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Just In | The Hill 

Cybersecurity is expected to be a top priority in 2023 as lawmakers step up their efforts to address evolving threats, including ransomware attacks and foreign spyware. 

Meanwhile, a Facebook whistleblower blasts the social media giant’s civic integrity, and Google has agreed to a multimillion-dollar settlement over location tracking.

This is Hillicon Valley, detailing all you need to know about tech and cyber news from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley. Send tips to The Hill’s Rebecca Klar and Ines Kagubare. 

Cyber priorities to watch out for this year

Cyberattacks have surged in recent years, with the health care system and other critical sectors increasingly coming under digital assaults as the threat of malware like ransomware and foreign spyware continues to evolve.  

Last year in particular saw officials and lawmakers renew their focus on cybersecurity and seek to secure the country’s critical sectors from rising cyber threats. The issue is expected to take center stage again in the coming year, as many of those threats are still escalating while the cyber sector is confronting an ongoing workforce shortage in its efforts to bolster the U.S.’s digital defenses. 

Here are four cyber concerns expected to take priority in 2023:

Threats to critical sectors: The financial, energy and health care sectors are all facing a skyrocketing number of hacks. Cyberattacks have robbed companies in those industries of hundreds of millions of dollars, exposed data and even disrupted essential services, as when a ransomware attack forced the Colonial Pipeline to shut down in 2021, causing gas shortages in several states. 

The health care sector in particular has seen a rise in cyberattacks in the last few years, particularly ransomware attacks targeting hospitals in order to gain access to sensitive information like patient data or medical research and technology. 

Increasing threats to the sector have set off alarm bells in Washington, with Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, warning this fall that cyberattacks could lead to delays in treatment and even patients’ deaths. 

Ransomware attacks: Recent years have seen an especially dramatic spike in ransomware attacks, particularly targeting the health care and financial sectors.

Last year alone, ransomware groups caused outages in multiple hospital systems, temporarily closed schools in parts of the U.S., carried out multimillion-dollar hacks on a number of companies and drove Costa Rica to declare a state of emergency in May as a barrage of attacks impacted its government services. 

Foreign spyware: Foreign spyware garnered attention last year following controversy surrounding the embattled Israeli spyware firm NSO Group, which was blacklisted by the Department of Commerce in 2021 for allegedly facilitating unlawful surveillance used against government officials, journalists, dissidents and human rights activists. 

Congress has since taken steps to address the allegations. In July, the House Intelligence Committee included a provision in the Intelligence Authorization Act authorizing the director of national intelligence to prohibit the U.S. intelligence community from buying and using foreign spyware. 

Labor shortage: Rising cyber threats have brought new urgency to a long-time labor shortage in the industry as both federal agencies and private companies have scrambled to fill key cyber roles. 

The industry has sought to address the shortage by investing in workforce development, and is expected to continue doing so moving forward. 

Read more here. 

FACEBOOK WHISTLEBLOWER: META LACKS CIVIL INTEGRITY

Frances Haugen, who became known as the Facebook whistleblower after she released thousands of documents about the platform’s content moderation policies and algorithm, said the company is not “committed” to civic integrity.  

Haugen said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that Facebook is more concerned with its stock prices and profit margins than public safety. She said she was initially optimistic about the company’s plans when she was hired as part of its civic integrity unit, which she said was one of the best in the industry. 

But she said she realized Facebook was not serious when it dissolved the unit after the 2020 presidential election.  

“When Facebook dissolved civic integrity, I saw that they weren’t willing to make that commitment anymore,” she said.  

Haugen released thousands of internal documents from Facebook in 2021 about the company’s algorithm and its response to misinformation on the platform. She testified before Congress in October of that year that Facebook is prioritizing profits over its users’ safety. 

Read more here. 

GOOGLE REACHES SETTLEMENT OVER LOCATION TRACKING 

Google has agreed to pay a total of $29.5 million to settle separate lawsuits with Washington, D.C., and Indiana over its location tracking practices.  

Under the settlements, Google agreed to not make misrepresentations to users about an individual user’s location information in location history and web and app activity. 

Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita (R) said in a statement that the state reached a settlement with Google for $20 million to resolve its lawsuit over the company’s “deceptive location-tracking practices.” 

