Hillicon Valley — Government lacks data on ransomware
Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) released a report on Tuesday that showed that the federal government lacks comprehensive data on ransomware attacks related to cryptocurrency.
In other news, a group of activists staged a protest at Amazon Web Services’s (AWS) summit Tuesday to bring attention to the company’s work with immigration agencies and police departments.
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.
Gaps uncovered in ransomware data
A new report from Senate Homeland Security Chairman Gary Peters (D-Mich.) found that the federal government lacks sufficient data on the use of cryptocurrency in ransom payments.
The report, released on Tuesday, stems from a year-long investigation into the rise of ransomware attacks and how cryptocurrencies facilitate cybercrimes.
“My report shows that the federal government lacks the necessary information to deter and prevent these attacks, and to hold foreign adversaries and cybercriminals accountable for perpetrating them,” Peters said in a statement.
The report also found that current government reporting of ransomware attacks and cryptocurrency is “fragmented across multiple federal agencies,” and that the lack of reliable data limits the tools needed to secure the nation against cyber threats.
Amazon cloud wing scrutinized
A group of activists staged a protest at Amazon Web Services’s (AWS) summit Tuesday to bring attention to the company’s work with immigration agencies and police departments.
The collection of roughly a dozen protesters from MediaJustice, the Muslim Counterpublics Lab and For Us Not Amazon gathered in front of the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C., during the event’s keynote speech.
The organizations are hoping to bring attention to the ways they say technologies provided by AWS, Amazon’s cloud service provider and one of the main sources of the company’s revenue, are being used to surveil and target communities of color.
“These summits are just a part of the PR strategy to sanitize Amazon’s role as facilitators in state violence,” said Myaisha Hayes, campaign strategies director at Media Justice, a nonprofit that focuses on equity in technology and media.
“While attendees will spend three days learning all about the power and capabilities of AWS, I doubt they’ll hear about the people who have been displaced, arrested, and even deported because of Amazon’s technology,” she told The Hill.
GEN Z IS ON BOARD
The majority of Generation Z voters said they support measures to rein in the power of tech giants, according to a new poll from the progressive firm Data for Progress.
The poll found a majority of voters, both Democrat and Republican, between 18 and 25 supported efforts to regulate the market power of tech giants. The results were released by the Tech Oversight Project, a group advocating for antitrust reform.
For example, the survey found 61 percent of Gen Z voters said they support the American Innovation and Choice Online Act after being given a brief description of the bill, according to a copy of the survey results shared with The Hill.
Read more about the survey results.
Russia accuses West of cyber escalation
Vassily Nebenzia, a Russian representative to the United Nations (U.N.), accused Western democracies of being one-sided and influencing the public to think negatively about his country, calling it a “Russophobic information campaign,” according to Business Insider.
Nebenzia, who spoke on Monday at a U.N. Security Council briefing, said that the West is trying to shut down Russia’s “alternative views” and build “a cyber totalitarianism” against his country.
“States that call themselves a ‘community of democracies’ in fact are building a cyber totalitarianism,” Nebenzia said.
Nebenzia also denounced Ukraine for allowing a volunteer cyber army to fight back against Russian disinformation online as well as targeting Russian and Belarusian facilities.
SPACEX EXEC DEFENDS MUSK
SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell told employees that she personally believes recent sexual misconduct claims against Elon Musk are false, according to a companywide email published by CNBC.
“Personally, I believe the allegations to be false; not because I work for Elon, but because I have worked closely with him for 20 years and never seen nor heard anything resembling these allegations,” Shotwell wrote, according to CNBC.
“Anyone who knows Elon like I do, knows he would never conduct or condone this alleged inappropriate behavior,” she said.
According to a report published by Insider Thursday, Musk was accused of exposing himself to one of his SpaceX employees during a massage and asking her for sex.
TECH STOCKS SUFFERING
Major technology stocks are taking a beating in 2022, with the NASDAQ 100 Technology Sector Index down 33.0 percent since the beginning of the year.
The NASDAQ is no aberration. The Dow Jones U.S. Technology Index is down by 29.6 percent, and the S&P 500’s Information Technology sector is down by 25.7 percent over the same period.
While the Dow Jones index overall was down 14 percent for the year at midday on Tuesday, Big Tech stocks were down even more.
Take a look at the hardest hit.
BITS & PIECES
An op-ed to chew on: If publishers have their way, libraries’ digital options will see major cuts
Lighter click: BBC finally telling the truth
Notable links from around the web:
How ‘Zuck Bucks’ saved the 2020 election — and fueled the Big Lie (Protocol / Issie Lapowksy)
Google Maps Workers Say They Can’t Afford the Trip Back to the Office (The New York Times / Nico Grant)
Snap’s warning sends shock across digital advertising as investors flee social media stocks (CNBC / Lauren Feiner)
People are getting tired of the ‘TikTok music formula’ (NBC News / Morgan Sung)
One more thing: Drone delivery expanded
Walmart is expanding its drone delivery operations to reach as many as 4 million households at 34 locations across six states.
The company announced on Tuesday that it will be able to deliver 1 million packages via drone over the course of the year.
The service will be implemented across Arizona, Arkansas, Texas, Florida, Utah and Virginia and will cost customers $3.99 per delivery order. Each delivery can weigh up to 10 pounds.
Customers will be able to order items for drone deliveries between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. Those deliveries can be completed in as little as 30 minutes, according to the company.
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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