The Cyberlaw Podcast

In our 169th episode of the Steptoe Cyberlaw Podcast, Stewart Baker, Benjamin Wittes, Maury Shenk, and Brian Egan discuss: Comey and Trump: the upshot; clarity on 702, with DiFi, the Valley, and Tom Bossert plus all the R’s on SSCI laying out their positions; Qatar flap created by cyberattack?; China will use its cybersecurity law to investigate, naturally, Apple; Speaking of which, native Chinese company Rafotech has something a whole lot more sinister on 250 million machines; Ukraine’s unusual sanctions targeting Russian social media companies. Our guest interview is with Ben Buchanan, Postdoctoral Fellow of the Cyber Security Project at the Harvard Kennedy School and author of The Cybersecurity Dilemma: Hacking, Trust and Fear Between Nations. The views expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers and do not reflect the opinions of the firm.

In our 168th episode of the Steptoe Cyberlaw Podcast, Stewart Baker, Karen Eltis, and Maury Shenk discuss: Social media firms have increased removals of online hate speech, brags EU. It turns out that they’re really talking about things like “anti-migrant” speech. Theresa May’s call for internet regulation to prevent the spread of she called “Islamic extremism.” Rightie claim that Obama and FBI was caught spying on Americans goes viral, despite lack of real connection to, uh, Obama and FBI, or even a scandal. In first annual review of Privacy Shield, EU to focus on Trump administration compliance rather than further US concessions ; Federal Court Revives Wikimedia’s Challenge to NSA Surveillance; China Cybersecurity Law takes effect. Our guest interview is with David Sanger, Chief Washington Correspondent for the New York Times to discuss cyber statecraft topics.

In our 167th episode Blockchain Takes Over the Steptoe Cyberlaw Podcast, Alan Cohn, Maury Shenk, Matthew Kulkin, Cameron Arterton and Jared Butcher discuss: Digital Currency Taxation: Short overview of the IRS notice/TIGTA report/Coinbase summons; Current status of Coinbase subpoena proceedings; Third Coinbase User Opposes IRS Bid As ‘Fishing Expedition’; Coinbase Users Move To Stay Unnamed, Quash IRS Summons. Initial Coin Offerings: What is an ICO/How does it work; Legal Gray Areas (Howey test; fiduciary duties); SEC Official Urges Companies Issuing Tokens to Protect Investors; ICOs Are Changing the Way VCs Deal With Startups; The Legality of ICOs – Past and Future. Implementing Smart Contracts: Summary of blog post topics; GLTR article summary; What’s coming next. EU Proposal on AML Regulations: Status of the delayed EU proposal to extend AML regulation to virtual currencies. In other news, Surge in bitcoin price; Future of CFTC leadership; Update on OCC Fintech Charter. Our guest interview is with Meltem Demirors, Director of Development at Digital Currency Group.

In our 166th episode of the Steptoe Cyberlaw Podcast—a companion to episode 165—Stewart Baker is joined by guest Kevin Mandia, CEO and Board Director of FireEye, where they discuss FireEye’s report entitled Cyber Espionage is Alive and Well: APT32 and the Threat to Global Corporations. The views expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers and do not reflect the opinions of the firm.

Wannacry fallout continues; Who to blame?; Microsoft? David Omand, the former head of British intelligence agency GCHQ, said Microsoft should have maintained support for its Windows XP system to protect public services from hacks; North Korea?; NSA? PATCH Act; Companies who don’t patch? SEC Warns Firms To Beef Up Security After Cyberattacks; What does it say about relative nations’ security?; The Oliver-Pai debate on net neutrality; This week in cyberproliferation; Vietnam joins the ranks of cyberespionage enthusiasts; Russia as cyberweapons proliferator; EU Fines Facebook $122M Over “Lies” During WhatsApp Deal

In our 164th episode of the Steptoe Cyberlaw Podcast, Stewart Baker, Paul Rosenzweig, and Brian Egan discuss: the cyber EO is finally out – and just in time for wCry; WCry causes ransomware meltdown ; given a choice of blaming Microsoft, who wrote the bad code and the limited security update, the hackers who wrote the ransomware, or the GRU, who revealed the vulnerability, US reporters blame … NSA; Brad Smith of Microsoft thinks it shows we need a digital Geneva accord; NSA’s latest problems with compliance and the FISA court; Abbott Labs proposes a settlement with MedSec that would prevent it from talking to government in the absence of a preexisting inquiry and notice to Abbott; if Trump taped Comey, does it matter where he did it? Two-party consent rules. Our guest interview is with Tim Maurer, Fellow and co-director of the Cyber Policy Initiative at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. The views expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers and do not reflect the opinions of the firm.

