This Week in Mistrusting Google: Klon Kitchen points to a Wall Street Journal story about all the ways Google tweaks its search engine to yield results that look machine-made but aren’t. He and I agree that most of these tweaks have understandable justifications – but you have to trust Google not to misuse them…. Continue Reading
Tag Archives: cyberespionage
Episode 287: Plumbing the depths of artificial stupidity
Posted in International, RussiaThe Foreign Agent Registration Act is having a moment – in fact its best year since 1939, as the Justice Department charges three people with spying on Twitter users for Saudi Arabia. Since they were clearly acting like spies but not stealing government secrets or company intellectual property, FARA seems to be the only… Continue Reading
Episode 258: The death of Section 230
Posted in CFIUS, China, International, RussiaOur News Roundup leads with the long, slow death of Section 230 immunity. Nick Weaver explains why he thinks social media’s pursuit of engagement has led to a poisonous online environment, and Matthew Heiman replays the astonishing international consensus that Silicon Valley deserves the blame – and the regulation – for all that ails… Continue Reading
Episode 243: Tech World Turned Upside Down Down Under
Posted in China, Cybersecurity and Cyberwar, InternationalIn the News Roundup, Nick Weaver and I offer very different assessments of Australia’s controversial encryption bill. Nick’s side of the argument is bolstered by Denise Howell, the original legal podcaster, with 445 weekly episodes of This Week in Law to her credit. Later in the program, I interview Rep. Jim Langevin (D-RI), who’s… Continue Reading
Episode 223 with David Sanger: A war reporter for the cyber age
Posted in China, Cybersecurity and Cyberwar, International, RussiaEpisode 223 with David Sanger: A war reporter for the cyber age I interview David Sanger in this episode on his new book, The Perfect Weapon – War, Sabotage, and Fear in the Cyber Age. It is an instant history of how the last five years have transformed the cyberwar landscape as dozens of countries follow… Continue Reading
The Cyberlaw Podcast – News Roundup
Posted in China, Cybersecurity and Cyberwar, International, UncategorizedEpisode 221: Daugherty’s Revenge The 11th Circuit’s LabMD decision is a dish served cold for Michael Daugherty, the CEO of the defunct company. The decision overturns decades of FTC jurisdiction, acquired over the years by a kind of bureaucratic adverse possession. Thanks to the LabMD opinion, practically all the FTC’s privacy and security consent decrees are… Continue Reading
The Cyberlaw Podcast – Interview with Chris Bing and Patrick Howell O’Neill
Posted in CFIUS, China, Cybersecurity and CyberwarThe Cyberlaw Podcast – Interview with Chris Bing and Patrick Howell O’Neill Episode 211: Senators Markey and Blumenthal bury the lede Our interview is with Chris Bing and Patrick Howell O’Neill of Cyberscoop. They’ve broken two cyberscoops in the last week or so. First, an in-depth look at Kaspersky’s outing of a US cyberespionage program aimed… Continue Reading
The Cyberlaw Podcast — Interview with Miles Brundage and Shahar Avin
Posted in Cybersecurity and Cyberwar, European UnionEpisode 206: The threat of evil AI from outer space – or maybe a lot closer to home Our interview features an excellent and mostly grounded exploration of how artificial intelligence could become a threat as a result of the cybersecurity arms race. Maury Shenk does much of the interviewing in London. He talks to Miles Brundage,… Continue Reading
The Cyberlaw Podcast – Interview with Susan Landau
Posted in China, European Union, Privacy RegulationEpisode 201: Interview with Susan Landau The crypto wars return to The Cyberlaw Podcast in episode 201, as I interview Susan Landau about her new book on the subject, Listening In: Cybersecurity in an Insecure Age. Susan and I have been debating each other for decades now, and this interview is no exception. In the news… Continue Reading
The Cyberlaw Podcast – Interview with Tim Maurer
Posted in Cybersecurity and Cyberwar, InternationalEpisode 200: In which we turn fitness tracking into an entirely new 702 intelligence program Whether they call it the fitbit or the “Ohsh*t!bit” governments are learning that the exercise internet of things is giving away their geospatial secrets at a rapid clip. Nick Weaver walks us through what most in the US would call… Continue Reading
The Cyberlaw Podcast — Interview with David Ignatius
Posted in China, Cybersecurity and Cyberwar, Data Breach, InternationalEpisode 193: David Ignatius and The Quantum Spy We celebrate the holiday season by interviewing David Ignatius, Columnist and Associate Editor at The Washington Post and the author of multiple spy thrillers, including his most recent, The Quantum Spy. David and I discuss themes from the book, from quantum computing to ethnic and gender tensions… Continue Reading
The Cyberlaw Podcast – Interview with United States Senator Sheldon Whitehouse
Posted in Cybersecurity and Cyberwar, Security Programs & PoliciesEpisode 190: Interview with United States Senator Sheldon Whitehouse In our 190th episode Stewart Baker has a chance to interview United States Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) has a long history of engagement with technology and security issues. In this episode, we spend a remarkably detailed half-hour with him, covering the cybersecurity waterfront, from the FBI’s… Continue Reading
Interview with Jeremy Rabkin
