Superstar cybersecurity committee proposed by senators

A new bipartisan bill introduced to the Senate Wednesday hopes to bring about a “Select Committee on Cybersecurity,” which is designed to act as a central entity overseeing cybersecurity efforts across multiple federal agencies.

A new bipartisan bill introduced Wednesday in the Senate would create a “Select Committee on Cybersecurity” designed to act as a central entity overseeing cybersecurity efforts across multiple federal agencies.

The committee would be empowered to write legislation, act as a powerful oversight group, organize investigations, coordinate with the intelligence community and make recommendations to the executive branch. Members would receive direct briefings from the intelligence community.

The bill by Cory Gardner, R-Colo., and Chris Coons, D-Del., would fundamentally alter the way the Senate handles legislation relevant to cybersecurity. The Homeland Security, Armed Services and Intelligence panels currently share jurisdiction over digital security issues and would have to cede some of their existing influence.

The 21-member committee would bring together a star-studded cast of lawmakers that are currently the highest-ranking Republicans and Democrats on the Appropriations, Armed Services, Foreign Relations and Intelligence committees, among others.

Notably, the bill to create the Select Committee on Cybersecurity stipulates that it will oversee “the organization or reorganization of any department or agency to the extent that the organization or reorganization relates to a function or activity involving preventing, protecting against, or responding to cybersecurity threats.”

The committee effectively would decide when and if U.S. Cyber Command, the military’s cyberwarfare unit, would be split from the National Security Agency, which focuses on signals intelligence collection. A division of the currently conjoined organizations had become a point of debate in Washington during the Obama administration. U.S. Cyber Command achieved “initial operating procedure” in October 2016.

Introduction of the bill follows the creation of a Senate Armed Services subcommittee focused on cybersecurity, with Mike Rounds, R-S.D., serving as chairman and Bill Nelson, D-Fla., as ranking member.

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Government

• FBI officials say AI is bolstering adversaries, emphasizing need to focus on cyber basics, patching

• Feds accuse China of ‘systematic’ distillation of U.S. AI models

• CIA’s Michael Ellis says cyber intelligence is changing how the agency operates

• The G7 tells industry to hurry up and prep for post-quantum encryption

Technology

• European parliament members call for slowdown of Serbia’s EU entry over spyware use

• FCC proposes public scorecard to rate telecoms on anti-robocall efforts

• Pegasus, NoviSpy variant spyware found on devices of Serbian activists

• Wyden seeks upgraded NSA security guidance on commercial VPN use

Threats

• Chinese espionage groups swarm to exploit triple-link chain of zero-days

• Microsoft discloses two actively exploited zero-days among 974 vulnerabilities

• Russian national extradited to US for alleged involvement in bank-account takeover scheme

• Attackers exploit zero-days in consistently besieged SonicWall product

Policy

• Whistleblower says USPS deploying new, ‘untested’ IT systems governing mail-in ballots

• ‘Watershed 250’ test program in Texas looks to private sector for water cybersecurity help

• Former sexual abuse victims say Grok used their images, videos to train deepfake capabilities

• Cyber threats nudge Trump to sign executive order on foreign equipment in U.S. energy infrastructure