US to ban sale of hacking tools to authoritarian governments, including China and Russia

What just happened? The United States Department of Commerce has announced that it will ban the sale or export of hardware and software that can be used for malicious cyber activities to authoritarian regimes, including China and Russia. The Commerce Department [writes](//www.commerce.gov/news/press-releases/2021/10/commerce-tightens-export-controls-items-used-surveillance-private) that the export of cybersecurity items to countries of national security or weapons of mass destruction concern will require a license from the department's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS). Countries subject to a US arms embargo and those deemed by the US to have a history of human rights abuses are subject to the same ban. The…