| | | | |  | | By Sam Sabin | | | | — For the first time in two years, the annual RSA conference is happening in-person this week. MC will be there, and we have all the details on what to expect and what we're watching. — On the heels of a trip to eastern Europe, Google's head of cybersecurity policy tells MC the region is handling Russian cyber threats way better than the West had expected. — CISA's recent report about a security flaw in some Dominion election machines has inadvertently added fuel to partisan fights over election security. HAPPY MONDAY, and welcome back to Morning Cybersecurity! I'm your host, Sam Sabin, and the week we've all been anticipating is finally here: the annual RSA conference. Eric and your MC host will be on the ground in San Francisco to bring you updates throughout the week. If you have tips for places to eat and take a breath near the conference, I'm all ears. Have any tips and secrets to share with MC? Or thoughts on what we should track down next? Send what you've got to ssabin@politico.com. Follow along at @POLITICOPro and @MorningCybersec. Full team contact info below. Let's get to it.
| | | THE BIG EVENT IS HERE — After two years away, thousands of cybersecurity professionals and journalists will be in San Francisco this week for the RSA Conference following an all-virtual experience last year. Here's a rundown of what we're looking out for: — The critical infrastructure of it all: Several Biden administration and industry officials are expected to touch on a topic near and dear to Washington's cyber agenda: critical infrastructure security. We're watching out for any updates on how the various sectors — including retail, healthcare and aviation — are handling cyber threats during the Russian war in Ukraine and what policies the Biden administration is watching out for. — A star-studded line-up : Speaking of officials, there is no shortage of administration members heading to RSA this week (and if you're one of them, let's chat!). National Cyber Director Chris Inglis, CISA Director Jen Easterly and NSA Director of Cybersecurity Rob Joyce will all be attending, as well as other officials across DOJ, FBI and Commerce. — Research, research, research : As usual, cybersecurity researchers will spend their time briefing attendees on new trends in the hacking underground. A few panels will focus on the legality of security research following changes to the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, the country's main hacking law. ON DECK FOR MONDAY — Leonard Bailey, head of cybersecurity in DOJ's national security division, will discuss CFAA during a panel in the afternoon. And two officials at Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology will also review the latest software supply chain security requirements at an afternoon session. MEANWHILE IN WASHINGTON — The cyber action isn't just on the West Coast this week as Congress returns from the Memorial Day break. Both the Senate and House homeland security committees and the House Veterans Affairs Committee will hold cyber-related hearings during the week, while members of the House Armed Services' cyber subcommittee will mark up the fiscal-year 2023National Defense Authorization Act on Wednesday. (Be sure to hit up Maggie with all your Washington cyber tips this week.)
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| | | EASTERN EUROPE ON GUARD — Charley Snyder, Google's head of cybersecurity policy, has one thing he wants to stress from his recent trip to central and eastern Europe: Russia's neighbors are more prepared for cyber threats than the West thinks. Snyder was part of a team of Google executives who met with officials in Czechia, Poland, Lithuania and Latvia last month to discuss ways the tech giant can help the governments fend off Russian threats amid the war in Ukraine. According to a blog post published last week, Google also met with critical infrastructure operators and provided digital security tools to human rights advocates and nongovernmental organizations, including the Casimir Pulaski Foundation, during the trip, which happened the week of May 16. But in a conversation with your MC host, Snyder said his biggest takeaway was just how well eastern European countries are fending off and digesting the slew of Russian attacks heading their way. "Though they face labor shortages and lots of systemic issues, they're good at what they do, and they're clear-eyed," Snyder said. "They understand the threat they're facing." — One prime example : Several of Google's meetings with government officials happened while the eastern European governments were handling a new wave of distributed denial of service attacks from pro-Russian hacker group Killnet, which has been taking down websites belonging to several European countries. Snyder said the lower-level hacking attempts didn't appear to phase government officials: "A lot of the cybersecurity experts we met with had a very balanced view of 'Yeah, these are low-skilled attackers, these are nuisances, we're not going to spin out of control,'" he said. — Add it to the resume: Snyder's account adds to a growing list of evidence that eastern European countries know their way around a Russian cyberattack. In April, Ukrainian officials said they had successfully blocked a suspected Russian attack on its energy sector, and several eastern European countries have been in Russian hackers' crosshairs throughout the last two decades (Remember the attacks on Estonia in 2007? What about the attacks on Georgia's internet infrastructure in 2008?) — What Google does next : Google already has a pretty sizable presence in the region with offices in Poland, Czechia and several other cities, but Snyder said they're eyeing ways to expand existing threat information-sharing with those governments. Google is also eyeing product changes to help human rights advocates based on feedback advocates gave during the trip.
