[Infowarrior] - Cybersecurity Week in the House

Mon Apr 23 07:49:23 CDT 2012

Cybersecurity Week in the House
Filed under: Cybersecurity,General Homeland Security — by Jessica Herrera-Flanigan on April 22, 2012
http://www.hlswatch.com/2012/04/22/cybersecurity-week-in-the-house/

Today marks the start of the self-declared “Cybersecurity Week” in the House.  Last Friday, the House Republican Leadership announced that four bills would be considered this week to “address the cybersecurity threat facing our country.”  In announcing the schedule, Speaker Boehner, Majority Leader Cantor, and the House GOP’s Cybersecurity Task Force Leader Thornberry, stated:

The focus of these bills is consistent with the recommendations released by the task force last October that address the central issue the federal government and industry have stated must be addressed now: updating existing cybersecurity laws to provide the legal authorities to allow for information-sharing and public-private partnerships. Information-sharing is crucial to stopping the persistent and aggressive threat facing all aspects of our economy, our critical infrastructure, our communications, and our nation’s security.

Overall, the bills enjoyed somewhat bipartisan support, though as discussed in a bit, much of the criticism has been focused on what was not included as what was.  Among the bills to be considered:

	• Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (H.R. 3523) – A Mike Rogers (R-MI)/Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD) bill coming out of the Intelligence Committee.  The bill would allow the government to provide classified information to companies to allow them to to protect their networks.  The bill also authorizes private-sector entities to defend their own networks and to those of their customers, and to share cyber threat information with others in the private sector, as well as with the federal government on a purely voluntary basis.   This bill, which many consider the lynchpin of the House efforts, has garnered significant criticism from the privacy and civil liberties groups.  These interests have equated the bill to the doomed SOPA/PIPA bills, stating that it violates Constitutional rights.  The sponsors made significant changes last week to try to address the privacy concerns but still have met criticism.  Just last Friday, House Homeland Security Committee Ranking Member Bennie Thompson (D-MS) sent around a Dear Colleague stating that the bill “would create a “Wild West” of cyber information sharing, where any certified private entity can share information with any government agency.” Despite these criticisms, the bill has garnered the support of numerous companies and technology groups.
	• Federal Information Security Amendments (H.R. 4257)– Introduced by Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa, this bill tackles the mess that is the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA).  It improves the framework for securing information technology systems, focusing on “automated and continuous” monitoring and dictates that OMB should play a significant role in FISMA compliance. The bill is relatively uncontroversial, as most agree that FISMA needs fixing.
	• Cybersecurity Enhancement Act (H.R. 2096) – Another uncontroversial bill is Rep. Mike McCaul’s (R-TX) legislation tackles cyber R&D.  It strengthens NSF and NIST technical standards and cybersecurity awareness, education and talent development capabilities.
	• Advancing America’s Networking and Information Technology Research and Development (NITRD) Act (H.R. 3834) - Introduced by Science, Space & Technology Chairman Ralph Hall (R-TX), this bill reauthorizes the NITRD program, including its efforts relating to cyber R&D. This is another bill that is uncontroversial.
Missing from the list above?  Rep. Dan Lungren’s  (R-CA) PRECISE Act, which the Congressman essentially gutted during the House Homeland Security Committee Full Committee mark-up last week so as to win the support of House Republican leadership for inclusion in cybersecurity week.  The bill, which provided for the creation of voluntary cybersecurity standards that would be created by DHS and the private sector, apparently was still too regulatory in nature for the House’s Leadership, which preferred to leave unaddressed how critical infrastructures are secured.  There is still a chance that Rep. Lungren’s bill will be offered during the week, though that is seen as unlikely given Democratic opposition to the scaled back version of the bill that passed out of Committee along partisan lines.

Other issues that are not being addressed this week but we might see legislation on in the coming months:

	• cybercrime penalties and authorities. The House Judiciary Committee was expected to mark up legislation this past month but is reassessing its efforts in light of the 9th Circuit’s decision inU.S. vs Nosal a few weeks ago limiting the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act’s application in certain cases;
	• electric grid security: House Energy & Commerce may look more closely at cyber efforts to secure smart grids and the like
	• data breach/notification: Perhaps the issue that affects consumers the most in their day-to-day lives, it is unclear whether the House will move any legislation on this front, though Rep. Mary Bono Mack (R-CA) of the House Energy & Commerce Committee has mentioned that she is taking a close look at the issue and legislation.
Whatever happens in the House this week, the future of cybersecurity legislation remains unclear. The Senate has the Lieberman-Collins bill that has been awaiting action for months.  Whether the House’s decision to move forward on legislation will motivate the Senate to act is not known though it is clear that the issue of cybersecurity is not going away anytime soon.

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