Overnight Cybersecurity: Comey, Trump at odds on wiretapping | Obama advisers press Trump to act on cyber

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 STORY:

–PUSH BACK: An FBI source tells CNN that FBI head James Comey feels that “institutionally he has to push back on” claims Donald Trump made without evidence that former President Barack Obama bugged Trump Tower during the campaign. Comey had reportedly pushed the Department of Justice to immediately refute the claims, which appear to have originated with a right-wing radio host parsing a number of news stories into a wider theory. The CNN story comes hours after Trump surrogate Sarah Huckabee Sanders told Good Morning America that she did not believe Trump accepted the FBI director’s denial and “firmly believes” the claims. “Does [Comey] know of possibility there might be a confrontation and be fired by the President? Sure,” CNN’s source said. “Does he worry about it? No.”

–WOULD HE CIRCUMVENT THE DOJ TO PROTECT THE FBI? Right now, reports CNN, Comey is still trying “to figure an appropriate channel for the FBI and DOJ to formally come out and say the allegations are not true.” If Comey believes he needs to act publicly to protect the FBI’s integrity, it won’t be the first time. During the campaign, he held a press conference to explain why he wouldn’t recommend prosecution for Hillary Clinton. And in another incident, shared a letter to Congress to announce the FBI found new emails in their Clinton probe. Both of those actions though subjected him to fierce criticism and charges of partisanship from lawmakers.

–AMONG THE PEOPLE WHO SAY THEY HAVE NOT SEEN EVIDENCE THAT OBAMA WIRETAPPED TRUMP: House Oversight Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah). Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) – who headed up the Benghazi panel. Senate Intelligence Republicans Marco Rubio (Fla.) and Tom Cotton (Ark.). Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper outright denied the allegation.

–HOMELAND CHIEF BELIEVES TRUMP HAS ‘CONVINCING’ EVIDENCE: Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly told CNN Monday evening he had seen no evidence, but was sure the president wouldn’t have said anything without proof. “If the president of the United States said the, he’s got his reasons to say it, he has some convincing evidence it took place.”

–REPUBLICAN LAWMAKERS SHRUG OFF TRUMP CLAIMS: Rank-and-file Republicans writing an ObamaCare repeal bill insisted they wouldn’t be distracted or thrown off message by Trump’s comment of the day. “We can walk and chew gum at the same time,” Rep. Richard Hudson (R-N.C.), a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee that is playing a critical role in drafting the legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act, told The Hill. “We are laser-focused and won’t be distracted by sideshows,” added one GOP lawmaker close to leadership.

To read the rest of this piece, click here. 

–REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CALIF.) BRUTALLY TWEETS HIS INCREDULITY: “We must accept possibility that @POTUS does not know fact from fiction, right from wrong. That wild claims are not strategic, but worse.”

A POLICY UPDATE:

–CYBER NUDGE: Members of a commission established under former President Barack Obama to examine the federal government’s cybersecurity efforts are nudging the new Trump administration to move forward on its recommendations issued just after the November election.

Three members of the commission, including former Obama national security adviser Tom Donilon, on Monday reiterated their call for more cooperation between the public and private sector and more leadership in the White House to spearhead efforts on cybersecurity.

Sam Palmisano, former president and CEO of IBM and vice chair of the commission, said he has attended meetings at the White House to offer his input on cybersecurity policy.

Palmisano told reporters following an event with other members of the commission at the Center for Strategic and International Studies on Monday that he had appeared at the White House that morning to offer advice on how to modernize the government’s technology and management to help it function more like a private sector entity.

Obama established the Presidential Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity by executive order in February 2016. The group issued a report laying out 16 recommendations to streamline and strengthen the federal government’s cybersecurity efforts last December, weeks before Obama turned over the White House to President Trump.

Trump initially signaled that he would move quickly on cybersecurity reform, announcing the signing of an executive order on cybersecurity in January. But that was abruptly canceled by the White House.

To read the rest of our piece, click here.

A LIGHTER CLICK: 

THE CIA’S CLASSIFIED DESSERTS. Mexican pecan candy so good, it was illegal to talk about. 

