- The FCC is creating a security council
- This will focus on cyber development and defense
- A holistic approach to cybersecurity is coming to the US government
The new chair of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Brendan Carr, has announced that he will be establishing a security council to protect against cyberattacks, with a specific focus on “persistent and constant threat from foreign adversaries, particularly the Chinese Communist party”, The Financial Times reports.
“These bad actors are always exploring ways to breach our networks, devices and technology ecosystem. It is more important than ever that the FCC remain vigilant and protect Americans and American companies from these threats,” Carr warned.
Chinese threat actors have been targeting US infrastructure, including the US Treasury, forcing the agency to declare a ‘major incident’. These attacks are looking to disrupt an already turbulent political climate in the US, and weaken critical services.
Strategic competition
The council will have a number of goals, including ensuring that the US “wins the strategic competition with China over critical technologies” like AI, satellites, 5G, and quantum computing - as well as mitigating US vulnerabilities to nation-state threat actors and cyber espionage, and reducing foreign supply chain dependence.
Bringing the communications regulator into the FCC is part of the US government’s effort to pull resources from a range of different agencies in order to tackle the growing threat from cyber adversaries.
Chinese hacking group Salt Typhoon is said to be part of the council’s focus early-on, and as the infamous group behind the Treasury hack, as well as targeting universities and telecoms networks (and more), this won’t come as much of a surprise.
This is juxtaposed by the recent news that the US is looking to pause cyber-offensive operations against Russia - despite CISA’s confirmation that defense against all cyber threats, ‘“including from Russia” will continue as normal.
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