Presented by

— With help from Gavin Bade

— What impact could the aborted revolt in Russia have on Moscow’s disinfo game? The same oligarch who led the rebellious group also spearheads major cyber ops.

HAPPY MONDAY, and welcome to Morning Cybersecurity! Congress is out for the next few weeks, and since this was meant to be my first full week (without any holidays) writing the newsletter for all you lovely people, I had envisioned an extravagant coming out party.

There were going to be balloons and dancing, I would’ve told some cyber-esque jokes and I would’ve introduced myself as Joseph, your newly minted Morning Cyber author. We were going to talk about how excited I was to be a part of your daily routine, and how I got all your welcome emails, latest reports, coffee invites and your boss’s boss’s contact information. But now that the day is finally here, I think I’m just going to let the newsletter do the talking. It’s too early, am I right?

Got tips, feedback or other commentary? Send them to Joseph at [email protected]. You can also follow @POLITICOPro and @MorningCybersec on Twitter. Full team contact info is below.

MUTINY IN MOSCOW — The Wagner Group’s head honcho Yevgeny Prigozhin may be on his not-so-merry way to Belarus, but among many questions about what his short-lived rebellion means for Russia is whether it will impact the Kremlin’s cyber operations.

— Wagner’s digital army: The Russian oligarch’s empire reaches far beyond a paramilitary mercenary group to also include “troll factories” used to spread Russian propaganda. Prigozhin has claimed on Telegram to have founded the U.S.-sanctioned Internet Research Agency, and on another occasion said he has interfered in U.S. presidential elections through the spread of disinformation.

It’s unclear if the Wagner Group includes its own sizable cyber-focused faction, but the power fissure between Moscow and Prigozhin’s network could have a butterfly effect on Russian disinformation campaigns.

Hackers from the Dossier Center investigating Prigozhin’s “cyber troops” revealed more than a million internal documents alleged to come from the oligarch’s corporation earlier this year, concluding that all the work within his organization is “organically linked” from one business to the other.

— Money, please: Since Russia has now closed its investigation into Prigozhin, he’s expected to keep full access to his financial assets — which could give him ample resources to keep his organization in the IT infrastructure and disinformation game. This can range from funding IP hosting and internet servers to using satellite phones.

“The most important thing which could have affected Prigozhin’s cyber operations is his money,” Andrei Soldatov, an expelled Russian journalist and non-resident senior fellow with the Center for European Policy Analysis, told Morning Cyber. “But what we got is that all his criminal charges were dropped, which basically means there will be no impact on Wagner’s financial operations.

“The most interesting thing that might happen is nothing happens,” Soldatov added. “At least theoretically, nothing prevents him from getting back to St. Petersburg to run his operation.”

— Still, a question of impact: The Kremlin’s cyberwar capabilities — feared worldwide for so long — have made far less of a dent on Ukraine’s infrastructure over the last few years than many observers had expected. Russia’s cyberattacks against military targets don’t come from a unified source, “so from the beginning of the war, it was complete confusion and a mess in terms of information operations,” Soldatov said.

Want to receive this newsletter every weekday? Subscribe to POLITICO Pro. You’ll also receive daily policy news and other intelligence you need to act on the day’s biggest stories.

CYBER EDUCATION FOR ALL — Remember when we asked you the other day what if it could be cybersecurity month, every month? Well, it seems Sens. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.) took that to heart when they passed their latest resolution last week calling for June to be recognized as “National Cybersecurity Education Month.”

But the resolution is only a glimmer of what we’ve been witnessing as part of the renewed forward momentum on cyber education — as Washington looks to build and secure a new strategy for a future workforce entering a field in dire need of applicants.

— Peeling the layers: Along with the Senate anointing June “National Cybersecurity Education Month” (which sounds a lot like the already existing cybersecurity awareness month, but targeted at promoting cyber learning in levels of schooling), the White House said it will host a summit this summer to help schools face and understand cyber threats. A CISA advisory subcommittee also made education its top theme to look out for when drafting recommendations, and ArmyCyber signed its first-ever educational partnership with Dakota State University.

“The army needs to get in and to meet these people earlier and this allows them to do that,” Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), who was at the announcement ceremony, told MC. “The army desperately needs to get more people involved in cyber operations.”

— What it all means: Prominent cyber experts are convinced that the recent industry-wide surge to focus on education is real and reflects the evolving awareness of the retention and recruitment problem. What you may see in the near future is the result of all those combined efforts.

“It’s an area where I don’t think we’ve paid as much attention to and there’s definitely been a lot of focus on it,” former National Security Council Chief of Cyber Response and Policy Jeff Greene told Morning Cyber. “It shows this is organic and widespread and I think this concerted effort can make a difference.”

— But … the vacancies: Cybersecurity positions have earned a reputation of being hard to fill. Last year, the White House estimated there were around 700,000 job openings in cybersecurity in the United States — highlighting a vacuum where national security issues may proliferate.

One reason for that hole on the governmental level: the pay. Or the lack thereof.

“The pay is never going to be equal to the private sector,” said Greene. “But the mission is exponentially better.”

TIKTOK HAWKS — Two Republican China hawks on the Hill are taking aim at some fine print in a new Commerce Department rule that lawmakers fear will allow President Joe Biden to let TikTok off the hook.

In a letter sent to the Commerce Department on Friday, Sen. Marco Rubio, the top Republican on the Intelligence Committee, and Rep. Mike Gallagher, chair of the China Select Committee, are taking issue with a line in Commerce’s new Information and Communications Technology Supply Chain — or “ICTS” — rule, published June 16.

The rule directs Commerce to review ICTS transactions to determine if they pose national security risks and how those risks can “be mitigated using measures that can be verified by independent third parties.”

The word “mitigated” is what has the lawmakers all riled up.

They worry that the term — along with some other seemingly innocuous changes — could open the door for Commerce to approve compromises with foreign firms like TikTok’s Project Texas, under which the company has proposed storing U.S. data on domestic servers. TikTok has spent over a year developing that program with the Committee on Foreign Investments in the U.S., which often directs foreign firms to enact so-called “mitigation plans” to reduce security risks.

The lawmakers requested communications between Commerce officials and TikTok throughout the rulemaking process and urged Commerce to “abandon any course of action that stops short” of a full TikTok ban.

The fastest way to get hacked into the Danger Zone

CYBERATTACKS AGAINST HOSPITALS — A massive ransomware attack at one hospital overloaded the systems of other health providers in the area — putting real lives at danger, reports NPR’s Jenna McLaughlin.

ELECTION FRETS OVER AI — A.I.’s Use in Elections Sets Off a Scramble for Guardrails. (The New York Times).

Chat soon.

Stay in touch with the whole team: Joseph Gedeon ([email protected]); John Sakellariadis ([email protected]); Maggie Miller ([email protected]); and Heidi Vogt ([email protected]).