Cybersecurity

U.S. To Use Internet ‘Kill Switch’ By November In Cyberwar With Russia

Earlier this year the Supreme Court declined to hear a petition from the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) that was seeking to force the Department of Homeland Security to release details of a top-secret “internet killswitch” protocol to shut down cellphone and Internet service during “emergencies.”

EPIC has been campaigning since 2011 to force the release of details of the program, which is known by the incredibly misleading nameStandard Operating Procedure 303.

EPIC writes, “On March 9, 2006, the National Communications System (‘NCS’) approved SOP 303, however it was never released to the public. This secret document codifies a ‘shutdown and restoration process for use by commercial and private wireless networks during national crisis.’”