fight back against ransomware attacks, praising the Ransomware Task Force's work, and vowing to keep fighting against ransomware and other cyberattacks. "We've got to evolve to keep pace with the threat and the nation states and criminal actors driving it," Monaco said.
| | | | DON'T MISS DIGITAL FUTURE DAILY - OUR TECHNOLOGY NEWSLETTER, RE-IMAGINED: Technology is always evolving, and our new tech-obsessed newsletter is too! Digital Future Daily unlocks the most important stories determining the future of technology, from Washington to Silicon Valley and innovation power centers around the world. Readers get an in-depth look at how the next wave of tech will reshape civic and political life, including activism, fundraising, lobbying and legislating. Go inside the minds of the biggest tech players, policymakers and regulators to learn how their decisions affect our lives. Don't miss out, subscribe today. | | | | | | | | REPORT IS IN: CISA released a report on the risk and vulnerability assessments conducted for organizations over the past year as mapped to the MITRE ATT&CK Framework. According to results from 112 assessments, just over half the time attackers use valid accounts to gain access to networks, while spearphishing links and attachments were the other likely methods of choice.
| | | — White House National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said Sunday that Anne Neuberger, the deputy national security advisor for cyber and emerging technology, completed a trip to Brussels last week that included a cyber-focused session of NATO's North Atlantic Council and in meetings with senior European Union officials. — Dave Maynor, a former threat intelligence researcher at IBM and Cisco, will now lead Cybrary's Threat Intelligence Group, while Chloé Messdaghi, the former founder of IMpactive Consulting and chief strategist at Point3, will become the head of impact at Cybrary.
| | | NSA and U.S. Cyber Command celebrate a special day: "Happy birthday @US_CYBERCOM! We're grateful for 12 years of partnership and look forward to many more."
| | | — DHS published a notice ratifying the Transportation Security Administration's security directive strengthening rail transit cybersecurity. — The Congressional Budget Office put out an estimate of how much the House-passed Understanding Cybersecurity of Mobile Networks Act would cost over five years. — "America's small businesses aren't ready for a cyberattack" (CNBC) — Ukraine'stech start-up community attempts to rebound amid ongoing war (The Washington Post) Chat soon. Stay in touch with the whole team: Eric Geller (egeller@politico.com); Konstantin Kakaes (kkakaes@politico.com); Maggie Miller (mmiller@politico.com); Sam Sabin (ssabin@politico.com); and Heidi Vogt (hvogt@politico.com).
| | | | A message from App Security Project, an initiative of the Taxpayers Protection Alliance Foundation: Former national security officials are sounding alarms on current antitrust proposals being considered by Congress. Key leaders from the defense, intelligence and homeland security communities, including Jeh Johnson, Leon Panetta and Michael Morell, are warning that current proposals could open countless doors for cybercriminals and foreign adversaries to gain access to users' private data. Congress' antitrust proposals would undermine America's national security and damage companies' ability to ensure integrated security tools are as effective as possible. Without a review of these bills and their security implications, American citizens could be at an increased risk of cyber and national security threats. With these attacks growing in number and severity, it's more important now than ever to ensure technology companies have the ability to protect both our national security and the privacy of American consumers. | | | | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |
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