Further Reading, Other Developments, and Coming Events (16 November)

Further Reading

• “Trump’s refusal to begin the transition could damage cybersecurity” By Joseph Marks — The Washington Post. Former executive branch officials, some of whom served at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), are warning that the Trump Administration’s refusal to start the transition to the Biden Administration may harm the United States’ (U.S.) ability to manage cyber risks if it stretches on too long.
• “Biden will get tougher on Russia and boost election security. Here’s what to expect.” By Joseph Marks — The Washington Post. Expect a Biden Administration to restore cybersecurity policy to the prominence it had in the Obama Administration with renewed diplomatic efforts to foster international consensus against nations like the Russian Federation or People’s Republic of China. A Biden Presidency will likely continue to pursue the Trump Administration’s larger objectives on the People’s Republic of China but without the capriciousness of the current President introducing an element of uncertainty. And, election security and funding will naturally be a focus, too.
• “Taking Back Our Privacy” By Anna Wiener — The New Yorker. This fascinating profile of Moxie Marlinspike (yes, that’s really his name), the prime mover behind end-to-end encryption in WhatsApp and his application, Signal, (hands down the best messaging app, in my opinion), is worth your time.
• “Biden’s Transition Team Is Stuffed With Amazon, Uber, Lyft, and Airbnb Personnel” By Edward Ongweso Jr — Vice’s Motherboard. This piece casts a critical eye on a number of members of the Biden-Harris transition team that have been instrumental in policy changes desired by their employers seemingly at odds with the President-elect’s policies. It remains to be seen how such personnel may affect policies for the new Administration.
• “Officials say firing DHS cyber chief could make U.S. less safe as election process continues” By Joseph Marks — The Washington Post. The head of the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity Infrastructure and Security Agency (CISA) may well be among those purged by the Trump Administration regardless of the costs to national security. CISA Director Christopher Krebs has deftly navigated some of the most fraught, partisan territory in the Trump Administration in leading efforts on election security, but his webpage, Rumor Control, may have been too much for the White House. Consequently, Krebs is saying he expects to be fired like CISA Assistant Director Bryan Ware was this past week.

