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President Trump sent U.S. troops to the border with Mexico to supplement the work of authorities there. President Biden pledges a new approach as pressures mount along the boundary.
About the Expert
Expert Bio
Adam Segal is the Ira A. Lipman chair in emerging technologies and national security and director of the Digital and Cyberspace Policy program at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). An expert on security issues, technology development, and Chinese domestic and foreign policy, Segal was the project director for the CFR-sponsored Independent Task Force reports Innovation and National Security: Keeping Our Edge and Defending an Open, Global, Secure, and Resilient Internet. His book The Hacked World Order: How Nations Fight, Trade, Maneuver, and Manipulate in the Digital Age (PublicAffairs, 2016) describes the increasingly contentious geopolitics of cyberspace. His work has appeared in the Financial Times, the New York Times, Foreign Policy, the Wall Street Journal, and Foreign Affairs, among others. He currently writes for the blog, “Net Politics.”
Before coming to CFR, Segal was an arms control analyst for the China Project at the Union of Concerned Scientists. There, he wrote about missile defense, nuclear weapons, and Asian security issues. He has been a visiting scholar at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Center for International Studies, the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, and Tsinghua University in Beijing. He has taught at Vassar College and Columbia University. Segal is the author of Advantage: How American Innovation Can Overcome the Asian Challenge (W.W. Norton, 2011) and Digital Dragon: High-Technology Enterprises in China (Cornell University Press, 2003), as well as several articles and book chapters on Chinese technology policy.
Segal has a BA and PhD in government from Cornell University, and an MA in international relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University.
Affiliations:
- Arceo Lab, advisor
- Columbia University, adjunct
- Cyber Conflict Studies Association, board member
- Stanford University, affiliate
Featured
Current Projects
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Data leak exposes 533 million Facebook users; Belgian authorities decrypt half a billion messages on Sky ECC, confiscate twenty-seven tons of cocaine; Automobile manufacturers call upon U.S. government amid chip shortage; Chinese supercomputing companies added to U.S. blacklist; and Vietnam considers legislation to regulate tech firms.
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Russian hackers steal thousands of State Department emails; Facebook and Google plan new undersea cables in the Pacific; President Biden announces infrastructure plan; New Russian law requires domestic software on all devices; and United States and Japan plan chip strategy for April summit.
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China restricts use of Tesla vehicles by military and state employees; Amazon adopts AI-powered cameras, forces delivery drivers to sign “biometric consent” form; Intel to expand advanced chip spending and development; Major companies call on G7 to form “Data and Technology Forum;” and Facebook takes action against Chinese hackers.
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U.S. federal judge halts ban on Xiaomi; U.S. report finds that Russia, Iran attempted to meddle in 2020 election; China blocks Signal; Alleged Russian hackers compromise Polish websites to spread disinformation; and Finland attributes hack of parliament to Chinese threat actor.
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An update of the Council on Foreign Relations' Cyber Operations Tracker for the period between October and December 2020.
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A Russian disinformation campaign seeks to undermine confidence in COVID-19 vaccines; Government Accountability Office finds insufficient cybersecurity guidelines for weapons contractors; Hackers breach security startup and access thousands of security camera feeds; Chinese threat actor targets Microsoft Exchange email servers in large-scale intrusion; and FBI warns of increasing use of synthetic content.
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Hacktivist targets far-right platform Gab; China to suspend bitcoin mining in Inner Mongolia; Virginia adopts data privacy legislation; Moscow metro to adopt facial recognition payment system; and YouTube bans Myanmar military channels.
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Chinese spyware traced back to stolen National Security Agency exploit; Congress holds first public hearing on SolarWinds; Russian hackers target Ukrainian government document circulation system; Biden executive order attempts to address chip shortage and strengthen supply chains; and Facebook restores news access in Australia.
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New activity from and against North Korean hackers; Russian hackers target French IT monitoring company; Cambodia adopts China-style internet firewall; Facebook blocks Australian news outlets; and Most of London’s boroughs using Chinese surveillance tech linked to Xinjiang.
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Hacktivists deface Sri Lankan web domains, highlight social issues; Hacker attempts to poison water supply in Florida city; Clubhouse blocked in China; Forced sale of TikTok to Oracle and Walmart put on hold; and Federal election agency updates voting security guidelines.
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SolarWinds software breached again in separate Chinese hack; Internet temporarily disabled in Myanmar after military coup; Ongoing protests around New Delhi result in internet and social media crackdown; Canadian government denounces Clearview AI; and Biden addresses election interference, SolarWinds intrusion in foreign policy speech.
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Security researchers targeted by North Korean hackers; Ant group announces sale of U.S. biometric security company; India permanently bans TikTok; Cybercriminal networks targeted by international police; and Norwegian officials fine Grindr for alleged GDPR violations.
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Russian company props up Parler; Malwarebytes hacked by same threat actor accused of hacking SolarWinds; Bolsonaro retracts opposition to Huawei 5G; Biden orders assessment of Russian hacking; and CISA announces ransomware awareness campaign.
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Amazon, tech companies drop Parler; Treasury Department sanctions individuals in Russia-linked effort to influence U.S. election; Commerce Department issues rules to block telecom equipment from six countries; Trump administration blacklists nine additional Chinese companies; and Uganda blocks social media platforms ahead of general election.
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U.S. surveillance activities have alarmed European partners, throwing the future of transatlantic digital trade into question. The United States should embrace collaboration and protections for personal data.
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Experts assessing cybersecurity fallout after raid on Capitol; Trump bans U.S. transactions on eight additional Chinese apps; Anne Neuberger tapped for new NSC cybersecurity role; U.S. extradition attempt for Assange fails; and Singapore reverses course on contact tracing data.
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Big tech's terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week; Russia’s SolarWinds hack compromises thousands of customers; Facebook calls out France and Russia for misinformation operations in Africa; Germany refuses to exclude Huawei; and European Union introduces cybersecurity strategy.
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Suspected Russian hackers compromise FireEye tools; Federal Trade Commission and forty-eight states sue Facebook; House passes National Defense Authorization Act; Google and Facebook make progress in Australia’s pay for news law; and Crown Princes of United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia sued for hack and leak campaign.
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EU proposes transatlantic partnership; New Zealand debuts views on international law in cyberspace; North Korean hackers target vaccine makers, State Department launches North Korea bounty program; China drafts guidelines on personal data from mobile apps; and DHS under investigation by inspector general, NSO’s Circles sells location data to twenty-five countries.
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Asia forms RCEP trade bloc; U.S. military buys location data originating from apps; Huawei to sell honor business; CISA Director Chris Krebs fired; and Canada calls out China, Russia, Iran and North Korea.
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An update of the Council on Foreign Relations' Cyber Operations Tracker for the period between July and September 2020.
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EU announces Amazon antitrust charges; New EU regulations on surveillance tech; China debuts potential anti-monopoly rules; New regulations for telecoms providers in the Netherlands; and What is happening with TikTok?
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"Just another Tuesday on the internet;" Social media platforms flag numerous posts from President Trump; U.S. Cyber Command reveals global threat hunting operation before election; TikTok wins legal victory, but U.S. Department of Commerce promises to “vigorously defend” ban; and U.S. Air Force Purchases Chinese Drones.
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In the weeks leading up to the 2020 election, technology firms and the U.S. government took steps to prevent and combat election interference in cyberspace. Nonetheless, there were still a handful of incidents.