Hillicon Valley — NATO cyber summit kicks off
NATO began its annual cyber defense simulation this week amid looming Russian cyber threats. Meanwhile, Uber and Lyft removed their mask mandates for all rides in the U.S. following a court decision striking down federal rules.
This is Hillicon Valley, detailing all you need to know about tech and cyber news from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley. Send tips to The Hill’s Rebecca Klar, Chris Mills Rodrigo and Ines Kagubare. Someone forward you this newsletter? Subscribe here.
NATO launches cyber wargame
As the West braces for Russian cyberattacks amid the war in Ukraine, NATO’s Communications and Information Agency (NCI Agency) is beginning its annual Locked Shields cyber defense simulation.
The wargame, which began on Tuesday in Tallinn, Estonia, will provide technical training to cyber teams from NATO members and allies. The teams will compete against each other in a simulation aimed to help them understand how to best defend their networks and critical infrastructure against cyberattacks.
The annual exercise comes at a time when NATO members are on high alert for Russian cyberattacks targeting critical infrastructure as the war in Ukraine escalates, along with diplomatic and economic sanctions on Moscow.
Uber, Lyft lift mandates
Passengers are no longer required to wear masks while riding with Uber or Lyft in the U.S., the companies announced Tuesday.
The decision to lift the requirement for passengers and drivers comes a day after a federal judge struck down the federal government’s mask mandate for planes, trains and buses.
“You can now ride without a mask and use the front seat if you need to,” Uber said in a statement. “While mask usage is still recommended, we’ve updated our Covid Safety policies.”
Uber’s safety landing page encourages riders and drivers to “roll down the windows for extra airflow, sanitize your hands before and after trips or deliveries, and always cover your cough or sneeze.”
“Masks are now optional while riding or driving with Lyft,” a Lyft spokesperson told The Hill. “We know that everyone has different comfort levels, and anyone who wants to continue wearing a mask is encouraged to do so.”
The decision to lift mask requirements was met with criticism from drivers Tuesday who worry about potential exposure to COVID-19 and feel they will have little control over whether their passengers mask up or not.
REVEALING TEXTS
Newly released court documents show a series of texts among members of the far-right Oath Keepers discussing how to provide security for a wider range of Trump allies than previously known.
The exchanges between the militia group show they discussed providing security for former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn, Stop the Steal organizer Ali Alexander, and far-right radio host Alex Jones, along with other individuals and groups tied to former President Trump.
The documents were filed in the case of Ed Vallejo, an Oath Keepers member who stood by in Virginia with a stockpile of 30 days worth of weapons and ammunition as the attack at the Capitol was underway. Politico first reported on the court filing, made as Vallejo seeks pretrial release.
The texts show Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, who is himself facing seditious conspiracy charges, discussing the group’s plans to provide personal security detail, which he refers to as PSD, for several figures involved in planning for the rally that day.
Authorities seize $100 million in crypto
The Secret Service has seized more than $100 million in cryptocurrency since 2015 in an effort to crack down on fraudulent digital currency transactions.
David Smith, the Secret Service’s investigations chief, told CNBC that his office has been tracking the flow of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies on the blockchain to prevent and combat fraudulent activities.
“When you follow a digital currency wallet, it’s not different than an email address that has some correlating identifiers,” Smith, the assistant director of the agency’s Office of Investigations, told the outlet.
CNBC reported Tuesday, citing data from the agency, that the Secret Service has seized $102 million in crypto funds across more than 250 cases over the past seven years.
INCOMING AMAZON AUDIT
Former Attorney General Loretta Lynch will lead Amazon’s racial equity audit of its close to 1 million hourly employees, according to a securities filing made by the retail giant.
Lynch — now a partner at the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP — and other attorneys at the firm will conduct a racial equity audit of the retail giant, which will focus on evaluating “any disparate racial impacts on our nearly one million U.S. hourly employees resulting from our policies, programs, and practices,” according to the filing.
“We serve diverse customers, operate in diverse communities, and rely on a diverse workforce. Diversity, equity, and inclusion are cornerstones of our continued success and critical components of our culture,” the company said in its filing.
GERMAN SOFTWARE COMPANY TO EXIT RUSSIA
SAP, a German-based software company, announced on Tuesday that it planned to exit Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
“Today we are announcing further steps toward an orderly exit from our operations in Russia,” SAP said in a statement, adding that the company had operated in Russia for more than 30 years.
It specified that it would give non-sanctioned companies the opportunity to have their data “deleted, sent to them, or migrated to a data center outside of Russia.”
BITS & PIECES
An op-ed to chew on: Biden’s cybersecurity budget good start; Congress needs to fill the gaps
Lighter click: Why has no one done this
Notable links from around the web:
Artificial intelligence is creating a new colonial world order (MIT Tech Review / Karen Hao)
Google’s AI-Powered ‘Inclusive Warnings’ Feature Is Very Broken (Motherboard / Samantha Cole)
Meet the woman behind Libs of TikTok, secretly fueling the right’s outrage machine (The Washington Post / Taylor Lorenz)
How Democracies Spy on Their Citizens (The New Yorker / Ronan Farrow)
One more thing: Crypto cyber threats rising
A trio of federal agencies on Monday issued a joint advisory on the growing risk of cyber threats involving cryptocurrency from a North Korean group.
The FBI, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and the Department of the Treasury highlighted the tactics used by a North Korean state-sponsored advanced persistent threat (APT) group.
The agencies said the APT group targeted various organizations in the cryptocurrency industry such as play-to-earn crypto video games, crypto trading companies and individual holders of valuable non-fungible tokens, often referred to as NFTs.
That’s it for today, thanks for reading. Check out The Hill’s Technology and Cybersecurity pages for the latest news and coverage. We’ll see you tomorrow.
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