Sen. Gardner advocates cybersecurity enhancement efforts

Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO) forwarded correspondence last week to Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) personnel, urging efforts to bolster cybersecurity infrastructure against Russia and China threats.

Gardner maintains the advocacy initiative particularly relates to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The successful pursuit of a COVID-19 vaccine will benefit the entire world, not just those living in the United States,” Gardner, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asia, the Pacific, and International Cybersecurity Policy, wrote in the letters to FBI Director Chris Wray and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Director Chris Krebs.
“Ensuring proper assistance to U.S. universities, laboratories, and our international partners in these efforts is critical to making the world a safer place.”

Per Gardner, the United Kingdom’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) recently released a report outlining Russian interference in COVID-19 vaccine development, including Russian-espionage-linked APT29 undertaken to steal intellectual property and disrupt COVID-19 research.

Additionally, Gardner indicated in May the CISA announced concern about threats from Chinese government-backed hackers working to disrupt COVID-19 research.

“Russia and China have a long history of using state-backed entities to disrupt U.S. initiatives across a range of fields,” Gardner concluded. “This is one of many reasons I have advocated listing Russia as a state sponsor of terror and will continue to advocate increased pressure on China, as well. The Asia Reassurance Initiative Act (Public Law 115-409), which I authored, authorized $500 million for cybersecurity cooperation to combat malicious actors in cyberspace.”