Justice Dept Order to Block Adversaries From Data Access

The Justice Department announced plans to carry out an executive order designed to prevent data from Americans and the government from falling into the wrong hands.

The executive order tasked the Justice Department with establishing and implementing a new regulatory program to address the national security threat posed by the continuing efforts of countries like China and Russia to access and exploit Americans' bulk sensitive personal data and certain U.S. government-related data.

The "final rule" will take effect in 90 days, the Justice Department said.

Countries like Iran and North Korea can use their access to sensitive data to engage in malicious cyber-enabled activities and malign foreign influence activities, bolster their military capabilities, and track and build profiles on American citizens — including members of the military — for illicit purposes such as blackmail and coercion and espionage, the Justice Department noted.

Adversaries are increasingly using bulk sensitive personal data to develop and enhance artificial intelligence capabilities and algorithms that, in turn, enable the use of large datasets in increasingly sophisticated and effective ways to the detriment of U.S. national security, the Justice Department warned.

Under the implementation, parties engaging in vendor agreements, employment agreements, and investment agreements involving access by countries of concern or covered persons to bulk U.S. sensitive personal data or U.S. government-related data would be restricted transactions that must comply with the separate security requirements that have been developed by the Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency in coordination with the Justice Department, they said.

These security requirements include organizational and system-level requirements, such as ensuring that basic organizational cybersecurity policies, practices, and controls are in place, as well as data-level requirements, such as data minimization and masking, encryption, and privacy-enhancing techniques, the Justice Department said.

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