WASHINGTON — A House subcommittee approved a cybersecurity bill Jan. 15 that would help protect consumers’ online information by allowing more cooperation between private companies and the federal government to prevent cyberattacks.
The measure, which has bipartisan support, was declared “both pro security and pro privacy” by the American Civil Liberties Union and is supported by Rep. Pat Meehan, R-Pa., chairman of the Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, and Security Technologies.
“There can be no more important time for dealing with this activity,” said Meehan.
During the holiday season, identity information of up to 70 million Target shoppers was stolen as well as the debit or credit card information of 40 million shoppers. Retailer Neiman Marcus also reported a theft of shopper information in January.
Meehan said the bill would protect citizens from similar attacks, as well as terrorist attacks that could be executed online.
Meehan said the bill’s language is the result of meetings with “more than 300 constituencies” over the past year.
The bill would make clear that the Department of Homeland Security is a central clearinghouse for private industry information about cyberthreats Through the bill’s National Cybersecurity Incident Response plan, a plan would be created for responding to government or private sector attacks.
The legislation was approved almost one year after President Barack Obama signed an executive order calling for improved cybersecurity due to existing threats to the nation’s critical infrastructure.
In the order, the President called for cooperation with private owners of critical infrastructure to achieve better security.
Cybersecurity sparked partisan debate in the past, but the subcommittee’s ranking Democrat, Rep Yvette Clarke of New York, praised the bill for its bipartisan nature and inclusion of the private sector.
The measure now awaits action by the full homeland security committee.
