Episode 215: The Zelig of Hacking Back Our interview is with Nick Schmidle, staff writer for the New Yorker. His report on cybersecurity work that goes to the edge of the law and beyond turns up some previously unreported material, including the tale of Shawn Carpenter, a cybersecurity researcher with a talent for showing up… Continue Reading
Tag Archives: cybersecurity
The Cyberlaw Podcast — News Roundup
Posted in Cybersecurity and Cyberwar, European Union, Privacy RegulationEpisode 213: RSA in 5 minutes In a news-only episode, we get a cook’s tour of the RSA conference from attendees Paul Rosenzweig, Jim Lewis, and Stewart Baker. Short version: Top trends we saw at RSA: more nations attacking cybersecurity firms over attribution, more companies defending themselves outside their own networks (aka hackback), and growing (if still… Continue Reading
The Cyberlaw Podcast – Interview with David Sanger
Posted in Cybersecurity and Cyberwar, International, Privacy RegulationEpisode 210: Keeper: Loser, Weeper In the news roundup, Nick Weaver, Ben Wittes, and I talk about the mild reheating of the encryption debate, sparked not just by renewed FBI pleading but by the collapse of the left-lib claim that building in access is impossible because math. The National Academy report on encryption access has demonstrated… Continue Reading
The Cyberlaw Podcast – Interview with Pete Chronis
Posted in China, Privacy Regulation, Virtual CurrencyEpisode 208: Washington’s one-minute hate for Silicon Valley All of Washington is mad at Silicon Valley these days, as our news roundup reveals. Dems and the media have moved on from blaming Hillary Clinton’s loss on Vladimir Putin; now they’re blaming Facebook and Cambridge Analytica. Gus Hurwitz and I have doubts about the claims of… Continue Reading
The Cyberlaw Podcast – Interview with Glenn Gerstell
Posted in Privacy Regulation, Security Programs & PoliciesEpisode 203: Interview with Glenn Gerstell This episode consists of Jamil Jaffer and I interviewing Glenn Gerstell, the General Counsel of the National Security Agency. Glenn explains what it was like on the inside of the effort to reauthorize section 702 of FISA. Jamil and I ask him whether the FISA court has the authority to deal… Continue Reading
The Cyberlaw Podcast — Interview with Elsa Kania
Posted in China, Cybersecurity and Cyberwar, Privacy Regulation, Security Programs & PoliciesEpisode 196: Did AlphaGo launch an arms race with China? In this episode, I interview Elsa Kania, author of a Center for a New American Security report on China’s plan for military uses of artificial intelligence – a plan that seems to have been accelerated by the asymmetric impact of AlphaGo on the other side… Continue Reading
The Cyberlaw Podcast — Interview with Susan Hennessey and Andrew McCarthy
Posted in China, Cybersecurity and Cyberwar, Security Programs & PoliciesInterview with Susan Hennessey and Andrew McCarthy Episode 195 features an interview with Susan Hennessey of Lawfare and Andrew McCarthy of the National Review. They walk us through the “unmasking” of US identities in intelligence reports — one of the most divisive partisan issues likely to come up in the re-enactment of section 702 of… Continue Reading
The Cyberlaw Podcast – Interview with Tom Bossert
Posted in Security Programs & PoliciesEpisode 187: Interviewing Tom Bossert I had a chance to talk to Tom Bossert, President Trump’s Homeland Security Adviser, on the record, and we’re releasing the conversation as a bonus episode of the Cyberlaw Podcast. The talk ranges from Peggy Noonan’s observations on White House staff work to the vast improvement in the West Wing’s… Continue Reading
The Cyberlaw Podcast – The Shane Roundup
Posted in Cybersecurity and Cyberwar, International, Privacy Regulation, Security Programs & PoliciesToday’s news roundup features Shane Harris of the Wall Street Journal, Brian Egan, and Alan Cohn discussing stories that Shane wrote last week. Out of the box, we work through the hall of mirrors that the Kaspersky hacking story has become. The Russian hacking story is biting more companies than just Kaspersky. Turns out that… Continue Reading
The Cyberlaw Podcast – Interview with Richard Danzig
Posted in Cybersecurity and Cyberwar, InternationalEpisode 183: North Korea’s Chances of Winning a 2040 Gold Medal in Basketball May Be Better than You Think Richard Danzig, former Navy Secretary and a serious defense and technology thinker, speaks to us about the technology tsunami and what it means for the Pentagon. Among the risks: lots more accidents, some of them catastrophic,… Continue Reading
Interview with Jeanette Manfra
