Overnight Cybersecurity: GOP debaters silent on cyber

Welcome to OVERNIGHT CYBERSECURITY, your daily rundown of the biggest news in the world of hacking and data privacy. We’re here to connect the dots as leaders in government, policy and industry try to counter the rise in cyber threats. What lies ahead for Congress, the administration and the latest company under siege? Whether you’re a consumer, a techie or a D.C. lifer, we’re here to give you …

THE BIG STORIES:

–YOU’RE NEVER THERE: Cybersecurity was noticeably absent from the main Republican presidential debate Wednesday night. After receiving minor references in the first two debates, the topic was nowhere to be found in the third tilt, despite the Senate finally passing a long-stalled cybersecurity bill on Tuesday night. All four Republican senators running for president even skipped out on the final day of debate on the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA), meant to boost the exchange of data on hackers between businesses and the government. With three Republican debates and one Democratic bout now completed, cybersecurity has been almost absent across the board on the presidential primary debate stage. To read our full piece, click here.

{mosads}–KNOCKIN’ ON HEAVEN’S DOOR: A federal appeals court declined on Thursday to immediately shut down a controversial government surveillance program, months after declaring it illegal. Instead, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Congress was “clear” in allowing the National Security Agency’s (NSA) data gathering to continue for another month. While not unexpected, the ruling appears to foreclose the possibility that the NSA’s program will end before Nov. 29, the deadline that Congress gave it to end the current surveillance and switch to a new system. To read our full piece, click here.

–HEY YOU: As one surveillance program comes to a close, privacy and civil liberties organizations are already pressing the Obama administration about the scope of its spying powers ahead of an upcoming legislative battle on another program. The underlying law — Section 702 of the 2008 update to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act — isn’t scheduled to come up for renewal until the end of 2017. But civil libertarians are already laying the groundwork for reform now. To read our full piece, click here.

–DON’T YOU (FORGET ABOUT ME): House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) said late Thursday he would not leave his post atop the Intel panel. Nunes had been considering a bid to become chair of the important House Ways and Means Committee, which will need a new head after Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) was elected Speaker on Thursday. Nunes is a co-sponsor of one of the House-passed cybersecurity information-sharing bills that will soon be conferenced with the Senate’s Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA), which passed the upper chamber Tuesday night. Collectively, the bills encourage businesses to share more data on hackers with the government. Some wondered whether shifting leadership atop the Intelligence Committee might affect the outcome of the cybersecurity conference negotiations. Those questions are now mute. Nunes cited merging the House and Senate’s cyber bills as a top priority in the coming months. “As we move forward under the leadership of Speaker Ryan, it will be important to complete the good work we have done on an intelligence authorization bill and to get cybersecurity legislation passed to the president’s desk,” he said. To read our full piece, click here.

 

UPDATE ON CYBER POLICY:

–THIS TIME TOMORROW. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker said a new data-sharing agreement to allow digital information to flow between the U.S. and European Union could come “shortly.”

The deal would come just weeks after the European Court of Justice (ECJ) invalidated a long-standing Safe Harbor data-sharing pact, leaving more than 4,000 companies scrambling to find new ways to legally transfer data between the U.S. and EU nations.

“The solution … is Safe Harbor 2.0, which is totally doable,” Pritzker told reporters in Germany, Reuters reported.

That solution “is within hand,” Pritzker said. “We had an agreement prior to the court case. I think with modest refinements that are being negotiated we could have an agreement shortly.”

Read on, here.

 

LIGHTER CLICK:

–PSYCHO KILLER. This “hacker” Halloween costume, here. Chuckle.

 

A MONTH IN FOCUS:

–NOVEMBER RAIN. November is Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience Month, and President Obama is using the occasion to warn about the inadequate funding for power grid cybersecurity.

Lagging investments in power grids and energy systems, especially, have been increasingly singled out as a looming danger by the White House, presidential candidates, lawmakers and private sector security experts.

The inattention has left these networks exposed to potentially catastrophic cyberattacks that could cause massive blackouts and leave people with basic services or resources, they all warn.

National Security Agency Director Adm. Michael Rogers told lawmakers last fall that China and “one or two” other countries are capable of such a digital assault. Researchers suspect Iran is also in that camp.

The administration, lawmakers and presidential candidates are all taking steps to try and prevent such a grave outcome.

See what they are, here.

 

WHO’S IN THE SPOTLIGHT:

–TERRY HALVORSEN. The Pentagon’s chief information officer said the Defense Department does not yet move fast enough to deal with the speed of cyber warfare.

“I think the big difference in cyber that we’re having the react to is it moves faster than any other warfare,” he said Thursday at a roundtable hosted by The Christian Science Monitor. “That’s a challenge. The things we do today in cyber probably won’t be the same things we do tomorrow.”

“It’s accelerated change, and we’re generally not good at accelerated change,” he added.

Read our piece about his comments, here.

Halversen also mentioned the Pentagon is sending career personnel on tours with private cybersecurity companies, while also bringing in some private sector specialists to help bolster the agency’s ability to defend military networks from hackers.

Read on at Bloomberg about this exchange program, here.

 

A LOOK AHEAD:

THE WEEKEND

–America is hosting Halloween on Saturday. We found a human-sized hamster mask at a garage sale last weekend. So look out for that person Saturday night.

 

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

Links from our blog, The Hill, and around the Web.

The European Parliament on Thursday voted to encourage its member countries not to extradite Edward Snowden to the U.S. (The Hill)

Delaware Gov. Jack Markell (D) has signed an executive order establishing a state cybersecurity advisory council. (The Associated Press)

British mobile payments company Optimal Payments said it is investigating a possible data breach of its customers’ information. (Reuters)

Kim Dotcom wants to build an alternate Internet powered by blockchains. (Vice)

NSA Director Adm. Michael Rogers said the military must be cautious when asking the private sector’s help in launching offensive and defensive cyberattacks. (Federal Times)

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