Latest in OPM hack
With data breach incidents on the rise, federal courts are grappling with the issue of standing in class action lawsuits arising from data breaches.
In episode 129, Alan Cohn and I dive deep on the Government Oversight Committee’s predictably depressing and unpredictably entertaining report on the OPM hack. Cheeky Chinese hackers register their control sites to superhero alter egos.
Buried in this morning's article covering the ongoing U.S.-China cybersecurity talks, Chinese state-owned media outlet Xinhua News said that an investigation had determined that the hack of the Office of Personnel Management was not a state-sponsored cyber attack, but instead the work of criminal hackers. The otherwise throwaway line in an article about diplomatic negotiations is significant as Xinhua is the official press agency of the People's Republic of China.
Bruce Schneier joins Stewart Baker and Alan Cohn for an episode recorded live in front of an audience of security and privacy professionals. Appearing at the conference Privacy. Security. Risk.
“The Obama administration is developing a package of unprecedented economic sanctions against Chinese companies and individuals who have benefited from their government’s cyber theft of valuable U.S. trade secrets,” reports Ellen Nakashima’s in the Post.
Our guest for episode 77 is Bruce Andrews, the deputy secretary of the Commerce Department. Alan Cohn and I pepper Bruce with questions about export controls on cybersecurity technology, stopping commercial cyberespionage, the future of the NIST cybersecurity framework, and how we can get on future cybersecurity trade missions, among other things.
In the news roundup, Alan and I puzzle over the administration’s reluctance to blame China for its hacks of US agencies.
Last month, I attended a briefing given by members of the Virginia Cyber Commission hosted by the Northern Virginia Technology Council. I was impressed by what I heard. So we invited the Commission’s Executive Director, Rear Admiral Bob Day (USCG, Ret.) to come tell us more about the Commission’s work and the upcoming release of its report later this month. But first, some background on the Commission:
Our guest commentator for episode 74 is Catherine Lotrionte, a recognized expert on international cyberlaw and the associate director of the Institute for Law, Science and Global Security at Georgetown University. We dive deep on the United Nations Group of Government Experts, and the recent agreement of that group on a few basic norms for cyberspace. Predictably, I break out in hives at the third mention of “norms” and default to jokes about “Cheers.”