“This settlement is another manifestation of our steadfast commitment to protect Hoosiers from Big Tech’s intrusive schemes,” Rokita said. “We will continue holding these companies accountable for their improper manipulation of consumers.” 

Read more here. 

BITS & PIECES

An op-ed to chew on: American national security requires smart spectrum planning 

Notable links from around the web:  

Ukraine War and Upcoming SEC Rules Push Boards to Sharpen Cyber Oversight (The Wall Street Journal / Catherine Stupp and Kim Nash) 

Can these researchers help defend satellite systems targeted by hackers? (CyberScoop / Christian Vasquez) 

Social Media Use Is Linked to Brain Changes in Teens, Research Finds (The New York Times / Ellen Barry) 

ONE LAST THING

House says so long to TikTok

The House’s chief administrative officer banned TikTok from all mobile devices that the body manages last week, ahead of the federal government joining a growing number of states in prohibiting employees from having the app on their government-issued phones.  

Multiple news outlets reported that Catherine Szpindor, the head of the office responsible for providing House members, officers and staff with administrative, technical and operational assistance, sent a memo to all House lawmakers and staff last week saying that the app is considered “high risk” due to multiple security issues. 

“House staff are NOT allowed to download the TikTok app on any House mobile devices,” the memo said, according to NBC. “If you have the TikTok app on your House mobile device, you will be contacted to remove it.”  

With the move, the House joined more than a dozen states and several federal agencies that had previously taken action to ban the app on government devices.  

Read more here. 

That’s it for today, thanks for reading. Check out The Hill’s Technology and Cybersecurity pages for the latest news and coverage. We’ll see you tomorrow.

​Overnight Cybersecurity, Cybersecurity, Overnight Technology, Policy, Technology Read More 

Politics, Policy, Political News Top Stories 

At the heart of Kevin McCarthy’s struggles for the speakership is a bloc of roughly two dozen conservative House Republicans opposed to his elevation.

The 20 members — with 19 of them opposing McCarthy from the start, and one who switched in the third ballot — are a mix of veterans of the Tea Party class, newly elected members and perennial thorns in the side of leadership.

Here’s more on those lawmakers, who actually ensured incoming House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries won more votes on every ballot.

Andy Biggs

(R-Ariz.)

Republicans originally rallied behind the Arizona Republican, the former chair of the House Freedom Caucus, as a symbolic alternative to McCarthy during the first conference-wide vote for GOP leader. Thirty-one GOP lawmakers voted for someone other than McCarthy last November, a sign that McCarthy would not have the votes come Jan. 3. Ten Republicans voted for Biggs on Tuesday during the first speaker vote.

Dan Bishop

(R-N.C.)

Bishop came to Congress in 2019 after time in the North Carolina state Legislature. A member of the Freedom Caucus, Bishop said in a statement Tuesday that McCarthy “is not the right candidate to be Speaker,” arguing he’s maintained the “status quo” that has made Congress unpopular among the American people.

Lauren Boebert

(R-Colo.)

A lightning rod since she first knocked off a Republican incumbent in a 2020 primary, Boebert has long criticized the status quo in Washington. “I worked diligently with my conservative colleagues to put together a deal that would unify the conference behind Kevin McCarthy,” she said on Tuesday. “He rejected it.”

Josh Brecheen

(R-Okla.)

The Oklahoma Republican is a new member who succeeds Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) in representing the House seat covering almost all of the eastern portion of the state. A self-styled fiscal conservative in the vein of former Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), for whom he once worked, Brecheen originally cast his vote for Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.).

Michael Cloud

(R-Texas)

A member of the House since 2018, the Texas Republican said in a statement that Congress is “broken” and that despite negotiations with McCarthy and others, “ultimately many of the promises made lacked enforcement mechanisms necessary to ensure their implementation, casting doubt on the sincerity of reforms.”

Andrew Clyde

(R-Ga.)

The Georgia Republican first assumed office in 2021 and made waves when he likened the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol to a “normal tourist visit.” Clyde is a member of the Freedom Caucus.

Eli Crane

(R-Ariz.)

A new member-elect, Crane flipped a newly redrawn seat previously held by former Rep. Tom O’Halleran (D-Ariz.). He signed on to a letter along with eight other conservatives calling McCarthy’s concessions on the chamber’s rules “insufficient” shortly before the vote.