In our 163rd episode of the Steptoe Cyberlaw Podcast, Stewart Baker, Alan Cohn, Maury Shenk, and Jennifer Quinn-Barabanov discuss: Putin does what Putin does, this time in the French election: maybe with forged documents, plus prosecution threats for publishers, and NYT reporters whining about automated retweets ; OK, that’s nuts, but quite possibly the plaintiff bar’s future; transparency report reveals shocking stat on FBI searches of NSA data for criminal suspects. The bureau did it … once; less comforting stat: roughly a quarter of NSA’s 4000 intel reports describing Americans disclosed the Americans’ names; still no EO, but at least we have a new leaked draft; Home Depot settlement and what it means for class actions over breach; Trump White House’s American Tech Council launched; UK floats draft interception bill to a select audience; Germany’s intel service whines about Russian hacking and then about its lack of authority to, uh, hack back to destroy third party servers. Chris Painter, call your office!; DHS cybersecurity does well in budget deal DHS backpedals on privacy rights of non-Americans; ABA whines about border searches; Guardian plays world’s smallest violin: Cybercrime on the high seas: the new threat facing billionaire superyacht owners; Uh-oh. Two factor authentication falls to SS7 hack. Our guest interview is with Susan Munro, Steptoe partner and head of our Beijing office to discuss China’s new cyberlaw measures. The views expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers and do not reflect the opinions of the firm.

In our 162nd episode of the Steptoe Cyberlaw Podcast, Stewart Baker, Michael Vatis, Stephanie Roy, Alan Cohn, and Brian Egan discuss: this is what a risk-averse signals intelligence agency looks like: giving up intelligence to satisfy elite opinion; FCC’s plan for net neutrality emerges; this week in sex toy security: the FTC to the rescue?; remember this story the next time Silicon Valley says the government can’t be trusted with crypto keys because of Snowden; the Russians who hacked Clinton are going after Macron in France, says Trend Micro; this week in vigilante cybersecurity: Flexispy is doxed; Brickerbot secures the IOT by administering “Internet Chemotherapy”; our guest interview is with Michael Schmitt, Professor of Law at the University of Exeter, the US Naval War College, and the US Military Academy at West Point and a leader in the effort to articulate the law of armed conflict in cyberspace known as Talinn 2.0. The views expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers and do not reflect the opinions of the firm.

In our 161st episode of the Steptoe Cyberlaw Podcast, Alan Cohn and Maury Shenk discuss: Google ordered to turn over foreign data accessible from US (seems to go the other way from Microsoft Ireland case); Did the US blow up North Korea's missile?; proposed e-privacy regulations and views of Article 29 Working Party; Justice Department considering criminal charges against Wikileaks for CIA cyber-tools leak (seems to go the other way from last summer); lack of Trump administration response on Privacy Shield; Wassenaar negotiators get to work for 2017. The views expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers and do not reflect the opinions of the firm.

In our 160th episode of the Steptoe Cyberlaw Podcast, Stewart Baker, Stephanie Roy, Julian Sanchez, and Gus Hurwitz discuss: Shadow Brokers releases two dumps in a week – only the second one makes news, and maybe NSA got to Microsoft first; Ajit Pai unveils net neutrality plan; Abbott Labs dinged for leaving defibrillator hacking holes unpatched for years; Burger King demonstrates what’s wrong with the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act; expanded rule 41 used against Kelihos bot; sky doesn’t fall; NSA has been monitoring SWIFT transactions in the Middle East. The views expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers and do not reflect the opinions of the firm.

