Despite Chinese hacks, Trump’s FCC voted to rescind cybersecurity rules for phone and internet companies

The Federal Communications Commission voted 2-1 along party lines Thursday to rescind rules requiring U.S. phone and internet giants to meet minimum cybersecurity requirements.

Two Trump-appointed FCC commissioners, Chairman Brendan Carr and fellow Republican Olivia Trusty, voted to withdraw rules that require telecommunications companies to “secure their networks from unlawful access or interception of communications.” The Biden administration had adopted these rules before leaving office Earlier this year.

The FCC’s only Democratic commissioner, Ana Gomez, has defected. In a statement After the vote, Gomez called the now-rescinded rules “the only meaningful effort this agency has put forward” since the discovery of a widespread campaign by a Chinese-backed hacking group. It’s called a salt hurricane Which involves hacking a wide range of American telephone and Internet companies.

Hackers broke into more than 200 telecommunications companies, including AT&T, Verizon and Lumen, during a years-long campaign to conduct widespread surveillance of US officials. And in some cases, hackers Targeted eavesdropping systems Which the US government previously required telecom companies to install for law enforcement access.

The FCC’s move to change the rules has drawn rebuke from top lawmakers, including Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), the ranking member on the Senate Homeland Security Committee. Peters said he was “troubled” by the FCC’s efforts to roll back “basic cybersecurity safeguards” and warned that doing so would “leave the American people exposed.”

said Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), ranking member of the Senate Intelligence Committee In a statement The rule change “leaves us without a credible plan” to address the fundamental security vulnerabilities exploited by Salt Typhoon and others.

For its part, NCTA, which represents the telecommunications industry, He praised Repeal the rules, describing them as “prescriptive and counterproductive regulations.”

But Gomez cautioned that while cooperation with the telecom industry is valuable for cybersecurity, it is insufficient without implementation.

“Toothless handshake agreements will not prevent state-sponsored hackers from seeking to infiltrate our networks,” Gomez said. “They will not prevent the next breach. They do not ensure that the weakest link in the chain is strengthened. If volunteer cooperation were sufficient, we would not be sitting here today in the aftermath of Hurricane Salt.”