CHINA/CONGRESS/MILITARY/RUSSIA/TECHNOLOGY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The U.S. Congress is sending President Donald Trump legislation that would force technology companies to disclose if they allowed countries like China and Russia to examine the inner workings of software sold to the U.S. military. The legislation, part of the Pentagon’s spending bill, was drafted after a Reuters investigation last year found software makers allowed a Russian defense agency to hunt for vulnerabilities in software used by some agencies of the U.S. government, including the Pentagon and intelligence services. The final version of the bill was approved by the Senate in a 87-10 vote on Wednesday [8-1-18] after passing the House last week. The spending bill is expected to be signed into law by Trump. Security experts said allowing Russian authorities to probe the internal workings of software, known as source code, could help Moscow discover vulnerabilities they could exploit to more easily attack U.S. government systems. The new rules were drafted by Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire.”
–Joel Schectman, “U.S. Congress passes bill forcing tech companies to disclose foreign software probes,” Reuters, August 1, 2018 3:41 pm