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The Department of Justice (DOJ) knocked a cyber bill the Senate passed Tuesday night, arguing it has “serious flaws.”
Meanwhile, with Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) back in the Senate, the Commerce Committee was able to advance long-delayed Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) nominees in a tie vote that split along party lines.
Let’s jump into the news.
Cyber reporting bill draws pushback
Senior officials at the Department of Justice (DOJ) have knocked a Senate-passed cybersecurity bill as having “serious flaws,” criticizing it over a lack of direct reporting to the FBI.
The bill, the Strengthening American Cybersecurity Act, unanimously passed in the Senate on Tuesday night. It would require companies in critical sectors to alert the government of potential hacks or ransomware.
The legislation would require cyber incidents to be reported to the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), though Justice Department officials argue that agencies should also report to the FBI.
Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said in a statement first reported by Politico that the “bill as drafted leaves one of our best tools, the FBI, on the sidelines and makes us less safe at a time when we face unprecedented threats.”
FBI Director Christopher Wray also said in a statement to The Hill that while he applauds the intention of the legislation the bill “has some serious flaws.”
Split Senate panel advances Biden nominees
The Senate Commerce Committee on Thursday advanced President Biden’s nominees to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in two tie votes split along party lines.
Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) returned to the Senate before the vote, after roughly a month-long absence while recovering from a stroke, giving Democrat’s the votes they needed to push forward the long-delayed nominees.
He was met with a round of applause from committee members, and welcoming comments from members on both sides of the aisle.
But a warm welcome for Luján was the end of the bipartisan consensus during Thursday’s markup. Republicans continued to push back on FCC nominee Gigi Sohn and FTC nominee Alvaro Bedoya, both of whom would give their respective commissions a Democratic majority.
UKRAINE CYBER GROUP TARGETS RUSSIA
A Ukrainian cyber guerrilla warfare group is planning to strike back against Russia, targeting the country’s critical infrastructure amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Ukraine’s Defense Ministry asked the group, led by cybersecurity expert Yegor Aushev, to use its cyber capabilities to disrupt railways and electrical grids and stanch the flow of weapons flowing from Russia, according to Reuters.
Aushev told Reuters on Monday that they will do what it takes to stop the war including launching hacking attacks.
TURN IT OVER
U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy has reportedly asked Big Tech companies to hand over data regarding COVID-19 misinformation, The New York Times reported on Thursday.
In a formal notice, Murthy requested major tech platforms submit information about the prevalence and scale of COVID-19 misinformation on their sites, from social networks, search engines, crowdsourced platforms, e-commerce platforms and instant messaging systems.
The Surgeon general last summer issued an advisory calling health misinformation an “urgent threat,” and urging tech and social media platforms to redesign algorithms to reduce misinformation amplification and to bolster their monitoring of it.
BITS AND PIECES
An op-ed to chew on: We must take an increasingly ‘unhinged’ Putin’s nuclear threats seriously
Lighter click: The Lion King prequel we deserve
Notable links from around the web:
Doing Shots With True Believers At Ethereum’s Biggest Party (The Verge / Elizabeth Lopatto)
Watching the World’s “First TikTok War” (The New Yorker / Kyle Chayka)
Fact and Mythmaking Blend in Ukraine’s Information War (The New York Times / Stuart A. Thompson and Davey Alba)
How an American gig work platform was accused of working for Russia (NBC News / Louise Matsakis)
One last thing: Dems press Treasury on crypto
Democrats are pressing the Treasury Department for information around its plans to enforce sanctions compliance within the cryptocurrency industry as concerns rise over whether Russia could use digital assets to get around U.S. sanctions issued in response to its recent invasion of Ukraine.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner (D-Va.), Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Chairman Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), and Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jack Reed (D-R.I.) led lawmakers in a letter to the agency on Wednesday.
In the letter, lawmakers inquire about the agency’s “progress in monitoring and enforcing sanctions compliance by the cryptocurrency industry,” before going on to voice concerns “that criminals, rogue states, and other actors may use digital assets and alternative payment platforms as a new means to hide cross-border transactions for nefarious purposes.”
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 Friday.