Public evidence of Section 72s benefits to US cybersecurity lacking

Despite support by the Biden administration for the reauthorization of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, limited transparency and specificity on the surveillance tool's usage in thwarting cyberattacks have become additional hindrances to its passage by Congress, CyberScoop reports. The importance of the surveillance tool in cybersecurity has also been touted by the intelligence community but such examples have not been publicized, said Senate Intelligence Committee Co-Chair Mark Warner, D-Va. "While it's important that we do not risk sources and methods, it is also critical that we explain to the American people what will be lost and how they would be increasingly vulnerable to cybercriminals and foreign governments if this authority were allowed to expire," Warner added. Nearly half of Section 702 database searches by the FBI have been noted by a senior adviser to involve state-backed cyberattack investigations, indicating the agency's increased focus on looking into cyber threats. "Our use of the authority in the FBI and across the intelligence community is weighted a lot more heavily towards cyber now than it was five years ago," said the senior FBI adviser.