Byron Donalds

(R-Fla.)

After previously casting his vote for McCarthy in the first two votes, Donalds switched his vote to Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) during the third ballot. “The reality is Rep. Kevin McCarthy doesn’t have the votes,” he said in a statement after the third round. The sophomore Republican has made waves in the conference, throwing his hat in the ring to be chair of the House GOP conference last year ― a bid that he later lost to Rep. Elise Stefanik (N.Y.). Donalds was even floated as an alternative to McCarthy, with Rep. Chip Roy (Texas) voting singlehandedly for the Florida Republican.

Matt Gaetz

(R-Fla.)

Gaetz has led the charge against McCarthy’s bid for speaker since the onset. He’s been in office since 2017 and frequently clashed with party leadership of both parties. “Maybe the right person for the job of speaker of the House isn’t someone who wants it so bad,” Gaetz said Tuesday on the House floor.

Bob Good

(R-Va.)

One of the original five members of the “Never Kevin” caucus, Good has opposed McCarthy’s elevation to the speakership from the jump. He came to Congress in 2020 after defeating a sitting congressman — then-Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-Va.) — in a GOP primary. Good and McCarthy have bad blood dating back to that primary defeat.

Paul Gosar

(R-Ariz.)

Coming to Congress in 2011, the former Tea Party member and now Freedom Caucus lawmaker is one of the most conservative members of his party and a magnet for controversy. The Arizona Republican was previously called out by McCarthy for attending a white nationalist event last year, and was censured and stripped of his committee assignments by the House after posting an animated video that depicted him killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.)

Andy Harris

(R-Md.)

One of the longest-serving members to oppose McCarthy, Harris first came to Congress in 2011 after a lengthy career in the Maryland state Senate. He’s a member of the Freedom Caucus and cast his first vote Tuesday for former Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.) before subsequently backing Jordan.

Anna Paulina Luna

(R-Fla.)

The freshman won election to a newly redrawn seat on the western coast of Florida. Luna signed on to a number of the letters from Perry laying out additional demands of McCarthy, including the one on Jan. 1 calling his concessions “insufficient.”

Mary Miller

(R-Ill.)

Miller first assumed her seat representing a sprawling swath of southern Illinois in 2021 and defeated former Rep. Rodney Davis (R-Ill.) in a member-on-member battle this most recent cycle. She’s a member of the Freedom Caucus and drew the highest-profile attention when she said in January 2021: “Hitler was right on one thing: He said, ‘Whoever has the youth has the future.’”

Ralph Norman

(R-S.C.)

Another of the original “Never Kevin” renegades, Norman has not wavered in his opposition to the California Republican. He’s a member of the Freedom Caucus and originally came to Congress in mid-2017 following a special election to replace Mick Mulvaney.

Andy Ogles

(R-Tenn.)

The freshman prevailed after Tennessee lawmakers redrew a district to break up the city of Nashville. Ogles has also signed on to a number of the letters seeking concessions from McCarthy in exchange for votes. Many signatories have felt those they got did not go far enough.

Scott Perry

(R-Pa.)

As chair of the Freedom Caucus, Perry has been one of the most vocal critics of McCarthy, leading the push for institutional changes that members of the caucus argue would restore power to rank-and-file members. This includes a change to lower the threshold on the motion to vacate, which would allow for members to dispose of a sitting speaker. However, even though McCarthy has stated that he was open to lowering the threshold for such a move, Perry was one of nine conservatives who said they weren’t satisfied with McCarthy’s answers to a list of demands from last month. Hours before the vote, Perry released a scalding statement on McCarthy, saying that the California Republican “failed to demonstrate any desire to meaningfully change the status quo in Washington.”

Matt Rosendale

(R-Mont.)

The second-term Montana lawmaker has been against the McCarthy speakership bid from the beginning. “We need a leader who can stand up to a Democrat-controlled Senate and President Biden, and unfortunately, that isn’t Kevin McCarthy,” he tweeted in November. Rosendale is being closely watched as a potential statewide office candidate in 2024 after coming up short in his Senate bid in 2018.

Chip Roy

(R-Texas)

Roy has also been a key antagonist to McCarthy, advocating for reforms to House rules — including the motion to vacate the chair. Even before coming to Congress, Roy previously pledged his support for Jordan as speaker, and promised to be a thorn in the side of establishment Republicans. “I’m not blinking,” he said Tuesday on Fox News.

