Tag Archive for: dhs

DHS official says world should unite against China’s ‘dark, dystopian’ use of the internet

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The Milken Institute Global Conference held a panel on Tuesday on “digital nationalism” in the modern world.

U.S. Department of Homeland Security Policy Under Secretary Robert Silvers warned the audience that the growing schism between the U.S. and China in digital regulation is effectively creating “two internets.” With China’s dominance in electronic manufacturing and its expansive digital infrastructure, the U.S. may be allowing the Asian country to turn its own internet into a truly dangerous weapon, panelists agreed.

“I think China is certainly our most important long-term strategic competitor. I think the threats coming out of China are in some ways too many to count. And I think in the technology space for a first, you just see an enormous amount of hacking activity directed into the U.S.,” Silvers said.

US DOESN’T STAND A FIGHTING CHANCE IF RUSSIA AND CHINA COMBINE CYBER TECH, FORMER PENTAGON OFFICIAL SAYS

“And second, I think the Chinese government’s vision of the internet is a dark, authoritarian, dystopian vision that we have to unite against and build against,” Silvers warned. “It is built to harvest and surveil its own citizenry, and that is just thoroughly inconsistent with the values of our country, with the freedom that I believe the internet should be a tool for liberty and openness and free expression and creativity and stepping out of the box into new spaces and new ideas.”

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, sits down with representatives of teachers and students at a symposium and delivers a speech during a visit to Renmin University of China in Beijing, capital of China, April 25, 2022. 

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, sits down with representatives of teachers and students at a symposium and delivers a speech during a visit to Renmin University of China in Beijing, capital of China, April 25, 2022. 
(Ju Peng/Xinhua via Getty Images)

The DHS official explained that China’s investment in developing countries could expand the influence of the Chinese censorship of content. 

“I am just deeply concerned about the trend of the Chinese version of the internet,” Silvers said. “I agree that the White House that our administration’s declaration on what we believe is the future of the internet is an important…

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‘Hack DHS’ Program Identifies 122 Vulnerabilities Across Networks

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‘Hack DHS’ Program Successfully Concludes First Bug Bounty Program

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Today, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the results of its first bug bounty program. Through the “Hack DHS” program, vetted cybersecurity researchers and ethical hackers are invited to identify potential cybersecurity vulnerabilities in select external DHS systems. In the first phase of this program, more than 450 vetted security researchers identified 122 vulnerabilities, of which 27 were determined to be critical. DHS awarded a total of $125,600 to participants for identifying these verified vulnerabilities. DHS was the first federal agency to expand its bug bounty program to find and report log4j vulnerabilities across all public-facing information system assets, which allowed the Department to identify and close vulnerabilities not surfaced through other means.

“Organizations of every size and across every sector, including federal agencies like the Department of Homeland Security, must remain vigilant and take steps to increase their cybersecurity,” said Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas. “Hack DHS underscores our Department’s commitment to lead by example and protect our nation’s networks and infrastructure from evolving cybersecurity threats.”

Hack DHS launched in December 2021 with the goal of developing a model that can be used by other organizations across every level of government to increase their own cybersecurity resilience. During the second phase of this three-phase program, vetted cybersecurity researchers and ethical hackers will participate in a live, in-person hacking event.  During the third and final phase, DHS will identify lessons learned, including to inform future bug bounty programs.

“The enthusiastic participation by the security researcher community during the first phase of Hack DHS enabled us to find and remediate critical vulnerabilities before they could be exploited,” said DHS Chief Information Officer Eric Hysen. “We look forward to further strengthening our relationship with the researcher community as Hack DHS progresses.”

To learn more about Hack DHS, please visit DHS.gov. Further, organizations of all sizes can visit CISA’s Shields Up webpage for resources and…

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Proposed ‘Hack-Back’ Bill Tells DHS To Study Allowing Companies To Retaliate – Breaking Defense Breaking Defense

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A new bill could be the first step in companies being able to “hack back” at bad actors – but doing so could come with major risks, experts say. (File)

WASHINGTON: Two members of the Senate Finance Committee have introduced a bipartisan bill that instructs the Department of Homeland Security to study the “potential consequences and benefits” of allowing private companies to hack back following cyberattacks.

Sens. Steve Daines, R- Mont., and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., have introduced the legislation as frustration over repeated cyberattacks against US companies has led to growing calls across the national security community and the private sector for retaliatory actions. Some, including military legal advisors, are now calling for the US to revisit its policy on military offensive cyber operations, especially in response to increasing ransomware attacks targeting the public and private sectors.

The draft Study on Cyber-Attack Response Options Act tells DHS to study “amend[ing] section 1030 of title 18, United States Code (commonly known as the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act), to allow private entities to take proportional actions in response to an unlawful network breach, subject to oversight and regulation by a designated Federal agency.”

DHS’s report would provide recommendations to Congress on the “potential impact to national security and foreign affairs.” Specifically, the report would address the following issues:

  • Which federal agency or agencies would authorize “proportional actions by private entities;”
  • Level of certainty in attribution needed to authorize such acts;
  • Who would be allowed to conduct such operations and under what circumstances;
  • Which types of actions would be permissible; and
  • Required safeguards to be in place.

“The Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack shows why we should explore a regulated process for companies to respond when they’re targets,” Whitehouse said in a statement to Breaking Defense. “This bill will help us determine whether that process could deter and respond to future attacks, and what guidelines American businesses should follow.” (A request for comment to Daines’s office was not returned by…

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