WH: untrustworthy commercial vendors and tools can present significant risks. Image: Wachiwit/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffPresident Biden has issued an executive order banning government use of commercial spyware that it said “poses distinct and growing counterintelligence and security risks to the United States, including to the safety and security of U.S. government personnel and their families.”
“U.S. government personnel overseas have been targeted by commercial spyware, and untrustworthy commercial vendors and tools can present significant risks to the security and integrity of U.S. government information and information systems,” says a fact sheet accompanying the order.
The order prohibits agencies from “operationally using commercial spyware tools that pose significant counterintelligence or security risks to the U.S. government or significant risks of improper use by a foreign government or foreign person, including to target Americans or enable human rights abuses.”
It lists considerations for deeming such risks exist including, among others, that:
• “A foreign government or foreign person has used or acquired the commercial spyware to gain or attempt to gain access to U.S. government electronic devices, or those of U.S. government personnel”
• The software is from an entity that without authorization has obtained or used government data or that “has disclosed or intends to disclose non-public information about the U.S. government or its activities.”
• Foreign actors use the spyware “to monitor a United States person, without consent, in order to track or target them without proper legal authorization, safeguards, and oversight.”
Among other steps, the order requires that agencies cancel licensing agreements or contracts that present such risks.
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