Keith Self

(R-Texas)

The Texas Republican just assumed office, succeeding former Rep. Van Taylor (R-Texas), who retired. Prior to his election to Congress, Self served as county judge for Collin County, Texas.

​ Read More 

Just In | The Hill 

Former President Trump on Tuesday declined to say whether he will stick by House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) as his bid to become Speaker appeared to hit a wall.

“We’ll see what happens,” Trump told NBC News in a phone conversation when asked if he stands by his endorsement of McCarthy.

“I got everybody calling me wanting my support,” Trump told NBC. “But let’s see what happens and we’ll go — I got everybody calling, wanting my support. That’s all I can say. But we’ll see what happens. We’ll see how it all works out.”

Trump’s comments came after the House had adjourned for the day without electing a Speaker. Republicans hold 222 of the 434 seats that are filled in the House, but no lawmaker was able to hit the 218-vote threshold needed to become Speaker after three ballots.

The former president, who is an influential figure with many House Republicans, had previously urged those in the House unsure about McCarthy to rally behind the California Republican or risk ending up with a worse alternative.

But Trump’s sudden noncommittal stance could further imperil McCarthy’s chances as Republicans seek a way forward.

McCarthy lost 19 GOP votes on the first two ballots and 20 on the third ballot, leaving the conference in a stalemate. It marks the first time in a century that the House has gone to multiple ballots for Speaker. In 1923, the Speaker election took nine ballots over three days.

McCarthy’s opponents coalesced around Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), a staunch Trump ally, but Jordan has said he is not interested in becoming Speaker.

McCarthy, who remained stoic on the floor during the long voting process even as it became obvious he would lose, remains adamant he will eventually win the gavel.

​House, Donald Trump, House Speaker vote, Jim Jordan, Kevin McCarthy Read More 

Just In | The Hill 

A Democrat-turned-independent Pennsylvania state representative was elected Speaker of the state’s House of Representatives on Tuesday, after several Republicans joined with Democrats in a surprise turn of events. 

Pennsylvania state Rep. Mark Rozzi, who has served as a Democratic member of the House for a decade, said he would govern as an independent, after the closely divided chamber voted 115-85 to elect him Speaker. Rozzi is the first independent Speaker of the Pennsylvania House.

“We’ve heard from the people of Pennsylvania, the press and even members in this own building about how we need to find a new path forward,” Rozzi said, after being sworn in. “My entire career I believe I have worked to find that path, and I am honored to have your trust today to serve as Speaker.” 

Despite taking a slim one-seat majority in November’s elections, Pennsylvania Democrats were down three members in the House on Tuesday, after the death of one state representative and the resignations of two others.

This meant Democrats had 99 members to Republicans’ 101 members and could not elect House Democratic Leader Rep. Joanna McClinton as they had planned.

Republican state Rep. Jim Gregory, who initially put forward Rozzi as a candidate for the Speakership, acknowledged the peculiar nature of his nomination on Tuesday.

“At first blush, many might be wondering why a Republican is standing up to nominate a member of the Democrat caucus,” Gregory said. “The answer is really very simple – we must have a Speaker that reflects the realities that we have before us.”

“For me, Rep. Rozzi has proven himself to be an independent voice,” he continued. “I believe that he will continue to forge that independent path in remaining a fair arbiter for the business of this chamber.”

Gregory was joined by fellow Republican, state Rep. Tim O’Neal, who seconded his nomination of Rozzi. McClinton followed the two Republicans in praising Rozzi as a “true leader among us” and said the Democratic caucus supported his nomination.

Sixteen Republican ultimately joined Democrats in voting for Rozzi as Speaker.

The unusual move in Pennsylvania’s statehouse came as federal lawmakers in Congress failed to settle on a Speaker, despite three rounds of voting, for the first time in decades.

Rep. Kevin McCarthy (Calif.), the GOP leader, failed to muster the necessary votes to become Speaker, and the House adjourned Tuesday evening with many on Capitol Hill wondering if a compromise candidate might emerge overnight.

​State Watch, Independents, Mark Rozzi, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania House of Representatives, Pennsylvania House Speaker Read More