Hillicon Valley: Experts raise security concerns about online voting | Musk finds supporter in Trump | Officials warn that Chinese hackers targeting COVID-19 research groups

by Maggie Miller and Chris Mills Rodrigo - 05/13/20 6:40 PM ET

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ONLINE VOTING WOES: Experts are sounding alarms about potential security risks as several states consider allowing online voting amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Delaware, New Jersey and West Virginia are planning to allow overseas military personnel and voters with disabilities to return their ballots electronically for elections this year amid concerns about voting in person during a pandemic.

But federal officials and cybersecurity experts are strongly urging states to stay away from online voting, arguing that it could open up new avenues for interference less than four years after Russia meddled in the 2016 elections.

New guidelines: The Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) joined a group of federal agencies in condemning the idea of online voting in guidelines first reported by The Guardian.

The guidelines, sent to states privately, described online voting as “high risk.”

“Electronic ballot return, the digital return of a voted ballot by the voter, creates significant security risks to voted ballot integrity, voter privacy, ballot secrecy, and system availability,” the agencies wrote in the guidelines. “Securing the return of voted ballots via the internet while maintaining voter privacy is difficult, if not impossible, at this time.”

The National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine has also warned against electronic voting, and members of Congress have railed against the practice, citing security concerns.

Concerns: Russian state-backed actors targeted U.S. election infrastructure, including voter registration systems, in all 50 states in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election, according to the Intelligence Community (IC) and former special counsel Robert Mueller.

In February, reports emerged that IC officials had told the House Intelligence Committee that Russia was again attempting to interfere in the 2020 presidential election.

But despite concerns around the ability of foreign actors to target online systems, some states are forging ahead with limited electronic voting, while highlighting the security controls in place.

CHINESE HACKING FEARS: The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security’s cyber agency on Wednesday warned that Chinese government-backed hackers are targeting U.S. organizations developing vaccines and treatments for the COVID-19 virus.

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the FBI said in the joint alert that the agencies hoped to “raise awareness” of threats posed to research groups by Chinese malicious actors.

“These actors have been observed attempting to identify and illicitly obtain valuable intellectual property and public health data related to vaccines, treatments, and testing from networks and personnel affiliated with COVID-19-related research,” the agencies warned. “The potential theft of this information jeopardizes the delivery of secure, effective, and efficient treatment options.”

The agencies recommended that organizations conducting research into COVID-19 automatically assume they will be a major target of hackers, and that they increase cybersecurity. Tips included using multifactor authorization for accounts and patching vulnerabilities as quickly as possible.

“The FBI and CISA urge all organizations conducting research in these areas to maintain dedicated cybersecurity and insider threat practices to prevent surreptitious review or theft of COVID-19-related material,” the agencies wrote.

Some key leaders on Capitol Hill have pushed for action to be taken to push back against Chinese cyberattacks.

Read more here.

CYBER DEFENSE MEASURES: Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said Wednesday that he was pushing for inclusion of measures meant to defend the United States against cyber threats in the upcoming annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

Johnson, the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said during a virtual committee hearing on cyber threats that he hoped to include a provision creating a federal national cybersecurity leadership position in the NDAA.

“We are working hard to get included in the NDAA so it can become law, there is the need to put someone in charge, a national cyber director,” Johnson said.

Lack of cyber leadership: There is currently no central federal leader for cybersecurity. The departments of Defense and Homeland Security (DHS), along with the intelligence community and the FBI, address cyber threats, but the Trump administration has lacked a central lead since the White House cybersecurity coordinator position was eliminated in 2018.

Johnson also voiced his support for including a provision that would give DHS’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) the ability to subpoena internet service providers for information on vulnerabilities detected critical infrastructure networks. A House committee approved a bill around this issue in January.

“It’s a very necessary authority that CISA needs, and I am going to ask everybody on our committee to do everything, by hook or by crook, to hopefully get into the NDAA as well,” Johnson said.

Cyber commission recommendations: Both recommendations were backed by the Cybersecurity Solarium Commission (CSC), a group created by Congress in 2018 to evaluate the cyber risks to the United States. The group, which includes members of Congress and federal agency leaders, was charged with laying out recommendations on how to defend the nation against these threats.

The CSC submitted its report, which included over 75 recommendations on how to prevent a cyber doomsday scenario, in March as the coronavirus pandemic began to sweep the world.

Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), a co-chair of the commission, testified Wednesday that cyber threats were only “magnified” by COVID-19, as attempted hacks on healthcare and research groups involved in fighting the virus have spiked.

“We have to communicate that to our colleagues, that this isn’t something academic, this is coming at us, this isn’t something that may come at us, it’s coming at today,” King said, adding that the private sector is “being pinged millions of times a day by malicious actors.”

Read more here.

AMAZON EXTENDS HAZARD PAY: Amazon is extending a $2 hourly pay raise for workers through the end of May, company spokesman Timothy Carter told The Hill on Tuesday.

It will also extend double overtime pay in the U.S. and Canada.

“These extensions increase our total investment in pay during COVID-19 to nearly $800 million for our hourly employees and partners,” Carter said in a statement.

The online retail giant first instituted the hazard pay for warehouse and fulfillment center workers in March. It was set to expire at the end of April before being extended through May 16.

Amazon has seen demand for its services surge during the coronavirus pandemic and has hired well over 100,000 new workers.

Workers at warehouses and fulfillment centers — as well as tech workers — have been critical of Amazon’s handling of that new demand and the pandemic more broadly.

Read more here.

DEMS PUSH FOR COLLEGE INTERNET ACCESS: Democrats in both chambers introduced legislation on Wednesday aimed at ensuring that all college students have internet access amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The Supporting Connectivity for Higher Education Students in Need Act allocates $1 billion for a fund at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration targeted for students lacking internet access.

The funding would be used directly for internet connections as well as equipment like hot spots and Wi-Fi enabled devices.

Schools receiving funding would be required to prioritize students eligible for financial aid.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), who is leading the bill’s introduction in the Senate, said in a statement that “ensuring college and university students have access to high-speed internet is critical” during the pandemic.

Klobuchar was joined by Sens. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Gary Peters (D-Mich.) and Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) in introducing the Senate bill.

Democratic Reps. Anna Eshoo (Calif.), Doris Matsui (Calif.), G.K. Butterfield (N.C.), Marcia Fudge (Ohio), Joaquin Castro (Texas), Lisa Blunt Rochester (Del.) and Alma Adams (N.C.) introduced the House companion legislation.