Sens. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., and Chris Coons, D-Del., filed legislation Wednesday to create the Senate Select Committee on Cybersecurity, as expected (see 1612200044) after they previewed the legislation last week (see 1701190036). The Senate resolution would establish the proposed cybersecurity committee to focus on both the U.S.’ data breach prevention strategy and cyber activities. The cybersecurity committee would have 21 members, including the leaders of the Senate Appropriations, Armed Services, Banking, Commerce, Foreign Relations, Homeland Security, Intelligence and Judiciary committees, the resolution said. The committee would also include five members from the Senate at large, three from the majority party and two from the minority party. “Cybersecurity policy is one of the most complex and significant challenges facing Congress, yet the Senate’s structure to investigate and address cyber issues is diffuse and inadequate,” Gardner said in a news release. “This has led to an uncoordinated policy response to recent cyber attacks on government agencies, businesses, and infrastructure.” Gardner said the proposed committee “is essential to investigating emerging cyber risks and bolstering our defenses against them through legislative solutions, and I’m hopeful that my colleagues recognize that a centralized structure is the best path forward to effectively tackle the cyber challenge.” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz., and two other senators called last month for a unified Senate cybersecurity committee in part to investigate Russia-led hacks aimed at influencing the 2016 presidential election (see 1612190061).
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 Arctic Economic Council pressed for more broadband deployment in the Arctic parts of the U.S., Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia and Sweden. AEC's Tuesday report highlighted issues posed by reaching some of the most difficult areas to serve. “There is currently no comprehensive strategy for connecting all Arctic communities to one another and the rest of the world,” the report said: Arctic nations “tend to work in isolation from one another when attempting to address their internal user needs.” The study urges mainly private sector solutions. AEC released the report during a conference in Tromsø, Norway, above the Arctic Circle.
The federal government's response to the Russia-backed hacking of IT systems associated with Democratic Party entities aimed at influencing the outcome of the 2016 presidential election should be part of a more holistic strategy for changing the U.S.' approach to cybersecurity, policy experts said Monday during the State of the Net conference. President Donald Trump said earlier this month that he now believes U.S. intelligence agencies' finding that Russia sponsored the hacking of servers associated with the Democratic National Committee and the campaign of former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton (see 1701130039).
Hacker Guccifer 2.0 pushed back against U.S. intelligence agencies' assessment that the hacker executed the Russia-backed breaches of IT systems associated with the Democratic National Committee and the campaign of former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton aimed at influencing the outcome of the 2016 presidential election. “These accusations are unfounded,” Guccifer 2.0 said in a Thursday blog post. “I have totally no relation to the Russian government.” An unclassified version of the U.S. intelligence agencies' report on the Russia-led hacks, released last week (see 1701060060), is a “crude fake” that “doesn't stand up to scrutiny,” Guccifer 2.0 said. “It’s obvious that the intelligence agencies are deliberately falsifying evidence. ... They’re playing into the hands of the Democrats who are trying to blame foreign actors for their failure.” Guccifer 2.0 suggested “we'll see more fakes” from President Barack Obama's administration before President-elect Donald Trump is inaugurated Friday. Trump now believes Russia ordered the election-related hacks. Several cabinet nominees echoed Trump in backing the intelligence report (see 1701110051).
President-elect Donald Trump publicly acknowledged he now believes the Russian government orchestrated the hacking of IT systems of the Democratic National Committee and the campaign of former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. U.S. intelligence agencies said Friday Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the hacks of Democratic and Republican campaigns (see 1701060060). Trump earlier criticized the intelligence agencies’ assessment (see 1701050062). "I think it was Russia,” Trump said during a Wednesday news conference. “I think we also get hacked by other countries and other people.” Trump suggested the focus on the hacks was disproportionate with previous cyber incidents, citing the reaction to the Office of Personnel Management data breaches revealed in 2015. “When we lost 22 million names and everything else that was hacked recently, they didn’t make a big deal out of that,” Trump said. “That was something that was extraordinary. That was probably China. We had much hacking going on.” In fact, the hack made headlines nationwide then. Trump also said the DNC’s cybersecurity practices were “totally open to be hacked." Senate Intelligence Committee Republicans this week pointed to a possible disparity between the relative vulnerability of DNC and Republican National Committee servers to cyberattacks. Senate Intelligence Democrats disputed those assertions (see 1701100076). Secretary of State nominee Rex Tillerson said during his confirmation hearing Wednesday he would need to examine existing and proposed additional sanctions against Russia aimed at responding to the hacks before deciding how to act. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., criticized Tillerson’s answer, saying on the Senate floor that to “duck the question and refuse to commit to continuing these sanctions is tantamount to sweeping international laws under the rug.” Secretary of Homeland Security nominee John Kelly said during his confirmation hearing Tuesday (see 1701100081) he accepted the intelligence agencies’ report on the Russia hacks “with high confidence.” Kelly told the Senate Homeland Security Committee he's still reviewing a Department of Homeland Security-backed proposal to reorganize the department’s National Protection and Programs Directorate as the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection Agency. Kelly said he backs “evolving” DHS’ authorities to allow a faster response to cyberthreats.