A REPORT IN (AND OUT OF) FOCUS:

BLOOMBERG CLAIMS RUSSIANS EXTORTING HACKED LIBERAL GROUPS, BUT IT’S NOT THAT CLEAR: In a story providing scant technical details and contradictory testimony, Bloomberg claims Russian government hackers may have targeted liberal activists and donors in data breach extortion efforts. But one of the targets alleged by the Bloomberg piece has already come forward to deny having been hacked.

“[T]wo people familiar with probes being conducted by the FBI and private security firms” told the magazine hackers threatened at least a dozen liberal groups, warning that they would release potentially inflammatory emails and other documents if not paid ransoms between $30,000 and $150,000.

The Bloomberg piece claims that left-wing advocacy groups were hacked “using some of the techniques that security experts consider hallmarks of Cozy Bear,” one of the hacking teams believed to be responsible for the Democratic National Committee breach during the presidential campaign.

But the piece does not explain which techniques, making it hard to gauge whether or not those techniques were exclusive to Cozy Bear.

“All facts indicate this was financially motivated,” Steve Sampson, a representative of Arabella Advisors told Bloomberg.

A representative from the Center for American Progress tweeted that, despite being named in the report, that organization had not, to its knowledge, been hacked.

In fact, no quoted source in the Bloomberg piece seemed at all certain any attack would be traced back to Moscow.

“I would be cautious concluding that this has any sort of Russian government backing,” John Hultquist, director of cyber espionage analysis at FireEye Inc. told Bloomberg.

WHO’S IN THE SPOTLIGHT:

ROD ROSENSTEIN: Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) is demanding that deputy attorney general nominee Rod Rosenstein commit during his confirmation hearing on Tuesday to appoint a special prosecutor to oversee an investigation into any ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.

“The Senate Judiciary Committee is going to have a hearing on the nomination of Mr. Rosenstein to serve as the deputy attorney general. During that hearing Mr. Rosenstein should commit to naming a special prosecutor to look into the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia,” Schumer said from the Senate floor.

Rosenstein is scheduled to have a hearing before the committee to be the No. 2 official at the Justice Department on Tuesday. Schumer predicted that his position on whether or not to appoint a special prosecutor would be “front and center.”

“If he won’t appoint a special prosecutor, he’d need a darn good reason and it’s hard for me to see one right now,” Schumer added. “[It’s] far and away the most important question he needs to answer.”

With Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s decision to recuse himself from any current or future probes into potential ties between the Trump campaign and Moscow, Rosenstein may ultimately make decisions about a DOJ investigation into Russia. 

Sixty-five percent of Americans back having a special prosecutor conduct the investigation, according to a CNN/ORC poll released earlier Monday, while 32 percent believe Congress can handle the probe.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) is threatening to slow walk Rosenstein’s nomination if he doesn’t commit to naming a special prosecutor.

“I will use every possible tool to block the nomination of Rod Rosenstein to be Deputy Attorney General unless he commits to appoint independent special prosecutor,” he said in a statement on Tuesday.

To read the rest of our piece, click here.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

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

Trump on Monday declared this week National Consumer Protection Week, underscoring the need to increase awareness about cyber crime. (The Hill)

A cyberthreat that once attacked U.S. military members and congressional staff resurfaced with new ‘wiper’ malware. (The Hill)

Senate Intelligence Committee members will vote on the nomination of Dan Coats to be Director of National Intelligence on Tuesday. (The Hill)

Brits want more cooperation in cybersecurity between the EU and NATO (The Hill) 

Consumer Reports aims to test products for cybersecurity. (The Hill)

A large spamming operation accidentally left a database of contact information, including email and real addresses of 1.4 billion people, unsecured online. Similarly, internal chat logs showing that company may have used illegal hacking tactics were also exposed. Either would have been visible to any person who stumbled upon it. (MacKeeper)

Researchers find that smart energy meters in the Netherlands were off more than twofold in their readings. Not so smart. (IEEE)

HackerOne is offering free use of its bug bounty / responsible disclosure platform for open source software. (InfoSecurity).

“This self-driving van concept from Volkswagen looks like a pissed-off toaster” – today’s best headline. (The Verge)

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