Senator Pushes for Data on Warrantless Searches on Americans
A key member of the Senate intelligence committee is pushing the Department of Justice to disclose how often U.S. intelligence agencies are conducting so-called “backdoor” searches for data on Americans contained in raw signals intelligence. The request from Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) refers to searches that may have been conducted under the authority of Executive […]
Government Set to Release Declassified FISC Opinions
The Department of Justice today is set to release a set of documents detailing previously classified opinions from the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court regarding government surveillance of U.S. citizens. The release is the result of a FOIA request and lawsuit filed by the EFF in 2016 and the opinions are directly related to the […]
Hack the DHS Program Gets Support in the House
A Senate bill that would allow hackers to go after the networks at the Department of Homeland Security as part of a bug bounty program now has a companion piece of legislation in the House of Representatives. Last week, two senators introduced a bill that would create a pilot bug bounty program at DHS, similar […]
Trump Administration Hopes to Have Cybersecurity Strategy Done Soon
A top Trump administration information security official said the White House hopes to have a national strategy for cybersecurity completed in the next two months, with a view toward having it implemented within two years. The new administration has circulated a draft of an executive order related to cybersecurity, but hasn’t said much more publicly […]
Questions Arise Over CIA Handling of Vulnerabilities
The release of a large trove of documents and tools that are linked to CIA’s cyber espionage activities has raised a lot of questions, especially about the way that the agency and other government groups handle information on undisclosed vulnerabilities. Some of the documents, released by Wikileaks Tuesday, show that CIA has had access to […]
Bill Would Legalize Active Defense Against Hacks
A new bill intended to update the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act would allow victims of computer attacks to engage in active defense measures to identify the attacker and disrupt the attack. Proposed by Rep. Tom Graves (R-Ga.), the bill would grant victims of computer intrusions unprecedented rights. Known as the Active Cyber Defense Certainty […]
Lawmakers Push Bill to Study Vehicle Software Security
A new bill introduced in the House of Representatives Tuesday would force the federal government to perform a long-term study of the security and privacy controls of the software running in vehicles, including their navigation, entertainment and other systems. The bill is sponsored by Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) and Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.), and it’s another […]
Expansion of National Security Letter Use Dropped From Intelligence Bill
A controversial provision in the Intelligence Authorization Act that would have granted the FBI the ability to access Americans’ browsing and email records without a warrant has been removed from the bill. The section of the appropriations bill for the various intelligence agencies had drawn criticism from civil liberties groups and lawmakers who opposed the […]
Bill Seeks to Update Ancient Email Privacy Law
A group of lawmakers from both parties have reintroduced a bill in the House of Representatives that would overhaul the aging Electronic Communications Privacy Act and add a provision to require the government to get a search warrant to access emails and other communications that are older than 180 days. The Email Privacy Act passed the House […]