Welcome to OVERNIGHT CYBERSECURITY, your daily rundown of the biggest news in the world of hacking and data privacy. We're here to connect the dots as leaders in government, policy and industry try to counter the rise in cyber threats. What lies ahead for Congress, the administration and the latest company under siege? Whether you're a consumer, a techie or a D.C. lifer, we're here to give you ...

THE BIG STORIES:

--DIVIDE AND CONQUER: Some privacy groups are stepping up their efforts to oppose a stalled cybersecurity information sharing bill, threatening boycotts and forcing large tech companies to stake out their opposition. The backlash comes as rumors swirl that the so-called Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) could see floor time in the Senate as early as next week, possibly the week after. Sparking the opposition is a Sept. 14 letter from prominent tech trade group BSA | The Software Alliance that seemingly expressed support for the controversial bill. A week later, after the privacy group Fight for the Future led a social media backlash and a proposed boycott on signee Salesforce, BSA walked back its language. "For clarity, BSA does not support any of the three current bills pending before Congress, including the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act," the group said on its Web site. Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff also quickly responded, tweeting that "the letter clearly was a mistake and doesn't imply CISA support. We need to clarify. I'm against it." Fight for the Future called off the boycott, but the incident cast light on the pressure tech companies are under to be seen as tough on privacy and by extension, opposed to CISA. "The default position in light of Snowden is going to be an attempt to protect privacy and to hold that goal above almost everything else except maybe revenue generation," Ryan Kalember, senior VP of cybersecurity at the security firm Proofpoint, told The Hill. "It is certainly the safe position in the broader technology world, as well as the cybersecurity world, to be against it." To read our full piece, check back tomorrow.

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Retailers are appealing to Capitol Hill ahead of a Thursday deadline requiring them to install machines that accept a more secure, microchip-embedded credit card, or to foot the cost of any credit card fraud. In a bid to reduce the rash of cyber crime that has plagued the U.S. private sector, credit cards issuers announced in recent years they would stop absorbing the cost of fraudulent transactions at merchants that haven't upgraded their payment terminals to accept the new cards. That switch finally occurs Thursday. Financial institutions say the move will drastically reduce counterfeit fraud and help thwart hackers. But retailers maintain they haven't had the time to make the multi-billion dollar transition to the new technology and believe the change will only shift digital fraud to other outlets. The Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA), a leading D.C. advocate for merchants, made its concerns known in a letter that hit Hill offices on Wednesday. To read our full piece, check back tomorrow.

--U UP?: The fifth major release of emails from Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonButtigieg stands in as Pence for Harris's debate practice Senate GOP sees early Supreme Court vote as political booster shot Poll: 51 percent of voters want to abolish the electoral college MORE's time as secretary of State indicate that at least once, she joked about the idea of Chinese hackers. In a 2011 exchange found among the 4,000 emails revealed by the State Department on Wednesday, Clinton wondered why she didn't have a Gmail address for staffer Nora Toiv. "So how did that happen," Clinton wrote. "Must be the Chinese!" The release comes as security hawks continue to question whether Clinton's private servers, used during her time in office with the State Department, were vulnerable to hackers. The FBI is currently investigating, although Clinton is not being accused of any wrongdoing in the probe. The email, of course, was sent in simpler days, before the massive hack of the Office of Personnel Management laid bare the personal information of 21.5 million former and current federal employees. The breach is widely believed to have originated in China. To read our full piece, click here.

UPDATE ON CYBER POLICY:

--WE'RE HERE TO HELP. The House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday approved a bill that would authorize the Secret Service to train state and local law enforcement officials on combating cyber crime. The Strengthening State and Local Cyber Crime Fighting Act, from Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-Texas), is an attempt to close the gap between federal and local cyber-crime-fighting capabilities. Specifically, the measure would direct the National Computer Forensics Institute (NCFI) -- part of the Secret Service -- to educate local law officers, prosecutors and judges on all aspects of computer crime, from conducting computer and mobile device examinations to investigating cyberattacks.

Check out our full story, here.

A LIGHTER CLICK:

--ZOOM IN AND ENHANCE. Vulture gets experts to weigh in on the big tech myths perpetuated by TV shows and movies. No. 2? Hacking.

Check out the full list, here.

A FEATURE READ:

--XI AT THE WALDORF: The New Yorker's one-time China correspondent Evan Osnos opines on what we learned about Chinese President Xi Jinping during his recent visit to the U.S.

"Five years ago, Google made the high-profile decision to withdraw from China, to protest persistent hacking attempts on its source code, efforts to break into dissidents' Gmail accounts, and policies that required the company to censor its search results. For a time, other big companies considered following suit. On the whole, they did not, and in Seattle Xi, who presides over a market of six hundred million Internet users, received a welcome unlike that afforded to any other foreign head of state."

Read on, here.

WHO'S IN THE SPOTLIGHT:

--CARLY FIORINA. The former HP exec has repeatedly touted her experience in the digital realm during her 2016 campaign, advocating for a more offensive cybersecurity posture and boosted threat-sharing between government agencies and private entities. Read a roundup of her cybersecurity statements, here.

A LOOK AHEAD:

THURSDAY

--CSM Passcode will hold an event at 9 a.m. titled, "The Future of America's Cyber Strategy." Cybersecurity officials from the Defense and State Departments will speak.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

Links from our blog, The Hill, and around the Web.

Top Pentagon and NSA officials warned lawmakers that the ongoing shutdown fears are harming the government's cyber efforts. (The Hill)

A coalition of tech companies and civil liberties groups are banding together to petition the White House to oppose guaranteed access to encrypted data. (The Hill)

The European Union's highest court will decide on Oct. 6 whether a critical data protection agreement with the U.S. is valid. (The Hill)

A father responds to the dramatic gender gap in cybersecurity. (Dark Reading)

The cyberwar era arguably began two hours before midnight, in Estonia. Now what? (The Daily Dot)

Russian hackers threw molotov cocktails at the cybersecurity firm that exposed their ATM malware. (International Business Times)

DARPA's cyber strategy so far has been "patch and pray." (NextGov)

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