| | | A BALANCING ACT — Ever since CISA released its highly anticipated report uncovering unexploited security flaws in some of Dominion Voting Systems' election machines, those who believe lies about the 2020 election being rigged have taken the findings and run with them on social media. The use of the report to propagate the "Big Lie" underscores a major hurdle CISA (and any election official) continues to face: The balance between informing people and fighting lies is hard to tread. In the report, CISA had to toe a tough line: The agency wants to be transparent about security flaws in voting machines, while also underscoring how unlikely it is the vulnerabilities will lead to ballot tampering. In this case, there isn't much of a threat: Someone would need continued physical access to the device to download any ballot-tampering malware. However, even just by acknowledging any technical flaws in machines, the agency has unintentionally added fuel to the partisan fire: — Feeding the fire: Since the release of Friday's report, tweets including the words "Dominion Voting" have primarily come from people who believe in lies that the 2020 election was rigged. In one example, a popular conservative Twitter account, @DJTTracker, said "federal authorities have come out and admitted" issues with Dominion, framing the report as confirmation of long-held (but false) beliefs that Dominion machines erroneously record votes. Tom Fitton, president of the conservative group Judicial Watch, also described the focus on the lack of exploitation in The Washington Post's story as "spin." Each post has thousands of likes and retweets, and over the weekend, dozens of off-shot, far-right Twitter users have picked up on the report's findings as of Sunday afternoon, too. — Understanding vulnerabilities: Cybersecurity experts and former officials are quick to note that software vulnerabilities are everywhere, and it's difficult for any one company to be 100 percent secure at all times. A recent tweet from Chris Krebs — the former CISA director who former President Donald Trump famously fired by tweet for pushing back against election conspiracies — summarizes this argument: "Yes, vulns (always) exist, but multiple defenses/resilience measures in place, hard to execute undetected/at scale, adversary has other avenues," Krebs said Friday in a tweet , highlighting how difficult it is to even act on the flaw.
| | | | 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. | | | | | | | | FOLLINA UNDER ATTACK — Email security company Proofpoint said Friday it has blocked suspected nation-state attempts to target a few of their European and local U.S. government clients through a critical Microsoft vulnerability. The blocked phishing campaign targeted fewer than 10 of Proofpoint's customers, but it represents the high risk that remains for the zero-day vulnerability, for which Microsoft has yet to release a fix. Proofpoint highly suspects the campaign is linked to a state-aligned hacking group, but it hasn't attributed the campaign to any specific group yet.
| | | — President Joe Biden nominated Nathaniel Fick, current head of cybersecurity business at Elastic, to be the ambassador-at-large for cyberspace and digital policy at the State Department, as Eric reported for Pros. — Kemba Walden officially left her post Friday as assistant general counsel at Microsoft's Digital Crimes Unit. She will soon join the Office of the National Cyber Director as principal deputy national cyber director. — Blake Sobczak is now head of communications at Synack and editor-in-chief of the cybersecurity firms' publications, README. He was previously managing editor of the publication and is an alum of POLITICO's E&E News.
| | | It might seem like everyone (and their mom) is at RSA at week, but trust us, we know that's not true. From Camille Stewart, founder of the #ShareTheMicInCyber initiative: "Ugh! All this #RSAC chatter has me in my feelings about missing it this year. Looking forward to seeing my cyber friends soon."
| | | — "How local high-tech crime units are tracking and seizing stolen cryptocurrency" (NBC News) — Hackers are already shifting their attention away from ransomware to business email compromises, which is already the world's most profitable online scam. (Wired) — Louisiana officials are investigating a ransomware attack targeting the city of Alexandria after the AlphV ransomware gang added the municipality to its public list of victims. (The Record) — An unspecified EU member country helped the FBI intercept messages from encrypted phone company Anom, which the FBI was secretly operating to track the alleged cybercriminals using the devices, according to an obtained document. (Motherboard) 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). | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |
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