Source: US FBI
FISA Section 702 Reauthorization
Director Wray said that the authorities granted to the FBI by Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, are key to the Bureau’s ability to crack down on cybercrime around the world.
“Section 702 is critical to our ability, in particular, to obtain and action cyber intelligence,” he said. “With 702, we can connect the dots between foreign threats and targets here in the U.S., searching information already lawfully within the government’s holdings so that we can notify victims who may not even know they’ve been compromised, sometimes warning them even before they get hit.”
Wray stressed that the FBI’s Section 702 authorities only let it collect information on foreign targets of intelligence surveillance—and not U.S. citizens.
More than half of the FBI’s data reporting under Section 702 has targeted cybercriminals, Wray said. And the Bureau’s 702 authorities yielded 97% of the Bureau’s “raw technical reporting on cyber actors” in the first half of 2023, he added.
“That’s all intelligence that we can action through threat alerts and defensive briefings,” he said.
Wray said the FBI’s Section 702 authorities also powered cybersecurity wins, including:
- Identifying the perpetuator of the 2021 Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack and recovering most of the $4.4 million ransom the company paid in response.
- Saving an American nonprofit organization who fell victim to a ransomware attack and recovering their data so they didn’t need to give Iranian cybercriminals a dime.
- Sniffing out attempts by Chinese cybercriminals to hack into an American transportation hub before they could wreak havoc.
“The intelligence we obtain through our 702 authorities is absolutely vital to safeguarding the American public and American businesses,” he said. “Now, those of you who know me know that I’m not the kind of guy that is prone to overstatement, so when I say it’s vital—it’s not helpful, it’s not important, it’s vital—you know that I mean it.”