Other Developments

• The Democratic leadership on a key committee wrote the chairs of both the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), “demanding that the two commissions stop work on all partisan or controversial items currently under consideration in light of the results of last week’s presidential election” per the press release. House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Frank Pallone Jr. (D-NJ), Consumer Protection and Commerce Subcommittee Chair Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), and Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chair Mike Doyle (D-PA) argued that FTC Chair Joseph Simons and FCC Chair Ajit Pai should “only pursue consensus and administrative matters that are non-partisan for the remainder of your tenure.” The agencies are, of course, free to dismiss the letters and the request and may well do so, especially in the case of the FCC and its rulemaking on 47 U.S.C. 230. Additionally, as rumored, the FTC may soon file an antitrust case against Facebook for its dominance of the social messaging market when Democrats on the FTC and elsewhere might prefer a broader case.
• The Office of Personnel Management’s (OPM) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) released a pair of audits on the agency’s information security practices and procedures and found continued weaknesses in the agency’s systems. The OPM was breached by People’s Republic of China (PRC) hackers during the Obama Administration and massive amounts of information about government employees was exfiltrated. Since that time, the OPM has struggled to mend its information security and systems.
  • In “Audit of the Information Technology Security Controls of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management’s Agency Common Controls,” the OIG found explained that its “audit of the agency common controls listed in the Common Security Control Collection (CSCC) determined that:
    • Documentation assigning roles and responsibilities for the governance of the CSCC does not exist.
    • Inconsistencies in the risk assessment and reporting of deficient controls were identified in the most recent assessment results documentation of the CSCC.
    • Weaknesses identified in an assessment of the CSCC were not tracked through a plan of actions and milestones.
    • Weaknesses identified in an assessment of the CSCC were not communicated to the Information System Security Officers, System Owners or Authorizing Officials of the systems that inherit the controls.
    • We tested 56 of the 94 controls in the CSCC. Of the 56 controls tested, 29 were either partially satisfied or not satisfied. Satisfied controls are fully implemented controls according to the National Institute of Standards and Technology.”
  • And, in the annual Federal Information Security Modernization Act (FISMA) audit, the OIG found middling progress. Specifically, with respect to the FISMA IG Reporting Metrics, the OIG found:
    • Risk Management – OPM has defined an enterprise-wide risk management strategy through its risk management council. OPM is working to implement a comprehensive inventory management process for its system interconnections, hardware assets, and software.
    • Configuration Management – OPM continues to develop baseline configurations and approve standard configuration settings for its information systems. The agency is also working to establish routine audit processes to ensure that its systems maintain compliance with established configurations.
    • Identity, Credential, and Access Management (ICAM) – OPM is continuing to develop its agency ICAM strategy, and acknowledges a need to implement an ICAM program. However, OPM still does not have sufficient processes in place to manage contractors in its environment.
    • Data Protection and Privacy – OPM has implemented some controls related to data protection and privacy. However, there are still resource constraints within OPM’s Office of Privacy and Information Management that limit its effectiveness.
    • Security Training – OPM has implemented a security training strategy and program, and has performed a workforce assessment, but is still working to address gaps identified in its security training needs.
    • Information Security Continuous Monitoring – OPM has established many of the policies and procedures surrounding continuous monitoring, but the agency has not completed the implementation and enforcement of the policies. OPM also continues to struggle to conduct security controls assessments on all of its information systems.
    • Incident Response – OPM has implemented many of the required controls for incident response. Based upon our audit work, OPM has successfully implemented all of the FISMA metrics at the level of “consistently implemented” or higher.
    • Contingency Planning – OPM has not implemented several of the FISMA requirements related to contingency planning, and continues to struggle to maintain its contingency plans as well as conducting contingency plan tests on a routine basis.
• The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) announced “amendments to the Consumer Data Right Rules…[that] permit the use of accredited intermediaries to collect data, through an expansion of the rules relating to outsourced service providers” per the press release. The ACCC stated “The amendments expand the Consumer Data Right system by allowing for accredited businesses to rely on other accredited businesses to collect Consumer Data Right data on their behalf, so they can provide goods and services to consumers.” The ACCC stated “[t]he Competition and Consumer (Consumer Data Right) Amendment Rules (No. 2) 2020 (Accredited Intermediary Rules) commenced on 2 October 2020 and are available on the Federal Register of Legislation.”
• Singapore’s central bank called on financial institutions to ramp up cybersecurity because of increased threats during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS)’s Cyber Security Advisory Panel (CSAP) held “its fourth annual meeting with MAS management…[and] shared its insights on cyber risks in the new operating environment and made several recommendations:”
  • Reviewing risk profiles and adequacy of risk mitigating measures. The Panel discussed the risks and vulnerabilities arising from the rapid adoption of remote access technologies and work processes that could affect FIs’ cyber risk profiles. The meeting highlighted the need for FIs to assess if their existing risk profiles have changed and remain acceptable. This is to ensure that in the long run appropriate controls are implemented to mitigate any new risks.  
  • Maintaining oversight of third-party vendors and their controls. With the increased reliance on third-party vendors, the Panel emphasised the need for FIs to step up their oversight of these counterparts and to monitor and secure remote access by third-parties to FIs’ systems. This is even more important during the COVID-19 pandemic where remote working has become pervasive.
  • Strengthening governance over the use of open-source software (OSS). Vulnerabilities in OSS are typically targeted and exploited by threat actors. The Panel recommended that FIs establish policies and procedures on the use of OSS and to ensure these codes are robustly reviewed and tested before they are deployed in the FIs’ IT environment.
• Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson issued his fifth annual Data Breach Report “showed that the number of Washingtonians affected by breaches nearly doubled in the last year and ransomware attacks tripled” according to his press release. Ferguson asserted:
  • The total number of Washingtonians affected by a data breach increased significantly, from 351,000 in 2019 to 651,000 in 2020. Overall, there were fewer breaches reported to the Attorney General’s Office in 2020, decreasing from 60 reported breaches last year to 51 this year.
