Tighter regulations proposed for foreign IT in drones used in US
The U.S. Commerce Department on Thursday proposed a rule to shield the supply chain of drones from foreign adversaries like China and Russia.
The agency’s Bureau of Industry and Security wants public feedback on how information technology in drones could pose a national security risk, such as allowing adversaries to remotely access the devices and expose sensitive American data.
The rule would detail how foreign involvement in drone supply chains, including “acute threats from China and Russia — may offer our adversaries the ability to remotely access and manipulate these devices, exposing sensitive U.S. data,” the department explained in a statement.
The Biden administration pushed a rule in September to safeguard connected vehicles from software and hardware imported by Russia and China due to national security concerns.
“Securing the unmanned aircraft systems technology supply chain is critical to safeguarding our national security,” said Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, who called the rulemaking notice an “essential step in protecting the United States from vulnerabilities posed by foreign entities,”
The deadline for public comments on the latest proposed rule is March 4.
In early 2024, the FBI and CISA issued an updated warning about the potential threats from China-made drones.
Martin Matishak
is the senior cybersecurity reporter for The Record. Prior to joining Recorded Future News in 2021, he spent more than five years at Politico, where he covered digital and national security developments across Capitol Hill, the Pentagon and the U.S. intelligence community. He previously was a reporter at The Hill, National Journal Group and Inside Washington Publishers.