Hillicon Valley — Cyberattack hits Ukrainian websites

Today is Wednesday. Welcome to Hillicon Valley, detailing all you need to know about tech and cyber news from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley. Subscribe here: digital-stage.thehill.com/newsletter-signup. 

Follow The Hill’s tech team, Chris Mills Rodrigo (@millsrodrigo) and Rebecca Klar (@rebeccaklar_), and cyber reporter, Ines Kagubare (@InesKagubare), for more. 

A cyberattack hit several Ukrainian government websites on Wednesday, following a wave of attacks that have hit the nation.  

Meanwhile, Big Tech allies are rallying behind a message that new antitrust legislation could pose national security threats.  

Let’s jump into the news.  

 

Ukraine websites hit in latest cyberattack  

Several Ukrainian government websites were down following a cyberattack on Wednesday, a Ukrainian official confirmed on Telegram, with banks’ websites also affected. 

Ukraine’s minister of digital transformation, Mykhailo Fedorov, said the disruptions, which began around 4 p.m. local time, were “another mass [distributed denial-of-service] DDoS attack” that targeted several state websites including the parliament, the foreign affairs and defense ministries. 

This is the latest wave of cyberattacks against Ukrainian government websites and comes amid Russia’s moves in eastern Ukraine, with U.S. officials saying Wednesday that Moscow appeared ready to carry out a broader incursion “any time.”

Last week, a top White House official said that Russian government hackers were allegedly behind cyberattacks targeting Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense and local banks. 

Read more here. 

 

New Slant

Big Tech’s numerous allies in Washington are repeating a similar message as they lobby lawmakers to abandon antitrust legislation: The U.S. needs tech giants at full strength to counter China, Russia and other threats to national security.   

The last-ditch effort comes as the Senate gears up to consider the American Innovation and Choice Online Act, a bipartisan bill that would prevent dominant digital platforms from favoring their own services and empower antitrust enforcers to scrutinize the largest tech firms.  

Despite making it out of the Senate Judiciary Committee by a bipartisan 16-6 vote, the legislation targeting America’s largest tech companies faces an uphill battle.  

Many lawmakers who gave the legislation a thumbs-up on the panel cautioned that they would be unlikely to vote “yes” on the floor unless major changes are made.  

A handful of those lawmakers specifically expressed concern that stopping tech giants from self-preferencing could unintentionally advantage America’s adversaries.  

Russian aggression in Ukraine has only reinforced those industry talking points among lawmakers who are fearful of impending cyber conflicts with Russia and China, according to tech allies.  

Read more on the strategy. 

FACEBOOK FAILED TO LABEL CLIMATE DENIAL

Facebook labeled half of the climate change denial posts linked to content by the leading publishers of such disinformation, according to a Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) report published Wednesday.  

The CCDH is among advocacy groups pushing Facebook, now under the parent company name Meta, to do more to combat misinformation than applying the labels, which advocates say have not been proven to be an effective tool for mitigation.  

But Facebook’s failure to follow through on its pledge to even take “minimal” action by applying the labels underscores their reluctance to combat climate denial, said CCDH chief executive officer Imran Ahmed 

“They know that it’s a problem. They know that that misinformation is being spread on their platform. That’s why they’ve announced that they will do some things,” Ahmed said, referring to the labels. 

“So they’ve already acknowledged that harm’s been created on their platform, but they’re still failing to actually carry through on their promises,” he added.   

Read more here.  

 

TWITTER IMPROPERLY SUSPENDED RESEARCHERS

Twitter on Wednesday said accounts highlighting Russian disinformation on the social media platform had been improperly suspended. 

A number of researchers’ accounts were highlighting Russian disinformation tactics such as using years-old videos to purport current violence in eastern Ukraine, The Washington Post reported.  

Some thought the accounts were suspended due to Russian bots mass reporting the tweets, but Twitter’s head of site integrity disputed those claims. 

We’re closely investigating — but mass reporting is not a factor here,” Yoel Roth wrote on Twitter. 

“A small number of human errors as part of our work to proactively address manipulated media resulted in these incorrect enforcements. We’re fixing the issue and reaching out directly to the affected folks,” he added. 

Read more here.  

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BITS AND PIECES

An op-ed to chew on: Russia will retaliate with psychological warfare — the US should do the same 

Lighter click: Basic manners 

Notable links from around the web: 

Behind the stalkerware network spilling the private phone data of hundreds of thousands (TechCrunch / Zack Whittaker) 

Meet The Secretive Surveillance Wizards Helping The FBI And ICE Wiretap Facebook And Google Users (Forbes / Thomas Brewster) 

Mayor LaToya Cantrell moves to end ban on facial recognition, other crime-fighting surveillance (Nola.com / Michael Isaac Stein) 

One last thing: DoorDash, UnidosUS partner

The country’s largest Hispanic civil rights organization is partnering with the largest food delivery company to provide training and grants for the industry’s largely-Latino workforce. 

UnidosUS and DoorDash will invest $1.1 million to train workers in 10 markets, including Chicago, Houston, Miami and the New York City boroughs of Queens and Brooklyn. 

“Everyone deserves an opportunity to succeed at their workplace. That’s why we’re excited about our new partnership with DoorDash to provide Latinx workers with the skills they need to succeed in the jobs of the 21st century,” said Janet Murguía, UnidosUS president and CEO.  

The joint project — dubbed Caminos, Spanish for “paths” — will focus on financial coaching as well as nutritional development and civic engagement. 

Both issues directly impact Hispanic communities nationwide, particularly in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. 

Read more here.  

 

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 Wednesday.

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