Cybersecurity and Cyberwarfare

Reps. Randy Weber (R-TX) and August Pfluger (R-TX) introduced the Securing Every Vector, Enhancing Networks (SEVEN) Act, a bill designed to strengthen America’s defenses against cyber threats targeting the Signaling System 7 (SS7) telecommunications protocol. The legislation aims to address these vulnerabilities by coordinating efforts across the government and creating a task force of cybersecurity experts to develop solutions. 

White House National Cyber Director Harry Coker, Jr.

Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell (D-WA) secured just over $3 billion to ensure communities across the country can remove and replace Chinese-owned telecommunication equipment from U.S. networks.

 A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that TikTok can be banned in the U.S. over national security concerns, upholding a federal law requiring the popular social media app to shed its Chinese ownership to keep operating. The court said Congress has the power to take action against TikTok to protect U.S. interests.

Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel proposed urgent action to safeguard the nation’s communications systems from real and present cybersecurity threats, including from state-sponsored cyber actors from the People’s Republic of China.

The Federal Communications Commission is taking steps to address vulnerabilities in US telecommunications networks following the Salt Typhoon cyberattack, a sophisticated intrusion linked to foreign state-sponsored actors. These measures aim to safeguard critical communications infrastructure and ensure national security, public safety, and economic resilience in the future:

The PLAN for Broadband Act (S.

For most people, the internet may be indispensable, but they take it for granted. Though it is sometimes described as the world’s biggest machine, few spare a thought for its physical core: the vast networks of cables spun across sea floors and continents, the cities of energy-hungry servers speeding along data. Until there is a problem. Any number of things can knock an undersea cable out of service. Landslides can do it. So can a ship dragging its anchor. There may be unintended damage from military skirmishes. And then there is sabotage, a growing concern.

In a November 26 letter to Members of Congress, Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel offered an update on the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program, emphasizing the need for full funding of the program.

A Chinese commercial vessel that has been surrounded by European warships in international waters for a week is central to an investigation of suspected sabotage that threatens to test the limits of maritime law—and heighten tensions between Beijing and European capitals. Investigators suspect that the crew of the Yi Peng 3 bulk carrier—225 meters long, 32 meters wide and loaded with Russian fertilizer—deliberately severed