Posted in Cybersecurity and Cyberwar, International, Security Programs & PoliciesEpisode 180: Robots and Cyber and Space, Oh My! The Pantsing of International Humanitarian Law In a delightfully iconoclastic new book, Jeremy Rabkin and John Yoo take the air out of 75 years worth of inflated claims about the law of war. They do it, not for its own sake, though God knows that would… Continue Reading
Steptoe Cyberlaw Podcast – Interview with Jim Miller
Posted in Cybersecurity and Cyberwar, InternationalIn this episode, we interview Jim Miller, co-chair of a Defense Science Board panel that reported on how the US is postured for cyberconflict and the importance of deterrence. The short answer: deterring cyberconflict is important because our strategic cyberconflict posture sucks. The DSB report is thoughtful, detailed, and troubling. Jim Miller manages to convey… Continue Reading
Steptoe Cyberlaw Podcast – Interview with Ben Buchanan
Posted in Cybersecurity and Cyberwar, Data Breach, InternationalEpisode 169. In Which Ben Wittes Gets to the Right of Stewart Baker, to the Likely Eventual Embarrassment of Them Both In the news roundup, Benjamin Wittes makes a cameo appearance, defending Jim Comey (but not the FBI) from my suggestion that leaking has a long and unattractive history at the FBI. Brian Egan takes… Continue Reading
Steptoe Cyberlaw Podcast – Interview with Kevin Mandia
Posted in Cybersecurity and Cyberwar, Data Breach, InternationalEpisode 166 is the interview that goes with episode 165’s news roundup, released separately to ensure the timeliness of the news. In episode 166, we interview Kevin Mandia, the CEO and Board Director of FireEye, an intelligence-led security company. FireEye recently outed a new cyberespionage actor associated with the Vietnamese government. Kevin tells us how… Continue Reading
Steptoe Cyberlaw Podcast – News Roundup
Posted in China, Cybersecurity and Cyberwar, InternationalEpisode 165 is a WannaCry Festivus celebration, as The Airing of Grievances overtakes The Patching of Old Machines. Michael Vatis joins me in identifying all the entities who’ve been blamed for WannaCry, starting with Microsoft for not patching Windows XP until after the damage was done. (We exonerate Microsoft on that count.) Another candidate for… Continue Reading
Steptoe Cyberlaw Podcast — Interview with Michael Schmitt
Posted in Cybersecurity and Cyberwar, International, Security Programs & PoliciesEpisode 162: The Law of Armed Vibrators In this episode, I debate Michael Schmitt, a prime mover in two Talinn Manuals on international law and cyber operations. We are joined by an expert on the topic and a new Steptoe partner, Brian Egan, who was formerly the State Department legal adviser, among other accomplishments. And… Continue Reading
Steptoe Cyberlaw Podcast – Interview with Nicholas Weaver
Posted in Data Breach, International, Privacy RegulationEpisode 159: Interview with Nicholas Weaver Our guest interview is with Nick Weaver, of Berkeley’s International Computer Science Institute. It covers the latest dumps of hacker tools, the vulnerability equities process, the so-bad-you-want-to-cover-your-eyes story of Juniper and the Dual_EC hacks, and ends with a tour of recent computer security disasters, from the capture of a… Continue Reading
Steptoe Cyberlaw Podcast – Interview with Michael Daniel
Posted in Cybersecurity and Cyberwar, International156: Interview with Michael Daniel Our interview is with Michael Daniel, former Special Assistant to the President and Cybersecurity Coordinator at the White House and current President of the Cyber Threat Alliance. We ask Michael how the new guys are doing in his job, what he most regrets not getting done, why we didn’t float… Continue Reading
Steptoe Cyberlaw Podcast – Interview with Curtis Dukes and Tony Sager
Posted in Cybersecurity and Cyberwar, Data Breach, Security Programs & PoliciesEpisode 154: What cybersecurity experts tell their Moms about computer security In this week’s episode, we ask two acknowledged NSA cybersecurity experts, Curtis Dukes and Tony Sager, both from the Center for Internet Security, what they tell their family members about how to keep their computers, phones, and doorbells safe from hackers. Joining us for… Continue Reading
Steptoe Cyberlaw Podcast – Interview with Matt Tait
Posted in China, Cybersecurity and Cyberwar, International, Privacy Regulation, Security Programs & PoliciesEpisode 153: Fancy Bear, Cozy Bear, and … Sneaky Bear? In this episode, Matt Tait, aka @PwnAllTheThings, takes us on a tour of Russia’s cyberoperations. Ever wonder why there are three big Russian intel agencies but only two that have nicknames in cybersecurity research? Matt has the answer to this and all your other Russian… Continue Reading
Steptoe Cyberlaw Podcast – Interview with General Hayden
Posted in China, Cybersecurity and Cyberwar, Data Breach, International, Privacy Regulation, Security Programs & Policies, Virtual CurrencyOur guest for episode 114 is General Michael Hayden, former director of the NSA and CIA; he also confirms that he personally wrote every word of his fine book, Playing to the Edge: American Intelligence in the Age of Terror. In a sweeping interview, we cover everything from Jim Comey’s performance at the AG’s hospital… Continue Reading
Steptoe Cyberlaw Podcast – Interview with Ellen Nakashima and Tony Cole
Posted in China, Cybersecurity and Cyberwar, International, Privacy Regulation, Security Programs & PoliciesDid China’s PLA really stop hacking US companies for commercial secrets? And does it matter? In episode 92, we ask those questions and more of two experts on the topic ‒ Washington Post reporter Ellen Nakashima, who has broken many stories on PLA hacking, and Tony Cole, the Global Government CTO with FireEye, who has… Continue Reading