An Interview with Robert Silvers

Our guest for the episode is Rob Silvers, the assistant secretary for cybersecurity policy at DHS.  He talks about what the government can and should do about newly potent DDOS attacks and the related problem of the Internet of Things. The only good news: insecure defibrillators and pacemakers may kill you, but they haven’t yet been implicated in any DDOS attacks.

In the news, Michael Vatis and I debate whether the netizen reaction to a search warrant that also allows the FBI to collect phone security fingerprints during the search is overheated or justified. Maury Shenk explains an unusual UK tribunal ruling, holding that GCHQ’s and MI5’s bulk collection of data was once a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights. Luckily for the UK government, that illegality was cured by the government’s acknowledgment of the collection.

The financial industry faces new cybersecurity regulations; Katie Cassel explains. Then, as the junior member of the podcast crew, Katie also finds herself called on to explain when defense contractors have to disclose cyberattacks to the Department.

In other news, NSA contractor Harold Martin is looking less like a hoarder and more like a serious threat to national security, thanks to the Justice Department motion opposing bail. Maury explains why the EU’s top court thinks that even dynamic IP addresses are personal data. And I explain (or try to) why Julian Assange is a First Amendment cover boy when he blows national security secrets but apparently the second coming of Josef Stalin when he blows politically embarrassing secrets of the Clinton Global Initiative.  Or is the real problem the risotto recipe?

As always, the Cyberlaw Podcast welcomes feedback.  Send an email to [e-mail] or leave a message at [phone].