CPB leadership received a largely warm welcome Tuesday in testifying before House appropriators. The Trump administration earlier proposed to slash funding for CPB for FY 2018. Earlier this month, House Appropriations Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Subcommittee Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., told us he backed CPB and thought it had “decisive” support in the House (see 1703160060).
Russia export controls and sanctions
The use of export controls and sanctions on Russia has surged since the country's invasion of Crimea in 2014, and especially its invasion of Ukraine in in February 2022. Similar export controls and sanctions have been imposed by U.S. allies, including the EU, U.K. and Japan. The following is a listing of recent articles in Export Compliance Daily on export controls and sanctions imposed on Russia:
The White House is inclined to sign off on the Capitol Hill GOP measure to kill FCC ISP privacy rules, the administration said in a message Tuesday, the day the House signed off on the measure after Senate approval last week (see 1703230070). “If S.J.Res. 34 were presented to the President, his advisors would recommend that he sign the bill into law,” the Trump administration said, citing “strong” support.
Google and Microsoft received low scores on how well they disclose information about their commitments, policies and practices governing users' online free speech and privacy rights, in an assessment by Ranking Digital Rights (RDR), though they topped RDR's list of 22 global internet and telecom companies. “If this were a test and not graded on a curve, we have two companies that got a D and everybody else got an F," said RDR Director Rebecca MacKinnon at an event. "To call anybody a winner or even a leader is perhaps going too far." RDR is hosted by the Open Technology Institute at the New America think tank, of which Google is a major contributor.
IoT and other emerging technologies are a double-edged sword for U.S. cybersecurity, industry experts told the Senate Commerce Committee Wednesday. Such technologies, if not properly secured, can be a significant cyber vulnerability for U.S. companies, particularly given the growing cyber capabilities of China and Russia, the experts said. Blockchain and other emerging technologies also could be a major boon in enhancing the U.S.' overall cybersecurity, they said. The Senate Commerce hearing, one of two Wednesday (see 1703210064), was part of committee Chairman John Thune's, R-S.D., ongoing series exploring aspects of emerging technologies, said a Senate Commerce aide.
The federal government should maintain existing foundations of its cybersecurity strategy even as President Donald Trump's administration looks to reinvent parts, experts are to tell the House Homeland Security Committee Wednesday. Both that committee and the Senate Commerce Committee are to hold cybersecurity-related hearings at 10 a.m., though the topics don't overlap. The House Homeland Security hearing focuses on DHS' civilian cyber defense mission and the cyberthreat landscape, and the Senate Commerce hearing deals with cybersecurity issues for IoT, blockchain, artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies (see 1703170051).
Intelsat extended media services contracts with Sentech and Orion Express, the company said in news releases (here and here). It said its new Sentech deal will bolster delivery of direct-to-home and digital terrestrial TV services in sub-Saharan Africa via Intelsat 20, and Orion Express signed a multiyear extension for direct-to-home and media distribution services in Russia via Intelsat 15. Intelsat said its Orion Express deal lasts into the 2020s and sees Intelsat performing some services that had been done by another satellite operator.
The DOJ indicted two Russian intelligence agents and two Russia-hired hackers Wednesday for their roles in the 2014 Yahoo data breach that resulted in the theft of information on 500 million Yahoo accounts. That breach and a 2013 breach, both disclosed last year, collectively compromised 1.5 billion user accounts. Yahoo has been dealing with congressional inquiries, lawsuits and a $350 million price reduction in the Verizon deal to acquire the company (see 1612150010, 1612230029 and 1702210024). Among the indicted were Dmitry Aleksandrovich Dokuchaev and Igor Anatolyevich Sushchin, both agents with Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), DOJ said. The department said it also indicted Russian national Alexsey Alexseyevich Belan and Canadian-Kazakh national Karim Baratov, and that FSB hired both. The defendants face a combined 47 charges, including conspiracy, computer fraud, aggravated identity theft, trade secret theft and economic espionage, DOJ said. The defendants “targeted Yahoo accounts of Russian and U.S. government officials, including cyber security, diplomatic and military personnel,” said acting Assistant Attorney General Mary McCord during a news conference. “They also targeted Russian journalists; numerous employees of other providers whose networks the conspirators sought to exploit; and employees of financial services and other commercial entities.” McCord said Belan has been on the FBI's most wanted cyber criminals list for more than three years and faced charges in the U.S. on two other occasions for hacking e-commerce companies. Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., praised DOJ Wednesday for the indictments, which he said are “yet another reminder that American businesses must invest in robust cyber defenses, be more willing to share threat information, and be much more upfront with consumers when their defenses fail.” Warner said in a statement he continues to believe Yahoo “had a responsibility to be more forthcoming in publicly reporting this breach sooner than it did, and both the public and private sectors often move too slowly to address the growing threats posed by cyber criminals.”
Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., is circulating a draft among lawmakers seeking support for a letter to the FCC “inquiring whether its existing rules requiring the identification of sponsors in broadcast programming should be applied to state-sponsored channels like RT (formerly Russia Today).” Eshoo, a former ranking member of the Communications Subcommittee, said it’s “a foundational principle of our broadcasting regulations that the public is informed when the programming they are watching is designed to influence them,” part of the sponsorship ID rules of the 1934 Communications Act. She encourages those wanting to sign on to do so by Monday. “As staunch defenders of the First Amendment, we are not suggesting that any broadcast speech should be suppressed, but the airwaves are a public trust that have always carried with them special obligations to the public with respect to content broadcast over them,” a draft of the letter to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said, citing RT broadcasts in markets including Washington. “We inquire as to whether the FCC’s rules should be applied to channels like RT to ensure the American people know who is attempting to influence them.”
Cybersecurity emerged as a topic during Tuesday’s infrastructure hearing by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., said the issue keeps her up at night and cited widespread hacking concerns. “I am calling on the Trump administration to protect the public from growing cyberthreats that Russia and other foreign actors pose against our energy assets,” she said in her opening statement. “I am sending a letter to the president to make sure that we clarify the Department of Energy’s role as a lead agency in our nation’s cybersecurity matters, both on the defense side and on the response side to respond to potential hacking of our critical energy infrastructure. That is very important because we’ve heard rumors of an executive order further designating the Department of Homeland Security as the lead on this matter. I equate this to seeking medical attention and seeing a doctor, but in reality you need a dentist, because what you have is an oral problem.” Cantwell, who also is on the Commerce Committee, noted that during questioning of witnesses and backed “a more aggressive role” for the DOE on cybersecurity. The “right experts” are needed, she said, arguing the digitization of the grid makes the U.S. more vulnerable to attacks. Chairman Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, is eyeing the permitting process at the federal, state and local levels. “I certainly hope that package” put forth by the Trump administration on infrastructure “will include provisions that streamline the permitting process for all energy infrastructure projects,” said Murkowski in her opening statement. That administration infrastructure package may include broadband funding. Several committees have begun hearings with an eye toward this pending proposal.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., and committee Republicans urged FBI Director James Comey Wednesday to “follow all legitimate investigative leads regarding Russia's alleged interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, as well as leads regarding the mishandling of classified information.” House Judiciary Republicans said they want Comey to brief them on President Donald Trump's claim that former President Barack Obama ordered a wiretap of Trump Tower ahead of the election. An Obama spokesman called Trump’s wiretap claims “simply false,” and other former Obama administration security officials denied the charge. Senate Judiciary Committee members Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., separately sought DOJ information about Trump’s wiretap claims, including “copies of any warrant applications and court orders.” House Judiciary Republicans also want Comey to explain how “information classified at the highest level, including methodologies of surveillance, has made its way into the public domain.” WikiLeaks posted more than 8,700 documents Tuesday purporting to originate from the CIA’s Center for Cyber Intelligence, including some thus far unverified files that discuss how the agency could use smart TVs and other devices as surveillance tools (see 1703070047). The documents also include some claiming to detail security vulnerabilities in mobile device operating systems’ software. The FBI didn’t comment.