Good morning, Her Campus! With a break-neck news cycle, there is no possible way for you to stay on top of every story that comes across your feeds—we’re all only human, after all.
But, life comes at you fast. So grab a cup of coffee and settle in for this quick and dirty guide to stories you might’ve been sleeping on (like, literally. It’s early.)
FBI Tells 2018 Political Campaigns to Up Their “Cyber Hygiene”
With the 2018 midterm election quickly approaching, the FBI has released a series of instructional videos aimed at political campaigns, urging them all to do one thing: amp up their cybersecurity game.
The series, titled Protected Voices, is part of a larger effort by the FBI to educate campaigns, as well as the public, about cyberattacks and the dangers of foreign influence on the U.S. democratic system.
“One key to addressing this threat is for a campaign to enhance its own cyber hygiene, the technological equivalent of locking your doors and windows,” says the Protected Voices site, which launched on Friday. According to ABC News, the Protected Voices website features a dozen videos, with FBI special agents and technical specialists discussing topics such as best Wi-Fi practices to securing campaign communications.
Top U.S. officials have warned about the potential for hacking and influence campaigns targeting the midterm election similar in fashion, and possibly scale, to the interference allegedly committed by the Russian government in the 2016 presidential election. According to U.S. intelligence community assessments and recent court documents, the attack on the 2016 election included the hacking of political organizations and a propaganda campaign to cause divisiveness among U.S. voters.
“Foreign influence operations – which include covert actions by foreign governments to influence U.S. political sentiment or public discourse – are not a new problem,” the FBI says on its Combating Foreign Influence website. “But the interconnectedness of the modern world, combined with the anonymity of the Internet, have changed the nature of the threat and how the FBI and its partners must address it.”
Social media companies Facebook and Twitter have been fighting foreign influence operations, and Microsoft recently identified what appears to be a spear-phishing plots against conservative groups and the U.S. Senate.
Former National Security Agency official Oren Falkowitz told ABC News that campaigns are at the center of elections and cybersecurity, and will likely be the “primary focus” of any malicious actors ahead of an election.
However, Falkowitz says that it will be up to the campaigns to take the necessary steps to protect themselves from such attacks.
“‘Education and awareness’ is the ‘thoughts and prayers’ of cybersecurity,” Falkowitz said.
Judge Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court Confirmation Hearing Is On Track For Tuesday Despite Democrats’ Opposition
Despite the efforts by Senate Democrats to postpone Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing, Kavanaugh will appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday to make his case that he belongs on the Supreme Court.
Senate minority members have argued that Kavanaugh’s record as a top White House staffer during the Bush administration has not been properly vetted, and have raised concerns that President Donald Trump chose to nominate Kavanaugh due to his views on executive power, specifically how he believes that sitting presidents should not be subject to criminal investigations or prosecutor’s questions, ABC News reports.
Democrats have also pushed for postponing the confirmation hearing altogether due to the legal issues surrounding Trump. Most recently, Senate Democrats began calling for a postponement in the nomination proceedings in light of Trump’s former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, alleging that Trump instructed him to make payments to whom Trump supposedly had affairs with, in order to silence them, ABC News reports.
Several Senate Democrats, including Sen. Richard Blumenthal, have canceled their meetings with Kavanaugh following the Cohen revelations.
“He’s been nominated by a president who’s been implicated in a criminal conspiracy,” said Blumenthal, shortly after the Cohen allegations came to light. “There is no way that his nomination will be untainted. The court itself will be stained.”
Republicans have disregarded the Democrats’ arguments, saying that they are merely politically-driven.
via Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
“This is just another obvious and opportunistic attempt to push the confirmation past the midterm elections,” Grassley said Tuesday, dismissing the Senators’ cancelled meetings as political posturing.
“I look forward, along with the rest of the Senate, in performing our constitutional duties beginning next week, providing advice and consent on this important nomination,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday.
Kavanaugh appears to be moving full steam ahead, with a senior White House official saying that Kavanaugh has been in at least two full-day mock hearings, and is confident in his upcoming performance.
Kavanaugh is virtually assured of the Senate support he needs to be confirmed, and is expected to have the votes of all 50 Republicans in the chamber. If Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, who is required by law to appoint a Republican to fill the seat of the late Sen. John McCain, has a replacement in by the time of Kavanaugh’s confirmation comes before the full Senate, Kavanaugh will have his 51 votes. In the event that that is not the case, and no Democrats vote in favor of Kavanaugh, Vice President Mike Pence could cast the tie-breaking vote in Kavanaugh’s favor.
California Lawmakers Have Passed the Strongest Net Neutrality Rules in the Country
California lawmakers have approved a bill that would restore the net neutrality rules repealed by the federal government earlier this year, potentially creating the strongest internet protections in the U.S.
The bill, which was approved by the state Senate in a 27–12 vote Friday, is now on its way to California Gov. Jerry Brown’s desk, and would prohibit internet providers from slowing down websites, charging customers more for higher-quality streaming and demanding payments from internet companies to reach subscribers.
According to Buzzfeed News, the bill, which was coauthored by San Francisco Sen. Scott Wiener, would also prohibit zero-rating data. This just means that internet providers can’t exempt certain websites or services from counting towards a customer’s data. Zero-rating entire categories of apps and services, such as music streaming apps, would still be allowed, however.
“This is about a level playing field and an internet where we as individuals get to decide where we go on the internet, instead of being told by internet service providers or being manipulated by internet service providers into going where they want us to go,” Wiener said during a press conference after the bill’s passage.
Washington and Oregon have adopted laws to restore protections, but neither law fully reinstated all of the rules, Buzzfeed news reports.
Furthermore, Washington and Oregon’s law do not explicitly prohibit internet providers from charging websites and internet services access fees to reach the internet company’s subscribers.
Governors in other states, including New York and Montana, have signed executive orders that prevent internet providers with state contracts from slowing down or blocking websites.
“This is a huge victory,” said state Sen. Kevin de León. “It’s our hope that other states in the country will be able to replicate what we’ve done here.”
What to look out for…
Happy Labor Day, everyone! Enjoy your extra day off from school and work!