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Thanks to the law, intelligence agencies investigated the country's largest hacks, including the Colonial Pipeline.
Senior Biden administration officials say the U.S. government used controversial digital surveillance technologies to identify the attacker behind the devastating ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline in 2021 and recover most of the funds the company paid to restore its systems.
It also says that the government used information obtained under section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to identify and mitigate the impact of an Iranian ransomware attack on a non-profit organization's systems in 2022.
Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act is a U.S. federal law that allows intelligence agencies to conduct electronic surveillance of foreigners outside the United States without a court order.
The law was passed in 2008 as an amendment to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, which was put in place to regulate covert surveillance for foreign intelligence purposes.
Section 702 is important for U.S. national security because it allows defense, intelligence, and law enforcement agencies to respond to threats from enemy countries, cyberattacks, terrorists, and other threats. The administration of US President Joe Biden supported the renewal of this law in February 2023.
The previously unreported revelations are just two of several examples where top officials in the U.S. intelligence community intend to publicly share information with the Senate as part of an ongoing campaign to persuade lawmakers to extend the Law until it expires at the end of the calendar year.
Last year, it was reported that the FBI conducted nearly 2 million requests to the Section 702 database regarding a cyber attack on critical US infrastructure, but officials did not specify whether it was the same case or a separate investigation.
The newly declassified information is consistent with the administration's previous attempts to demonstrate the value of the surveillance program to national security, claiming that it provides insight into everything from cyber attacks and drug trafficking to human rights violations and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
The authorities allow some spy agencies to conduct unauthorized surveillance of non-residents located outside the United States. But the correspondence of Americans with "non-Americans" abroad is often identified during the collection process and stored in a searchable database of law enforcement agencies.
Instances of using their authority under section 702 have only increased concerns that FBI analysts must have a warrant to gain access to 702 data. A Biden administration official also warned that the introduction of such a requirement "will seriously damage the national security of the United States and the country's ability to protect Americans from threats to national security."
Senior Biden administration officials say the U.S. government used controversial digital surveillance technologies to identify the attacker behind the devastating ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline in 2021 and recover most of the funds the company paid to restore its systems.
It also says that the government used information obtained under section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to identify and mitigate the impact of an Iranian ransomware attack on a non-profit organization's systems in 2022.
Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act is a U.S. federal law that allows intelligence agencies to conduct electronic surveillance of foreigners outside the United States without a court order.
The law was passed in 2008 as an amendment to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, which was put in place to regulate covert surveillance for foreign intelligence purposes.
Section 702 is important for U.S. national security because it allows defense, intelligence, and law enforcement agencies to respond to threats from enemy countries, cyberattacks, terrorists, and other threats. The administration of US President Joe Biden supported the renewal of this law in February 2023.
The previously unreported revelations are just two of several examples where top officials in the U.S. intelligence community intend to publicly share information with the Senate as part of an ongoing campaign to persuade lawmakers to extend the Law until it expires at the end of the calendar year.
Last year, it was reported that the FBI conducted nearly 2 million requests to the Section 702 database regarding a cyber attack on critical US infrastructure, but officials did not specify whether it was the same case or a separate investigation.
The newly declassified information is consistent with the administration's previous attempts to demonstrate the value of the surveillance program to national security, claiming that it provides insight into everything from cyber attacks and drug trafficking to human rights violations and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
The authorities allow some spy agencies to conduct unauthorized surveillance of non-residents located outside the United States. But the correspondence of Americans with "non-Americans" abroad is often identified during the collection process and stored in a searchable database of law enforcement agencies.
Instances of using their authority under section 702 have only increased concerns that FBI analysts must have a warrant to gain access to 702 data. A Biden administration official also warned that the introduction of such a requirement "will seriously damage the national security of the United States and the country's ability to protect Americans from threats to national security."
