FCC votes to reverse telecom security rulemaking issued under Biden

"The rulemaking was enacted at the tail-end of the Biden administration under then-FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and immediately required telecommunications firms to secure their networks against unauthorized access to systems that house wiretap requests from law enforcement. A related notice of proposed rulemaking passed under Rosenworcel would require communications providers to submit annual attestations to the agency about their security posture."

"The moves came in response to hacks carried out by Salt Typhoon, a Chinese cyberespionage group backed by the nation's Ministry of State Security, which breached dozens of communications firms in the U.S. and around the world over the course of several years. The campaign was only uncovered around a year ago. The FBI concluded in August that over 80 countries were affected by the hacks and said some 600 organizations were notified of potential compromise."

"FCC Chairman Brendan Carr's proposed order, made public late last month, says the previous FCC "misinterpreted" its authority established under the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act. It contends that the FCC under Biden overexpanded its interpretation of the mandate so that communications providers had to follow security management rules for their entire network and also ignored court precedent on the definition of "interception.""

The Federal Communications Commission voted 2-1 to reverse a rule requiring telecommunications firms to secure networks that house law enforcement wiretap request systems. The rule had been enacted late in the Biden administration and included a related proposal for annual security attestations by communications providers. The reversal followed Chairman Brendan Carr's finding that the prior FCC overexpanded authority under the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act and misapplied the definition of interception. The vote included a lone dissent from Commissioner Anna Gomez. The original measures responded to Salt Typhoon cyberespionage breaches affecting dozens of firms and hundreds of organizations worldwide.

Read at Nextgov.com