In our 159th episode of the Steptoe Cyberlaw Podcast, Stewart Baker, Jamil Jaffer, Jennifer Quinn-Barabanov, and Maury Shenk discuss: New measures are planned to allow cops and spooks in the European Union to crack open encrypted apps and services, according to the bloc's Justice Commissioner; Trump administration to talk encryption challenges with EU; EU will ask Privacy Shield participants for US surveillance data; Wendy’s facing two-front battle over data breaches; Facebook loses its effort to block bulk search warrants; LabMD 1st Amendment claims against FTC survive dismissal; Judge won't halt Massachusetts ban on secret recordings; Germany sees growing cyber threat but lacks legal means to retaliate; India’s government has been scanning the irises and fingerprints of its citizens into a massive database. Our guest interview is with Nicholas Weaver, Senior Researcher of Networking and Security at the International Computer Science Institute in Berkeley and a lecturer in cyber security at UC Berkeley. The views expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers and do not reflect the opinions of the firm.

In our 158th episode of the Steptoe Cyberlaw Podcast, Stewart Baker and Michael Vatis are joined by Ben Wittes, Tamara Wittes, Susan Hennessey, and Shane Harris from the Lawfare and Rational Security podcasts at the Triple Entente Beer Summit. They discuss: the (then pending) attack on Assad’s forces in Syria; the future of the Russia election/surveillance investigation; the meaning of changes to the National Security Council. The views expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers and do not reflect the opinions of the firm.

In our 157th episode of the Steptoe Cyberlaw Podcast, Stewart Baker, Stephen Heifetz, and Philip Khinda discuss: Two White House Officials Helped Give Nunes Intelligence Reports; Buzzfeed motion; how Cisco responded to the Wikileaks Vault7 leak; Donald Trump has a new iPhone — so it looks like he isn’t boycotting Apple anymore; James Comey’s Twitter Account. Our guest interview is with Joshua Corman, Director of the Cyber Statecraft Initiative for the Atlantic Council, also serving on the HHS CyberSecurity Task Force required by CISA, and founder of "I am The Cavalry" a volunteer group focused on public safety/human life in connected technologies and Justine Bone, CEO and Director of MedSec, a company that analyzes the quality and security of technology solutions in the medical device and healthcare industries. The views expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers and do not reflect the opinions of the firm.

In our 156th episode of the Steptoe Cyberlaw Podcast, Stewart Baker, Michael Vatis, and Stephanie Roy discuss: Wikileaks releases a second installment, this time mostly focusing on Apple, which scoffs at the alleged vulnerabilities; Wikileaks offers contract to pre-disclose leaked vulnerabilities; Third Circuit upholds contempt ruling for forgetting password; Congress begins the CRA process for internet telecom privacy regulations; another bad omen for the crypto imperialists of Silicon Valley: UK Home Secretary calls Whatsapp crypto “completely unacceptable.; Does GCHQ spy on Americans for NSA?; electronic devices won’t fly from Mideast; Bossert urges no changes to 702; North Korea’s bid to breach global banks. Our guest 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. The views expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers and do not reflect the opinions of the firm.

In our 155th episode of the Steptoe Cyberlaw Podcast, Stewart Baker, Maury Shenk, and Alan Cohn discuss: White House wiretap flap keeps flapping; a failed attempt to sue foreign governments for cyberspying inside the US; European Court of Justice Limits Right to be Forgotten; Germany proposes $50 m fines for social media with disapproved views; Justice Department indicted four men, including two Russian spies, for hacking into Yahoo and stealing data on 500 million users; President Donald Trump will publicly call for a volunteer effort from tech companies and internet service providers to crack down on botnets; budget is good to cyber: $1.5 billion for Homeland Security Department programs that protect federal networks; and $61 million for the FBI that would go toward intelligence gathering and bypassing encryption; the German parliament voted today to loosen Germany's data protection laws, amid heightened concern over public safety; President Donald Trump will appoint Rob Joyce, the head of the NSA's elite hacking unit, as his top White House cyber adviser; Senate Confirms Coats as Trump's Intel Chief; Judge Koh rejects Google wiretap settlement. In place of our usual interview, we’re running a debate over hacking back that CSIS held last week as part of its 2017 Cyber Disrupt Summit. Stewart Baker is joined by Greg Nojeim, Senior Counsel at the Center for Democracy & Technology and Jamil Jaffer, Vice President for Strategy & Business Development of IronNet Cybersecurity. The views expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers and do not reflect the opinions of the firm.