The Cyberlaw Podcast

In our eighty-first episode of the Steptoe Cyberlaw Podcast, Stewart Baker, Alan Cohn, Maury Shenk, Michael Vatis, and Jason Weinstein discuss: President Xi’s visit to the White House; the White House (and Silicon Valley’s) take on encryption. From MI5 to the NYDFS to the new Indian government, dissing strong encryption is a surprisingly popular pastime; Congress hears from regulators on the email warrant requirement; the fate of the EU’s data retention law; Judge Leon’s section 215 plaintiff he sought; and a Heartland hacker pleads guilty. In our second half we have an interview with Margie Gilbert, a network security professional with service at NSA, CIA, ODNI, Congress, and the NSC. Now at Team Cymru, she’s able to offer a career’s worth of perspective on how three Presidents have tried to remedy the country’s unpreparedness for network intrusions. The views expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers and do not reflect the opinions of the firm.

In our eightieth episode of the Steptoe Cyberlaw Podcast, Stewart Baker, Michael Vatis, Jason Weinstein, and Doug Kantor discuss: The Second Circuit’s oral argument in the Microsoft lawsuit over producing data stored in Ireland; US-EU umbrella “deal” on exchange of law enforcement data and the “Judicial Redress Act;” The Justice Department obtains a text intercept order for Apple; Apple complies with Russia’s localization law; Obama-Xi summit, and what to do about the Github attack; The Justice Department drops its espionage indictment of a purported Chinese spy for lack of evidence; CISA and Congress; Department of Defense breach disclosure rule is now the subject of a pending firm bulletin.

In our seventy-ninth episode of the Steptoe Cyberlaw Podcast, Stewart Baker, Michael Vatis, Jason Weinstein, and Alan Cohn discuss: Data breach losses are being measured in the tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars; Courts are becoming less sympathetic to the breaches: The Seventh Circuit cleared the way for a breach suit against Neiman Marcus; The FTC and the Third Circuit were kicking Wyndham around the courtroom and down the courthouse steps; Section 215 ruled illegal by appeals court; Fight over location data and the warrant requirement continues: Judge Koh and the Fourth Circuit say a warrant is needed for location data; DOJ changes policy on cellphone surveillance; Baltimore’s public defender’s office to review cases using stingray technology. In our second half we have an interview with Peter Singer, author of Ghost Fleet, a thriller designed to illustrate the author’s policy and military chops.

In our seventy-eighth episode of the Steptoe Cyberlaw Podcast, Dmitri Alperovitch, Harvey Rishikof, Stewart Baker, and Melanie Teplinsky debate whether the United States should start doing commercial espionage. The views expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers and do not reflect the opinions of the firm.

In our seventy-seventh episode of the Steptoe Cyberlaw Podcast, Stewart Baker and Alan Cohn discuss: US decides against publicly blaming China for data hack; furor continues over cybersecurity export control rule; Cyberweek begins and, the cyber left hopes, ends without progress on CISA; Neiman Marcus data breach suit revived by 7th Circ.; UK High Court invalidates data retention law, and makes legal history; France finalizes expansion of surveillance; Bush administration figures come out against back doors; Bloomberg says that the Chinese attempt to build a database on Americans didn’t begin with OPM or Anthem, but with the compromise of travel databases two years ago; FTC takes action against LifeLock for alleged violations of 2010 order; and one poor Ashley Madison subscriber is outed. And he’s Canadian. Looks like the nights really are longer up there. In our second half we have an interview with Bruce Andrews, the deputy secretary of the Commerce Department. The views expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers and do not reflect the opinions of the firm.

In our seventy-sixth episode of the Steptoe Cyberlaw Podcast, Stewart Baker, Michael Vatis, Jason Weinstein, and Alan Cohn discuss: USA Freedom Act aftermath: DC Circuit received supplemental briefs on section 215; ACLU leads charge against the 215 program; Hacking Team doxxing draws attention to the risk involved in hiring hackers; FERC proposes to revise CIP rules with a focus on supply chain practices; Boston Hospital HIPAA settlement; Russia’s right to be forgotten is signed; this week in Prurient Cybersecurity: Hackers broke into Ashley Madison; and Listener Feedback: Maybe TLS isn’t just privacy theater; as attribution gets better, false flag operations do too. In our second half we have an interview with Annie Antón and Peter Swire, cybersecurity and privacy power couple and professors at Georgia Institute of Technology. The views expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers and do not reflect the opinions of the firm.

In our seventy-fifth episode of the Steptoe Cyberlaw Podcast, Stewart Baker, Alan Cohn, Meredith Rathbone, Michael Vatis, and Jason Weinstein discuss: federal law enforcements’ issues with unbreakable encryption; Hacking Team was itself hacked; and the right to be forgotten still on the offensive. In our second half we have an interview with Michael Casey, former senior columnist for the Wall Street Journal and – as of last week – senior advisor at the MIT Media Lab’s Digital Currency Initiative. Michael is also the author, along with his former Wall Street Journal colleague Paul Vigna, of The Age of Cryptocurrency: How Bitcoin and Digital Money Are Challenging the Global Economic Order. The views expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers and do not reflect the opinions of the firm.

