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Senators grill Pompeo on vulnerable cybersecurity at State Department

Photo: Igor Golovniov/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

A bipartisan cadre of senators sent a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday calling out the department's poor adoption of multi-factor authentication.

Why it matters: Multi-factor authentication requires users to take an additional protective step when logging into an account — often a physical key or a biometric scan. Beyond being a good practice for federal agencies, multi-factor authentication is also the law for all high-level government accounts.

The gripe: Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Cory Gardner (D-Colo.), Rand Paul (R-Kent.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H) pointed to a recent Government Accountability Office report that found only 11% of required agency devices had enhanced security.

"We are sure you will agree on the need to protect American diplomacy from cyber attacks, which is why we have such a hard time understanding why the Department of State has not followed the lead of many other agencies and complied with federal law requiring agency use of MFA."
— Quote from the letter

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Courtenay Brown
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Financial fallout from the Texas deep freeze

Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios

Texas has thawed out after an Arctic freeze last month threw the state into a power crisis. But the financial turmoil from power grid shock is just starting to take shape.

Why it matters: In total, electricity companies are billions of dollars short on the post-storm payments they now owe to the state's grid operator. There's no clear path for how they will pay — something being watched closely across the country as extreme weather events become more common.

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Alayna Treene, Lachlan Markay
2 hours ago - Politics & Policy

U.S. Chamber decides against political ban for Capitol insurrection

A pedestrian passes the U.S. Chamber of Commerce headquarters as it undergoes renovation. Photo: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce revealed Friday it won't withhold political donations from lawmakers who simply voted against certifying the presidential election results and instead decide on a case-by-case basis.

Why it matters: The Chamber is the marquee entity representing businesses and their interests in Washington. Its memo, obtained exclusively by Axios, could set the tone for businesses debating how to handle their candidate and PAC spending following the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.

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Stef W. Kight
3 hours ago - Politics & Policy

CDC lets child migrant shelters fill to 100% despite COVID concern

Intensive care tents at overflow shelter in Carrizo Springs, Texas. Photo: Sergio Flores/The Washington Post via Getty Images

The Centers for Disease Control is allowing shelters handling child migrants who cross the U.S.-Mexico border to expand to full capacity, abandoning a requirement that they stay near 50% to inhibit the spread of the coronavirus, Axios has learned.

Why it matters: The fact that the country's premier health advisory agency is permitting a change in COVID-19 protocols indicates the scale of the immigration crisis. A draft memo obtained by Axios conceded "facilities should plan for and expect to have COVID-19 cases."

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