Biden Increases Screening of Foreign Investment for Security Risks

The Biden administration is ordering the Committee on Foreign Investment (CFIUS) to add more scrutiny on deals that might give China access to critical tech or that could put personal data at risk, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) wrote.

The executive order, signed Thursday (Sept. 15), doesn’t expand the purview of the Committee on Foreign Investment, though it sharpens the panel’s focus on administration priorities and shows what might need more screening.

The focus is on foreign investment, and the White House said its purpose is “to ensure that CFIUS remains an effective tool to combat these threats now and in the future.” One of the big concerns is the security of supply chains, and whether an investment could give a foreign entity control of critical manufacturing capabilities, mineral resources or technologies.

The order doesn’t specify countries, though it talks of the risks posed by foreign investors from “adversary nations” and talks of protecting supply chains, which are areas that U.S. officials have raised concerns about in regards to China.

The orders said the committee should look more into investments that could present cybersecurity risks, which has also involved China in the recent past.

In other national security-related news, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has sanctioned 10 individuals and two entities for having roles in ransomware activity, cyber-espionage and other such things, as they were affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Read more: US Treasury Blacklists Bitcoin Addresses Linked to Iranian Ransomware Group

PYMNTS quoted Brian E. Nelson, under secretary of the Treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence, as saying ransomware and cybercriminal actors had targeted various infrastructure across the board.

A press release said there were ransomware activities, unauthorized computer access and data exfiltration going on with the individuals sanctioned, which targeted various organizations and officials worldwide. The victims included “a New Jersey municipality, several small businesses, a children’s hospital, several larger organizations and an electric utility company,” PYMNTS wrote.