Senators from the Judiciary Committee used this week’s attorney general confirmation hearing to probe whether the Trump administration Justice Department will remain independent of political influence. Antitrust experts following the hearing told us they see possible implications for how the incoming administration, with DOJ under the control of Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., could handle antitrust matters such as review of AT&T buying Time Warner. Two senators asking about political influence lead Judiciary’s Antitrust Subcommittee, which held a hearing on the proposed acquisition last month.
Mozilla faulted the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday for not including a broader discussion of cybersecurity issues during Attorney General nominee Jeff Sessions’ confirmation hearings. Sessions committed during a hearing Tuesday to follow the USA Freedom Act, which restricts NSA from the bulk collection of Americans' phone records, despite his voting against the bill in 2015 (see 1701090038). Surveillance continued to occasionally emerge as an issue during Sessions' hearing Wednesday (see 1701110069). Senate Judiciary almost exclusively mentioned cybersecurity in the context of government-sponsored cyberattacks like Russia’s hacking of IT systems associated with the Democratic National Committee and the campaign of former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, said Mozilla Chief Legal and Business Officer Denelle Dixon-Thayer in a blog post. “Discussion about robust cybersecurity for everyday Internet users -- through practices like strong encryption -- was largely absent,” she said. “It would have been helpful if the Senate asked Sessions to clarify his position, and even better if they asked him to clarify that privacy and security are important for all Americans and a healthy Internet.”
A Senate Intelligence Committee hearing Tuesday at times focused on whether a disparity in the scope of Russia's hacks against Democratic and Republican targets aimed at influencing 2016 U.S. elections was the result of Russia's perceived preference for President-elect Donald Trump or of better cybersecurity tactics on Republicans' networks. Senate Intelligence aimed the hearing at parsing out the details of an unclassified report from U.S. intelligence agencies on its investigation into the Russia-led hacks. The intelligence agencies found that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the hacking of IT systems associated with the Democratic National Committee and the campaign of former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton as part of a campaign to “denigrate” Clinton “and harm her electability and potential presidency” (see 1701060060).
Incoming White House aides of President-elect Donald Trump’s pending administration attempted Sunday and Monday to redirect the focus on U.S. intelligence agencies’ report on Russia’s hacking of IT systems associated with the Democratic National Committee and the campaign of former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. The office of the Director of National Intelligence Friday released an unclassified version of the agencies' report, which said Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the hacks as part of “an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at” the U.S. presidential election that “aspired to help” Trump’s electoral chances (see 1701060060). Trump “is not denying that entities in Russia were behind this particular hacking campaign,” but similar incidents happen “every election period,” said incoming White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus on Fox News Sunday. “We also have a problem when [the DNC] allows foreign governments into their system with hardly any defenses or training. That's a huge story, and that's what people aren’t talking about as well.” Incoming Trump counselor Kellyanne Conway told USA Today Monday it’s “curious and a bit humorous” that congressional Democrats are pushing for an independent bipartisan joint House-Senate commission to do an 18-month investigation into Russia’s election-related hacks. There’s already a “great deal of information out there” on the hacks and it’s “very ironic that the uptick in and the hue-and-cry of 'investigation' and 'information' has occurred after the election results are in,” Conway said. Trump will attempt to “make sure that our actions are proportionate to what occurred, based on what we know” about the hacks, Conway said. President Barack Obama’s announced retaliatory actions against Russia (see 1612290040) were a “disproportionate response,” she said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the hacking of IT systems associated with the Democratic National Committee and the campaign of former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton as part of “an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at” the U.S. presidential election, said U.S. intelligence agencies at our deadline Friday in an unclassified report. Intelligence officials briefed President-elect Donald Trump Friday on a classified version of the report. Intelligence officials also briefed top congressional leaders Friday on the classified report.