Hacking Campaigns Target NATO, Rosenworcel on Content Fines, Booming U.S. Chip Sales to China
A report from Google found the company’s technology was being harnessed in Russian attempts to hack allies of Ukraine.
T.J. York
April 1, 2022 – A new report from Google released Wednesday has found attempts from Russian-based hackers to infiltrate the networks of NATO, American-based nongovernmental organizations and several Eastern European nations’ militaries.
Google says that the hackers, known as Calisto or Coldriver, have also launched phishing campaigns against American think tanks, a Balkan nation’s military and a Ukraine-based defense contractor.
Hackers harnessed Gmail to carry out their attacks.
U.S., European Union and NATO officials have recently increased their warnings about Russian cyberattacks surrounding the invasion of Ukraine.
On Thursday U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken announced additional sanctions on Russian tech companies and cyber actors due to observed malicious online activity.
Google’s report also found similar hacks from other threat actors such as China and Belarus.
FCC Chairwoman requests authority on broadcast content fines
During testimony before the House of Representatives’ Committee on Energy and Commerce on Thursday, Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel requested that Congress give her agency the authority to enforce fines of broadcast content on its own.
See Completed Maps Will ‘Absolutely’ Be Available This Fall, FCC’s Rosenworcel Says, Broadband Breakfast, March 31, 2022
Rosenworcel expressed frustration with the Department of Justice in how ineffective it is at taking broadcasters to court and enforcing fines referred to the department by the FCC.
She would like the FCC to have the authority to take targeted entities to court.
Her request earned some support from members of the House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, with Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., informing the chairwoman that she would be part of an effort to work with Rosenworcel on crafting legislation that provides such authority to the FCC.
Eshoo has supported expanded on-air disclosure requirements which she believes will help combat Russian “propaganda broadcasts” on American airwaves, yet the requirements remain the subject of a legal battle waged by the National Association of Broadcasters.
Sanctions barely curb increasing chip exports to China
A new investigation released by Light Reading on Thursday found that in 2021, U.S. chips and chipmaking products continued to export to China in very large quantities despite sanctions placed on some of China’s most prominent semiconductor-consuming companies.
U.S. companies made billions more from product shipments to China last year than they did in 2019.
The figures place into doubt the efficacy of U.S. government sanctions on prominent Chinese companies Huawei and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation.
Several advocated for the sanctions to curb Chinese development of next-generation networks, advanced artificial intelligence and weaponry that is based on U.S. technology.
Tensions surrounding chip sales have continued to increase in recent months, as Chinese technology companies such as Huawei have continued to serve Russian clients amid the invasion of Ukraine as Western companies have suspended operations and cut off existing customers.
