International Cooperation Cyber Bill Propsed By Senate
The Senator Rockefeller (D-WV) and Senator Snowe (R-ME) Cybersecurity Act of 2009 has yet to be passed and there is still the questioning of the president’s unchecked power to ”declare a cybersecurity emergency and order the limitation or shutdown of Internet traffic to and from any compromised Federal Government or United States critical infrastructure information system or network.”
However, a new cyber bill was introduced last week by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) entitled Fostering a Global Response to Cyber Attacks Act. The Act would require the US Secretary of State to report to Congress 270 days after the passing of the bill and evaluate what the US is doing to improve IT cooperation on a global level. The bill comes after a July 4th distributed denial-of-service attack (DDoS) on the US and South Korea by unknown individuals and the Obama Administration’s increase focus on improving US cybersecurity practices.
If passed, the bill would:
- devise a plan to fuse cybersecurity cooperation
- improve cybersecurity on a global scale
- make sure privacy, freedom of speech and commercial transactions continue to be fought and protected in cyberspace through international agreements and other venues.
“Attacks potentially launched from within North Korea, Russia, China and other countries have grown more sophisticated, more targeted, and more serious over the past year and will only grow more dangerous in time”, said Senator Gillibrand at the introduction of the bill. She believes the bill will “ensure that America works with the governments of foreign countries to foster a global response to these cyber attacks.”