Congressional Efforts to Address Cybersecurity Heat Up

Cybersecurity is moving to the fore on Capitol Hill.

Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., introduced legislation Wednesday to strengthen the nation's safeguards against cyberattacks while a House of Representatives panel passed a measure to promote sharing of information about cyber threats.

On Tuesday, Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., called on the Securities and Exchange Commission to require publicly owned companies to disclose information to investors about cyber threats.

The push picks up where Congress left off last year after failing to advance cybersecurity legislation. It follows reports in February that hackers backed by China's military have stolen business secrets from U.S. companies and a wave of cyberattacks on some of the nations' biggest financial institutions.

Blackburn's bill would change how the government manages its own information systems, criminalize damage to computing infrastructure and call for companies to notify consumers if cyberattacks result in theft or financial harm.

The bill also would ease antitrust laws to encourage sharing about cyber threats among companies and the government while defining such threats narrowly in an effort Blackburn says aims to protect privacy. The bill further aims to prioritize funding for federal research into cyber threats.

"We cannot afford to sit idly by as malicious hacker groups, and the states that sponsor them like China and North Korea, devise more sophisticated and effective ways to attack our citizens, businesses, and government institutions," Blackburn said in a press release.

Separately, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence adopted by a vote of 18 to 2 a measure sponsored by committee chairman Mike Rogers, R-Mich., and Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger, D-Md., the panel's top Democrat.

Their bill also aims to encourage sharing of information between companies and government agencies about cyber threats. The committee's action means the bill advances to the full House of Representatives, which could take up the measure as soon as next week, according to news reports.

Mike Reynard, a spokesman for Blackburn, told American Banker the two measures complement each other. "It's not either-or," Reynard said.

Rogers and Ruppersberger backed amendments to the bill that attempt to mollify the measure's critics, who charge it would allow companies to share online users' personal information with the National Security Agency and other government entities without sufficient safeguards to protect personal privacy.

The House passed a similar measure last year although President Obama threatened to veto the bill because of privacy concerns, which critics charge remain.

Alexis Ohanian, a co-founder of the news website Reddit, called on Google, Facebook and Twitter to oppose the bill.

The companies should "take the stand that their privacy policies matter, that their users' privacy matters, and no legislation like CISPA should take that away," Ohanian charged in a video posted on Wednesday on YouTube.

Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., one of two panel members who opposed the bill, told the Los Angeles Times he felt hopeful the privacy concerns can be addressed as the bill advances to the full House. "I think the legislation is worthwhile," Schiff told the publication. "And it shouldn't be that hard to require the steps that would protect people's privacy while also preventing the massive theft of America's work product that's going on."