Overnight Cybersecurity: Obama signs trade secrets bill

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:

–I DO NOT THINK THAT WORD MEANS WHAT YOU THINK IT MEANS: The head of the FBI on Wednesday appeared to challenge Hillary Clinton’s characterization of the federal investigation into her private email server. Clinton and her allies have repeatedly called the probe a routine “security inquiry.” But Director James Comey told reporters that wasn’t an accurate description. “It’s in our name. I’m not familiar with the term ‘security inquiry,’ ” Comey said at a roundtable with reporters. “We’re conducting an investigation … That’s what we do,” he said. Comey reportedly declined to say whether or not the investigation is “criminal” in nature. The months-long federal probe appears to be entering its final stages, following reports in recent days that a number of Clinton allies have been interviewed. Clinton herself is expected to answer questions from FBI investigators and federal prosecutors in coming days or weeks. Comey on Wednesday said the investigation is not “tethered to any external deadline,” such as this summer’s Democratic convention. Still, he said he was under “pressure” to finalize the investigation promptly and efficiently. “We want to do it well and we want to do it promptly. I feel pressure to do both of those things,” Comey said. “As between the two things, we will always choose ‘well.’ ” To read our full piece, click here.

{mosads}–SIGNED, SEALED, DELIVERED: President Obama on Wednesday signed legislation into law that would provide a federal remedy for U.S. companies seeking relief from the theft of trade secrets. Flanked by a bipartisan group of seven lawmakers, the president praised congressional efforts to pass an enforcement bill that allows companies to seek damages for stealing valuable trade secrets through criminal and civil actions. “As many of you know, one of the biggest advantages that we’ve got in this global economy is that we innovate, we come up with new services, new goods, new products, new technologies,” Obama said. “Unfortunately, all too often, some of our competitors, instead of competing with us fairly, are trying to steal these trade secrets from American companies,” he said. “And that means a loss of American jobs, a loss of American markets, a loss of American leadership.” The Senate passed the bill on April 2 in an 87-0 vote and the House cleared the measure 410-2 on April 27. To read our full piece, click here.

 

UPDATE ON CYBER POLICY:  

–DEFINE YOUR TERMS. Two senators want a firm definition of what constitutes an act of war in cyberspace.

A bill introduced by Sens. Angus King (I-Maine) and Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) would require the administration to develop a policy to determine when a cyberattack rises to the level of warfare.

“By requiring the administration to define what constitutes an act of war in the cyber domain, this legislation would help our government be better able to respond to cyberattacks and deter malicious actors from launching them in the first place,” King said in a Tuesday statement.

The bill would require policymakers to consider the ways in which the damage from a cyberattack might mirror a conventional attack — such as casualties or physical destruction — and “the intangible effects of significant scope, intensity or duration.”

It would also require the Department of Defense to include the new definition in its Law of War Manual.

To read our full piece, click here.

 

A LIGHTER CLICK:

–JUST CHECKING. Want to know if your iPhone has been hacked? There’s an app for that.

And it’s topping some of the leading paid apps on the iTunes store.

Read on, here.

 

A REPORT IN FOCUS:

–SEXTORTION. A new report from the Brookings Institution out today looks into “sextortion” — online, remote sexual assaults, “sometimes over great distances, crossing international borders, or involving a great many victims.”

The scheme frequently involves a perpetrator hacking into a victim’s computer then using the images found there to extort the targets.

But because sextortion is not a crime, perpetrators are often charged under a piecemeal of different offenses like computer fraud and extortion.

Read the report, here.

 

A LOOK AHEAD:

THURSDAY

–Deputy Secretary for the Department of Energy Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall and Rep. Will Hurd (R-Texas) will discuss grid security at an event held by Passcode at 8 a.m.

–The Committee on Science, Space, and Technology’s oversight subcommittee will examine data breaches at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) at 10 a.m.

 

WHO’S IN THE SPOTLIGHT:

–CABINET SECRETARIES. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson and Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker — as well as Cyber Command head Adm. Michael Rogers and White House cybersecurity adviser Michael Daniel — were all in Silicon Valley today for a meeting of the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee (NSTAC).

A few cybersecurity goodies: Carter namechecked both the “Hack the Pentagon” initiative and the Defense Department’s offensive cyber operations against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, according to reports.

The event caught some flack on Twitter for a livestream that wasn’t, well, live-streaming until 40 minutes into the meeting.

NSTAC is an advisory committee to the president on critical communications infrastructure.

 

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

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

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler defended his proposal to enforce new privacy rules for broadband providers on Wednesday while sparring with opponents at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. (The Hill)

A lawyer representing a child pornography suspect argued that the government must provide him and his client access to an FBI “network investigative technique” (NIT). (Ars Technica)

Facebook is seeking to reassure Thai users that it safeguards their private data, after a series of arrests raised concerns the social network had failed to protect personal information from Thailand’s military government. (ABC News)

A Saratoga Springs man has been accused of hacking into United Airlines’ website, stealing travel vouchers and then turning around and selling them. (Fox 13)

 

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