Posted in Data Breach, Security Programs & PoliciesEpisode 179: Interview with Jeanette Manfra Our interview is with Jeanette Manfra, DHS’s Assistant Secretary for Cyber Security and Communications. We cover her agency’s binding directive to other civilian agencies to purge Kaspersky software from their systems, and her advice to victims of the Equifax breach (and to doctors who think that Abbott Labs’ heart implants… Continue Reading
Interview with Rebecca Richards and Elizabeth Goitein
Posted in Data Breach, International, Privacy RegulationEpisode 178: The Evil Dolphin Episode The Cyberlaw Podcast kicks off a series exploring section 702 – the half-US/half-foreign collection program that has proven effective against terrorists while also proving controversial with civil liberties groups. With the program due to expire on December 31, we’ll examine the surveillance controversies spawned by the program. Today, we… Continue Reading
The Cyberlaw Podcast – Interview with Michael Mainelli
Posted in Blockchain, European Union, International, Virtual CurrencyEpisode 177: We’re back! In Episode 177, fresh from hiatus, we try to summarize the most interesting cyber stories to break in August. Paul Rosenzweig kicks things off with the Shunning of Kaspersky. I argue that the most significant – though unsupported – claim about Kaspersky is Sen. Shaheen’s assertion that all of the company’s… Continue Reading
Russian Cyber Sanctions – What you Need to Know
Posted in Cybersecurity and Cyberwar, InternationalSteptoe’s International Regulation & Compliance group today authored an advisory entitled: “A Detailed Look at the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act.” The advisory lays out President Trump’s newly signed Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act targeting Russia, North Korea, and Iran. An excerpt detailing the implications of this new law on cybersecurity follows: The… 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 Ellen Nakashima
Posted in Data Breach, International, Security Programs & PoliciesEpisode 171. Implants in the Kremlin’s Snack Machines? Our guest, Ellen Nakashima, was coauthor of a Washington Post article that truly is a first draft of history, though not a chapter the Obama administration is likely to be proud of. She and Greg Miller and Adam Entous chronicle the story of Russia’s information operations attack… Continue Reading
Steptoe Cyberlaw Podcast – Interview with David Sanger
Posted in China, Cybersecurity and Cyberwar, International, Privacy Regulation, Uncategorized168: Globalizing Censorship Episode 168 features the Tinkers-to-Evers-to-Chance of global censorship, as Filipino contractors earning minimum wage delete posts in order to satisfy US tech companies who are trying to satisfy European governments. In addition to Maury Shenk, our panel of interlocutors includes David Sanger, Chief Washington Correspondent for the New York Times, and Karen… 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 Tim Maurer
Posted in Data Breach, International, Security Programs & PoliciesEpisode 164: Stewart on the Road to Tarsus Episode 164 features Stewart Baker’s startling change of heart on the question of cyberspace norms. Credit goes to our interview guest, Tim Maurer, Fellow and co-director of the Cyber Policy Initiative at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. And perhaps as well to Brian Egan, former Legal… Continue Reading
Steptoe Cyberlaw Podcast — News Roundup
Posted in Cybersecurity and Cyberwar, International, Security Programs & PoliciesEpisode 161: News Roundup In this episode, Alan Cohn and Maury Shenk look at questions in Europe and elsewhere in Stewart’s absence. Maury delves into why Google was ordered to turn over foreign data accessible from US, a decision that seems at odds with the Microsoft Ireland case. Alan considers claims made by David Sanger… Continue Reading
Steptoe Cyberlaw Podcast – Interview with Joshua Corman and Justine Bone
Posted in Privacy Regulation, Security Programs & PoliciesEpisode 157 digs into the security of the medical internet of things. Which, we discover, could be described more often than we’d like as an internet of things that want to kill us. Joshua Corman of the Atlantic Council and Justine Bone, CEO of MedSec, talk about the culture clash that has made medical cybersecurity… 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 – Debate with Greg Nojeim and Jamil Jaffer
Posted in Cybersecurity and Cyberwar, Data Breach, International, Security Programs & Policies155: Debating Hackback Episode 155 of the podcast offers something new: equal time for opposing views. Well, sort of, anyway. In place of our usual interview, we’re running a debate over hacking back that CSIS sponsored last week. I argue that US companies should be allowed to hack back; I’m opposed by Greg Nojeim, Senior… 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