  • Ferguson made the following recommendations:
    • 1. Bring RCW 19.255.005 and RCW 42.56.590 into alignment by making sure that private entities also have to provide notice to consumers for breaches of a consumer’s name and the last-four digits of their Social Security number.
    • SB 6187, which was signed by Governor Inslee on March 18, 2020, and went into effect on June 11, 2020 modified the definition of personal information for breaches that occur at local and state agencies. Specifically, the bill modified the definition of personal information in RCW 42.56.590 to include the last four digits of a SSN in combination with a consumer’s name as a stand alone element that will trigger the requirement for consumer notice. This change should be extended to RCW 19.255.005 as well, to bring both laws into alignment, and provide consumers with the most robust protections possible, regardless of the type of entity that was breached.
    • 2. Expand the definition of “personal information” in RCW 19.255.005 and RCW 42.56.590 to include Individual Tax Identification numbers (ITINs).
    • ITINs are assigned by the IRS to foreign-born individuals who are unable to acquire a Social Security number for the purposes of processing various tax related documents. In other words, they are a unique identifier equivalent in sensitivity to a Social Security number. At present, ten states include ITINs in their definition of “personal information.” In 2018, Washington State was home to just over 1.1 million foreign born individuals, representing approximately 15% of the state’s population.
    • 3. Establish a legal requirement for persons or businesses that store personal information to maintain a risk-based information security program, and to ensure that information is not retained for a period longer than is reasonably required.
    • As this report discussed last year, it is imperative that entities who handle the private information of Washingtonians take steps necessary to keep it safe, and be prepared to act if they cannot. Such precautions are beneficial for both consumers and the organizations collecting their data. In 2019, Ponemon Report indicated that 48% of the companies surveyed lacked any form of security automation – security technologies used to detect breaches more efficiently than humans can.22 In 2020, that number dropped by only 7%.23
    • In 2019, the average cost of a data breach for companies without automation was nearly twice as expensive as for those who implemented security automation. That cost has only grown since, with data breaches in 2020 costing companies without security automation nearly triple that of business who have automation. Similarly, the formation of a dedicated Incident Response Team and testing of an Incident Response Plan reduced the average total cost of breaches in 2020 by more than $2 million.
    • Requiring data collectors to maintain an appropriately sized security program and incident response team and to dispose of consumer information that is no longer needed is a critical next step in mitigating the size and cost of breaches in our state.
• Four former Secretaries of Homeland Security and two acting Secretaries wrote the leadership of the Congress regarding “the need to consolidate and strengthen Congressional oversight of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in order to make possible the fundamental changes that DHS urgently needs to protect the American people from the threats we face in 2021.” They noted “more than 90 different committees or subcommittees today have jurisdiction over DHS—far more than any other cabinet department.” They asserted:
  • DHS urgently needs to make major reforms, improvements, and enhancements to ensure the Department can protect the nation in the way Congress envisioned nearly two decades ago. DHS’s leadership, whether Democratic or Republican, needs to work with a single authorizing committee with broad subject matter authority to enact the changes and authorize the programs that DHS needs to address the threats of 2021.
• Privacy International (PI) and 13 other groups from the European Union (EU) and Africa wrote the European Commission (EC), arguing the EU’s policies are supporting “the funding and development of projects and initiatives which threaten the right to privacy and other fundamental rights, such as freedom of expression and freedom of assembly.” These groups contended:
  • that by sponsoring such activities, the EU drives the adoption and use of surveillance technologies that, if abused by local actors, can potentially violate the fundamental rights of people residing in those countries. In the absence of rule of law and human rights safeguards enshrined in law, which seek to limit the state’s powers and protect people’s rights, these technologies can be exploited by authorities and other actors with access and result in onerous implications not just for the rights of privacy and data protection but also for other rights, such as freedom of expression and freedom of assembly.
  • In their press release, these groups stated the letter “comes following the public release of hundreds of documents obtained by PI after a year of negotiating with EU bodies under access to documents laws, which show:
    • How police and security agencies in Africa and the Balkans are trained with the EU’s support in spying on internet and social media users and using controversial surveillance techniques and tools; Read PI’s report here.
    • How EU bodies are training and equipping border and migration authorities in non-member countries with surveillance tools, including wiretapping systems and other phone surveillance tools, in a bid to ‘outsource’ the EU’s border controls; Read PI’s report here.
    • How Civipol, a well-connected French security company, is developing mass biometric systems with EU aid funds in Western Africa in order to stop migration and facilitate deportations without adequate risk assessments. Read PI’s report here.
  • They stated “we call on the European Commission, in coordination with the European Parliament and EU member states to:
    • Ensure no support is provided for surveillance or identity systems across external assistance funds and instruments to third countries that lack a clear and effective legal framework governing the use of the surveillance equipment or techniques.
    • Only provide support for surveillance or identity systems after an adequate risk assessment and due diligence are carried out.
    • Provide Parliament greater capabilities of scrutiny and ensuring accountability over funds.
    • All future projects aimed at addressing “the root causes of instability, forced displacement, and irregular migration” should be mainstreamed into the NDICI. In turn, discontinue the EUTF for Africa when the current fund comes to its end in 2020.
    • Ensure that EC Directorate-General for International Cooperation and Development (DEVCO), the EU body in charge of development aid, establishes a new Fund aimed at improving governance and legal frameworks in non-EU countries to promote the right to privacy and data protection. Priorities of the Fund should include:
      • Revising existing privacy and data protection legal frameworks, or where there is none developing new ones, that regulate surveillance by police and intelligence agencies, aimed at ensuring they are robust, effectively implemented, and provide adequate redress for individuals;
      • Strengthening laws or introducing new ones that set out clear guidelines within which the government authorities may conduct surveillance activities;
      • Focusing on promotion and strengthening of democratisation and human rights protections;
      • Strengthening the independence of key monitoring institutions, such as the judiciary, to ensure compliance with human rights standards.

