Senators Unveil Major Cybersecurity Bill

The long-awaited, wide-ranging cybersecurity legislation that would update the laws that govern how the federal government secures its information systems as well as help safeguard the vital private networks in which American society depends on was introduced in the Senate Feb. 14.

The Cybersecurity Act of 2012 has been a half decade in the making as threats against government and private IT systems intensify.

"Our nation's vulnerabilities have already been demonstrated by the daily attempts by nation-states, cybercriminals and hackers to penetrate our systems," Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, one of the bill's sponsors, said in a Senate speech. "The threat is not just to our national security, but also to our economic well-being."

Collins, ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee was joined by Committee Chairman Joseph Lieberman, ID-Conn.; Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va.; and Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Diane Feinstein, D-Calif., as chief sponsors of the bill.

The legislation would codify some of the authority the Obama administration has granted the Department of Homeland Security over federal civilian agency IT security and create the National Center for Cybersecurity and Communications within DHS, headed by a Senate-confirmed director, to coordinate federal efforts to battle cybersecurity threats facing the government and the nation's critical information infrastructure, the mostly privately owned networks that control the flow of money, energy, food, transportation and other vital resources that the economy needs to function.  Read more.