Beijing:
Tech experts in China who find a weakness in computer security would be required to tell the government and couldn't sell that knowledge under rules further tightening the Communist Party's control over information.
The rules would ban private sector experts who find “zero day”, or previously unknown security weaknesses, and sell the information to police, spy agencies or companies. Such vulnerabilities have been a feature of major hacking attacks including one this month blamed on a Russian-linked group that infected thousands of companies in at least 17 countries.
Beijing is increasingly sensitive about control over information about its people and economy. Companies are barred from storing data about Chinese customers outside China. Companies including ride-hailing service Didi Global Inc, which recently made its US stock market debut, have been publicly warned to tighten data security.
Under the new rules, anyone in China who finds a vulnerability must tell the government, which will decide what repairs to make. No information can be given to “overseas organisations or individuals” other than the product's manufacturer.
No one may “collect, sell or publish information on network product security vulnerabilities,” say the rules issued by the Cyberspace Administration of China and the police and industry ministries. They take effect September 1.
The ruling party's military wing, the People's Liberation Army, is a leader along with the United States and Russia in cyber warfare technology. PLA officers have been charged by US prosecutors with hacking American companies to steal technology and trade secrets.
Consultants that find “zero day” weaknesses say their work is legitimate because they serve police or intelligence agencies. Some have been accused of aiding governments accused of human rights abuses or groups that spy on activists.
There is no indication such private sector researchers work in China, but the decision to ban the field suggests Beijing sees it as a potential threat.
China has steadily tightened control over information and computer security over the past two decades.
Banks and other entities that are deemed sensitive are required to use only Chinese-made security products wherever possible. Foreign vendors that sell routers and some other network products in China are required to disclose to regulators how any encryption features work.
Meetings between drug industry representatives and the FDA are normally carefully scheduled and documented. The FDA's acting commissioner, Dr. Janet Woodock, asked the inspector general for the Department of Health and Human Services to probe whether the agency's dealings with Biogen violated any government rules.
Another large part of the lawmakers' request involves documents detailing how Biogen arrived at the drug's price, pegged at roughly $56,000 for the typical patient. The drug requires monthly IVs and the dosage is based on a patient's weight.
The committee chairs noted that a nonprofit think tank focused on drug pricing pegged the drug's actual value at between $3,000 and $8,400 per year, based on its unproven benefits.
"While the company has claimed this price is 'fair' and 'substantiated by the value it is expected to bring,' an independent analysis determined that a fair price for Aduhelm would be a small fraction of Biogen's price," said committee chairs Rep. Carolyn Maloney and Rep. Frank Pallone.
Maloney heads the Committee on Oversight and Reform, and Pallone heads the Committee on Energy and Commerce.
The letter instructs Biogen to turn over the information by July 26.