Hillicon Valley — Presented by Ericsson — Welcome to Cybersecurity Awareness Month

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

Hope everyone remembered to wake Billie Joe Armstrong up this morning, it’s Cyber Month! President Biden kicked off the festivities Friday in a statement touting his administration’s work to secure the nation against cybersecurity threats. The vote of confidence, and the awareness month, come amid a steep rise in major hacks and other cybersecurity incidents.

The Hill will be following along all October as lawmakers and stakeholders seek to turn that heightened attention on cyber into practical defenses and solutions.

Follow The Hill’s cyber reporter, Maggie Miller (@magmill95), and tech team, Chris Mills Rodrigo (@millsrodrigo) and Rebecca Klar (@rebeccaklar_), for more coverage.

Let’s jump in.

The busiest month of the year kicks off

President Biden on Friday expressed confidence in measures taken by his administration during his first months in office to secure the nation against mounting cyber threats as Cybersecurity Awareness Month kicks off.

October has served as Cybersecurity Awareness Month since its inception during the George W. Bush administration, with Biden highlighting the month in a statement Friday in the wake of several major cybersecurity incidents in recent months. 

“Cyber threats can affect every American, every business regardless of size, and every community,” Biden said in his statement. “That’s why my administration is marshalling a whole-of-nation effort to confront cyber threats.

“This October, even as we recognize how much work remains to be done and that maintaining strong cybersecurity practices is ongoing work, I am confident that the advancements we have put in place during the first months of my Administration will enable us to build back better – modernizing our defenses and securing the technology on which our enduring prosperity and our security rely,” he added.

Read more here.

A MESSAGE FROM ERICSSON

 

NEW CLUBHOUSE FEATURES

Social audio chat app Clubhouse is rolling out new features to help content creators expand their audience.

The new features include the ability to record and replay conservations and the ability to download 30-second clips from other social media sites. 

The social app is also rolling out an improved search function to help find live and scheduled audio rooms for users with clubs and certain interests, the company said in its statement on Thursday.

“Right now it’s too hard for (creators) to grow,” Clubhouse’s co-creator and chief executive Paul Davison said in an interview, according to Reuters. “Anytime you help create a great moment or there’s a good quote, you can share that out far and wide, alongside a link that tells people where to go to join that club.”

Read more here.

 

THE BEST LAID PLANS

Google has cancelled plans to offer bank accounts to its users, the company confirmed.

In a statement to The Hill, a Google spokesperson said the company is “updating our approach to focus primarily on delivering digital enablement for banks and other financial services providers rather than us serving as the provider of these services.”

“We strongly believe that this is the best way for Google to help consumers gain better access to financial services and to help the financial services ecosystem connect more deeply with their customers in a digital environment,” the spokesperson said.

News of the plan was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

Read more here. 

 

BITS AND PIECES

An op-ed to chew on: How the US can build EV charging infrastructure that works

Lighter click: We’ll never know

Notable links from around the web:

‘There’s cameras everywhere’: testimonies detail far-reaching surveillance of Uyghurs in China (The Guardian / Johana Bhuiyan)

Sen. Blumenthal’s ‘finsta’ quote wasn’t that bad (The Verge / Makena Kelly)

Bring on the Fist Bumps and Nasal Swabs—Tech Conferences Are Back (Wired / Arielle Pardes)

 

A MESSAGE FROM ERICSSON

 

 

One last thing: Charging collaboration

Five Midwest states announced Thursday that they will work together to increase  the deployment of electric vehicle charging stations.

A memorandum of understanding signed by the governors of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin says the states will form the Regional Electric Vehicle Midwest Coalition, or “REV Midwest.”

The state leaders said in a statement that the agreement is aimed at “competitively” positioning the region for federal funding opportunities and that the ultimate goal is to add jobs, lower emissions and improve public health.

“Today’s REV Midwest partnership is a bipartisan effort to build the future of mobility and electrification and connect our communities,” said Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D), in a statement.

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 Monday.