OVERNIGHT CYBERSECURITY: Will cyber sharing happen this year?

by Cory Bennett and Elise Viebeck - 04/20/15 7:23 PM ET

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 wrap their arms around cyberthreats. 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:

–IS THIS THE YEAR?: Industry groups are on the cusp of a big win this week as the House is expected to approve a pair of cybersecurity bills. For many in industry, the advancing legislation signals the potential culmination of nearly five years of Capitol Hill meetings. Calamitous cyberattacks on Home Depot, Target and Sony have also forced lawmakers’ hands. But Congress can’t take a victory lap just yet. “This is the one piece that’s never been able to get across the finish line,” said Jessica Herrera-Flanigan, a lobbyist at Monument Policy Group, which represents tech giants like Microsoft. To read our full piece, check back tomorrow morning.

–GET READY TO BE BOMBARDED: Capitol Hill staffers heading to work on the Metro this week will be surrounded by billboards calling on Congress to “Stop Cyber Threats.” It’s part of an advertising campaign launched Monday by the Financial Services Roundtable (FSR), a top lobbying group representing banks, insurers, credit card companies and investment firms. The House is set to vote Wednesday and Thursday on two major cybersecurity bills that would grant companies liability protections when sharing cyber threat data with civilian government agencies. To read our full piece on the campaign, click here.

{mosads}–WATCH THOSE APPLE APPS: About 1,500 applications for iPhones and iPads contain a vulnerability that could allow hackers to intercept protected communications, according to research released on Monday. The security weakness was discovered in iOS device programs ranging from Citrix OpenVoice Audio Conferencing to Movies by Flixster with Rotten Tomatoes. The problem was built into the apps through an open-source code library that enables networking capabilities, according to reports. The discovery by SourceDNA, which analyzes mobile applications, underscores the risk of security flaws when there is a weakness in open-source code used by app developers. While Yahoo, Microsoft and Uber have reportedly fixed the bug in their applications, there are about 1,500 more services that have not. To read our full post, click here.

UPDATE ON CYBER POLICY:

–More Democrats are signaling they will try to amend the Senate’s major cybersecurity bill when it hits the floor in the coming weeks. In a Senate Intelligence Committee report released over the weekend, Sens. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) said they “continue to harbor concerns” about several privacy provisions within the bill. To read our full piece, click here.

LIGHTER CLICK:

–Here’s an app D.C. staffers could really use. Clear, which is currently in development for iOS, analyzes your social media accounts and identifies tweets and posts you might want to delete for the sake of your reputation. It’s being developed by Hipster.com cofounder Ethan Czahor, also known as the guy who was briefly Jeb Bush’s CTO but resigned after journalists discovered a trove of old, offensive tweets. To read more, click here.

A REPORT IN FOCUS:

It looks like the largest bitcoin heist in history might have been a slow, gradual theft instead one dramatic grab, according to a new report from bitcoin security firm WizSec. Mt. Gox, at one point the Internet’s largest bitcoin exchange, dramatically collapsed and went bankrupt in February 2014 after the company reportedly lost almost half a trillion dollars in bitcoin to a suspected cyber theft.

“Most or all of the missing bitcoins were stolen straight out of the MtGox hot wallet over time, beginning in late 2011. As a result, MtGox operated at fractional reserve for years (knowingly or not), and was practically depleted of bitcoins by 2013.” Read more here.

A LOOK AHEAD:

TUESDAY

–Texas A&M University will hold a briefing on cybersecurity at noon, with remarks from Texas Rep. John Ratcliffe, in Rayburn 2360.

–The House Rules Committee will meet at 5:00 p.m. to consider cyber threat-sharing bills from the House Homeland Security Committee and Intelligence Committee.

WEDNESDAY

–The House Small Business Committee will hold a hearing on protecting small businesses from cyberattacks at 11 a.m.

–The House Oversight Committee will hold a hearing on cybersecurity for third-party contractors and vendors at 2 p.m.

THURSDAY

–The Computer and Communications Industry Association will hold a panel on cyber information sharing at 10 a.m.

–Defense Secretary Ash Carter is likely to release a new cybersecurity strategy in a speech Thursday at Stanford University.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

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

HSBC Finance alerted its customers to a data breach. (The Hill)

Anonymous voiced opposition to the threat-sharing bills. (The Hill)

Inside the strange new world of modern spyware. (TechCrunch)

Your children are your greatest security vulnerability. (Wall Street Journal)