Coming Events

• On 17 November, the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey on Section 230 and how their platforms chose to restrict The New York Post article on Hunter Biden.
• The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee’s Regulatory Affairs and Federal Management Subcommittee will hold a hearing on how to modernize telework in light of what was learned during the COVID-19 pandemic on 18 November.
• On 18 November, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will hold an open meeting and has released a tentative agenda:
  • Modernizing the 5.9 GHz Band. The Commission will consider a First Report and Order, Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, and Order of Proposed Modification that would adopt rules to repurpose 45 megahertz of spectrum in the 5.850-5.895 GHz band for unlicensed operations, retain 30 megahertz of spectrum in the 5.895-5.925 GHz band for the Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) service, and require the transition of the ITS radio service standard from Dedicated Short-Range Communications technology to Cellular Vehicle-to-Everything technology. (ET Docket No. 19-138)
  • Further Streamlining of Satellite Regulations. The Commission will consider a Report and Order that would streamline its satellite licensing rules by creating an optional framework for authorizing space stations and blanket-licensed earth stations through a unified license. (IB Docket No. 18-314)
  • Facilitating Next Generation Fixed-Satellite Services in the 17 GHz Band. The Commission will consider a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would propose to add a new allocation in the 17.3-17.8 GHz band for Fixed-Satellite Service space-to-Earth downlinks and to adopt associated technical rules. (IB Docket No. 20-330)
  • Expanding the Contribution Base for Accessible Communications Services. The Commission will consider a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would propose expansion of the Telecommunications Relay Services (TRS) Fund contribution base for supporting Video Relay Service (VRS) and Internet Protocol Relay Service (IP Relay) to include intrastate telecommunications revenue, as a way of strengthening the funding base for these forms of TRS and making it more equitable without increasing the size of the Fund itself. (CG Docket Nos. 03-123, 10-51, 12-38)
  • Revising Rules for Resolution of Program Carriage Complaints. The Commission will consider a Report and Order that would modify the Commission’s rules governing the resolution of program carriage disputes between video programming vendors and multichannel video programming distributors. (MB Docket Nos. 20-70, 17-105, 11-131)
  • Enforcement Bureau Action. The Commission will consider an enforcement action.

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