A quick survey of today's cyber news . . .
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On 4/18, Jason Koebler reported for the Chicago Tribune on how Rep. Mike Rogers, the author of CISPA, explained that the bill is designed to stop Chinese cyber-espionage. According to Rep. Rogers, China is an "economic predator" because it "has stolen so much [IP] that it would be considered 50 times the print collection of the United States Library of Congress."
As the debate rages over whether CISPA goes too far, Mike McConnell (former U.S. national intel director) believes that the bill doesn't go far enough. According to a Bloomberg article written by Eric Engleman and Juliann Francis, McConnell believes that the threat of cyber-espionage necessitates mandatory information sharing between the private sector and U.S. government. CISPA only calls for voluntary information sharing.
Not necessarily CISPA news, but Gerry Smith reported for the Huffington Post on how the PRECISE Act (yet another House cybersecurity bill) just got significantly weaker. Apparently Rep. Dan Lungren dropped a provision from the bill that would allow DHS to create cybersecurity standards for critical infrastructure providers. The change was due to pressure from fellow Republicans who aren't too keen on the idea of cybersecurity regulation for private industry.
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On 4/20, Christopher Bodeen reported for the Associated Press on how a U.S. website that covered the Bo Xilai controversy has come under massive cyberattack. Bo Xilai, formerly one of China's most powerful politicians, is facing accusations of covering up his wife's involvement in a murder plot. According to the AP, the U.S. based website had to move to a new web hosting service after suffering a massive cyberattack.
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Jack Goldsmith had a very interesting interview with Toomas Henrik Ilves, the President of Estonia. You can find the podcast here on the Lawfare website. I've also embedded it below:
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John Fontana wrote for ZDNet on NSTIC. The article chronicled NSTIC's progress, noting that NSTIC has managed to get a lot done in a short time (especially by Washington's standards) but there is still a desire for more tangible results. Nevertheless, with NSTIC's pilot funding program grinding into gear, the program is showing significant movement. Specifically, the government is going to be playing a greater role as an identity ecosystem relying party. Jeremy Grant, head of NIST (and therefore NSTIC), noted that three federal agencies should align with NSTIC by the end of the year.
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Aleks Krotoski wrote for The Guardian on the battle between identity authenticity and anonymity on the internet. According to the article, there is a "critical mass of people who want to see online interactions supported by 'authentic' identity." We can see that on platforms like Facebook and Google+; both require the user to provide their real name. However, the article cited the founder of the website 4chan (the dive bar of the internet and the birthplace of Anonymous) as saying that identity is prismatic, and that real name protocols are too limiting. Indeed, 4chan assures anonymity by allowing users to post without registering.
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