In our seventy-fourth episode of the Steptoe Cyberlaw Podcast, Stewart Baker, Jason Weinstein, and Michael Vatis discuss: China’s new security law; FTC settles with a virtual currency mining app makers; This Week in Hacks: FBI report ties Anthem and OPM hack; Anthem class action filed; OPM class action; FTC releases new security guidance; Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court reauthorizes metadata program; WikiLeaks rolls out more alleged NSA docs; Russia modifies its right to be forgotten bill. In our second half we have an interview with Catherine Lotrionte, Associate Director of the Institute for Law, Science and Global Security at Georgetown University. The views expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers and do not reflect the opinions of the firm.

In our seventy-third episode of the Steptoe Cyberlaw Podcast, Stewart Baker, Jason Weinstein, and Alan Cohn discuss: attribution and the Astros Hack; WikiLeaks says NSA spied on French leaders; Google fights for Jake Applebaum; cyberattacks on Polish flight network; Google joins the fight on online harassment; and Toshiba and quantum cryptography. In our second half we have an interview with Robert Knake, Senior Fellow for Cyber Policy at the Council on Foreign Relations, where we discuss the OPM hack, attribution, and the pros and cons of norms. The views expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers and do not reflect the opinions of the firm.

In our seventy-second episode of the Steptoe Cyberlaw Podcast, Stewart Baker, Michael Vatis, Jason Weinstein, and Alan Cohn discuss: growing threats to free speech: France’s censorship of Google; the European Court of Human Rights endorses liability for intermediaries; the Right to be Forgotten returns to Russia; Houston Astros’ database hack; FBI faces criticism over stingray disclosures and aerial surveillance; US Supreme Court boosts privacy rights in hotel case; White House orders all .gov sites to use SSL encryption; FISA court decides it doesn’t need an amicus; Sony is still at risk in an employee class action for the data breach; Hackback gets interest from a Congressional hearing; and In Other News: Jacob Applebaum appeals to the Chinese to release OPM files to Wikileaks; Glenn Greenwald stands up for Russia. In our second half we have an interview with James Baker, General Counsel of the FBI, where we discuss the FBI’s aerial surveillance capabilities, stingrays, “Going Dark,” encryption, and the bureau’s attribution of cyberattacks. The views expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers and do not reflect the opinions of the firm.

In our seventy-first episode of the Steptoe Cyberlaw Podcast, Stewart Baker, Michael Vatis, Jason Weinstein, and Alan Cohn discuss: this week in Snowden: British press reports that Russia and China have decrypted the entirety of Snowden’s files; follow-up news on the Office of Personnel Management hack; Senator McConnell’s effort to put CISA as National Defense Authorization Act amendment fails; attacks on NSA continue in the House; New York’s proposed Bitcoin regulations; Connecticut amends data breach notification law; and Twitter’s lawsuit over transparency. In our second half we have an interview with David Anderson, Queens Counsel at Brick Court Chambers, as well as the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation, a position he was appointed by the Home Secretary in 2011. The views expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers and do not reflect the opinions of the firm.

In our seventieth episode of the Steptoe Cyberlaw Podcast, Stewart Baker, Michael Vatis, and Jason Weinstein discuss: this week in NSA: the USA Freedom bill takes effect; a New York Times article claims that the NSA’s cybersecurity monitoring is a privacy issue; failed MasterCard settlement with Target; Office of Personnel Management hack; US response to Russia’s censorship laws; Supreme Court ruling on online threats; and FBI asks for CALEA to be expanded to social media. In our second half we have an interview with Dan Kaminsky, Chief Scientist at WhiteOps and the cybersecurity researcher who found and helped fix a DNS security flaw. The views expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers and do not reflect the opinions of the firm.

In our sixty-ninth episode of the Steptoe Cyberlaw Podcast, Michael Vatis, Maury Shenk, and Jason Weinstein discuss: the reauthorization of Section 215; Sixth Circuit ruling in the private search doctrine; the Criminal Division considers guidance on defensive countermeasures; class action for Yahoo! goes south; adult friend finder database goes on sale; New York’s bid to license bitcoin; and developments in Europe: European Union legislation – combining cybersecurity and data breach, Skype in Belgium, Microsoft and the United Kingdom. In our second half we have an interview with Jason Brown, Jason Brown, Assistant to the Special Agent in Charge in the Secret Service’s Criminal Investigative Division. The views expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers and do not reflect the opinions of the firm.

In our sixty-eighth episode of the Steptoe Cyberlaw Podcast, Stewart Baker, Alan Cohn, and Michael Vatis are joined by Julian Sanchez, senior fellow at the CATO Institute. They discuss: this week in NSA: the fate of the 215 metadata program; insurance coverage for data breaches; the US indictment of six Chinese economic espionage agents; CCIPS and the Justice Department release a draft paper private cyber-investigation; the personal data orphaned by Radio Shack’s bankruptcy; and Julian and Stewart mix it up over the new, revived Crypto Wars. The views expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers and do not reflect the opinions of the firm.

In our sixty-seventh episode of the Steptoe Cyberlaw Podcast, Stewart Baker, Alan Cohn, Michael Vatis, and Jason Weinstein are joined by Dan Geer, Chief Information Security Officer at In-Q-Tel. They discuss: this week in NSA: what’s on top this week for the 215 metadata program; border laptop searches; an FTC FOIA case; hacking airplanes in flight; FBI’s Stingray guidance; and the first anniversary of the “Right to be Forgotten.” In our second half we have an interview with Dan Geer, a legendary computer security commentator and current CISO for In-Q-Tel. The views expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers and do not reflect the opinions of the firm.